XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: billsteele@more-liberalism.com   
      
   PARLIN, N.J. (AP) — Seven students were charged with sex crimes   
   Friday after an investigation into hazing on a high school   
   football team found that they held other children against their   
   will and improperly touched them, prosecutors said.   
      
   Three of the students were charged with aggravated sexual   
   assault, criminal restraint, hazing and other crimes for an act   
   of sexual penetration upon one of the children, Middlesex County   
   prosecutor Andrew C. Carey said. The four other students were   
   charged with aggravated criminal sexual contact and other crimes   
   for what happened at Sayreville War Memorial High School, a   
   regional football power whose season was canceled amid the   
   investigation.   
      
   Six of the seven students, ranging in age from 15 to 17, were   
   arrested Friday night, and the seventh was being sought,   
   prosecutors said. Those in custody were awaiting a Family Court   
   decision on whether they would be held at a juvenile detention   
   facility or be released to their families. Their names weren't   
   released because of their ages.   
      
   The group attacked four students between Sept. 19 and Sept. 29,   
   and one of the victims was kicked, prosecutors said.   
      
   As what would have been game time on the planned homecoming   
   night neared, the lights at Sayreville War Memorial High   
   football stadium stayed off and the field remained empty Friday   
   evening.   
      
   On Monday night, schools Superintendent Richard Labbe announced   
   he was canceling the rest of the season after the prosecutor's   
   office substantiated allegations of hazing involving members of   
   the school's football team.   
      
   Parents in the township have complained that the whole team is   
   being punished.   
      
   Labbe has stood by his decision and said the time has come for   
   students and others to step forward when bullying occurs. He   
   said Friday the district has launched a harassment, intimidation   
   and bullying investigation of all its athletic teams.   
      
   "In the ensuing days, weeks, and months," he said in a   
   statement, "we will come together as a school district and   
   greater community to harness the strength required to support   
   the young men who may have been victimized and then to begin the   
   healing process for our beloved community."   
      
   Sayreville sits next to the Raritan River and just inland from   
   the Raritan Bay, site of devastating flooding from Superstorm   
   Sandy in October 2012. The town was one of those targeted by the   
   state for a buyout program, and demolitions began this year to   
   improve flood protection.   
      
   Football was a constant through the storm's aftermath, and the   
   school has won three sectional titles over four years. The news   
   of this season's cancellation hit students hard.   
      
   Gov. Chris Christie expressed outrage Thursday at the   
   allegations and told reporters in Trenton that, as a father of   
   four, he was especially appalled.   
      
   "The facts as reported currently are extraordinarily disturbing   
   and, as the father of a number of teenage athletes, the idea   
   that that kind of conduct could be permitted, if it's true ...   
   in a high school athletics program, or anywhere else in our   
   state for that matter, is absolutely unacceptable," he said.   
      
   Residents describe the Sayreville borough as a hardworking,   
   diverse place geared toward football but not football crazy. The   
   Middlesex County borough of about 43,000 people is a great place   
   to raise kids, which adds to the shock over the allegations,   
   they say.   
      
   Cary Melendez, who has been living in Sayreville a few years,   
   said football is particularly held in high regard by families   
   that have children already playing.   
      
   "Everything revolves around getting the kids ready to play   
   Bomber football," Melendez said outside her house.   
      
   At John F. Kennedy Memorial Park, across the street from the   
   school, Matt Norcross said football is a large part of the   
   town's identity.   
      
   "It's hard to get here on Friday nights" because the games   
   generate so much traffic, the South Amboy man said as his 12-   
   year-old stepson participated in football practice on a nearby   
   field.   
      
   An anti-bullying rally has been scheduled for Sunday night in   
   Kennedy Park. Holly Emory, whose son plays on the football team,   
   said parents have asked those attending not to wear Bombers gear   
   so they don't "pour salt in the wound."   
      
   http://news.yahoo.com/7-charged-high-school-football-hazing-case-   
   024429488--spt.html   
      
         
      
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