Steubenville is Every Town

The Grand Jury Indictments in Steubenville, Ohio are reminders of the terrible crime committed during August 2012, the rape of a 16 year old girl during a party. In March, Steubenville High School football players Ma’lik Richmond and Trenton Mays were convicted of the rape, which authorities said took place at a party in August 2012. Photos and videos of the incident made their way onto social media and attracted national attention.  

Not only were students involved, but on Monday, November 25 4 more indictments were handed down to adults:  

Steubenville City Schools Superintendent Michael McVey faces three felony counts: one charge of tampering with evidence and two counts of obstructing justice. He also is charged with making a false statement and obstructing official business, both misdemeanors, DeWine said.  Also indicted was elementary school principal Lynnett Gorman and wrestling coach Seth Fluharty, both of whom are charged with misdemeanor failure to report child abuse. Volunteer assistant Steubenville football coach Matt Bellardine was charged with four misdemeanors: allowing underage drinking, obstructing official business, making a false statement and contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a child.  This brings to six the number of people the grand jury has indicted after two students were convicted of rape, DeWine said. A school technology director and his daughter were indicted in October. Source: CNN 

The Grand Jury has taken the moral high road here:  holding the adults accountable in the case as well as the students involved.  The charges of obstruction of justice and withholding evidence are particularly pertinent, and sends the message loud and clear that there should be zero tolerance for these crimes, and the crime of covering up.  I blogged about this last August when it happened, on my blog College Adventures. I am re-publishing it here, on Travels with Tam, because this is an important issue, during midlife, or any other time of life.  It happens everywhere….Steubenville IS every town. The advice in this blog should be shared with every woman, young, midlife, or golden years.

August, 2012:  One of the major news stories of the last couple of weeks has been the rape of a 16 year old girl in Steubenville, OH. Steubenville is a town where thousands of jobs were lost when the steel industry up-ended in the 1980s, but even prior to that “Steubenville” meant football. I grew up in Dayton, Ohio and football was a way of life. Every fall meant high school football, college football and pro football. As a sociologist who investigated and taught gender and violence issues, I can speak to the propensity of fraternal cultures and rape. I’m not going to go through theory at the moment, but instead focus on the unspeakable crime committed by high school football players in Steubenville. The important thing to realize is that Steubenville is every town in America.

Continue reading this post on Tam Warner Minton’s blog, Travels With Tam