wildstangs
07-27-2007, 09:54 PM
3 Wylie wrestlers accused of hazing
School investigating student's assault report at Oklahoma camp
08:37 PM CDT on Friday, July 27, 2007
By STACI HUPP / The Dallas Morning News
shupp@dallasnews.com
Three Wylie High School wrestlers face out-of-school suspension or other punishment for allegedly hazing and assaulting underclassmen at a college wrestling camp earlier this month, school officials said Friday.
The Wylie wrestling coach brought the team home early from a University of Oklahoma camp after a student reported that three Wylie upperclassmen had pinned down freshman Josh Blanton in a campus dormitory and repeatedly kicked him in the genitals.
"It was pretty embarrassing when it happened," said Josh, 14. "There were a lot of people around. It hurt."
Coach Andrew Wight had lectured the same boys earlier in the week for allegedly duct-taping another underclassman's arms to his bed, said Wylie ISD Superintendent John Fuller.
School officials are investigating whether more hazing incidents took place at the camp. Josh said upperclassmen targeted at least six freshmen.
Dr. Fuller would not disclose the names of the wrestlers who will be disciplined, but he said high school officials determined their guilt after talking to students, parents and Mr. Wight.
High school Principal Gary Brown will decide how the boys will be punished, Dr. Fuller said.
The district's consequences for assault range from community service to expulsion. Dr. Fuller said out-of-school suspension is a typical penalty for serious assaults.
Chris Blanton, Josh's father, said the older wrestlers should never have had the chance to harass the younger ones.
"This happened in broad daylight in the middle of the day in the dorm," said Mr. Blanton, who filed a complaint with OU police. "How can nobody be there to help him?"
Mr. Wight was the only adult to accompany more than a dozen wrestlers on the trip to Norman, Okla., Josh said.
He said the older boys assaulted him while Mr. Wight was away at lunch. The upperclassmen also ransacked his room, stole his food and left a bag of feces in a trash can, he said.
Josh said he was too scared to tell the coach what happened. He said another wrestler called home and told his parents, who called Mr. Wight.
"I just don't want my coach getting in trouble for this," Josh said. "It wasn't his fault. He couldn't have done anything."
Mr. Blanton said OU officials offered to reimburse his wrestling camp registration fee, and campus police took a written statement from his son this week.
An OU police spokesman did not return telephone calls Friday.
The University Interscholastic League, the state's governing body for public school sports, generally stays out of hazing allegations, said spokeswoman Kim Rogers.
"That's usually up to the school's discretion as far as what's considered hazing, because some forms of hazing are considered crimes," Ms. Rogers said. "It's kind of a gray area of when the school steps in and when law enforcement needs to."
Josh said at least one of the older wrestlers has called to apologize. He says he'll still spend the first weeks of high school worrying that the upperclassmen will come after him.
"If they did this in the first place, I think they would do something else," he said.
School investigating student's assault report at Oklahoma camp
08:37 PM CDT on Friday, July 27, 2007
By STACI HUPP / The Dallas Morning News
shupp@dallasnews.com
Three Wylie High School wrestlers face out-of-school suspension or other punishment for allegedly hazing and assaulting underclassmen at a college wrestling camp earlier this month, school officials said Friday.
The Wylie wrestling coach brought the team home early from a University of Oklahoma camp after a student reported that three Wylie upperclassmen had pinned down freshman Josh Blanton in a campus dormitory and repeatedly kicked him in the genitals.
"It was pretty embarrassing when it happened," said Josh, 14. "There were a lot of people around. It hurt."
Coach Andrew Wight had lectured the same boys earlier in the week for allegedly duct-taping another underclassman's arms to his bed, said Wylie ISD Superintendent John Fuller.
School officials are investigating whether more hazing incidents took place at the camp. Josh said upperclassmen targeted at least six freshmen.
Dr. Fuller would not disclose the names of the wrestlers who will be disciplined, but he said high school officials determined their guilt after talking to students, parents and Mr. Wight.
High school Principal Gary Brown will decide how the boys will be punished, Dr. Fuller said.
The district's consequences for assault range from community service to expulsion. Dr. Fuller said out-of-school suspension is a typical penalty for serious assaults.
Chris Blanton, Josh's father, said the older wrestlers should never have had the chance to harass the younger ones.
"This happened in broad daylight in the middle of the day in the dorm," said Mr. Blanton, who filed a complaint with OU police. "How can nobody be there to help him?"
Mr. Wight was the only adult to accompany more than a dozen wrestlers on the trip to Norman, Okla., Josh said.
He said the older boys assaulted him while Mr. Wight was away at lunch. The upperclassmen also ransacked his room, stole his food and left a bag of feces in a trash can, he said.
Josh said he was too scared to tell the coach what happened. He said another wrestler called home and told his parents, who called Mr. Wight.
"I just don't want my coach getting in trouble for this," Josh said. "It wasn't his fault. He couldn't have done anything."
Mr. Blanton said OU officials offered to reimburse his wrestling camp registration fee, and campus police took a written statement from his son this week.
An OU police spokesman did not return telephone calls Friday.
The University Interscholastic League, the state's governing body for public school sports, generally stays out of hazing allegations, said spokeswoman Kim Rogers.
"That's usually up to the school's discretion as far as what's considered hazing, because some forms of hazing are considered crimes," Ms. Rogers said. "It's kind of a gray area of when the school steps in and when law enforcement needs to."
Josh said at least one of the older wrestlers has called to apologize. He says he'll still spend the first weeks of high school worrying that the upperclassmen will come after him.
"If they did this in the first place, I think they would do something else," he said.