THE LASTEST LINE: WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON DOWN IN SCOTT CITY?

My first reaction upon hearing that Randy White had recently been relieved of his duties as Scott City High girls basketball coach by the district's school board was total shock and disbelief.

White, after all, has built a fine program and I've always known the veteran coach to be about as solid and upstanding a person as there is in area sports circles, quality all the way around. I've rarely heard a person speak a bad word about White, which is quite unusual.

But then it hit me. Hey, this is Scott City. What happened shouldn't have surprised me at all.

Remember, this is the same place that unceremoniously dumped football coach Roy Williams last year -- for no apparent good reason, just like White -- after one highly successful season that saw the Rams reach the state quarterfinals.

And this is the same place that came close to axing boys basketball coach Derek McCord, who has taken a mediocre program and turned it into one of Southeast Missouri's best. If not for a large group of supporters that showed up in his defense at a board meeting two years ago, McCord might have been history.

It all makes little sense, at least on the surface. Now, maybe there have been good reasons for all of these actions, although I doubt it. But the thing is, the school board has never publicly explained why it has made the moves.

Not that the board has to justify its actions to the public, but if it had some good cause for what's been going on, then coming out in the open would certainly help from a public relations standpoint.

Because right now, no matter who I talk to about area high school athletics, people think Scott City is a joke for letting seemingly good coaches and fine people go for no apparent reason.

I can't say that I disagree with them.

* It's great to see Kerry Robinson getting to realize his lifelong dream of playing for the Cardinals, not only because he's a former Southeast Missouri State University baseball standout but also because he's just a class act all the way.

I got to know Kerry well during his days in Cape Girardeau and he's one of the most humble and appreciative young men I've ever met.

By and large, SEMO athletes I've covered over the past 15-plus years have been good people, but Kerry definitely has to rank near the top of the list, if not No. 1.

8 Although it hasn't yet been made official, word has it that next season's SEMO men's basketball schedule will feature a game against the Saint Louis Billikens at the Savvis Center in St. Louis.

The entire 2001-2002 SEMO schedule should be released in the next several weeks.

* Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Jackson High sophomore Kim Anderson, the area's premier girls tennis player who also ranks among the state's better young talents.

Kim was seriously injured in an automobile accident recently. Although she is currently out of danger, she still faces an extremely long and grueling rehabilitation process.

We're all pulling for you, Kim.

* Darin Kinsolving, a standout on the 2000 SEMO baseball team (that set a school record for wins) who spent the latter part of last season playing professionally with the River City (Mo.) Rascals of the Independent Frontier League, was part of a recent trade that sent him to the Chillicothe (Ohio) Paints of the same league.

Another star of that 2000 Indians' team, Phil Warren, played last season with the Paints and figures to be on the squad again when the season opens in late May.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian