SoCalHoops Jurisprudence News

Hey Buddy: Next Time Just Say No. . .
Really. Try It. It Works.--(Oct. 20. 1998)

Geez, we hate to run stuff like this, but in the hope that it will help some other kids who might read just how stupid and silly some other people can be, here it is.  Our "Just Say No, You Jerk" article for the year.   We just hope we don't have to run any more than this one.

The Los Angeles Times reported last week that a former Crescenta Valley High School basketball star who played for the CV High team from 1993 to 1996, and  who is still currently on the Glendale City College team roster, was arrested on October 3 in Montrose on cocaine possession charges while attending the Oktoberfest up in the foothills of Glendale.   According to the Times, after Jake Andrew Willis, 20 years old, was arrested and spent four nights in jail, he attributed the incident to a "lack of good judgment."   That's an understatement.

Willis currently holds the single season and career assist record at CV.

According to the account in the Times, Willis said that a friend had asked him to carry a packet containing a little over 1.5 grams of cocaine. Willis was stopped by police when they found him waiting in a parking lot. Police reportedly found him carrying the packet and a "rolled-up $20 bill used to snort cocaine,"  according to Glendale Police Sgt. Rick Young.   The Times also reported that Willis had said he had been "drinking and stuff" at a party in La Crescenta, when a friend asked him to hold the bindle of cocaine.  "I wasn't using the best judgment, when I said, 'Sure,' and put it in my pocket," he told the Times. Later that evening, Willis was at the Oktoberfest celebration on Honolulu Avenue when another friend asked him for the cocaine. As he was waiting in a nearby parking lot to hand over the packet to the friend, he was discovered and questioned by police, said Willis. "I knew it was going to be big, big-time trouble." 

Willis told the Times that he has "never used cocaine" and he reportedly asked the officers to give him a drug test to prove that he was not high.  "It actually might be good for me," said Willis to the Times.   He ended up spending four nights in jail before being released on his own recognizance. Willis will attend a diversion hearing on November 18, where he may be able to enroll in a  rehab course in lieu of other punishment. If he's lucky and gets rehab, then he can possibly get the drug possession charges expunged from his criminal record.

So what has Willis learned by this experience?  Well, according to the Times, he's learned he has "to be more careful about what I'm around and what I'm doing." 

And what have we learned?  That some people are way too trusting of the wrong people, and don't use the intelligence they were born with.    Hey, if you're a player, don't take stupid risks.  It may sound pretty trite or corny,  but here's a thought:   When someone asks you to do something like, say, carry some cocaine, drugs or a gun, just say no. Really. It works.   

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