Anger, fear in wake of Mepham attacks Parents afraid after football sexual assault alleged; experts weigh in

      Then, allegations that three Mepham football players brutally sodomized members of the junior-varsity team surfaced. The alleged assailants -- ages 15, 16 and 17 -- reportedly used a broomstick, pine cones and golf balls in what has been widely labeled a hazing ritual at a Preston Park, Pa., sleep-away camp.
      The suspects were suspended from school, but to date they have not been arrested. Last Wednesday the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District Board of Education canceled Mepham's football season, saying a majority of the Pirates squad knew of the attacks but did not report them.
      Now, Reid wonders and worries. "It's a concern to me that children this age even have a thought in their heads to do something like this -- to think of brutalizing another human being like this," she said. "The TV, the computer, I don't know, it's coming from all directions."
      Reid is one of many parents at the epicenter of a scandal that has riveted the Bellmore-Merrick community and sent shock waves reverberating across the South Shore and even the nation.
      Myriad questions are running through many parents' minds. How often do such attacks occur? Why would teenagers engage in such heinous conduct? Could my child be the next victim?
      The answers from experts that the Herald spoke with are indeed disturbing. Attacks such as those allegedly carried out by the three Mepham football players happen more often than most people would think. In particular, sexual assault by broomstick is fairly common among male high-school athletes, said David Westol, executive director of the Theta Chi national college fraternity and a former assistant prosecutor in Kalamazoo, Mich.
      Westol, who is now based in Indianapolis, is a well-known speaker in the growing anti-hazing movement. He said the alleged Mepham attacks came as no surprise to him. But he wasn't sure whether they would be considered a hazing ritual under the law.
      More than 40 states now have anti-hazing laws on the books. New York's reads in part: "A person is guilty of hazing in the first degree when, in the course of another person's initiation into or affiliation with any organization, he intentionally or recklessly engages in conduct" that harms another person or puts that person in harm's way.
      The Mepham case, if proven true, would apparently fit the definition of hazing, according to New York state law. But Westol said that determining whether a case is truly hazing isn't quite that simple. He believes the Mepham case could be prosecuted as outright sexual assault if it eventually goes to court.
      For starters, hazing implies that a group follows traditions, or rituals, from year to year. Defendants in hazing cases often say they were simply abiding by the rites that others before them had established. If there was no history of sodomizing among Mepham players, Westol said, then the current alleged assailants likely "acted alone," without a tradition in place, meaning they could well be tried under sexual assault, rather than hazing, statutes.
      The Herald spoke with six Mepham High School football alumni for this article. To a person, they all swore that no football player had ever been sodomized during sleep-away camp, which, they noted, the Mepham squad has attended only for the past three years. They said some hazing had occurred during camp in the past, such as spraying shaving cream on toilet seats and punching one another in the arm, but never sexual assault.
      Westol also said that hazing rituals tend to occur toward the end of an athletic camp. According to officials, the Mepham junior-varsity players were sodomized more than once throughout the course of the camp.
      Westol added that, in cases such as Mepham's, no one -- neither victims nor assailants nor witnesses -- generally talks with authorities about an attack. "Even if a young man wants to come forward," he said, "the parents say shut up." The proliferation of lawsuits in recent years only strengthens the group's desire to close ranks, he noted.
      The Bellmore-Merrick school district and community must now focus on supporting the victims of the alleged attacks, he said. "There's often a backlash against the victims themselves, saying, 'This is your responsibility,' which is pretty common," Westol said. "They need to be given some help."
      That help must come in the form of therapy, said Dr. Will Keim, of Corvalis, Ore., another nationally known anti-hazing speaker. Keim, who holds a doctorate in education, said, "Every effort should be made to provide counseling" for the victims.
      The Bellmore-Merrick district's concern, he said, should be "not for the perpetrator[s], not the reputation of the school or the community." Rather, he said, it must lie squarely with the victims, who have been traumatized in ways far beyond most people's imaginations. Their shock, he said, will last for decades. Beyond that, the victims' families are most likely reeling from the attacks, and they will feel their pain for years, he said.
      Keim added that he believes the three alleged assailants must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
      Experts say the purpose of hazing is to diminish or eliminate the individual through a series of jarring activities, potentially starting with name-calling and running the gamut to food and sleep deprivation or forced consumption of alcohol. At times, hazing rituals can turn violent. Many have died during such rites over the years.
      Once the individual is sufficiently weakened by a hazing, he or she can be pumped back up as a member of the new group, from a high-school football squad to a fraternity or sorority.
      According to www.stophazing.org, there's no such thing as a good hazing. Even the subtlest forms of hazing can have lasting emotional effects on the often-fragile psyche of a high-school or college student.
      South Shore school districts are taking note of the Mepham case, and officials are acting to ensure that such incidents don't occur in their schools. Alan Hodish, of East Meadow, is a Garden City attorney, civic and business leader, and former teacher and coach. East Meadow High School brought him in last week to speak with athletes about the Mepham case. Hodish believes the alleged Mepham assailants will be prosecuted, and he emphasized that to East Meadow's athletes in no uncertain terms.
      Hodish believes that ribbing younger players on a team by making them carry water or equipment is common and acceptable. "That type of thing is fine," he said. "You have to wait your turn; you have to pay your dues." Hazing, he said, often occurs in football because an established pecking order exists, with the seniors and juniors on top and the sophomores and freshmen on bottom.
      Hodish said the only way to prevent an incident like the one involving the Mepham team, and a similar case involving students at Baldwin High School in 2001, is "education, education, education."
      Vinnie Mascia, head coach of the East Meadow Jets football team, said he relies heavily on his team captains to keep others in line. "You really have to have a good relationship with the captain," he said, "and every year I sit down with my captains and tell them that they are an extension of me. At parties on Saturday nights, obviously I'm not going to be there, so they have to look out for each other."
      Michael Petrizzi, the Lynbrook School District athletic director for four years, said he's aware of occasional hazing rituals among athletes in his district. "People are na*ve to think [hazing] doesn't go on," said Petrizzi. "We are aware of hazing, and it is not tolerated here."
      Petrizzi added that Lynbrook now uses a Web site, www.report-it.com, which allows students to alert school officials about any problems. Santo Barbarino, the Lynbrook High School principal, said, "People may be reluctant to make a report face to face. This site allows them to report a concern, like bullying, hazing or any anti-social behavior anonymously."
      Pat Pizzarelli, the Lawrence School District supervisor of phys. ed., health and athletics, said the district started including a paragraph about hazing in its interscholastic athletic handbook this year. Lawrence distributes the handbook to all sports participants before their seasons begin.
      And Bill Dubin, coach of the Hewlett High School JV football team, said he and other Hewlett coaches constantly speak out against hazing to athletes. "We drum it into them," Dubin said. "We strongly discourage it as a coaching staff. It is reinforced. The message does get across."



History of horrors

      Hank Nuwer, who wrote the book "High School Hazing," has compiled a list of the most widely publicized hazing cases in American history, starting in 1905 and running through the present. In light of the Mepham sexual assault case, Nuwer posted the list on a Web site, www.hazing.hanknuwer.com. The following are excerpts from the list.

1905, Lima School, Ohio: Sketchy facts in a newspaper story attributed the death of William Taylor, 13, to pneumonia, allegedly caused when classmates shoved snow down his back.

1920, Waukegan High School, Illinois: Carl Ambrose, 13, whipped out a gun when confronted by five masked sophomores bent on taking him with them.

1981, Wilmington High School, Massachusetts: Senior football players allegedly urinated on younger players, according to the Boston Globe.

1985, West Hempstead High School: Steve Naso, 18, pleaded guilty to severely paddling John Isaacson, 16, in the first-ever test of New York state's hazing law.

1990, Brockton High School, Massachusetts: A rookie member of the track team claimed that young runners had their underwear torn and excrement rubbed on their faces during a bus ride.

1995, Alameda County, California, Boy Scouts: Parents of a 12-year-old boy claimed that their son was killed when he tried get away from older scouts who were hazing and intimidating him.

1998, Thornadle High School, Texas: Four football players pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after sexually assaulting and injuring a rookie with a soda bottle.

1999, McAlester High School, Oklahoma: A football player suffered a head injury after he was jumped by older teammates in a locker-room hazing. The incident angered the victim's mother, who demanded that the football program be shut down the way fraternity chapters are closed when they're caught hazing.