In my mind, the school made a major error innot suspending these three allegedperpetrators, says Robert Kelly, an attorneyfor two victims. . A perfect example would be a 13-year-old Georgia student riding a school bus received a wedgie during a school hazing incident so painful that his mother took him to the emergency room. "He was laying in bed with a big butcher knife in his hand 'cause he was scared. Touring the world with friends one mile and pub at a time; ut austin undergraduate majors Newsletter . CNN. "He was waiting for them [the coaches] to come in and save him, but no one came," says Carol's husband, Vinny. On 10/22, the Mepham varsity football team won their home conference game against South Side (Rockville Centre, NY) by a score of 49-18. Anyone can read what you share. The Mepham-Garden City football game this week could be a juicy one. The boy, wearing a regulation backward baseball cap,is standing at the schools west entrance. Anotherparent, Jim Rullo, delivers a prepared statement onbehalf of the victims families. ''Despite these warnings and policies, the players all expected hazing to take place in one form or another at the camp,'' the report said. The problem was with thekidsand with the parents who brought them upthat way., Sothe parents. Research shows that 70% of kids drop out of sports for many reasons and not making the team is one. He was dyingto play for the Pirateshed gotten AmosZereoues autograph when Zereoue visited hisjunior high. I ask. Sofia was sent to a boot camp, and Carney was sent to a juvenile detention center. The coaches would have to be everywhere at thesame time, says Dave Hill. Everything Everywhere All at Once has won in every category they were nominated for. Go to the back of theline.. High school coaches should not be required to give equal playing time to all players who make the team. ", Are they lying? Wesley?Wesley was a nasty rat bastard! Michelle Yeoh Promises No Swearing, Only Tears During Best Lead Performance Win. My first reason I believe athletes with bad grades shouldnt play sports, For years, the use of performance-enhancing drugs has haunted all levels of sport, baseball taking the majority of the publicity. I'm grabbing all the medication out of my cabinet and looking for everything that I think he's gonna hurt himself. (CNN) -- Five football coaches at a Long Island high school lost their jobs Wednesday night in fallout from an alleged . Five football coaches at the center of the Mepham High School sexual abuse scandal will not be allowed to coach the team next year, the Bellmore-Merrick school board said on Wednesday. "He said to him, 'Don't even think of sleeping at football camp. He taught us not to run away from ourproblems., How old were these kids, 16, 17? saysAndrew Longaro. Travis Barkers Finger Is Now the Enema of Blink-182 Fans. What went wrong? Try as they might to rid themselves of it, students, parents and other residents are finding that the incident is now woven into the fabric of life here. What I know about the Berger incident isit did not involve hazing. We're in education because we love kids.". In this case the youth should be tried as adults because of the severity of the incident and the emotional and physical effect that it had on the victim, It was six o 'clock at the Friendswood junior high mustang field I was playing strong safety and I had to cover the extra receiver they brought out by the snap I was already beating my man and the next thing I know the ball was sailing my way straight to me. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Canadian teacher with size-Z prosthetic breasts placed on paid leave, Buster Murdaugh got 'very drunk' with dad 2 months after mom, brother murdered: source, I'm a professional cleaner ditch these 4 household products immediately, Shoeless Ariana Madix awkwardly tries to avoid cheating Tom Sandoval, Prince Harry was scared to lose Meghan Markle after fight that led to therapy, Prince Harry says psychedelics are fundamental part of his life, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant allegedly flashes gun at a strip club, Tom Sizemore And The Dangerous Burden of Desperation, Tom Sandoval, Raquel Leviss planned to tell Ariana Madix about affair. A pack of teenagers congregates across the street from Mepham High School, smoking their . Instead, thevictims were laughed at in the halls, calledfaggot and broomstick boy.The superintendent, Thomas Caramore, shielded theschool from inquiries at first. They hit his headon the porcelain and he got a concussion. They demanded that the boy be barred from camp but were rebuffed, they said. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Conway could have sentenced the three including Phil Sofia, 17, and Ken Carney, 16 to juvenile jail until they turned 21 or he could have given them probation. "He's victimized because I asked him to do a favor in this. He said, 'Well, your son was just online and saying he can't take it anymore. Most students, the girls say, have not gotten caught up in the anger and recrimination that have divided their parents. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. The crime scene evidence that convicted Alex Murdaugh Gavin Roman broke the state record for most catches in a season during Holy Spirit's 63-34 rivalry win against Atlantic City in Absecon. Berger produced the requiredslip of paper. Heand a group of kids have me surrounded. Diasparra cut a deal and received probation. There were no screams like that.". On 11/4, the Mepham varsity football team won their home playoff game against Elmont Memorial (Elmont, NY) by a score of 14-7. I heard the kidliked it.. Pertzborn and assistant coach Brad Rogeberg were made aware of the initial bullying on July 24, 2022, according to the police report. That was until Berger started practicethe August before his freshman year. False imprisonment. The victims didn't tell us. He strokes his sisters hair withone hand and slides an arm around his brothersshoulders. ''There's no question that they knew hazing had gone on for years, and they allowed it to go on,'' said Robert Kelly, a lawyer for two of the victims. Here's why food advocates are worried they cant afford it. Over the course of five days, their sons were brutally sodomized by their teammates. At first, shock and disbelief prevailed. She says Didden said no twice.Thats when Vic stood up and called Didden aliar. no.". Hed just beat upon peoplehed be walking by andboom! 10/08/2022. Bells toll. I don't have psychic skills. He said his surgery was a success, but he needs time to heal before he can tour again. I cried," says Carol, who asked her friend, Jim Rullo, to make a speech on her behalf. Mepham High School football hazing case tore Long Island apart in 2003. The grand jury criticizes the school district for not providing adequate supervision during the weeklong camp, and says the district should adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward violent behavior. You could just seehe had so much anger in him. "Everybody says we should just know. You may notstart, but youll be on the team.. All the negative attention has galvanized them, they said. (Almost as prevalent is the idea, notconfirmed by police, that the linemans fathercommitted suicide. Not a lot of kids are good enough to play in the top college sports programs in the country. In recent years, the Pirates havent done aswell, losing roughly as many games as theyvewon, but the coach remains a local legendafather figure who welcomes players to his house forbarbecues with his teenage daughters in attendance.Its not surprising, then, that McElroy and theadministration would be the first stop on thewhos-to-blame tour. On October 6, heannounced that that was his intention. I notice when they're injured. "Standing up and giving a 'rah, rah' when my son and the other boys are hurting in this way is so disrespectful. They did not come to help me.Rullo quotes the parent of that child as blamingprincipal John Didden, who did not protect mychild., Four days later, Rullo and two other parents who spokereceive identical profanity-laced letters in the mail,warning that if they keep speaking out, theyllalso get the broomstick treatment. Trending News We got all new things to bring to pack. In an earlier proceeding, the three attackers, charged as juveniles, admitted to the assaults. Theres fury and finger-pointingandopportunityon all sides in this corner of LongIsland. They speak ofbroomsticks, pinecones, and golf balls. What about, say, having your head flushed in a toilet? The kid that did it, I feel so bad forhim, the boy says. Life goes on in Bellmore, despite the sex-abuse scandal involving members of the high school football team that has roiled this Long Island community. Who doyou think you are? said the lineman, accordingto Reichsteins son. "Yeah," says Cannestro. "He [my son] called several times. Despite the linemans threats, noone could have anticipated what happened atcamp, Caramore told parents in a speech, adding thatwhatever happened wasnt hazing:None of us in Bellmore-Merrick has used thatterm to define what is, in fact, a brutalcrime., The hazing-or-not debate is a key factor in the legalbattles to come. I want to thank my assistant coach who is the baseball expert. I went to summerschool with them. The lineman, he says,was always starting fights. The football players were unfairly penalized by the sanctions that were placed on the team. Kristina and Vic Reichstein stand upand say their son, a freshman, was threatened by thelineman during practice in July and August. His broad shoulders are slumpedand trembling as he walks the coffin down the aisle ofSaint Barnabas Church in Bellmore, Long Island. This was a sexual attack!, Are we gonna argue about this? MERRICK, N.Y. On a crisp autumn night, hundreds packed a school auditorium, but not for a pep rally, for Mepham High School's football season was canceled before it even began. Also, sleep-away sports camps will no longer be authorized by the school district, Billig said. According to the nine-page report, the culture of hazing and a lack of supervision and safeguards to protect students led to the sexual assaults that occurred in August while Mepham's varsity and junior varsity teams prepared for the season at a camp in Wayne County, Pa. This guysstill the head coach., Its a fact of lifein Bellmore and Merrick that the farther south you go,the more money youll find. The Bellmore-Merrick school boards decision not to rehire the coaches next year has taken a stake and driven it right through the heart of the community again, said head coach Kevin McElroy. Since returning from camp, he has barely slept. My father was agreat man, he begins, and tells a story of howhis dad once saw a crashed, burning car, pulled overand ran to help, and discovered that the guy trappedin the passengers seat was a friend. Also it brings down students self esteem. In the southern reachesof Long Island, nestled between the bucolic SouthernState Parkway and the fast-food joints and cardealerships on Sunrise Highway, the four small townsof Bellmore, North Bellmore, Merrick, and NorthMerrick make up a solid community of working- andmiddle-class families. How could we have known?". Watch this highlight video of the Mepham (North Bellmore, NY) football team in its game Recap: Mepham vs. South Side 2022 on Oct 22, 2022. These towns lost seventeenpeople in the World Trade Center attacks.Theyre places whose kids go to college locallyand then settle here and raise families. What we're saying is, I notice when somebody's limping. It was horrible. It stated that, at the camp,. some by the crimes, others by the cancellation of the season. On 11/11, the Mepham varsity football team won their neutral playoff game against Long Beach (NY) by a score of 14-0. That, thelineman says, is the kind of man his father was. Including dishwasher-safe Japanese porcelain, two sets of French-made knives, and a sleek kettle. On 10/29, the Mepham varsity football team won their away conference game against Sewanhaka (Floral Park, NY) by a score of 27-12. A problem arises though once try outs are over and the team is announced. He said no," recalls Carol. Regardless, I was all about making them the best well-rounded people before they head into the cruel world. Andbecause we were the group with Amos, our team isetched in his memory.. A grand jury report later described how they used duct tape to pull off their children's pubic hair, how they forced them and another boy they sodomized to kick each other in the groin, and then threatened to beat and kill all of them if they told anybody. Soon after the first revelations of the attacks, the Reichsteins reached out to newspapers and television stations with their story. A Pennsylvania judge imposed strong penalties yesterday on two teens who sexually abused younger players at a high school football camp sentencing one to a military-style boot camp and the other to a juvenile detention center. School administrators, however, let him get on the bus anyway. The issue of blame, however, continues to polarize parents and promises to loom larger as the criminal case moves ahead. The parents are organizing to demand that the school administration be held accountable for allowing the incident to occur, they said. He's back home on Long Island. During the first day of camp, the hazing was minor, such as one player smearing gel and powder into another's hair. McElroy and his coaching staff claim they had no responsibility for a vicious alleged hazing incident at a training camp in Pennsylvania in August. Some kids even approach them and suggestthat the time has come to let bygones be bygones.Their logic is biblicalan eye for an eye.The linemans father died! Im theprincipal, he said, and Illdecide who can go on the trip. The lineman wasallowed to go to camp. Hasnt hebeen through enough? Broomsticks dipped in mineral ice, a kind of liquid heat, golf balls, pine cones and toothbrushes, were all pushed into the boy's rectums. I am 13 years old and I am on the Friendswood junior high C-football team I am a second string slot receiver and starting strong safety and I 'm also a second string strong side linebacker it was our last game of the season,so we really wanted to go out on the win or a record for the season was one way in five losses and one tie,we hadn 't had a great season so we especially wanted to go out on a win. "My son came forward, did something that he did not want to do. 49 - 18 W. All rights reserved. College football players should get paid to play because these players put themselves at risk for injury, college football is a job, not p.e, and it will help players adjust to college socially and economically. His dadsaved his friends life that day. Kids and adults are then forced to take a side on the issue for the good of the school and the safety of the children. When Patty and Jimmy's son came home, he told them he had been sodomized, too. At middle schools, high schools and colleges across the country, everyone is arguing over whether or not students with failing grades should be allowed to play sports. When athletes experience head trauma, they only recover a little, which might end their career early or other times people never recover. When I was in ninth grade, says Lohman,my father died and my mother wanted to move toFlorida. I need to know for medical.' I think they hated me because I introduced the pull-up to their strength and conditioning program. He used to play in the minor leagues and the team loved him because of his dedication to their lives and his credibility at baseball. Perhaps most prominent among the group are Victor and Kristina Reichstein, who have criticized the school's principal, John F. Didden, and the team's head coach, Kevin McElroy, from the beginning. Amos scored 29 touchdowns in hisjunior year and broke all of Long Islandsrushing records. NEW! Some tryouts are not far by any means, in which the coaches pick from not the skill but by the way they know the student. When tryouts begin these individuals hope their skills and abilities will get them recognized by not only the coaches, but the returning players as well. Before the 68 varsity and junior-varsity players left the Long Island communities of Bellmore and Merrick to attend the weeklong camp in Preston Park, Pa., coaches warned the team that hazing would not be tolerated, and spelled out the edict in a note sent home to players' parents. Thepurported ringleader, according to police, was thelineman. That decision ''let down and insulted the victims and their families,'' the report says. No!! A football captain begged for the season to be reinstated, and his pleas were met with thunderous applause. He knows the mainkid, she says. ''People just want to move on,'' said one teenager, sucking on his cigarette. At least 12 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, The Saturday Six: Dental device controversy, scientist's bug find and more, Trump speaks at CPAC after winning straw poll, 3 children killed, 2 others wounded at Texas home, Man charged for alleged involvement in 2 transformer explosions, Nikki Haley slams potential GOP contenders, and Trump and George W. Bush, Duo of 81-year-old women plan to see the world in 80 days, Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant to "take some time away" from the team after allegedly brandishing a gun in a club, Alex Murdaugh trial: What to know about the double murder case, The crime scene evidence that convicted Alex Murdaugh, How a tragic boating crash is connected to the family of Alex Murdaugh, Murdaugh defense team plans to appeal conviction, Husband of woman murdered with an ax convicted 40 years after her death. A captain is anextension of the coaching staff, he says,slipping into present tense to talk about his team.What the coaches dont control, thecaptains control. .component--type-recirculation .item:nth-child(5) { We care about kids. Many have lost sight of the fact that baseball players are not the only athletes that face this life threatening addiction. I should just sit there and go, 'Hmm, he's hazing him.' "He was absolutely screaming. We said, 'Are they hurting you?' It's, like, they're monsters," says Patty. The star lineman towersover most of the other pallbearers. We're going to all the sports stores. Not like Wesley Berger, Vic says.Hes overexposed.. Know what is expected andacceptable. Be responsible. After the coacheswent to sleep in their own cabin, at least threemembers of the team, ages 15, 16, and 17, allegedlyrubbed heat-producing mineral ice on broomsticks,pinecones, and golf balls and used those items topenetrate at least three freshman players while therest of the boys in the cabin all bore witness. We were afraid they would walk away with probation.. Heresisted, and according to his version of events, heremembers a JV coach telling him to roll with it. mepham high school football scandal. Reichstein called Didden, whose reply, according toReichstein, was that there was no hazing at Mepham,because if there were, wed cancelfootball season. (Didden and his attorney didnot return repeated calls.) Bellmore Journal; Life Goes On but Is Altered After School Scandal, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/20/nyregion/bellmore-journal-life-goes-on-but-is-altered-after-school-scandal.html. But the happy boys these parents sent to camp last summer didn't return that way. Thursday, November 6, 2003 Posted: 1537 GMT (11:37 PM HKT) Story Tools. High schools on Long Island have led a crackdown on rough-housing since the 2003 Mepham High School football training camp hazing scandal rocked the nation. "He was after my son morning, noon, and night. Theres a no-cut policy. says McElroy. Adds Jesse: Mepham kids say,Youre from Kennedy, and punch us.Theyre the bully school, the physical school.Even in middle school, we knew which kids were goingto Mepham and which to Kennedy.. But it wasn't until Jan. 11, after a possible sexual assault that occurred the previous week, that the high school's school resource officer, Kim Wood, was made aware of the "ongoing harassment behavior toward a student/member of the varsity football team . The group, which calls itself Mepham Parents 4 Change, consists of eight families, but says it is quickly gathering support. West Jersey Football League all-stars: United Division, 2022. Mepham was known mainlyfor its wrestling program until Coach Mac arrived in1986. "I assumed he was homesick, so I said, 'Stick it out. Offscreen, he was one himself. Oh, Loosey! Football is important to the high school experience and different familys history around the world. Did you know that depending on the sport, students who play sports in college most likely have less than a 2% chance of becoming professional athletes? PARLIN, N.J. - The investigation at a New Jersey prep football powerhouse that has led to sex crime charges against seven teens prompted an almost unheard-of . McElroy was practically a secondfather to Zereoue when the running back moved to ahome for wayward boys in Bellmorearriving, toMephams good fortune, at the start of hishigh-school career. Kevin McElroy, the man in charge of the football camp and Mepham High School's head coach, has remained silent for the last six months. One was sent to a boot camp, another to a juvenile treatment facility and the third returned home on probation. When parents came to an emergency meeting on September16 with the principal and superintendent, they heardnot mea culpas but accusations. Rick Scott Is Unfortunately Right About Novak Djokovic. One student lifts up another and dumps him, legs flailing, in a bush. He was one of four captains chosen by CoachMac his senior season. So, no., But, you know, says McDermott, ifthey wanted to do it? As we mentioned earlier, the freshmans mother mentioned to coach McElroy the fact that the upperclassman was calling her son those insulting names. But I justgot off the phone with the mother of one of thevictims, and she told me that were her bestadvocate. Were doing this so they donthave to., In July, when Reichsteins son, an incomingfreshman, showed up for football practice, a junior onthe teamthe linemanstarted calling himand some of the other boys pussy,faggot, and cocksucker.Reichstein went to McElroy.