There is nothing so frightening, perhaps, than the complete and total breakdown of civilized society, suddenly and without warning. It happened in New York City and Washington, D.C., on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, and it occurs daily across the country whenever a citizen becomes the victim of some savage human predator, events we read about later in the police blotter under the headings of assault, rape and murder.
On April 17, aboard a school bus in the bucolic lakefront community of Wilson, the fragile thing we know as civilization, basic human decency, disintegrated entirely, and for a time ceased to exist. In a horrific scene straight out of William Golding's classic "Lord of the Flies," police say at least three members of the boys' varsity baseball team set upon two younger boys belonging to the junior varsity. According to state police reports, the victims were slapped, punched and kicked into submission prior to having what the police euphemistically call third-degree aggravated sexual abuse forced perpetrated upon them.
Under state law, third-degree sexual abuse involves a foreign object being forced into the anus, urethra or vagina of a helpless victim. It involves a savage cruelty of the sort that we go around every day trying generally to pretend doesn't reside in our fellow man, much less our children.
Three boys, an 18-year-old and two 16-year-olds, were arrested and charged. If they are found guilty, they should be forced to register as sex offenders for the rest of their lives so that they may not be allowed to forget what their victims most certainly won't be able to. I have the deepest sympathy for their parents. The absolute horror of knowing that your child stands accused of such a sadistic, almost bestial act of wanton depravity and brutality must be a bitter pill to swallow.
But it is to the alleged guardians of these perpetrators and victims alike, the three adults who were on the bus that day in Wilson, that we must turn to place the lion's share of the blame for this outrage.
Thomas Baia and William Atlas, baseball coaches and teachers in the Wilson school district, were charged by state police with endangering the welfare of a child last week. According to state police, the two men sat on the bus as the victims were beaten and pummeled prior to being sodomized.
If the allegations are true, the charge against them is light indeed. While the endangering count carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail, judges rarely hand out the maximum. Probation and counseling are the most common sentences meted out in today's permissive society.
Last week, a town meeting was held in Wilson to discuss the situation, and the place was packed to the rafters. Those expressing any concern or sympathy for the victims in the case were rare. Supporters of Baia and Atlas dominated the session, blaming the alleged perpetrators' parents, who were not on the bus, the news media, which was not on the bus, and anyone else they could think of.
To listen to them talk, it would be easy to get the impression that Baia and Atlas -- adults paid to be responsible on a school-sponsored student trip -- were the injured parties that wretched afternoon.
In far, far happier news, circulation numbers were released last week for the Niagara Gazette and its sister papers in the poverty-row Greater Niagara Newspaper chain, the Tonawanda News and the Lockport Union-Sun & Journal.
And they were down across the board!
Over the past year, as GNN burned its way through three -- count 'em, three -- publishers, interest in the antiquated and irrelevant products they turn out plummeted to all-time lows.
Hardest hit was the weakest paper in the chain, the Tonawanda News, which saw circulation decline by 10.3 percent compared to last year. On any given day, just 7,106 of the more than 30,000 residents of North Tonawanda are suckered into buying a copy of the pathetic publication, and if it weren't for the fact that the printing plant for all three papers is located there, the News would undoubtedly close due to lack of interest.
The flagship Gazette fared a bit better, but just a bit, losing 6.2 percent of its readers, perhaps due to the shockingly high mortality rates among its primarily elderly subscribers. Just 16,909 lonely souls plunked down whatever they're giving it away for this week in order to mindlessly fritter away the five minutes it takes to read each morning.
Lockport has traditionally been GNN's most loyal market, and the drop there was a relatively modest 4.2 percent, leaving the paper there with 10,901 readers. If present trends continue, the Union-Sun & Journal will surpass the Gazette in weekday circulation sometime in 2013.
Last week, highly placed GNN sources told the Reporter that the GNN chain will be dissolved in the near future, and that each of the papers will be allowed to succeed or fail on their own, as separate entities. This would certainly spell doom for the Tonawanda News, and make the surviving papers a bit more saleable should anyone happen along to buy them.
Stay tuned.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 6 2008 |