ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 20, 1996 TAG: 9611200078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: RUSTBURG
SOURCE: Associated Press
The mother of one youth football league cheerleader was found guilty Tuesday of shoving, punching and ripping the wig off another cheerleader's mom during a September practice.
Karen Reamey was fined $2 plus nearly $50 in court costs, but she immediately appealed the misdemeanor assault and battery conviction to Campbell County Circuit Court.
General District Judge J.C. Crumbley III said he found Reamey guilty because she did the first offensive touching in the Sept. 19 fisticuffs with Darlene Foster Berryman outside Rustburg Middle School.
An identical misdemeanor charge against Berryman was dismissed.
The fight arose from an argument over a $5 fee the children were expected to pay for snacks after cheerleading practice at the Rustburg Youth Football Association. Berryman, who was a team mom for the cheerleaders, told Reamey's daughter she could not have a snack because she had not paid the fee.
Reamey, a member of the league's homecoming committee, rushed across the football practice field and ``told Ms. Berryman to keep her [expletive] hands off my child,'' said Susan Walton, an assistant Campbell County prosecutor.
``It wasn't the money donation to me. What mattered the most was the woman put her hand on my child in a manner I was not comfortable with,'' Reamey said. ``I felt like I was protecting my child.''
Berryman testified Tuesday that Reamey stuck her finger in her face and began cursing. ``I told her to get her [expletive] finger out of my face.
``Ms. Reamey pushed me and hit me, and I began to fight back. Then she pulled off my wig and hit me again, and my glasses ... cut my face.''
The practice stopped as the women fought in front of the children and other parents.
Both women charged each other with assault and battery, and both wanted to drop the charges before the trial began Tuesday, Walton said. But Berryman chose to proceed because she did not want to pay the court costs each woman would have had to pay had they dropped the charges, Walton said.
Reamey's appeal is set Jan.15.
Both women were stripped of their positions by league officials following the incident.
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB