[tpmintx]

As young parents years ago, my wife and I took a class on keeping our children safe. One thing that really stuck with me is that a person who presents himself as doing something that appears to be completely selfless for a child or a group of children, is likely a predator.

• The scout leader who does not have a kid or history of a kid in the troop.
• The volunteer coach without a kid on the team.
• Unfortunately, priests.

Pedophiles really work hard to put themselves in "unimpeachable" positions of trust and volunteer to do all sorts of things for kids. All the while looking for an opportunity to "cut one out of the herd" for his own gratification. (I say "his" because this particular perversion seems to be male-dominated.)

It does not mean that all coaches or scout leaders or priests are pedophiles. However, the phrase "Trust, but VERIFY" is applicable here.

[Fred Hayek]

•The volunteer coach without a kid on the team.

Shortly after graduating from college, I worked as a volunteer coach in an inner city track and field program. If it were today, I would never consider such a thing since it would automatically put me under such suspicion. It would take just one person making stuff up. “It is not the evidence that matters, it is the seriousness of the charge that counts.” I ran into this firsthand when someone did a websearch on my name, and one of the hits was on a similar name - different middle name. Aryan Nation, Christian Identity, child molester, and ties to a notorious domestic terrorist who had since been executed. That person with a similar name is now in a Federal prison, but in the accuser’s mind I was that person. I then dropped out of the sport in disgust.