Mr2Bits
Gator Fan
Folks, it's been a bizarre week around Gator Nation.
The one event that shocked me the most was the recent arrest of Sun Sports' sideline reporter Steve Babik on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography after an ongoing investigation by the Gainesville Police, the Alachua County Sheriff's office, the FBI , and the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in November of 2009, which resulted in his suspension and eventual termination by the University of Florida as a result of formal charges being made.
Likely more details on this case will begin to unfold as Babik's trial date of March 1 approaches, but what he has done should be looked upon with nothing less than disgust and zero tolerance, not only from Gator Nation but from our society in general. I admit I would have had the least suspicion that Babik was engaging in this type of activity just as everybody else did, but yes, looks can deceive - here he was involved in a revolting activity under the guise of appearing to be a professional member of the sports media as well as a paid UF staff member. Being a father as he is, there was no excuse for what he had done.
I'm not trying to sound self-righteous or come across as sanctimonious; I'm expressing my own viewpoint on this matter for what it's worth. As far as I'm concerned, we're not doing enough to protect the well-being of our children in this country. In spite of the current laws in place, exploitation of young children and teens takes place on a daily basis, and sadly, propagation of obscene material and online sexual solicitation of minors nowadays can easily be facilitated. I happened to watch a couple of installments of Dateline NBC a while back with Chris Hanson, and he was discussing the topic of online solicitation of minor girls by adult men for illicit sexual contact (and catching many of them in the act of attempting to make contact with these girls) which, had they succeeded, constitutes statutory rape in most jurisdictions. If there's one drawback of living in the Internet age, this is one of them.
One of society's goals is to make the world a better place for generations to come, and we owe it to ourselves to make the welfare and protection of our children a top priority. In the case of the investigation of Steve Babik, I applaud the administration of the University of Florida for being as proactive as they were in assisting the other parties involved in exposing Babik's gross misconduct.
The one event that shocked me the most was the recent arrest of Sun Sports' sideline reporter Steve Babik on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography after an ongoing investigation by the Gainesville Police, the Alachua County Sheriff's office, the FBI , and the North Florida Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in November of 2009, which resulted in his suspension and eventual termination by the University of Florida as a result of formal charges being made.
Likely more details on this case will begin to unfold as Babik's trial date of March 1 approaches, but what he has done should be looked upon with nothing less than disgust and zero tolerance, not only from Gator Nation but from our society in general. I admit I would have had the least suspicion that Babik was engaging in this type of activity just as everybody else did, but yes, looks can deceive - here he was involved in a revolting activity under the guise of appearing to be a professional member of the sports media as well as a paid UF staff member. Being a father as he is, there was no excuse for what he had done.
I'm not trying to sound self-righteous or come across as sanctimonious; I'm expressing my own viewpoint on this matter for what it's worth. As far as I'm concerned, we're not doing enough to protect the well-being of our children in this country. In spite of the current laws in place, exploitation of young children and teens takes place on a daily basis, and sadly, propagation of obscene material and online sexual solicitation of minors nowadays can easily be facilitated. I happened to watch a couple of installments of Dateline NBC a while back with Chris Hanson, and he was discussing the topic of online solicitation of minor girls by adult men for illicit sexual contact (and catching many of them in the act of attempting to make contact with these girls) which, had they succeeded, constitutes statutory rape in most jurisdictions. If there's one drawback of living in the Internet age, this is one of them.
One of society's goals is to make the world a better place for generations to come, and we owe it to ourselves to make the welfare and protection of our children a top priority. In the case of the investigation of Steve Babik, I applaud the administration of the University of Florida for being as proactive as they were in assisting the other parties involved in exposing Babik's gross misconduct.
