Between 5% and 15% of victims report being molested.
South Carolina:
The year was 1995 and a group of fraternity brothers were sitting in an emergency meeting. There was big news. One of our own was starting his ordeal with his hometown (Homewood, Alabama) Police, providing testimony that he was molested as a child. Because news media was on campus, Victim #1 chose to tell the fraternity about his molestation. I remember the questions that night. They were all over the map, but here were some of the college “guy” type questions.
The list goes on and on….
It is very confusing when you learn that a dude in your fraternity (and one you regard as being very strong headed) has had unwanted sexual contact with another dude. No doubt it would have been easier if Victim #1 were coming out of the closet rather than the complexity of dealing with an adult molester. It brings up quite a few questions – some harsh, some stupid, some completely dumbfounding, to say the least. The night wore on, and at the end, we all pledged our support to Victim #1. Days and weeks passed. Over the last 16 years I have known Victim #1 and educated myself about this issue on my own and through him. Not once have I asked again the question “How did you let this happen to you?”
To this day, when I think about what happened in the meeting 16 years ago, I just feel empty. this is one of those topics that it is entirely impossible to have empathy for. You just cannot put yourself in the other person’s shoes, because it is beyond imagination. If I felt a rift between me and Victim #1 that night, imagine what Victim #1 felt at the outset, with everyone else on the other side.
To those who are close to Victim #1’s situation in Birmingham, to those who grew up next to Victim #1 and might have had very different experiences with Don Corley, and anyone else out there who might be wondering how on earth this happens without being reported:
An excerpt from the interview above (paraphrased): Between 5% and 15% of victims report being molested. A common theme in all of these cases is “why are you telling us now?” Healing and helping are most often the reasons. Aside from keeping Don Corley in jail, healing and helping are our reasons, too.
As a society and in our communities, we should be actively looking around to eradicate this issue. Let’s find the victims and potential victims, lest they find us too late.
Please see our Molestation Resources, stay vigilant, and stay educated.
1 Comment on this post
Leave a CommentI knew Don Corely as a Scout Leader and professionally as Director of Corporate Television for BellSouth. I worked alongside him on Scout service weekends and occasionally had lunch with him in the company cafeteria where we worked. I knew of his love for Disney by the large group of collectables and cartoon cells in his office. Once when I commented about this he told me that he had wanted to work for Disney when he got out of the US Air Force but did not pass the interview and testing. He thought he would be selected because he had a college degree from Alabama in Film/Media Production and several years as an Air Force Officer producing and directing training films and special programs. At several National Jamborees he worked on the publicity staff and produced programs featuring young Scouts. I thought this to be a good use of his talents and experience but little did I know that he was a child molestor. Of course since I was an adult he had no interest in me. When all of his dark and henious past crimes came to light I felt personally betrayed by this slimey individual that had duped me with his masquerade and violated everyone’s trust. The damage he did to so many unsuspecting and vunerable boys is absolutely unpardonable and the negative publicity he brought upon his church , volunteer organizations, his employer, his college, and his family is unforgivable. I recommend no parole for Charles Donald Corley and request that he serve his full term. And furthermore I suggest that he spend at least a few years in the general prison population and not at his cushy job at the Kilby Processing Center. At a real prison he may be subjected to some of the same treatment he gave the boys he molested and understand just how degraded he made them feel during his elation. I say no mercy and no parole for Charles Donald Corley. Let him do the 30 years he deserves and then some without mercy and without comfort. He is so sly and evil that I am convinced that he will offend again even after he serves his 30 years.
Comment left on 11.17.2011 by Bob Thomas