I am posting a letter from a parent in Missouri. He or she did not want a name used.
“This is the kind of thing that tears families and small towns apart Mainly because you know all involved and are inter-related with most somehow.
Under the ARkansas (the alleged crimes were said to occur over the missouri state line at a training camp) law, if a child was blood kin in the 4th degree it is incest or domestic violence.
When your little cousins were involved it is harder to deal with it.
Sounds like some smart #@! Teenagers who started out playing tough
guys and let things get out of hand. We sometimes hear dumb people say
that “boys will be boys” kind of thing. People will take sides, no way
around it and no matter what – some will not assume responsibility or
guilt.
It is easier to deny your [child] could do something wrong and make the
little kids [alleged victims] out to be liars, I guess. Unfortunately it comes to a
court case now and lives will be ruined on both the part of the little
ones and the older teens as well… Even worse, the siblings of the accused still have to go to East Carter County [HS]. They have to live out the rest of their school years (in Ellsinore) with shame of what their brothers have [allegedly] done…
I know hazing is outlawed most places but I also know it is alive and
well in most colleges and the kids think it is cool. It is too easy to
get out of hand and sometimes fatal as well!.
I hope the they young boys that were assaulted will over come what has been done to them ; understand that they are innocent of the crimes committed ..perhaps they can take what has happened , turn it into a positive by becoming ambassadors in the fight against hazing..( With out going into detail about what happened to them I still think it will make a difference .)
This [case] should make national news… I hope so… Only in the hopes that it will make an impact on high schools and colleges… How important it is to have classes given to the students about hazing.. (note; Ellsinore did have a policy on hazing but decided to leave it out of the Handbook.. It was on a need-to know-basis… Shame on them!
I want to thank you for having your site…”
A parent of children in East Carter Co. Schools.
