• Hazing Deaths Database:
  • Blog
  • Storytelling
  • Bio
  • High School Sexual Hazing Incidents
  • Campus Speaker: Hazing & Binge Drinking
  • Hank Nuwer: selected media coverage
  • World Hazing Incidents
  • “Hazing,” “Sons of the Dawn,” “Legend of Jesse Owens”

Hank Nuwer's Hazing Scholarship Site

Follow me on Social Media

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Friday Night Tykes revisited: football camp allegations: Call Officer Peck if you have info

August 2, 2017 By Hank Nuwer Leave a Comment

Read the whole story here from Trib Live:

Authorities in Somerset County say the Homestead-based Steel Valley Midget Football Association ran a football camp in Laurel Hills State Park last month that allowed and encouraged hazing and physical abuse.

Somerset District Attorney Lisa Lazzari-Strasiser said “Camp Ruffhouse,” which ran for 11- to 14-year-olds from July 7-12, first came to police attention when park-goers reported that an 11-year-old camper was being assaulted along a park road by two older campers. He told officers he was running away from the camp because of abuse from other campers and “mistreatment” by coaches, Lazzari-Strasiser said.

Another camper’s family contacted police after he came home from camp with a black eye and swollen lip, reporting that the younger players were routinely hazed by the older ones.

“Both juveniles report that camp staffers were told about the chronic abuse…but the problems were never addressed,” Lazzari-Strasiser said. “Rather, they report that campers who complained were called snitches, told by coaches to hit their aggressors back, and even punished by being made to run laps or stand in the middle of hitting drills.”

The District Attorney’s Office filed two counts each of endangering the welfare of childen, a third-degree felony, against Steel Valley Midget Football Association Director Aaron Knight, Executive Director Loren Ford and Camp Director/Leader Michael Todd.

The charges were filed with Magisterial District Judge Sandra Stevanus Wednesday. Court documents showed Knight and Todd had been arraigned and released on $75,000 unsecured bonds, but Ford’s paperwork did not yet show his status as of late Wednesday morning.

The District Attorney’s Office noted that the football association wouldn’t give investigators a list of campers, so investigators are asking anyone with information who attended the camp to contact Laurel Hill State Park rangers at 814 445 7725 and ask for Officer Peck.

Filed Under: Hazing News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Contact Inquiries

Hank Nuwer

Correspondence: Hank Nuwer at Hnuwer@hanknuwer.com   Phone number upon request.  Available presentations USA, … Email to book a date.

Sons of the Dawn

Sons of the Dawn: A Basque Odyssey: Hank's novel is for teens 11-18 but also meant to be enjoyed by … Read More

Hazing Deaths Database:

… Read More

Thank you, AFA

New scholarship from Brazil: Hazing at the university and gender violence: a literature integrative review

doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7213/psicolargum.39.103.AO02 Trotes na universidade e violência de gênero: uma revisão integrativa de literatura Hazing at the university and gender violence: a literature integrative review   Novatadas en la universidad y violencia de género: una revisión integradora de la literatura Adriane Roso https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7471-133X Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), adriane.roso@ufsm.br Janine Gudolle de Souza https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6477-4190 […]

A Poland-Union City Love story.

Here is the link. Hank   My wife Gosia earned her Green Card in October 2019. She gave eight-weeks’ notice at her chief accountant job in Poland and shipped what she could to Indiana. “Wait, how did a fellow from Indiana meet a Polish lass,” you may ask? I persuaded Gosia in June of 2015 […]

No charges in Cornell hazing death

New York Post

Archives


Hank Nuwer's Hazing Scholarship Site is proudly powered by WordPress