A teacher at Ooltewah High School writes to tell me that some of the faculty members aren’t in the least surprised that something horrible would eventually occur on the school’s basketball team. “We thought it would be a bench clearing brawl or something of that nature....but not this,” the email said as it described a perverse culture and told of unsettling priorities at the school.

It was one among dozens of emails that I received on Sunday alone after opening a Pandora’s Box of rage over a freshman basketball player who was brutally attacked by his older teammates before Christmas during an out-of-town holiday tournament.

On Dec. 22, a 15-year-old freshman on the Ooltewah team was raped with a wooden pool stick, his colon and bladder punctured by what is believed to be three thugs in the basement of a cabin in Gatlinburg. He was rushed to emergency surgery in Knoxville, spent the following eight days in the hospital and the three attackers were arrested on charges of aggravated assault and aggravated rape. Bond in Sevier County was reportedly denied to two of the three. All three have been suspended from school.

The email from the distraught teacher revealed “athletics matter more than anything else” at Ooltewah High School and readily agreed that “athletes run rough-shod over school rules and policies. Athletes are regularly given a ‘pass’ for actions that would result in an immediate suspension for other students. Everyone knows it.”

The educator also explained why the Hamilton County Department of Education and the School Board have not acted swiftly and firmly, offering the theory “that is the way they do things. I have no doubt that some senior ‘leaders’ in HCDE assumed that this horrible event would ‘blow over’ during the holidays and would be dealt with quietly when school begins.”

Instead of “blow over,” the monstrosity has now “blown up.” My goodness, is Governor Haslam going to have to call out the National Guard? We hear from parents whose children would love to play basketball but won’t dare because it is widely known among the students that the unbridled renegades on Coach Andre Montgomery’s team believe it is their ‘duty’ and their privilege to beat and assault the younger players.

A lady’s email reads, “I asked him why he didn’t try out and he said he ‘felt like the atmosphere wasn't right.’ I asked him what he meant and the only thing he would say was the players were ‘brutal.’ Now I know what he was talking about.”

Several openly scoffed at Vice Principal and Athletic Director Jessie Nayadley, who actually has a son on the team yet claims to be unaware there is an atmosphere that is openly repugnant in the locker room. “Keep digging into Nayadley and Montgomery and the hazing ‘tradition,’” one asked, while another urged, “Please don't stop investigating and digging deeper into this horrific situation … there is more yet to be revealed and it needs to be uncovered.”

A person I know adds, “People are forgetting the ‘athletic environment’ at Ooltewah High under Jesse Nayadley. This guy is nothing but a die-hard coach who just happens to have an education degree. I had the displeasure of having my son play in rec league basketball against a team coached by him a few years ago. Everything has been said about Coach Andre Montgomery with barely a mention of Jesse Nayadley.

“A quote from Nayadley: ‘We've heard nothing that would give us any reason to look at Coach Montgomery’.....ARE YOU KIDDING ME, NAYADLEY???????? What is interesting to me is the question of whether "Coach" Nayadley was on the trip himself and if he OK'd the continued play in the tournament.

“And in his television interview, I saw no remorse or regret of any of the decisions he undoubtedly made about the team staying to play in that all important tournament.” The writer also urged, “Start getting folks to ask questions about the Athletic Director, Jesse Nayadley. One reader who you printed an email from mentioned that the student athletes have been running roughshod for the last 5 years at Ooltewah. I'm not surprised at all.”

Almost all of the emails pleaded that an outraged public must not allow embarrassed school officials and shamed members of the school board to brush this deplorable crime under any rug. “We want to know the truth!” People are shocked the basketball team has been allowed to continue to play “as though nothing ever happened” by the school administration. “They need to cancel the season, make every boy who was in that cabin stand charges, and heads should roll from top to bottom.”

From another: “To desensitize the issue when such a major atrocity has taken place among the team and or their organization wreaks havoc on the character of young students and kids. Where are the voices of parents, families, Christians, students, and (elected) government representatives? Do we just sit in passive silence? Or do we speak out...speak boldly...AS WE OUGHT TO! (Eph.6:20)

“Today's passive silence and/or political correctness is sickening,” the email continued. “Yet like our officials, no one will do anything until a public opinion shows that maybe they should speak out to get positive attention. It's too late! It's obvious that all those officials need to be relieved of their responsibility immediately!”

Common sense would dictate hazing and bullying – and now far worse -- should become a top priority at secondary schools across the state but an enraged public is demanding Ooltewah High become the epicenter after the heinous attack was reported across the nation.

Some other excerpts:

* -- “Spot on, I have been flabbergasted that an emergency meeting has not been held and for once I agreed with Rhonda Thurman. Every adult and person over 18 in that cabin should face charges and anyone proven to have knowledge should as well, regardless of age.”

* -- “Your perspective on the world shows we are not alone in thinking the world has gone dark and totally ruthless. Only the real Light of Jesus piercing the darkness gives us hope. The Ooltewah basketball rape is reflective of this dark world. Some coaching staff and school board heads need to roll top to bottom! Instead of a basketball team lifting up, encouraging each other, this one plunges a pool stick into a teammate, with no apparent coaching concern. Parents need to keep their child from team participation until there is a shakeup.”

* -- “Today I had to write a check to Hamilton County for my property taxes for property my wife and I own on Flat Top Mountain. Those taxes coupled with our taxes on our home here in Soddy Daisy we certainly do our part to contribute a fair amount to the general fund of Hamilton County. However I kept thinking as I wrote the check what a waste of money going to the education department of the county. We have an underachieving school system who recently initiated the 2.0 campaign. Oh boy C's are the norm. Now we have no leadership in the schools or from the Superintendent regarding the situation at Ooltewah H.S. No discipline, no academic success, not even C's. We have truly dumbed down our school systems. It seems to me there is a major cover-up going on here. I think a massive issue of pink slips need to happen in the school system starting at the top.”

* -- “Just read your excellent piece about this horrible, unspeakable incident and the incompetence that followed. Although I no longer live in the area, I want to express my appreciation for your very professional work and dedication to decency. I totally agree that, as a first step, the coaches should be summarily fired and the reasons publicized. I'll stop short of saying what should be done to any others involved in deciding to allow these criminals to continue playing. Absolutely unbelievable.”

* -- “As a native of Southeast Tennessee, I have lived away from the area serving in our Navy for 20 years and then working as a civilian for our Navy another 10 years. Now as I consider returning home to live, I pause to think about whether home is really where the heart is. I live in a major metropolitan area, yet I shake my head about Chattanooga’s seemingly daily shootings, the gang activity and then I read about Ooltewah. What has happened to God’s corner of Tennessee?

“You have to wonder about the adult leadership and the lack thereof at OHS. There should be severe consequences for the adults for not doing their job, including now the school board.

“Leadership requires authority, accountability and responsibility. You can’t have one without the other two. If you fail in one, you shouldn’t have the other two. Ooltewah leadership failed in their responsibility and accountability and therefore is unworthy of their authority … Remember the three components of authority, accountability and responsibility. And if you fail in one, you shouldn’t have the other two.”

* -- “Your article was correctly and explicitly written. As a retired HCDE teacher and a former Ooltewah resident I am outraged and sickened over this incident. We have wondered WHY residents /taxpayers won't be able to attend the "not open to public and media" board meeting on Wed., Jan 6. Taxpayers pay the salaries and stipends of those on the board.”

* -- “Could you find out if the three players who were arrested belong to the gangs that are in Chattanooga? This could turn out bad. Was the reason two were denied bond because they represent a further threat to the victim?”

* -- “The article you wrote about the Ooltewah debacle was straightforward, honest, and addressed my sense of outrage on many levels. Are you a minister, or a political figure? Your article has been held up (here in Knox and Sevier counties) as the standard to which we decent humans on a moral and ethical journey must abide.”

* -- “Thanks for coming out guns blazing on the way Ooltewah has handled the tragedy there. Certainly, the rape makes us shudder and cringe. But then to learn that the team went on to play additional games after the fact? I just wanted to cry when I read that. ‘Sorry for your loss of innocence, son, but we’ve got some games to play.’ Unbelievable.

“With regards to the “innocent” members of the basketball team and would it have been fair to have canceled the games. I was reminded of one of the last scenes in (the movie) “A Few Good Men.”

“The two Marines talking to each other: ‘What did we do wrong? We did nothing wrong …

“’Yeah, we did. We were supposed to fight for the people who couldn't fight for themselves. We were supposed to fight for Willie.’”

* * *

AND THEN THERE WAS THIS ONE FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD …

“Please let me start with a very big thank you!!!!!

“I live in Portland Oregon, I am currently in Abu Dhabi UAE on business and I've traveled the world quite extensively. I am a US Air Force veteran (along with my husband) and have seen the sad state of the rape culture worldwide.

“As a sexual assault survivor, I am ashamed to say that I never pressed charges against my attacker. In the USAF and military in general, you are drilled to never "snitch" on your brothers in arms (especially if you're a female). So to read your words in the article I read online, I literally cheered and shouted praise because you are completely right. In every line.

“I have a 6 year old son who has already experienced bullying at a very young age because of his speech and hearing disabilities. I fear every day that he will be tormented in school the older he gets. I have already decided that I will most likely homeschool him in his middle school years because I just can't allow him to be subjected to that kind of abuse.

“My 3 year old daughter, I have similar fears for. She's extremely beautiful and intelligent beyond her age. I know there are predators and monsters who would love nothing more than to hurt both of my children. It can be paralyzing for me not just as their parent, but as a survivor myself.

“I was horrified and heart-broken for this young man and his family. I have cried for hours because I just can't imagine what they are going through. Or maybe it's because I've been there and the imagery is all too real. I completely agree with you that Coach Montgomery and all of the adults there need to be held accountable as accomplices. He didn't just drop the ball, he literally condoned this act.

“If I hear my kids get too loud or raucous, I go and check on them. Does the school board and coach REALLY expect us to believe that no one knew what was going on?? Or did they leave the team unsupervised to party, etc., so they themselves could go and have a few beers?

“And what about the other kids?? I know that if I found myself in the situation where I was a bystander during this, I'd have gotten beat up pretty bad while in the process of trying to stop the assault. What is going on in our world that others just stand back and watch someone's life be destroyed?

“I am just sick and emotionally devastated by this. And I'm left wondering how many times do things like this happen and no one says anything. Thank you for saying what needed to be said. Thank you for speaking up for all of us and calling the School Board and Montgomery out. Thank you for defending sexual assault victims and survivors everywhere. Thank you.”

royexum@aol.com