A parent speaks out on hazing. Stands up for children and against child sexual abuse. And feels the public backlash and a more private threat.
The New York Times says (excerpt):
He paused. “The question is, How do I respond? What message do I send to my own child? To the victim’s family? Do I curl up? Or am I being called to say `Enough’ and gather the community back to where we were?”
Mr. Rullo already knows what his answer is. But he is troubled by the seeming vacillation by some of his neighbors whose concerns about the incident appear to be misplaced.
“The football parents are upset, because the season is over and their kids’ scholarship hopes may be in jeopardy,” he said. “The cheerleaders’ parents and the kick-line parents are angry, too. That’s legitimate. But the focus is coming off what happened to three boys in our community.”
JUST as troubling to Mr. Rullo is the attitude that some here have about witnesses coming forward. “You read in the newspaper someone saying, `I don’t want my kid to be known as the rat.’ That’s a parent. They’re not saying, `I want my son to show the integrity of his character.’ How do you respond to that — to think your son would be a rat rather than being a hero? What’s wrong with this picture?”