YUMA, AZ – Authorities say a Yuma High School teacher has been arrested in a child pornography case. Yuma police announced Tuesday that 37-year-old Michael A. Cox was booked Tuesday into the Yuma County Adult Detention Facility. He’s being held on suspicion of 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.  READ MORE HERE

Surveillance video of a man arrested and accused of kidnapping and, in one case, sexually assaulting two young girls in Prince George’s County has been released by investigators. The man pictured in the video is identified by Prince George’s County Police officials as 25-year-old Charles Amofa of Chillum. He’s charged with kidnapping, sexual abuse, child abuse and assault in connection with the two alleged incidents.  READ MORE HERE

FBI: 32 most-wanted men for crimes against children

Contact the FBI if you know these men

Fugitive #1 — John J. Hartin is wanted for allegedly abusing two young boys, approximately eight and nine years old, whom he had befriended in the Boston, Massachusetts, area in 1993. After being charged locally with five counts of statutory rape of a child, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Hartin on December 18, 1997, in Boston, Massachusetts, and he was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.  READ MORE HERE

“Just Melvin, Just Evil” is a very hard to find documentary about the tormented family of Melvin Just, a man almost too evil to be believed. In it, they detail their experiences of abuse over decades, at his hands, even admitting to knowing of a murder he committed to keep his crimes quiet.

Category: Education

License: Standard YouTube License

Length: 1 hour 14 minutes

Disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who died in January, is about to be immortalized in a new movie starring Hollywood legend Al Pacino. The Oscar-winning actor has agreed to take on the controversial role in a film based on the New York Times bestselling book Paterno. The movie is still in the early stages of development, but respected Hollywood entertainment blog deadline.com is reporting that it will be shopped around Los Angeles early next week.  READ MORE HERE

The Ohio parents of Olympic gold medalist Tianna Madison have filed a lawsuit against her, saying she falsely spread stories they had been selfish and bullying and cheated her financially causing her bankruptcy. Elyria residents Robert and Jo Ann Madison filed the libel, slander and defamation lawsuit on Thursday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland. They say they’ve been loving, supportive and generous parents. The lawsuit, which also names her husband, John Bartoletta, reportedly says Madison and Bartoletta have repeatedly made false statements since March to the media. READ MORE HERE

Lake City, FL – Gerome Robinson, an 18-year-old Florida man accused of attempting to rape a 13-year-old girl, told police “the devil tried to rape her in my body.” According to Lake City Police, a 13-year-old girl was walking to her grandmother’s house when Robinson approached her and asked if she wanted to “hang out.”  When the girl told Robinson “No,” Robinson responded by pushing the girl into his backyard, stripping naked and then attempting to undress the victim.  READ MORE HERE

A Florida woman was arrested and charged with child abuse for allegedly locking a four-year-old boy inside a filthy kitchen cupboard for hours on end on multiple occasions. Lori Hamilton, 42, was taken into custody on Thursday and is being held without bail in Polk County Jail. According to authorities, Hamilton repeatedly locked the child inside the compartment and screwed it shut to prevent the four-year-old from escaping.  READ MORE HERE

Henrico, VA – Angela Janecka, a 39-year-old Virginia woman has been jailed after she allegedly placed her newborn baby inside a plastic bag and left her for dead inside an apartment complex dryer. According to police, Janecka called her husband at work on August 25 and informed him that she had just delivered a stillborn child at their apartment. She went on to say that medical responders had already been to the couple’s apartment and took the deceased child away.  READ MORE HERE

FOND DU LAC, Wis. — Prosecutors filed criminal charges on Thursday against Richard Lisko and Joel Kennedy Sr., who are suspected of using an attack dog against a teen. Lisko is the dog’s owner, while Kennedy is the victim’s father. Lisko appeared by closed circuit television, seated in a wheelchair to face charges he used his dog to attack a teenager he suspected of stealing from him.  READ MORE HERE

SAN FRANCISCO — Two children allegedly abducted by their father in South San Francisco and whisked out to sea on a sailboat have been safely rescued. Agents with the Coast Guard, FBI and South San Francisco police apprehended the boat in the waters off the Monterey Peninsula, and Christopher Maffei, 43, surrendered. The boat was being navigated by Maffei with his children — Devin, 2, and Brooklyn, 3 — on board.  READ MORE HERE

GARDEN GROVE, CA– A teenager was stabbed and killed during a fight late Friday night with a man in Garden Grove. Garden Grove police officers, responding to a call in the 11600 block of Barclay, discovered that a dispute between a man and some teenagers had escalated into a physical fight, and the man stabbed a 16-year-old boy. The adult has been identified as Jose Gil, a 31-year-old resident of Garden Grove. The juveniles’ identities are not being released.  READ MORE HERE

 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?