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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Thursday, July 22, 1999
Lett may only get four game suspension
IRVING, Texas, July 22, 1999 (AP) — A four-game suspension for Dallas Cowboys
defensive tackle Leon Lett is under consideration by NFL Commissioner Paul
Tagliabue as the player is seeking reinstatement, according to published
reports.
Several sources involved in the process told The Dallas Morning News
in today's editions that Tagliabue is apparently favoring a four-game suspension,
which would make Lett available for the Cowboys' game against the Philadelphia
Eagles on Oct. 10.
Meanwhile, Lett has applied to the National Football League for reinstatement,
the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.
Tagliabue, responding through NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, said "nothing
has been decided" about the duration of Lett's indefinite suspension but
said he would make his decision soon.
A precedent exists. Former Cowboy defensive back Clayton Holmes, who
once found himself in the same stage of the aftercare program that Lett
is in now, received a four-game suspension after one of his slips.
Lett's representatives and Cowboys' officials declined to comment. Lett
was in Alabama with his family and could not be reached for comment by
The Associated Press.
Reports of a suspension first leaked in the days leading up to the April
draft. No one disputed that Lett had slipped and violated the league's
substance abuse policy. Instead, club officials tried to lay the groundwork
for leniency.
On June 4, Lett was suspended indefinitely and placed on the league's
reserved suspended list. It marked the third suspension in the last four
years for the defensive tackle.
The first came in November of 1995 after Lett tested positive for marijuana.
He missed four games. The second came in December of 1996 when he tested
positive for cocaine — resulting in a 16-game suspension served over two
seasons.
That incident placed Lett in Stage Three of the league's substance-abuse
program, which carries an automatic one-year suspension. Tagliabue and
the medical advisor have the latitude to handle succeeding slips in this
stage of the program differently. The severity of the violation, the player's
adherence to the program and how he has responded to the program are other
considerations in determining punishment.
Lett has not been cleared to participate in the Cowboys training camp,
which begins Monday in Wichita Falls.
Rec Department seeks co-ed softball teams
PECOS, July 22, 1999 -- The Reeves County Community Sports and Recreation
Department is continuing to seek players and teams for a co-ed softball
league.
For further information, either call the recreation department at 447-9776
or stop by the department's office in the front lobby of the old Pecos
High School gym.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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