Penn State and now Syracuse?

<p>Syracuse</a> police investigating Bernie Fine about molesting boy in 1980s - ESPN</p>

<p>apparently the Citadel in south carolina also has an investigation going on…it’s disgusting what these coaches do</p>

<p>This is such a shame. We trust our children with these people/coaches and assume that they have the best intentions and our children’s best interests at heart. And then for these poor families to have to go through this, and the victims. Oh it just makes me so mad. My heart goes out to all of these kids.</p>

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<p>As if coaches are the only profession to ever get in trouble for this…</p>

<p>And all of the sudden people are coming out of the wood-work claiming to having been molested, raped, etc by coaches. </p>

<p>This guy lost his job already this week over an accusation. The lady didn’t report it to the police; she was on national TV. [Clayton</a> coach is accused of abuse in 1984 at Normandy High](<a href=“http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/clayton-coach-is-accused-of-abuse-in-at-normandy-high/article_aa71c2c3-1d2e-5ff3-b2e2-8e74b8f453a4.html]Clayton”>Clayton coach is accused of abuse in 1984 at Normandy High)</p>

<p>There was a local guy who was recently found not guilty of criminal sexual assault and at least one other related charge. I’ll bet he lost his job because he was accused of these crimes…</p>

<p>Understandably, it’s not just coaches (it could be teachers, priests, etc.). I think the above poster mentioned coaches as this is the context of this discussion. I think the disgust goes for anyone in a position of authority over a child, and in a position of trust. It just happens to be that coaches are in the spotlight right now, just as priests have been in the past. People also may be “coming out of the woodwork” now as they have been scared to go up against a powerful person/organization in the past, but with the Penn State case they see that their voice will be heard.</p>

<p>Hop scout, most victims are children and don’t report it, they hide it then when the abuse stops because they abuser movesnon or the victim gets away from situation, and often never tell anyone, ever. Now, when they see people talking and coming forward, and now as adults who had beEn traumatized as children feel safe enough to come forward they do.</p>

<p>Also, many victims feel guilt that they didn’t say something at the time or they will make parents parents feel horrible for not knowing…I know, I had a step father who molested me</p>

<p>I work in the alcohol/drug treatment field. We have many women’s treatment programs that observe that 70-80% of women in the program say they were raped or sexually assaulted as children. We don’t have any idea about the men’s programs, as it is very rare that they are even asked. But I have my suspicions.</p>

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<p>Jerry? Is that you?</p>

<p>^^ Good one, Donna.</p>

<p>hops, there are many reasons that victims don’t report these crimes, and one of them is that they fear the reaction of people like you. They fear – in many cases, KNOW – they won’t be believed. If there’s a silver lining to all of this, it’s that those victims who have suffered in silence might now see justice done to their attackers. More power to them.</p>

<p>Many of you posters are the reason why people and entire schools are tarnished. You make assumptions on ALLEGATIONS. Wait and see how this plays out. And btw, this has been investigated before, with unsubstantiated evidence. That is a fact.</p>

<p>andybatts~^^^10 victims and counting^^^ And eyewitnesses to go with them. And we are not the reason Penn State is tarnished. They are the reason they are tarnished, because people high ranking in their organization chose to look the other way and protect a pedophile. (That is Penn State’s “investigation”). These claims have NOT been investigated by any law enforcement agency until now - that is a fact. If these claims are only unfounded allegations, then why has Penn State already fired their President, Athletic Director, and Paterno? We all know how this is going to play out.</p>

<p>Must have had some confusion. I was talking about Syracuse. Penn State is in the wrong I agree on that.</p>

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<p>Yep. We all knew that Casey Anthony would be found guilty too. We all knew OJ would be convicted as well. </p>

<p>Maybe we should let the system do its job before we convict somebody…</p>

<p>It was investigated and theninvestigstors said there was no witnesses or corraberation. Gee, thats rare in assault on children cases. The abusers are sadly smart.</p>

<p>Seahorse - so what are you saying?</p>

<p>There’s a difference with Casey and OJ - they killed the only eyewitnesses. There are witnesses that are alive and talking in the Sandusky case. So it will no doubt have a different outcome. You can’t compare apples to oranges.</p>

<p>I think the SU and PSU cases are looking like apples to oranges as well. Does anyone else think there’s something very odd with the story of the guy accusing Fine? First, Davis claims this “relationship” continued until age 27?! Why is this is the 3rd time he’s shopped these allegations around over the past decade and not one shred of evidence nor one person who knows Fine can be found who believes, much less corroborates it, including every one of the witnesses that Mr. Davis named? Apparently both ESPN and the local papers refused to run with the story years ago as did the local police department and the University, after a 4-month investigation. God knows, ESPN’s standards are not that high! Then, of course, there’s the former SU manager who says that he was Fine’s hotelmate on the road trips and Boeheim’s recollection that the ball boy was much older, around 18, when he went on trips to babysit Fine’s kids at the tournaments. Fine had contact with a lot of kids over the years and yet no one who isn’t related to Mr. Davis has come forth with a complaint of any inappropriate behavior? Other young people who knew him are posting that Fine was wonderful and helpful to them, not weird or perverted, whereas there was a lot of “smoke” in Sandusky’s past. </p>

<p>Fine’s vehement denials over the years, and both Fine’s and SU’s consistent willingness to initiate/cooperate with investigations, seem to contrast rather sharply against the Penn State and Sandusky debacle. SU launched their own investigation in 2005 after learning that the Syracuse police declined to and it seems they hired an outside firm to look into the matter then. I’m not getting the part about the DA relaunching an investigation into a crime that he couldn’t prosecute at this point anyway, but at least there will be an independent set of eyes on the investigation. </p>

<p>If Davis’ story is true, I hope he can get help and I hope that SU and the DA can find some evidence to terminate Bernie Fine. If not, it’s possible that a good man may have had his life turned upside down in a very public way for nothing.</p>

<p>sk8- I have to be honest I am not seeing the difference in what information we know. I am seeing a difference in peoples reaction though.</p>

<p>The chancellor said a man contacted the school in 2005 about allegations he had previously reported to police of abuse in the 1980s and 1990s, but that police had declined to pursue it because the statute of limitations had expired.</p>

<p>She said the school conducted its own four-month investigation at that time, including interviews with people the accuser said would support his allegations, but all of them “denied any knowledge of wrongful conduct” by Fine.</p>

<p>Syracuse police spokesman Tom Connellan says the university did not contact police in 2005.</p>

<p>In an email to The Associated Press, Kevin Quinn, the school’s senior vice president for public affairs, said that when the school learned of the allegations in 2005, “it had already been reported to the Syracuse City Police and was already addressed within the criminal justice process.”</p>

<p>“Therefore, the police would have notified the District Attorney’s Office if appropriate under the circumstances. Nevertheless, we immediately launched our own investigation of our employee to determine the facts. If that investigation had revealed any evidence or corroboration of the allegations or any criminal conduct, we would have reported it to the authorities immediately.”</p>

<p>Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick has vowed to conduct a complete investigation. He was out of town, and the AP was unable to reach him for comment.</p>

<p>Fitzpatrick told The Post-Standard of Syracuse that prosecutors were never notified when Syracuse police were told of the complaints in 2002 or 2003 and when the university conducted its own investigation in 2005.</p>