Excerpt:
At least seven Woodburn High School junior varsity boys basketball players were removed from the team and suspended from school after four freshman players were allegedly subjected to hazing.
The alleged incidents occurred before Christmas, school district Superintendent David Bautista said Thursday.
Bautista did not give details of the specific alleged acts.
The players are from the Woodburn Academy of Art, Science and Technology and from the Wellness, Business & Sports School. They have been suspended since Jan. 14 pending the results of an investigation by school police affiliated with the Woodburn Police Department.
Coach Joel Dunn and his staff are being investigated for potential lack of supervision of the players.
Bautista said a parent reported the alleged actions to an assistant basketball coach.
Bautista described the incidents as involving bullying that resulted in no serious injuries. The Woodburn Independent reported the hazing involved “grabbing and punching victims in the groin area.”
And an excerpt. More go to trial in 2011.
The victims, according to Crown prosecutor Erin Olsen, were asked to choose between a skateboard or a 2-by-4 board as their first instrument of torture. In the process of administering the attack, she said, a co-accused actually cracked the board.
Lethbridge schools have had little success in ending the hazing rituals, court was told – and they have no control of students over the summer, or off their property. Since the attack, Olsen said, some students at the high school have been ostracized for co-operating with police investigation of the assault.
“It’s a very difficult environment for students who spoke to the police,” she said.
Defence lawyer Simon Wood, who argued unsuccessfully for a conditional discharge, told court his client has no prior record, has kept a construction job and continued his Grade 12 classes. The event, he said, was out of character.
He said the accused has also entered guilty pleas on two charges of assault with a weapon, without asking for a trial. While one co-accused has already been sentenced, several more – including several female students – have opted to stand trial later this year.