Bulletin Board v293

Boy ‘abused with a dog’ by Army recruits-inquiry — Senior recruits at an army apprentice school used a dog to abuse a boy who was training to join the Army Band, a national inquiry has heard. The abuse survivor, given the pseudonym CJU, told a royal commission hearing on Friday he had spent 38 years carrying the burden of his abuse. ‘Not only was I raped by my seniors and by staff at Balcombe (a Victoria-based school) who I thought I could trust, I was mentally abused with a dog, the lowest of the low, bestiality,’ he said.

Britain’s worst pedophiles convicted of historic abuse of young boy — Ex-Navy chief Douglas Slade, 74, and racing driver Christopher Skeaping, 71, were members of the notorious Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE). The pro-paedophile activist network openly campaigned for legal sex between adults and children in the 1970s and 80s, and wanted the age of consent to be axed or lowered. Twisted supporters of the group – which Jimmy Savile has been linked to – shared obscene material and advice with fellow deviants.

Ex-altar boy who spoke out about being sexually abused by priest found hanged in home — A Pennsylvania man who spoke out against clergy abuse after publicly identifying himself as a victim of a predator priest has killed himself, authorities said. Brian Gergely, 46, was found hanged in his home in Ebensburg on Friday, Cambria County Coroner Jeffrey Lees told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Gergely went public in 2003 while suing Monsignor Francis McCaa and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, saying he was abused as a 10-year-old altar boy.

Penn State settlements covered 1971 Sandusky abuse claim

I wrote about the recent court filings that claimed Joe Paterno knew about Jerry Sandusky abusing boys as far back as 1976. It appears the claims of abuse go back further:

Penn State’s legal settlements with Jerry Sandusky’s accusers cover alleged abuse dating to 1971, which was 40 years before his arrest, the university said Sunday, providing the first confirmation of the time frame of abuse claims that have led to big payouts.

The disclosure came as Penn State President Eric Barron decried newly revealed allegations that former football coach Joe Paterno was told in 1976 that Sandusky had sexually abused a child and that two assistant coaches witnessed either inappropriate or sexual contact in the late 1980s. Paterno, who died in 2012, had said the first time he had received a complaint against Sandusky was in 2001.

Barron said the accusations were unsubstantiated, and suggested that the university is being subjected unfairly to what he called rumor and innuendo.

Responding to questions about the president’s statement and claims against the school, university spokesman Lawrence Lokman told The Associated Press he could confirm that the earliest year of alleged abuse covered in Penn State’s settlements is 1971.

Sandusky graduated from Penn State in 1965 and returned as a full-time defensive coach in 1969.

I suspect the allegations will go back further than the 1970s. It appears that Sandusky was a prolific serial rapist, and it is unlikely he began abusing boys after he graduated from Penn State. 

Bulletin Board v237

Breaking the stigma surrounding male rape — South Africa’s rape statistics are among the highest in the world. Most interventions to reduce these figures focus on female survivors. Matrix Men, an organisation that supports male rape survivors, says the stigma surrounding this crime makes it difficult to obtain reliable statistics. Activists believe as many as one in six men will in their lifetime suffer sexual abuse – and say men should start talking about it.

Ex-Big Brothers volunteer seeks to overturn sex abuse conviction — The judge who heard the child sexual abuse case against a McHenry County Big Brothers volunteer should not have allowed testimony alleging the man committed inappropriate acts decades ago, his attorney argued Thursday in appellate court. Attorney Doug Johnson asked a 2nd District appeals panel in Elgin to throw out the conviction of Leonard Puccini, 54, a Bull Valley man who was found guilty last year of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy in 2009 whom he was mentoring through the Big Brothers.

‘I was raped at age 14 but told nobody for 28 years’ says client of new men’s counselling group — A FATHER-of-two has told of the difference a new rape counselling service specifically for men could make for victims. Upper Heyford-based Clean Slate launched its Adult Rape Outreach Service (AMOS) and Talking Young Men service (TYM) on Monday, with the help of £9,500 National Lottery funding. AMOS will provide counselling, help and advice to men over 16 and TYM will offer the same service to boys between age nine and 16.

In the mind of Dottie Sandusky

Matt Lauer interviewed Dottie Sandusky Wednesday on the TODAY show. Dottie maintained that her husband Jerry Sandusky is innocent. A jury convicted Sandusky on 45 counts of sexual abuse in 2012. Dottie testified at trial that she never witnessed or heard any abuse occurring in her home, and held to that position during the interview:

“Do I believe him?’’ she told Matt Lauer. “I definitely believe him. Because if I didn’t believe him, when I testified at trial, I could have not said what I said. I would have had to tell the truth.”

She believes the victims’ financial gain was at play.

“I think it was, they were manipulated, and they saw money,’’ she said. “Once lawyers came into the case, they said there was money.”

She also challenged the notion that she was a complicit, weak spouse manipulated by a strong-willed pedophile:

“I’m not a weak spouse,” she replied. “As you know…they call me ‘Sarge’ because Jerry said I kept everybody in line. If they want to say that, let them say that. I know who I am. And I know who Jerry is. And I know he did not do the horrible crimes that he’s convicted of.”

Bulletin Board v218

Brave Worcester man who was raped speaks out — A COURAGEOUS father has spoken of his rape ordeal in the hope other male survivors of sex attacks will come forward. Pete Shirley, of Bromyard Road, St John’s, Worcester, refuses to let the attack destroy him and hopes that by waiving his legal right to anonymity he will encourage other men to report rape.

CAPS offering Male Survivors therapeutic support group this spring — Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Penn State is offering a group this spring for male students who have had unwanted, abusive or confusing sexual experiences at some point in their lives, which may still be affecting them.

Editorial: The war on young boys — The Obama Administration, through Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and U S. Attorney general Eric Holder, have issued new guidelines designed to end or at least restrict “zero tolerance” disciplinary policies in schools.

Bulletin Board v202

Abused foster teen who hung hImself “wanted to be white” — Sexually-abused as a child and shunned by the education system, a teenage foster boy was driven to take his own life. Alex Kelly, 15, was found on the floor of his cell at Cookham Wood Youth Offending Institution, Kent, with trainer laces tied around his neck, after hanging himself, on January 24 2012. Pronounced dead the following day, Kelly was serving a ten month sentence for theft and burglary from a vehicle.

Abuse victim tells how he helped snare perverted teacher — A MAN who was abused by his teacher as a child says it was his own son who inspired him to pursue justice. The man, now in his 30s, was targeted by perverted teacher Nicholas Quest. He kept quiet about the abuse he suffered until he started looking at schools for his five-year-old boy, and then decided he could not stay silent.

Herts police launch campaign for male rape victims to come forward — Herts Constabulary launched a campaign this week encouraging victims to access the specialist support that exists for them. The campaign, called Operation Fortitude, is being run by the county’s community safety unit – which brings together professionals from the police and county council – and will see posters put up across the county and business cards available to take away.

Bulletin Board v200

3 ex-Penn State officials set to go before judge — It was late at night on Feb. 27, 2001, and Penn State’s then-president, Graham Spanier, one of academia’s most prominent administrators, typed a brief email to two other top administrators as they debated how to respond to a thorny situation. He was, he wrote, supportive of the athletic director’s proposed approach. “The only downside for us is if the message isn’t `heard’ and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it,” Spanier wrote.

The broken dialogue on men’s rights — Never mind the “war on women:” According to growing numbers of bloggers, activists, and authors — some of them women — it’s males in modern Western society who are under siege and whose rights need defending. Is this the next frontier for gender justice, or a woman-hating backlash? Men’s advocacy raises important and worthy issues that often draw unfair ridicule. Unfortunately, it is also prone to toxic rhetoric that subverts its valid points and alienates potential supporters.

Celebrated War Veteran and NFL Cheerleader, Megan Welter, Arrested Amid Internet Fame — Megan Welter, the Iraq war vet turned pro-football cheerleader whose inspiring story went viral this week has been arrested on assault charges in Scottsdale, Arizona. Now Welter, who was lauded for her service as a platoon leader and for acing her auditions for the Arizona Cardinals cheerleading squad when she returned home, is at the center of a sordid domestic dispute. And Welter’s mugshot, in which she looks disheveled and drained, has quickly replaced the glammed-up action shot of her cheering in red hot pants and cropped top.

Don’t Be That Feminist! — Attending the opera in Ottawa a few months ago, I had the kind of experience that once galvanized women to speak out against the sexist put-downs that passed for humor in an earlier era. This time, however, the putative humor was at the expense of men. “Please silence anything in your possession that may be annoying to those around you,” said our host, an affable radio personality with Canada’s public broadcaster, “That includes cell phones, other electronic devices, your husband …”