<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto"> Sandusky----We shouldn't tell children tha<VAR id=yui-ie-cursor></VAR>t monsters don't exist. Clearly they do. </SPAN></div>
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<div style="RIGHT: auto"><SPAN style="RIGHT: auto">Donovan J. Arnold</SPAN></div>
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<DIV style="BORDER-BOTTOM: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; LINE-HEIGHT: 0; MARGIN: 5px 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; HEIGHT: 0px; FONT-SIZE: 0px; BORDER-TOP: #ccc 1px solid; BORDER-RIGHT: #ccc 1px solid; PADDING-TOP: 0px" class=hr readonly="true" contenteditable="false"></DIV><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">From:</SPAN></B> Art Deco <art.deco.studios@gmail.com><BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">To:</SPAN></B> vision2020@moscow.com <BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Sent:</SPAN></B> Sunday, June 24, 2012 7:08 AM<BR><B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Subject:</SPAN></B> [Vision2020] After Sandusky, what have we learned?<BR></FONT></DIV><BR>
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<H1 style="RIGHT: auto">After Sandusky, what have we learned?</H1>
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<DIV class=yiv1411923923cnnByline>By <B>Roxanne Jones,</B> Special to CNN</DIV>
<DIV class=yiv1411923923cnn_strytmstmp>updated 5:23 PM EDT, Sat June 23, 2012</DIV></DIV><BR>
<div class=yiv1411923923cnnEditorialNote><I><STRONG>Editor's note:</STRONG> Roxanne Jones is a founding editor of ESPN The Magazine and a former vice president at ESPN. She is a national lecturer on sports, entertainment and women's topics and a recipient of the 2010 Woman of the Year award from Women in Sports and Events. She is the author of<A href="http://www.randomhouse.com.au/books/roxanne-jones/say-it-loud-9780345515896.aspx" rel=nofollow target=_blank> "Say It Loud: An Illustrated History of the Black Athlete"</A> (Random House) and is CEO of Push Media Strategies and is working on her second book.</I></div>
<div><B>(CNN)</B> -- My prized Penn State sweatshirt sits stuffed in the back of my closet.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph2">The oversized "We Are Penn State" license plate that once perched above the door of my ESPN office, has been put away, along with photos of me as a proud, smiling cheerleader for the Nittany Lions.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph3">And weeks ago when my son received his very first college acceptance letter from my alma mater, Penn State -- a moment I thought would be one of the pinnacles in my life -- we both tossed the letter aside and prayed that he'd get accepted into a "better school." (Our prayers were answered.)</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph4"><A href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-reaction/index.html" rel=nofollow target=_blank>I have Jerry Sandusky to thank for this change of heart.</A></div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph5">Reaction to the Sandusky verdict</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph6">Friday night, Sandusky — the former Penn State assistant football coach -- was found guilty on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period. The jury took just two days to untangle this horrendous story and make a decision. And though some felt Sandusky would walk, I could not imagine how 12 jurors could listen to the courageous, heartbreaking testimony of all of those victims and believe that it was all a conspiracy, that those young men had all lied about the abuse charges just so they could file civil suits against an innocent Sandusky, as his defense lawyer claimed.</div>
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<DIV class="yiv1411923923cnn_strylctcntr yiv1411923923cnn_strylccimg214"><IMG class=yiv1411923923box-image border=0 alt="Roxanne Jones" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/111108032208-roxanne-jones-left-tease.jpg" width=214 height=122>
<DIV>Roxanne Jones</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph7">Seeing this unimaginable story unfold for months has altered my perspective on sports forever. I've worked as a sports journalist for more than 15 years, but through all the steroid stories, the accounts of domestic abuse, the gambling and corruption cases, I never lost my joy for sports -- football coming first in my world order.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph8">Then Jerry Sandusky happened and I felt sick.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph9">Joe Paterno died and I felt heartbroken and betrayed.</div><BR>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph10">Clearly, none of my emotions can ever compare to the pain and loss of innocence of Sandusky's victims and their families. But this story has taken away my unabashed enthusiasm as a sports fan. Maybe it's because I'm the mother of an athlete. Or that I attended Penn State and knew many of the people involved in the story. And, like so many others, I can now look back and realize that something was a little creepy about the vibe around the Second Mile program and coach Sandusky.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph11"><A href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html?hpt=hp_t1" rel=nofollow target=_blank>Jury finds Jerry Sandusky guilty on dozens of child sex abuse charges</A></div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph12">Penn State's standout linebacker LaVar Arrington played for Sandusky. Arrington, who was mentioned many times in the trial by Victim Number 4, <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/hard-hits/post/i-wish-id-paid-more-attention-to-one-young-mans-pain/2012/06/12/gJQAkgviXV_blog.html" rel=nofollow target=_blank>recalled in a column</A> for <A href="http://washingtonpost.com/" target=_blank>Washingtonpost.com</A> that he knew Victim Number 4 well, and that the young man always seemed "mad and distant."</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph13">"My preconceived notion was that he was part of Sandusky's Second Mile foundation, so he must live in a troubled home, and I chalked it up to that," Arrington wrote. "I would just tell him to smile every once in a while or laugh, that it would make him feel better. ... It's mind-blowing to realize that a kid I took an active interest in during my time at school was suffering right in front of me and I had no idea that the pain allegedly came from someone in my own football program," said Arrington.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph14">LaVar is one of the most decent athletes I have had the pleasure of working with. And I share some of his guilt. I've seen the world of sports up close and have always known about stories like Sandusky. Mostly, those stories are treated as one-time events by wayward coaches, or viewed as one sports program gone wrong. We in the media never stay on these investigative stories for long. And reporters have a very difficult time pitching abuse stories to an editor.</div>
<div style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)" class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph15"><B>Though most sports journalists will never admit this, the main goal in sports reporting is to celebrate and illuminate the games. Constantly uncovering ugly issues in sports does not make a sports reporter a superstar at the office. Sports media are just too close to the games financially and socially to fully examine the depths of sports culture.</B></div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph16">Since Sandusky, each time I go to a game -- college, pro or high school - I can't help but wonder if any of those young men have ever been abused by a coach.<A href="http://member.preventchildabuse.org/site/DocServer/sexual_abuse_of_boys.pdf?docID=127" rel=nofollow target=_blank> At least one study indicates</A> that one out of every six boys is sexually abused by the age of 14, a shocking statistic. Recently, I watched with happiness as LeBron and D-Wade won their first NBA Championship together. But I couldn't help but wonder if they, or their teammates, had ever been preyed upon by a coach when they were young boys.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph17"><A href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-letters/index.html" rel=nofollow target=_blank>Sandusky's son fits pattern of other alleged victims</A></div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph18">And the loving bear hugs that my son's high school coach always gives players after a big win had me looking twice at him and the boys to see if I could detect any signs of unwanted behavior. And he knows why I'm looking twice. I'm not the only parent on high alert. Everything is suspect now.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph19">Am I being overly sensitive? A bit too dramatic? Don't think so. This story has made me realize an important truth:</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph20">Sports are the perfect playground for pedophiles.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph21">We will never be able to fully protect children from evil predators like Jerry Sandusky. But we don't have to be helpless.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph22">Post-Sandusky, what have we learned? Will anything change after the headlines recede? What can we do to educate and protect our sons and daughters from the Sanduskys lurking among them?</div>
<div style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)" class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph23"><B>It's time to pull back the curtains on the predatory culture in sports, for journalists to pay more attention to these types of stories. It's time for parents and schools, starting at least at a middle-school level, to talk to kids about inappropriate behavior and how predators operate. This doesn't have to be a sex education class, but certainly schools could begin incorporating into a curriculum instruction in how to recognize and report inappropriate words or touches by coaches and/or teachers.</B></div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph24">In corporate America, nearly every Human Resources department has mandatory "Harassment Workshops" for employees. Even as adults these conversations are never comfortable.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph25">By beginning to educate children about sexual abuse we can hopefully open up such conversations to help arm our kids as they grown into adults. We can make it easier for the next assistant coach like Mike McQueary, who testified that he witnessed a child being raped by Sandusky, to immediately take action and call the police instead of second-guessing himself and doing nothing to protect the child. We've learned that adults need to be educated as much as children about how to recognize and expose pedophiles.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph26">A child who is abused needs to understand immediately that something is wrong and that her or she must tell somebody. If we don't teach them, they have no chance at all against pedophiles.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph27">Telling our kids to stay away from sports or great college programs like Penn State isn't really the answer. This is not just a Penn State problem. It's a sports problem. I know that just as I also know that my love of sports will return.</div>
<div class="yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraphtxt yiv1411923923cnn_storypgraph28">But this time around, I'll be an older and much wiser cheerleader for the games I love.</div><BR>-- <BR>Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)<BR><A href="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com" rel=nofollow target=_blank ymailto="mailto:art.deco.studios@gmail.com">art.deco.studios@gmail.com</A><BR><BR><IMG src="http://users.moscow.com/waf/WP%20Fox%2001.jpg"><BR><BR></DIV><BR>=======================================================<BR>List services made available by First Step Internet,<BR>serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<BR> <A href="http://www.fsr.net/" target=_blank>http://www.fsr.net/</A><BR> mailto:<A href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com" ymailto="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</A><BR>=======================================================<BR><BR></DIV></DIV></div></body></html>