Parent stands by his account in probe

~ Johnson, who wrote a letter to MSHSAA detailing conversations, said he is willing to take a lie detector test.

Among the evidence collected in the Missouri State High School Activities Association's investigation into undue influence on the part of Scott County boys basketball coach David Heeb was a letter written by Bell City resident Melvin Johnson.

In the letter, Johnson described a pair of meetings between he and Heeb where the coach tried to persuade Johnson to move his family back to the Scott County Central school district.

"Those conversations took place," Johnson said recently, responding to allegations of a conspiracy in a lawsuit filed by Heeb earlier this month in Stoddard County Circuit Court.

No dates have been set for any court action on the suit, which was distributed to involved parties last week.

In April, MSHSAA found that Heeb violated the association's by-laws pertaining to undue influence and suspended him from coaching or attending games for the second semester of the 2006-07 school year, including the playoffs. He also cannot organize open gyms during what is currently a three-year probationary program for Scott County Central.

Heeb led Scott County Central, his alma mater, into the Class 1 sectional last year in his first season at the helm. That followed five seasons in which Heeb coached at Bell City, where his teams won two state titles and a final four appearance in his final season there, 2004-05.

That suspension, which was upheld in June by MSHSAA's board of directors, has led to a petition recently filed on behalf of Heeb in the Stoddard County Circuit Court. Heeb is suing Bell City individually and as a representative of MSHSAA.

Heeb is seeking damages and alleging coercion and conspiracy by parties related to Bell City, including Johnson.

But Johnson stands by his accounts.

Johnson went a step further to convey his conviction that he is telling the truth.

"I want to take a lie detector test," Johnson stated. "I want to get the truth out to the people."

Included among the allegations in the petition was that Bell City basketball coach Brian Brandtner, Johnson, MSHSAA Assistant Executive Director George Blase and others conspired to agree on a course of action which would lead to Heeb being investigated, sanctioned and eventually barred from coaching at Scott County Central.

Johnson denied any allegations of being involved in a conspiracy.

"If they're saying I helped in conspiring against [Heeb], I didn't," he said.

The Bell City R-2 School District is listed as a defendant on the petition. Bell City Superintendent Rhonda Niemczyk said she could not comment on the issue at this time.