Uechi-Ryu.com

The latest martial art abuse story:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>HEADLINE: OWNER OF KARATE STUDIO CHARGED WITH SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF GIRL, 8

BYLINE: Margaret Van Duch.

DATELINE: PALATINE

BODY:
A Palatine karate studio owner accused of exposing himself and improperly touching an 8-year-old girl has been charged with sexual exploitation of a child and two counts of battery, police announced Tuesday.

George Hernandez, of the 600 block of Eastport Court, Island Lake, was arrested Nov. 15, according to reports. He improperly touched a Barrington student twice and exposed himself to the girl on Nov. 8, police said.

Hernandez owns and teaches at the Olympic Karate & Fitness Center, 2070 N. Rand Rd., Palatine.

The center will continue to offer classes despite the allegations, said Palatine police.

The Children's Advocacy Center, an organization that assists police in interviewing abused children, was working with the girl and her parents, according to reports. Police said they are not investigating any other similar incidents involving Hernandez.

On Tuesday Hernandez said, "This is all just a misunderstanding."

He was released on a personal recognizance bond and is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 26.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: November 22, 2000 <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Scary....this allegedly took place a mere 5 minutes from where I live and teach.

Whether or not the allegations turn out to be true or false, in the eye of the public it's a negative mark on all martial artists. Too bad the general public can't separate the actions of a single PERSON from the behavior of other members of a common group.

David Kahn

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email: <A HREF="mailto:chgouechi1@aol.com">chgouechi1@aol.com</A>
website: http://members.aol.com/chgouechi1

It always merits more research before condemning someone of an accused action. Naturally, if the allegations are true, the person is despicable, however, if this is the same "Children's Advocay Center" that I heard about a few years ago (I even think they were featured on a TV special), they've been accused on numerous occasions of "coaching" the children into giving false testimony... That's IF it's the same group (certainly don't want to accuse them falsely either).

True. . . perhaps the child was coached to say something that did not happen. However, as martial artist, we should know the potential pitfalls involved in teaching.

Especially an art like Uechi-ryu, where teachers will, in spite of common sense recommendations from seniors, will 'test' and 'check' children's Sanchin by patting them on the rear end and go through all kinds of ridiculous ritual hitting. If pressed to explain what they are doing, many wouldn't have a clue. . . "hey man, that's the way my sensei hit me!"

Parents watching this, not understanding much more than the teacher, regarding why he is patting the child on the rear, may figure that the teacher is at the very least incompetent and worse case, abusing the child.

Think I'm exaggerating? How about the sensei who tests women's breast during Sanchin?

As I'm often stated, it's just a question of time before some yahoo will be appointed the karate czar by the government and will responsible for certifying teachers.

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GEM

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by gmattson:

As I'm often stated, it's just a question of time before some yahoo will be appointed the karate czar by the government and will responsible for certifying teachers.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sensei,

Being in Massachusetts, I'm sure you've kept abreast of the fact that this has been proposed every few years here for at least the last ~17 years... Generally, it gets tabled in conference when enough people show that it's unnecessary. However, the last time (a couple of years ago) that it was introduced, the proposed legislation had changed to include a "registration of people who are deadly weapons". That would have meant that anyone reaching brown-belt (not that they had a clue what that really was or meant) had to register with the Commonwealth and keep the State updated with address changes as well as martial arts rank changes... it would have also meant that any martial artist of "brown-belt" or above who defended themself or loved ones could (and probably would) be charged with ADW... Fortunately, these things don't go anywhere...