Cited youth coach pleads common sense

Deepa Bharath

Rick Campo has a hard time looking at his $136 citation.

For the 46-year-old Costa Mesa resident, who has been coaching the

Costa Mesa National League and the local soccer league for the last

11 years, the ticket is downright insulting, and he’s not about to

shrug and pay up.

Campo has an Oct. 7 court date, when he will argue his own case in

front of a judge he hopes will understand his plight as a “guy who is

trying to get kids to play baseball instead of hanging out on the

streets.”

Campo was cited on July 25 when he was at Adams Elementary School

with 11- and 12-year-olds having a baseball practice in preparation

for a tournament in Cooperstown, N.Y., in a week.

The city’s joint-use agreement with the school district requires

sports teams to secure a permit from the city before practicing on

the fields. All rules relating to field use are enforced by field

ambassadors, park rangers and the Police Department.

But Campo didn’t know he needed a permit to play on the field

adjoining Mesa Verde Park, which is down the street from where he

lives, Campo said.

“I got two warnings from the field ambassadors for practicing in

the Gisler field,” he said. “That I understand. But I saw no signs in

Adams that I need a permit to play there. How was I supposed to

know?”

Campo and other coaches, who have been involved with local leagues

for years, know the rules very well, city recreation manager Jana

Ransom said.

“It’s municipal code, and all we’re trying to do is enforce it,”

she said.

The code was established to protect the city and schools’ fields

and regulate their use, Ransom said.

At Gisler, field ambassadors told him he would need to get a

permit if there were 10 people or more on the field, Campo said.

“I counted only six kids there, but the ambassador counted me and

three other coaches, which added up to 10,” he said.

But the code says permits are required for gatherings of 10 people

or more, irrespective of whether they are children or adults, Ransom

said.

After he got the couple of warnings at Gisler, he went to the city

to get permits for practice times, but the children and their parents

couldn’t afford them, Campo said.

“A lot of the parents didn’t even have the money to go with their

kids to watch them play [in Cooperstown],” he said. “For some of the

kids, it was their first time on an airplane.”

Campo said he is frustrated with his experience, because in every

case when he got the warnings or the citation, he and his team were

the only ones on the field.

“I can understand if there was a huge demand and people are

waiting to play,” he said. “But in each case, there was no one else

out there. There seems to be an utter disregard for common sense

here.”

Most people in the city know Campo’s and other coaches’ intentions

are good, Ransom said.

“We know he’s out there for the kids,” she said. “But we need to

make it fair and equal for everyone. Selective, arbitrary enforcement

is not common sense.”

For Campo, paying up the money is not the issue, he said.

“And I don’t plan on hiring attorneys or anything and wasting more

money,” Campo said. “All I want to do is make a point.”

* DEEPA BHARATH is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

She may be reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at

deepa.bharath@latimes.com.