Deseret News | 3 East High football players arrested, kicked off team

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3 East High football players arrested, kicked off team

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Student | 7:11 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

I'm a Student at East and I knowf or a fact our school and administration took the proper actions as soon as the events were reported. Coach Whitehead is an amazing coach and man and would NEVER, absolutely never condone what happened. Coach not only teaches our football players how to play awesome football, but he cares about them as well as students and individuals. I have no respect for those on here who have insulted him or the administration when they have no right to do so and are not around the administration as much as the football players and students.

Jim | 7:35 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Why are there not coaches in the locker rooms. If this school was really attempting to keep their students safe there would not be a single student in a locker, shower or for that matter any room in the entire building without an adult who gives a care. Simple, straight and to the point. Instead of no child left behind, how about: no child left ALONE. Not one!

Kyle Coppola | 7:42 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

And now you know why (now grown-up) nerds like me always thought jocks in high school were gay. LOL.

Comments continue below

Disgusted | 7:56 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Those 3 boys should be expelled immediately.

RaiderNation | 7:59 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Wow! I thought HS football was all about fun and then off to the dance after the game. That is a very distrubing story. That is not hazing folks! That is a crime by sexual predators. I hope there was a town meeting to get to the bottom of this?

"Amazing Coach" | 7:59 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

I do not think one person has asserted that the coach condones this behavior. I am sure he teaches "awesome" football and I am sorry you feel insulted.

I am very happy that "you" were not subjected to repeated rape on school property. As adults it is our responsibility to protect minors from preditors of any age. Any person who has questioned the actions of the "caring coach and administration" has not done it in an attempt to hurt anyone. The facts are what they are, what happened was not an isolated incident but a series of behaviors that cannot be allowed to happen in a place where parents drop thousands of children off daily hoping and praying for their safety.

If "Coach" cares like you say he does, he would be the first to tell you that students need safety and he should be first in line to address this issue so that something like this would never happen again. Honorable people can be negligent in their responsibilities.

Read some of the previous posts from those who have been assauted and be thankful it wasn't you. I don't want it to happen to my children, or anyone elses.

Craig N. Foley | 8:06 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Those three boys have certainly made mistakes. To err is quite human after all. However, they still have very good long term potential. For example, they might make excellent Republican members of the U.S. Senate or House or Representatives. If their punishment is to include any community service, may I suggest that service as a page or intern in Washington D.C. might provide them a lot of experiences from which they can learn.

re: Raider Nation | 8:07 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Of course no town meeting. You need only go 10 posts deep into this blog to see how insulated this amazing coach and administration is. Welcome to the East side.

(Funny, all of the posters use different names, but the same adjectives-- does everyone share the same English teacher?-- to describe this awesome man. Question, if he is so wonderful and builds such amazing character, why were there repeated rapes in "his" amazingly wonderful locker room over a two week period by his "awesome" athletes? Things that make you go hmmmmmm???)

axl | 8:16 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

I personally think that the 3 boys need to be charged as adults. I'm assuming they are all white boys. I'm scared to think if it were white boys that did it to even one black kid, or if it were to a female. This would never end.

Charge them as adults, no leniency (I can't spell either).

Tony B. | 8:40 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Just one more direct result of teaching "values clarificaton," "situation ethics," etc. in schools. Teaching that there are no absolutes tells kids just that. Whatever seems right at the moment is okay. This is what has happened to this country - through its insane, self important and self righteous shrinks running their insane asylums called "schools."

Schratboy | 9:30 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Hazing? Anything involving the sort of acts alleged, ain't quite hazing folks.

Kelly | 9:35 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

This is Horrible! I can't believe these guys thought this was Okay behavior. This is sad. My heart goes out for the victims and their families. I agree with a few others...I think they should be tried as adults!! They're old enough to know the difference between right and wrong. Please CHARGE THEM AS ADULTS!!! THIS WAS VERY WRONG!

Dave | 9:37 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

To all of the ex jocks on here commenting about boys being boys, would you feel the same if this happened to your daughters, sisters, wives, or mothers?

This wasn't a hazing. This was an assault by three punks that need a good old fashioned beat down.

Robert | 10:00 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Anybody take a good look at the world lately? There's not much left but sex. The brainpower is disappearing and traded for rough sports, and the sex gets as violent as many other activities we encounter. The controversial sex researcher Kinsey supposedly said that the only unnatural sex act is the one that can't be performed. Otherwise, it's all out there and it isn't going away. The teenagers know that and their parents, while well-intentioned, are hysterical, neurotic -- and clueless. Who are the victims? Who? Are you sure?

Voice of Reason | 10:20 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

"Jeff in Texas" -- any act, including "pushing a penny across the floor" that one does as a result of force or coercion is inappropriate, those who are exerting the influence, be it by force or fear, are COWARDS, those who condone it are idiots. Those who repeat these actions by doing similar things to others are perpetuating the cowardly and stupid, just as those who were molested then in turn molest are perpetuating those heinous acts.

Peter | 10:43 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

Re: Mike said, "I find it hard to believe that the victims told no one, that rumors did not get out."

It is quite obvious that you've never been the victim of assault (sexual or otherwise). I speak from personal experience when I say that the humiliation of having gone through abuse is bad enough; the last thing you want is for all your friends to KNOW about it.

Associated with this is the feeling that you're somehow to blame, even when your logic assures you you're not. Also, a victim will feel completely alone and alienated--that's why it's almost a relief to learn other people have been through the same thing. There's a reason that once a case is broken, more victims come out since they finally know they're not alone.

This is simple human psychology. Very few people are able to immediately report any kind of abuse, and it's worse when it's sexual abuse. Having to talk to EVERYONE about what you went through only reinforces the pain and makes you relive it time and again. I just pray the victims have a good family/spiritual base and get the counseling they need.

WOW | 10:46 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

You people that post these comments make everything alot worse! Everytime someone tells what happened it gets worse. These boys were not trying to hert him but they took it to far. Why cant it end at that? Everyone needs to get over themselves. I bet that everything will be alright in the end!

Mike Henry | 10:52 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

I'm thrilled that a school reported this type of CRIME to the police. All too often, the actions of "jocks" gets explained away.
However, the school employee waited TOO LONG to call police. A sex crime should not be reported to the school first and then muddled through school bureaucracy until "the next day." Police should have been called immediately upon the first complaint.

DRUDGE READER TIDBIT | 10:53 p.m. Sept. 28, 2007

For our national viewers, EAST HIGH is where the hit Disney movie HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL was filmed. They changed the mascot to Wild Cats for the movie but kept the same colors.

Still to this day many young movie fans drop by the school to take pictures and see where their favorite scenes from the movie where filmed.

I had to mention this because East High is a great school and hope these latest happenings don't take away from some of the better things East is known for.

bayj | 4:18 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

I'm old guy, 1940s high school football. Hazing, initiation to serious football took place at 1st block and tackle practice, when you discovered just how hard someone could hit you with shoulder pads in sports-aggression by the rules.

One adjusted naivete immediately, responded in kind, or folded in shock and withdrew. If the latter happened, there was no school backlash. That person was simply not a football player, very often went on to excel at other things.

Assaulting a tryout kid or new teammate sexually as hazing would have been seen by every single person with any kind of view, kid, adult, player, parent, coaches, admin staff, principals, as the most inconceivably repugnant possiblity. A remote hint would have invoked every horrified authority into stopping perpetrators NOW, no disagreement about whether this was a crime.

That was then. This is now. How did we get from then to this? Stirring mud today won't get us out of it & we can't time travel back.

How should we pray? Your Honor! Tonight flip us all into someplace better than this. I hope it works!

Joe | 4:32 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

I never enter comments where there are word police.

Mike | 5:09 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

I cannot believe this is called "hazing" by some, when it is clearly rape or attemptd rape. If these rapists were not jailed immediately, there is something seriosuly wrong here. It's really sick to have even the slightest tolerance for this sort of assault. "Hazing"? it's just outragous.

Anonymous | 6:57 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

This is just another example of bullying. It has to be stopped. Too many children are being traumatized while going to school because of bullies.

This takes the cake though! Sodomizing another student. This is just awful. The kids that did this not only need to be punished but they also need to be helped.

Observant | 6:57 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Isn't it amazing how as society's morals continue to decline behavior in our public schools increasingly resembles behavior in our prisons.

Ian | 7:47 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

If I had to guess, I'd say that these boys were raised by women, or had women as the dominant role in the household. Sports are notorious for having feminine men hiding the mother inside them with a super-masculine appearance.

It's all well and good to blame the symptoms, but deny the root cause. If you're not the kind of noble man who can lead a household, if you're not the kind of woman who can respect your husband's authority, if you're not the kind of person who kept your belt buckled before marriage, look in the mirror - you made these boys.

spiker | 8:55 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Were all the perpetrators minorities? Someone compared this to Jena.

I believe the students should sue the media for hypersexualizing them at an early age. Letting minors watch some movies and television shows or listen to RAP/POP for that matter should qualify as child abuse if not actual molestation.

Fred 2008! | 9:07 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

all these freaks out there need to find Jesus in the Bible

FRED 2008!

gman | 9:13 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

What really warms my heart is that the coach met with the team and told them "why this behavior is unacceptable". Imagine, having to tell people that rape is "unacceptable". These are crimes that go way beyond "hazing". Stupid parents and stupid coaches. Amazing.

Agnostic..comment for Cary | 9:22 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

You said:
After you completely remove God from every school in the land, what do you have left? It looks like the answer is demons. Imagine going to school every day and having to ward off attacks from incubi and succubi and other red-eyed fiends, and who ya gonna call?
>>

Well, i am not someone who believes in God, and am someone who completely supports removing such fairy tales from public education - leave that to the parent - but I nor my family would NEVER condom such heinous activities.

I don't need the threat of God or the spectre of the hereafter to protect myself and my children from becoming afflicted by vicious, subhuman behavior.

In fact, given the demographics, these boys WERE likely raised in religious faithful households.

This isn't about God's place (or absence) in schools: this is about parents totally failing at instilling values in their children DESPITE raising them "with God."

Jim in Texas | 9:52 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Hey man, why are you people picking on good ole football players? They're just boys being boys. You should cut them some slack. By God here in Texas, we revere our high school football players. Criticizing these boys ain't American.

Joe | 10:16 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Hazing? Bullying?

It sounds like some people want to face up to the reality of the situation.

a | 10:28 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

At my high school, only the coaches practiced "hazing". Their version of hazing was a grueling practice of running and drills. There was so much hitting, I would always come home bloody. We were all proud to be part of such a team. I heard of other high school teams at that time who practiced some really wierd hazing rituals, even sexual. I never respected nor recognized those teams. I imagined the players must have been ashamed to be part of such a pathetic organization...such a disgrace.

Danny Del Rossi | 10:30 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Extraordinarily sound judgement by coaches and school officials. Instead of trying to cover this up, they attacked it head on and as a result, their honesty and conviction appears to have had a positive effect on all concerned.
Job well done.

jea | 10:37 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Bullying? this is attempted rape. This is a criminal matter.

lbjack | 10:54 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

This is just the tip of the iceberg. The sexual aspect is incidental to the pervasiveness of bullying in K-12. In 19th-century schools, when social Darwinism ruled, bullying, so-called "hazing," was seen as a way of establishing the social order. Alas, tradition has allowed this cruel, obsolete custom to become ingrained in today's school culture.

No, schools aren't babysitters, but conduct is part of the student's evaluation. Students should be scrutinized for their oonduct, particularly towards other students, and held strictly accountable. Abuse of other students should be as severly punished as drugs or theft -- it is surely as reprehensible.

I don't understand why self-defense class is not mandatory in all lower grades, say 3-7. Yes, boys will be boys (girls, too), whose aggression is natural and hard to control. This's what sports are for. And this is why abuse should not be tolerated any more in lockerooms than in schoolyards or bathrooms.

Hazing, such as silly stunts, can be good-natured, but too easily can become assault. Students intuitively know the limits. Schools should not wait until confronted but should proactively root out bullying and treat as it should be treated -- as a crime.

Andrew | 11:04 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Where the heck were their coaches???? I have coach high school athletics for 20 years and would have known if someone was being raped (and that's what it is) in the lockerroom or showers. These coaches are somewhat responsible for not keeping a better eye on things. This is disgusting and any of the young men who would be involved in such a sick act should be dealt with in a harsh way. I don't have a problem with "hazing" if it includes silly rituals like carrying the water buckets or washing to seniors lockers, but this is insane. What kind of sick humans do such a thing?

DrudgeFan | 11:14 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Put those perverts in jail where they can be hazed. Only problem is that they will probably like it.

WJC | 11:21 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

"Staff acted heroically"

Uh, we don't know that.

Lori | 11:23 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

I personally think that this is natural, though immoral, behavior. Life is a power struggle. It's the survival of the fittest. Men have been raping women since the beginning of time. Would this have been national news if it was done to females? Everyone is up in arms because the revered son is victimized instead of our daughters. My condolences to the victims.

hillary for prez | 11:26 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Having sex is a felony? We need to save room in our prisions for real criminals.

observer | 11:27 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

take away all the morals and all that remains is a situation of inexperienced persons trying to communicate. whether that communication is agressive or loving is immaterial.
why do these young men have to manifest their desires toward another in such a self-loathing/personal dispensing way?
if they were in a society that could and should love them for who they are, not who they want to love, then maybe they would have boyfriends and be like every other normal teen.
society is to blame. we need more love.

In Illinois | 11:27 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

I applaud that school for involving the police. This is not hazing and no prank. Similar incident happened recently in Virden Illinois and is being swept under the rug. The police chief said he hasn't been 'asked' to investigate. I'm heartened to hear this is not a universal reaction.

rk | 11:28 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

with the program that east has always had and will continue to have things like this will keep it strong. yes the coach did what he was supposed to but it sets a precedent and builds confidence with his team and the program will continue.

yeah | 11:50 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

This sort of behavior occured on my fball team in the early 70's by guys that went on to be married. to women. I still know them.

This isn't an assault by homosexuals, but it is sexual power-related gang behavior.

mom | 11:50 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

No one has answered the question as to the ethnicity of the three violaters.....Why not?

Billyboy | 11:52 a.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Why is this Coach and his staff being glorified as heros? Where was the Leadership along the way that would have prevented this behaviour happening? Were there no pep talks about hazing having a zero tolerance policy, just as being caught smoking or drinking? Where was the relationship or "open door" policy, so those who were being harrassed could have more easily approached these Coaches? Where was the Leadership of the Captains, or "leaders" of the team, who had to hear, or know of the abuse going on right around them? Showers and locker rooms are filled with other players and the coaches are usually right near by.

Something stinks about this whole thing, well beyond a Coach getting accolades well after the fact of the abuse occurring. I want to know where the upfront leadership, direction, and example setting was by these so called Sports Educators.

15 year old student athletes dont normally go this far out of bounds of society unless they are assurred they wont get caught and if they do, nothing would be said. The other athletes who remained mum on this are at fault cuz of the coaches
influence.

Willie Smith | 12:01 p.m. Sept. 29, 2007

Hey Mom who asked:

" No one has answered the question as to the ethnicity of the three violaters.....Why not?"

Uh, what difference does it make on a persons ethnicity? I'm sitting here in Chicago and assume they're all Mormons because this is Utah. Does that sound as foolish and short sighted as your question?

Should make no difference on their color, or religion. If convicted they are rapists, period.

Student | 12:02 p.m. Sept. 29, 2007

As a student of East High, I am familiar with the so-called "rapists" and "perverts". I am a friend to both the victims and the attackers and I feel that the people of the world have forgotten that these students are still people. They intended no harm when they committed these "felonies" and the media has blown it all WAY out of proportion. They are not rapists or molesters or any other name you wish to call them. They are three boys who took something too far and got into the news for it. They did not rape anybody nor did they do anything of that nature. Half of the things you hear about in the news are untrue and these are my peers and my friends and I am concerned about them all, whether they are a victim or an attacker and they all need our support. The last thing they need is the community turning against them and telling them to "rot in jail". Shame on you all.

Mom | 12:14 p.m. Sept. 29, 2007

That is why I am asking Willie......I am curious as to the community outlook.

easter | 12:16 p.m. Sept. 29, 2007

sick

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