Oh, how I hope these charges are untrue, but the fact that they are publicly charged adds alot of credibility to them. How very sad. Having been involved w/youth recreation, especially youth hockey for over 20 years, this repulses me. A person begins his involvement w/good, unselfish intentions FOR THE GOOD OF THE KIDS. When this type of behavior becomes "alluring", GET AWAY FROM THE KIDS AND GET HELP!!!!I am very concerned about the repercussions this will have on the youth hockey programs locally and nationally. This behaviour HAS TO STOP!!!!

This person waived preliminary hearing, so he probably will also provide a "no contest" plea??? meaning not to be drawn out, but admit he was just as the police and Court's have charged him as being, and watch all our children, as too many people, whom seem to be the nicest people ever in a community and then befriends children?; I believe is questionable, especially when alone with them, all abuser's well most abuser's tend to be very kind, nice and peronsable to everyone, yet they turn out; "if caught" to be the very ones that are the worst! I know from personal experience, and it is difficult for some to believe that these kind persons are so sick!!!!

I would like to clarify a few things to the gentleman from Crystal Falls who thinks that the media reporting has already convicted this man. If you read the story, it reports that he was charged, arraigned and waived arraignment. I don't see anything here except facts anyone could have gotten by sitting in the courtroom themselves. I think the reporter did a fine job of conveying that to the public. At the tone of your response, one would almost think that you may have a personal connection to this person and may not able to read it as it was written. Most often than not, when a story like this breaks, the police have been working long, hard hours to bring charges. So if he is innocent, he has a big task ahead of him.

Well said, Dave G. True, we hear about the rotten apples and people immediately jump to the conclusion that all (or even most) teachers are leading their kids astray. Millions of teachers in this country and in the U.P. are good, decent people and do a fine job of teaching as well as coaching and acting as role models for our youths. I'm part of a family that has many teachers, both current and retired, and every one of us would choose this profession again - despite the long hours nights and weekends, 3 months of unemployment every year necessitating part-time jobs, and the comparable low pay.

For however many "bad" teachers & coaches there are out there, there are many more that are great teachers / coaches.

When something, like this, comes to light, people are justifiably outraged, but the tendency is to start raging about teachers / coaches in general.

I'd like to thank all of those "good" teachers and coaches out there who truly do care about the kids, and work hard, for little money, to give our children a good education.

When I went through school, I had the pleasure of being taught and coached by many exceptional educators. I might not have been too appreciative at the time, but I appreciate their efforts now!

My son graduated from Escanaba in 05 and all the kids at that time would go to ward's camp and hang out and "sit in the hot tub". I always told him that I didn't want him out there, and I'm sure there were times he didn't listen, because there is something wrong with an older man hanging out with kids. So, I'm sure it happened back then and not just the dates they're talking about.

No sense in spending the money on a trial as irresponsible news reporting already tried and convicted this man probably convincing those who listened to the story of his guilt. If he is for any reason found not guilty, his reputation is already ruined, but atleast, you got the story. What has happened to our system of justice, innocent until PROVEN guilty.

This is happening all over the country. Go to www.schoolteachernews.com and click on the Scandal page. This year they have documented over 300 of these types of incidents. In 2008 they found 478 of these kinds of cases.

Teachers , bus drivers and anyone working with children should have to pass a polygraph or psycological exams to be able to work in that field JMHO !

How troubling is this? More and more it seems that people entrusted with our kids safety and well-being are exposed for this behavior. You just never know... do you?