50-year-old Angela Montgomery of Portland, Oregon was arrested in Murfreesboro, Tennessee for sexually abusing her two children ten years ago. According to the Shreve Port Times, Montgomery’s two children, now a 21 year old man and a 15 year old girl, came to police to report the abuse that took place.  READ MORE HERE

School Sports ~ A Prelude to Bullying?

I know it costs money to run any sports program. What I don’t understand is why all kids do not get to play? Aren’t coaches supposed to be fair? Aren’t they supposed to reward hard work, discipline and coach-ability. When you do all the extras, work on your weaknesses and never cut corners isn’t that supposed to count for something? Shouldn’t your playing time and whether you earn a starting position come down to how hard you work and your ability?

Different kids have different strengths and abilities. Coaches should find those strengths and let all kids play on the team –fairly– for a whole team to succeed. If the coaches won’t play all kids, then why aren’t the parents and kids being told before they sign up? Or, better yet, only recruit the number of team players you actually need. If coaches want to single out kids to play –or made to sit on the bench– then why only recruit the ones you want? They all work hard, they all show up to practice, but they don’t all get to play. That is rude and disrespectful.

If coaches are not willing to support all the kids, perhaps the principal should look at bringing in coaches and an athletic director who will give an equal opportunity to all kids no matter who their parents are, where they are from, or how much they pay the booster club.

You show up for practice, work and train, perform well and then when it comes down to game time, you find yourself sitting on the bench. This almost seems like a form of bullying. To “isolate” these kids and make them sit on the sidelines, watching the other team members play, and made to feel like they’re not “good enough” is unfair and sends an extremely bad message to these kids. Especially when these kids are repeatedly told, “I don’t have to play you at all?!” Really?…

What are these kids suppose to do if the coach is still not playing them even after they work hard at every practice, consistently trying to improve their skills, and follow all the team rules while others break them left and right, or even after they perform magnificently the minute or two they manage to get in during “garbage time” at the very end of the game? In my opinion, at this point they would have every justification in the world to conclude, “WHAT’S THE POINT?” and then stop trying.

As a parent, we have two options to tell our child in this situation: Get more motivated or de-motivated. Emphasizing that they can embrace the challenge of limited playing time by re-dedicating themself to getting faster, stronger and better. In order to do this they must be able to “keep the bigger picture in mind.” The bigger picture is them and the sport in the long run, NOT just this particular season. But, when a child’s self-esteem and confidence has been crushed, giving them this little pep talk probably won’t make much of an impact.

And then to have a select few who are never ONCE pulled from the game only shows favortism. These are sports TEAMS and teamwork should be emphasized and be the primary focus. Coaches are suppose to be professional and, as an adult, shouldn’t they try to instill fairness and good sportsmanship above winning and competition? Maybe if coaches allowed each team player to play the game, alternating fairly, the other things would take care of themselves.

Emphasizing a team atmosphere is crucial to developing a lasting sports program; and even more crucial to helping these kids develop confidence and a positive self-image. Coaches should communicate to each player how important their role is on the team, whatever that role may be. Coaches should reward reliability, loyalty, trustworthiness, the ability to be a team player, and their willingness to give it their all in the normal course of a sports season.

Getting too concerned with things such as who is scoring the points, who is getting the publicity, post-season awards, and/or even college scholarships can make a player forget why they love athletics ~ or possibly even want to quit sports all together.

Maybe we should hire coaches who can look at skill and potential without bias. How can kids succeed when they have adult leaders who are unwilling to teach, give them a chance, and don’t believe in team effort? If we had a teacher in the classroom exclude students, they would be fired. Is it more important to have a winning team than to teach kids to love the sport? This type of behavior is discouraging kids and killing their self-confidence. Coaches who play favorites, or place winning over development and having fun (especially when we are dealing with school sports programs) should not be allowed to coach.

Our school systems today are suppose to instill fair values, good character, and good citizenship. We teach it in our school. We expect it from our kids. Why can’t we expect it of the coaches, athletic directors, or even the teachers and staff, etc.? Would it be so hard to give every kid an equal opportunity to succeed?

Molested Kids Aged 6 And 9

Michael and Michelle Freeman turned themselves in to the police for child abuse on Tuesday after a year long manhunt. The case started when Homeland Security caught a man at LAX with several photographs of an unknown origin. According to ABC News, after digitally deconstructing the photographs the FBI could infer a few things, but not enough to pinpoint their Jane Doe, a woman whose face appeared un-blurred in the photos.  READ MORE HERE

A girl’s death prompts the CPSC to recall thousands of vertical and horizontal blinds

COMMERCE TOWNSHIP, Mich. – The death a two-year-old Commerce Township girl has led to the recall of window blinds made by a Livonia company. The Consumer Product Safety Commission announced Thursday the recall of 139,000 custom-made vertical and 315,000 horizontal blinds made by the company Blind Xpress of Livonia.  Isabela Nagara, 2, was reportedly strangled in the loop of a vertical blind cord that was not attached to the wall or floor in 2009. READ MORE HERE

Tragic – Boy, 6, Killed In Home Invasion After Attempting To Protect Sister From Being Raped

Six year old Dominick Andujar was allegedly stabbed to death by Osvaldo Rivera, 31, as he attempted to stop the rape of his sister, whose throat was also cut. Rivera evaded capture for a few hours, allegedly having help from his mother, but was found around 3pm hiding in the 3200 block of East River Road. Rivera admitted to smoking “wet” a combination of PCP and marijuana prior to the incident. READ MORE HERE

HARRISBURG — Penn State’s costs for legal fees, consultants and public relations firms hired to help deal with the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal have reached nearly $17 million, the university said in an online report that it updates regularly. The university said it has spent almost $16.8 million through June 30. Nearly $10 million of that went to seven firms for what Penn State calls internal investigation and crisis communications, including a report by former FBI director Louis Freeh, who led the school’s internal investigation in the scandal and said that former coach Joe Paterno and three former school officials concealed allegations against Sandusky. Those conclusions are firmly denied by the Paterno family and the officials.   READ MORE HERE

HELP BLOCK THIS CHILD RAPIST/MURDERER FROM BEING PAROLED!
Steven Galloway is serving a 15-year to 40-year sentence for the offenses of involuntary manslaughter, rape and child endangerment. On October 25, 1990 Steven Galloway’s wife returned home and found her four-month-old daughter Hilary unresponsive in a car seat in the couple’s home. The only person she had been with that day was her father, Steven Galloway. Hilary’s mother rushed her to the hospital. Hilary never regained consciousness and passed away three days later. It was determined Hilary died from being shaken so hard her brain swelled at hemorrhaged, The medical and autopsy reports also showed that both Hilary’s legs had been broken at the knee on two separate occasions seven to 14 days prior to her murder.  READ MORE & SUBMIT YOUR BLOCK REQUEST HERE

A coalition of children’s charities has accused the Government of making its consultation on blocking online pornography deliberately complicated. Ministers are asking parents and children’s organizations for their views on whether to impose tougher controls to protect youngsters from seeing hardcore pornography on the internet. The consultation asks people if they would like to see an ‘opt-in’ system or a less stringent solution, known as ‘active choice’.  READ MORE HERE

If you are reading this, a person you care about has probably been a victim of sexual assault. Because you care about this person, you may experience feelings that may be similar to those of the person who has been assaulted. These feelings may include anger, shock, helplessness, grief, and, perhaps, even guilt. You will never know exactly how a victim feels about the assault, but you can listen and be supportive. This brochure will assist you in helping the victim cope with the trauma of the assault, as well as assist you with your own trauma related to the assault.  READ MORE HERE

A Louisville Sunday school teacher for 25 years, “W.B.” was appalled when he found out he might be listed on Kentucky’s Central Registry of substantiated child abusers because of an accusation for which he was never charged, says his lawyer, J. Fox DeMoisey.W.B. feared that being listed would cost him his teaching post — and worse, his reputation, DeMoisey said. So W.B. skipped the normal appeals process and sued, saying he deserved to have his case heard by a jury.  READ MORE HERE

9-YO Girl Witnessed, Survived Attack

Three generations of a single family were murdered in their house during a stabbing rampage that killed a grandmother, a mother and a 14-year-old boy.  The boy’s 9-year-old sister watched at least one of the horrific murders in the home in suburban Nashville, Tennessee. She ran out of the house to get help, though the rest of her family was already dead when she returned.  Police have arrested a neighbor, Craig Garber, who was still at the crime scene when officers arrived.  READ MORE HERE

Police have arrested a man accused of stabbing to death a six-year-old boy and slashing his sister’s throat as they slept in Camden, New Jersey, over the weekend. Jason Laughlin, a spokesman for the Camden County prosecutor’s office, said 31-year-old Osvaldo Rivera, of Camden, was arrested Sunday afternoon and charged with murder and attempted murder. Rivera is currently in jail awaiting arraignment. READ MORE HERE

Elementary school teacher Ms. Fergin-Mavaega’s past came back to haunt her when parents held a meeting upon learning the teacher was accused of harming a student at her former school. Fergin-Mavaega, 51, was transferred from her previous job mid year from Bret Harte to Sherman Elementary, where parents were not all to pleased upon finding out the teacher had been transferred due to allegedly pushing a student’s head into a desk.  READ MORE HERE

14-month-old, Taquan Willis, was viciously beaten to death by a 9-year-old boy in his own home. According to the Daily Mail, at the time of the attack, Taquan’s two brothers, ages 2 and 3, and a friend of his mother’s, her boyfriend, a 12-year-old boy and the 9-year-old who committed the act were are staying at the house.  READ MORE HERE