Dear Editor,
I grew up spending summers on Lake Bomoseen, where Fair Haven was our nearest village for shopping, restaurants and other activities. I was also a soccer player in high school at that time, and spent two months in Germany, where I was invited to play soccer. My daughters all played soccer from grade school through high school.
I am terribly disappointed to read about sexual harassment, taunting and demeaning shouts and chanting from spectators at school games. I am particularly disappointed that the schools being targeted are reported to be pulling their teams off the field and court, with no indication that the home and host team and school, nor the game officials, are addressing this harrassment on the spot with the spectators.
That lack of adult supervision, their tacit approval or neglect of misbehavior, is bad for everyone. All Americans, young and old, need positive role models and to be held accountable for their behavior, public and private. This is not political correctness. This is simply the kind of moral and ethical behavior that my parents took me to Sunday school and church to reinforce their own parenting. Good supervision and parenting are not punitive. It’s leading by example.
David Souers, Friendship, Maine
