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TOOELE -- Kids who play with the Junior Jazz in Tooele County need a new place to dribble this season.
The Tooele County School District canceled its contract with the Utah Sports Academy, a nonprofit organization that operates the Tooele and Stansbury Park Junior Jazz program, due to last year's unpaid bill.
District leaders say they didn't want to end ties, but the youth basketball organization couldn't pay its bill of $33,390 from last season. That money would have covered custodial staff and usage fees on the district's campuses.
Superintendent Terry Linares said, "They've been very good. We've done business with that same group for 12 years, and they've always paid on time."
Linares said the fees did go up this year. She hopes the students can play in other leagues, and the school board's hands are tied. "It's not the district's league, and so, if the district had someone else step forward, we would work with them to operate so that students have those opportunities," she said.
Eighth grade Junior Jazz player Jocelyn Duncan said, "It's kind of a bummer because I like to play basketball and there aren't really any other places to play."
"We certainly understand the need for youth, but we also understand the debt." Terry Linares
But at Tooele High School, basketball coach Ray Brazier feels so strongly about the value of programs like Junior Jazz that he's planning to start Tooele's own program with a similar format. It will fill the gyms for elementary through eighth graders with clinics and league play.
"Whether the kid chooses to go on and play basketball or not, it's vital to communities to have youth programs. And yeah, it will be missed," he said.
The Junior Jazz is the county's largest youth basketball program.
Its leader, Lewis Lofton, told the Tooele Transcript Bulletin that he needs donors and other groups to step up and help finance another season.
KSL has not been able to reach Lofton for further comment.
The Grantsville Junior Jazz program is not affiliated with Utah Sports Academy and therefore is not affected.
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Written by Peter Samore and Richard Piatt.
