SydLexia.com - The Forums :: View topic - Cheerleader who wouldn't root for assailant loses

Posted: May 06 2011 09:01 pm

Quote:

(05-02) 17:12 PDT WASHINGTON -- A Texas high school cheerleader who was kicked off the squad for refusing to chant the name of a basketball player - the same athlete she said had raped her four months earlier - lost a U.S. Supreme Court appeal Monday.

A federal appeals court ruled in September that the cheerleader was speaking for the school, not herself, and had no right to remain silent when called on to cheer the athlete by name.

The Supreme Court denied review of the case Monday without comment.

The girl, identified by her initials H.S., was 16 when she said she was raped at a party in her southeast Texas hometown of Silsbee in October 2008. She identified the assailant as Rakheem Bolton, a star on the Silsbee High School football team.

Bolton ultimately pleaded guilty in September 2010 to a misdemeanor assault charge and received a suspended sentence.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2011%2F05%2F02%2FMNSI1JAT0E.DTL

this is just some fucked up repugnant shit. i dont know if the school is just doing this to exert their authority, or if its just another case of gender inequality, but i dont like it.

Posted: May 06 2011 09:06 pm

I could see throwing her off the team for not cheering if the charges of rape were unfounded or whatever, but the guy plead guilty last year? Granted, to a lesser charge, but still, he essentially legally admitted some forced sexual stuff went down and she's the one who gets thrown off the team when she wont cheer for him?

Obviously, one of them was going to have to go. It's kinda disgusting that it was her.

Posted: May 06 2011 09:10 pm

personally, i think its total fucking horse shit. just feels like they are treating her as a second class citizen.

fucking texas

Joined: Oct 01 2009 Posts: 5316

Quote:

The girl, identified by her initials H.S.

username wrote:

horse shit

Case solved!!!

So he pleaded guilty, and was not only given little to no punishment, but he was allowed to finish at the same high school while allowed to continue playing football. Yeah, he was likely underage, but rape is rape. The very least they could do is move him to a new school or something. I guess rape isn't that big of a deal...

Posted: May 06 2011 09:15 pm

...wow. That's kind of ridiculous on its own, but the courts supporting it? Ugh. That's at least 3 levels of courts, in a bloody row, posited against the girl. And they're charging her family forty-five thousand dollars to pay for the schools "defending against a frivolous suit." Frivolous? What the hell?

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

Doddsino wrote:

So he pleaded guilty, and was not only given little to no punishment, but he was allowed to finish at the same high school while allowed to continue playing football. Yeah, he was likely underage, but rape is rape. The very least they could do is move him to a new school or something. I guess rape isn't that big of a deal...

I understand this, and I think the fact that he pleaded guilty should have sealed the deal, but... with all the cases of "rape" that are actually women trying to get back at men for shit, it's entirely possible that he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to avoid fighting over it for months/years and being found guilty for the same crime/a greater one. I doubt it, but I can't say it's not possible.

/my miserable stupidity

Posted: May 06 2011 09:22 pm

Yeah...I remember hearing about this story when it initially happened. She didn't press criminal charges (not that I blame her, given what rape victims have to go through during a trial), but that essentially left no real recourse except what the school felt like doing. And the school didn't feel like getting rid of three of its star athletes. A couple were suspended, but they're back now, obviously. And now this...ugh.

As disgusting as it is that this is reality, switching schools would probably have been the best choice for her.

Posted: May 06 2011 09:32 pm

Just more proof that Texas values sports above justice.

Posted: May 06 2011 09:43 pm

That's not a fair judgement to make against an entire state, it sounds like the school is the bad guys in this scenario. The feelings of a rape victim should be respected more than the school's sports record.

Posted: May 06 2011 09:45 pm

i think its fair to say that TX is pretty fucked up.

Posted: May 06 2011 09:56 pm

^ What he said.

Posted: May 06 2011 10:08 pm

Eh I've been there, it wasn't so bad.

Posted: May 06 2011 10:33 pm

High school sports is a scam.

Posted: May 07 2011 12:02 am

While still uncommon, this is not unheard of in Texas. If you play high school football in Texas, you're armor plated. And a lot of people in Texas say high school football exactly like Colonel Tex O'Hara does. I love my state, but that's not to say we don't have issues.

Posted: May 07 2011 01:38 am

Well, it's because it's Texas, really. I don't live there, but close enough. Texas is almost every bit like the movie Varsity Blues-- you could basically kill someone by running them over in a stolen cop car and completely get away with it if you're a football player.

Joined: Aug 04 2009 Posts: 2515

I hate humanity. The people at the school are total fucking i don't even know, i have yet to hear a word to describe this.

The school can go fuck themselves.

EDIT: ...and you know i can sort of relate to this. I wasn't raped or anything but the schooling system is different here. You take three sets of exams. You can leave school at 16 with just GCSEs which are the basic *you need these to do anything in life* exams.

AS is the next level and is half an A level and A2 is the second half. A levels are what you use to get into university, you sit generally 4 AS's, drop 1 and take 3 A2s. Unless you are REALLY smart you take 4 A2s.

Basically, the school i went to is a semi-posh grammar school (at least its regarded as that) and basically to gain entrance to the school you needed to have academic excellence i.e. an A in your 11+/transfer exams.

So basically you need to do well to get into the school, this transfers throughout all the school and those other exams mentioned.

To get in to do your AS levels you needed to get a certain number of points calculated from the grades you got in your GCSES. The same with AS to A2 - to finish the whole A level.

People like myself weren't regarded as an asset to the school, we had to meet normal regulations. Some of the rugby players on my school did really bad, like grade D's, E's and were let back in. Why? They played rugby of course, they represented the school, total bullshit.

Also i'm totally fucking sick of this standard society has:

"Oh look your a celebrity and you were doing drugs, enjoy getting no trial and let off"

"Oh look your the average human being and were doing drugs, LOL JAILED FOR LIFE"

Not a realistic example but you all know it's basically like this. People who are famous or in the case of this football player benefit someone in some way are let off with fucking everything.

It makes me

so

fucking

MAD.

Posted: May 07 2011 09:45 pm

It should make everyone mad. I'd like to beat that fucker to unconsciousness with a sack full of Vidalia onions so he cries even more while he's getting the shit beaten out of him.

Posted: May 08 2011 04:29 pm

For all we know they were at a party had sex she was drunk then later he didn't want to date her so she said she was raped. He can't deny they had sex and then it's her word against his. So instead of fight a losing battle he pleads guilty to assault. She is still mad so she doesn't cheer for him.

A. She's a cheerleader. Do your damn job or quit.
B. She can't be too distraught if she's still cheering for both basketball and football, knowingly having to see him at every event.

Not condoning rape but we only know one publicized version of the story.

Posted: May 08 2011 05:55 pm

I'm with the douche, here. Even if she was raped, the school has the right to kick her off the team. You can't have a cheerleading team at an event where everyone is cheering for a particular player except one girl who looks all surly. It's not condoning what happened, but it is her job to cheer for the players and if she can't, for any reason, she shouldn't be there.

Wizard Joined: Jun 12 2009 Posts: 4209

Douche McCallister wrote:

For all we know they were at a party had sex she was drunk then later he didn't want to date her so she said she was raped. He can't deny they had sex and then it's her word against his. So instead of fight a losing battle he pleads guilty to assault. She is still mad so she doesn't cheer for him.

A. She's a cheerleader. Do your damn job or quit.
B. She can't be too distraught if she's still cheering for both basketball and football, knowingly having to see him at every event.

Not condoning rape but we only know one publicized version of the story.

Pretty much what I said.

Posted: May 08 2011 09:26 pm

I agree that it is horseshit, but on paper, legally, it's right. It sucks, and who knows what the school is saying about this, but there's nothing she can do, really.