The Cadets and GH history of sexual abuse (news article)

[barigirl78]

30 minutes ago, AlexL said:

Absolutely, @Jeff Ream

This is an activity in which parents trust their kids to be left in the hands of staff for 2-3 months, 24 hours a day, hundreds to thousands of miles away from home, when many times these kids have never spent more than a week or two fully away. 

This kind of damage will bleed over. Parents are going to be asking more questions. Prospective sponsors are going to be asking "what are you doing to make sure this isnt happening in your organization, as we only want to associate our brand with you if you are seen as a positive organization".

I'm not sure what the next steps are. Should DCI start its own independent inquiry and effort to try to get people to come forward to DCI so that problem elements can be rooted out of the activity in a proactive manner, rather than through the press? 

While we may think it's the fans that support DCI, there's no DCI to support if there aren't those talented members on the field.  The parents pay thousands of dollars to put their children on those buses and I'm sure they do that with the understanding their children will be protected.  I've already seen people insinuate--mostly on Facebook--that what happened with Hopkins happens at other corps, too.

I don't have particular advice on what DCI should do, but doing nothing and staying silent does not seem like a good option.

[Ghost]

Having stopped reading this topic at page 8, if not posted already, one might cringe once the major networks look into this.  What are the chances some parents might make their children with a Cadets contract leave the corps before ST?

[BigW]

15 minutes ago, Legoman said:

As far as timing goes, it's likely that the #metoo movement sparked a little courage in a few of these women. Then, as the word was getting out that people were ready to talk, someone probably bridged them together, like a mutual friend or acquaintance that knew of or had heard something may have happened. A lawyer was hired, who then likely found ways to identify other potential victims and reached out. This culminated in lodging a complaint to the YEA board, and the lack of satisfactory response probably led to bringing in the reporter. There is no motive regarding the timing, the spark was kindled months ago for all.

Yes. It takes time to put together something strong enough to withstand scrutiny from any direction. Rushing in can bungle the whole thing badlyand effectively inoculate the accused from further accusations.

[BigW]

4 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Having stopped reading this topic at page 8, if not posted already, one might cringe once the major networks look into this.  What are the chances some parents might make their children with a Cadets contract leave the corps before ST?

Perhaps. If their child fits the profile of the victims, and I'm betting there is a profile of the typical victim in this case, If I were a parent, I'd be foolish not to do something.

 

For instance, all of Sandusky's victims fit a pretty narrow profile, which I'd be glad to go into privately, but not on the open forum, it creeps me out too much. This enabled legitimate claims to be made later from other victims who didn't come out before to be settled with Penn State after the fact.

[Nine White Russians]

Hopkins needs to step down immediately if he cares about the future of this organization! That is, if he's not fired - which should happen.

[dbc03]

10 minutes ago, Ghost said:

Having stopped reading this topic at page 8, if not posted already, one might cringe once the major networks look into this.  What are the chances some parents might make their children with a Cadets contract leave the corps before ST?

I'm an alumnus of The Cadets and I wouldn't feel comfortable with a hypothetical child of mine (boy or girl) marching this summer if George isn't fired. YEA deserves no support of any kind until this is handled appropriately. The board appears to be in George's pocket, but if they end up with 70 holes in the corps they might see the writing on the wall.

[Eleran]

6 minutes ago, BigW said:

Perhaps. If their child fits the profile of the victims, and I'm betting there is a profile of the typical victim in this case, If I were a parent, I'd be foolish not to do something.

Well, let's be clear here:   the only allegations in that story having to do with actual corps members (at the time of the incidents) took place nearly 40 years ago when Hopkins was in his early 20s.  It's not like 60 year old Hopkins is running around naked in the showers at housing sites [now THERE'S an image you won't be able to get rid of].

Also, the members (and likely their parents) knew of Scott Atchison's past, and still made the decision to come to Cadets this decision when he was initially going to be brass caption head.

[Terri Schehr]

4 hours ago, kkpjm16 said:

My daughter is scheduled for camp this weekend. If we still decide to attend, I will be there 24/7 as well.

I would recommend being a presence, when possible.  When I sent my young one  off to drum corps many years ago, I’m sure the MDBCA people got tired of seeing my mug.  I had marched and I knew I wasn’t that trusting.  

[BigW]

2 minutes ago, Eleran said:

Also, the members (and likely their parents) knew of Scott Atchison's past, and still made the decision to come to Cadets this decision when he was initially going to be brass caption head.

Maybe not. Call me clueless, even now about it.

[Terri Schehr]

1 hour ago, gbass598 said:

After reading it, that was my concern as well is that this coming forward has an alterior motive to use this. If so, that small group of alums should be ashamed to exploit their stories for this purpose. It is one thing to use this as a way to help prevent future behavior. It is another thing to do this just for spite if you don’t like the direction of the corps.

 

You can’t be serious.  You believe these woman want to be splashed all over the paper just because they didn’t like backflip Jesus?