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Location
CA
Edited Date/Time
1/25/2012 7:06pm
August 13, 2008
Froshers foiled
14 youths charged with assault
By KEVIN CRUSH -- Sun Media
St. Albert Mounties have sent out a stark warning that "froshing" won't be tolerated by charging 14 youths with assault with a weapon.
Refusing to even call it froshing, Mounties say it goes beyond that. RCMP have charged the 14 youths - all currently 16 years old - with 28 counts of assault with a weapon after eight teenage victims reported being beaten last May and June. They said the victims were struck by paddles anywhere from twice to 30 times. In some cases, the victims were left bleeding.
ZERO TOLERANCE
St. Albert school boards have had a zero-tolerance policy towards froshing or hazing for several years due to previous incidents.
The paddles ranged from homemade clubs to broken or cut-off goalie sticks, to cricket bats, police said.
Victims said they were taken to various locations around St. Albert and beaten.
Thirteen of the 14 charged youths were in court on Aug. 5 and all will be back in court on Sept. 2, just in time for the start of the school year.
Although Mounties say they're not charging people to make a point, they do hope others get the message.
"The message we want to tell people is that this type of activity won't be tolerated and people will be held responsible for their actions," said St. Albert RCMP Cpl. Ted Soltys.
St. Albert is proving it will be tough on froshing incidents, says Paul Kane High School principal Larry Dick.
"I think it's important to understand that the word froshing is really assault and, in this case, it seems the RCMP deemed it assault with a weapon."
He said when his school learned of the incidents last spring, they immediately turned it over to police.
As principal, Dick starts every school year with an assembly for the Grade 10s to tell them if they are even threatened they should report it to an adult. Then he talks sternly to the grade 11 and 12 students of the consequences of being caught in any incidents of froshing.
While such incidents have occurred in St. Albert, Mayor Nolan Crouse said the issue in the community is no bigger than it is in other communities but it gets highlighted because of the zero-tolerance approach.
"I don't know if it's any worse than anywhere else, but our lack of tolerance for it is the highest level it can be for any municipality in Canada. We are dealing with it as a crime."
In St. Albert, they don't even like to use the word "froshing," calling it the "F word." Calling it froshing takes away from the fact that these incidents are assaults, said Soltys.
"A lot of people think that is acceptable behaviour when you bring it up, that it's a ritual rite of passage and stuff like that, but actually it's a criminal offence and that's the way it's being treated."
VICTIMS CREDITED
Soltys credits the victims for coming forward as that is not often the case.
"We have seen in the past students who have been assaulted and they don't want anything done with it. They don't want to give names, they refuse to give details, or just not come forward at all."
Froshers foiled
14 youths charged with assault
By KEVIN CRUSH -- Sun Media
St. Albert Mounties have sent out a stark warning that "froshing" won't be tolerated by charging 14 youths with assault with a weapon.
Refusing to even call it froshing, Mounties say it goes beyond that. RCMP have charged the 14 youths - all currently 16 years old - with 28 counts of assault with a weapon after eight teenage victims reported being beaten last May and June. They said the victims were struck by paddles anywhere from twice to 30 times. In some cases, the victims were left bleeding.
ZERO TOLERANCE
St. Albert school boards have had a zero-tolerance policy towards froshing or hazing for several years due to previous incidents.
The paddles ranged from homemade clubs to broken or cut-off goalie sticks, to cricket bats, police said.
Victims said they were taken to various locations around St. Albert and beaten.
Thirteen of the 14 charged youths were in court on Aug. 5 and all will be back in court on Sept. 2, just in time for the start of the school year.
Although Mounties say they're not charging people to make a point, they do hope others get the message.
"The message we want to tell people is that this type of activity won't be tolerated and people will be held responsible for their actions," said St. Albert RCMP Cpl. Ted Soltys.
St. Albert is proving it will be tough on froshing incidents, says Paul Kane High School principal Larry Dick.
"I think it's important to understand that the word froshing is really assault and, in this case, it seems the RCMP deemed it assault with a weapon."
He said when his school learned of the incidents last spring, they immediately turned it over to police.
As principal, Dick starts every school year with an assembly for the Grade 10s to tell them if they are even threatened they should report it to an adult. Then he talks sternly to the grade 11 and 12 students of the consequences of being caught in any incidents of froshing.
While such incidents have occurred in St. Albert, Mayor Nolan Crouse said the issue in the community is no bigger than it is in other communities but it gets highlighted because of the zero-tolerance approach.
"I don't know if it's any worse than anywhere else, but our lack of tolerance for it is the highest level it can be for any municipality in Canada. We are dealing with it as a crime."
In St. Albert, they don't even like to use the word "froshing," calling it the "F word." Calling it froshing takes away from the fact that these incidents are assaults, said Soltys.
"A lot of people think that is acceptable behaviour when you bring it up, that it's a ritual rite of passage and stuff like that, but actually it's a criminal offence and that's the way it's being treated."
VICTIMS CREDITED
Soltys credits the victims for coming forward as that is not often the case.
"We have seen in the past students who have been assaulted and they don't want anything done with it. They don't want to give names, they refuse to give details, or just not come forward at all."
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