Little Brother? NJ Little League Now Requires Fingerprinting
- Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:21am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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There’s big brother, who watches your every move. And now, there’s little brother, who makes you get fingerprinted if you want to work concessions at a Little League baseball game in New Jersey.
The Tenafly Little League in Tenafly, NJ is now requiring anyone who volunteers at a game and comes in contact with children to get fingerprinted. Everyone from coaches, to t-shirt vendors, to concessions stand workers now have to go through the process. And according to the league’s president, the decision to add the extra layer of security was required in order to receive grant money:
Parents are split on the procedure, as WCBS reports:
“I’m fine with it. I have nothing to hide. I’m pretty good,” Garcia said.
“I think it’s a good thing. You can’t be extra cautious, especially towards our kids,” parent Vanessa Semone said. [...]
“It just seems like it’s over-diligent,” parent Kevin Pierce said.
Some parents who only occasionally volunteer said the league is going too far.
“I’m helping gather up the balls or I’m helping rake the field and now I need a background check,” Pierce said. “It’s an intrusion that is unnecessary without a probable cause.”
Tenafly Little League president John Preolo said the league had to require fingerprinting this year because of a much-needed grant.
“To get the grant there is certain criteria that had to be met. One of them is the fingerprinting process. If the town didn’t agree to get coaches and volunteers fingerprinted, I don’t think we would have gotten the money,” Preolo said.
UPDATE:
We’ve reached out to John Perolo, president of the league, for more information on the grant and have yet to hear back.
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Comments (96)
joesample
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:53amAwesome… more government intrusion and bureaucracy… don’t worry though… the grant also requires runs to be redistributed from higher scoring teams to lower scoring teams… ha,ha.
Report Post »Your Name Here
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:47amOkay, we finger print them, but do they have to show their birth certificates?
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:47amPEDOPHILES are
bus drivers
teachers
judges
police officers
pastors, preachers etc.
neighbors
coaches
and on and on.
You can’t know who is just by looking at them. And for those who joking think they are behind every tree………….YES THEY ARE!!!!!!! Just ask all the dead kids.
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:40amHere is something some of you may not understand………if it will keep children safe from pedophiles, and keep them alive after a pedophile is in the ballpark………I WILL GIVE UP SOME FREEDOMS!
Report Post »EdGunz
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 1:15pmThats the same B.S. that cost me the right to own whatever type of gun I want. You give a small bit of freedom away because your told it will make you safer. WRONG, it makes you complacent and lazy. Little league isn’t daycare, stay there and help out with practice or just watch and show some interest in your kids life. YOU are responsible for your kids safety not the government.
Report Post »integrican
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:40amYou can keep your “Grant Money”!!!!! ….and you can have a print of my boot on your backside!!!!
It is almost getting comical how the Feds hold us hostage with “Grant Money”
Report Post »“You can’t have this money unless you do this or that”
I say keep your money, Fed!!!……It stinks!!!!!
123gone
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 2:03pmThe real problem is that it’s not THEIR money; it’s YOUR tax dollars! If they allowed you to keep YOUR money by cutting taxes, you could donate to the Little League as you see fit.
If Big Government has so much money to give away grants and freebees, they are over-taxing the American public. Open your eyes – It’s all about control !!
If you accept money from the Government and you allow them to control how you spend it, you have become a slave to the system. THAT is nothing less than SOCIALISM.
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:36amReceive grant money from who? The feds? And the Democrats can’t find a way to cut a few billion out of the 2011 budget? I’m all for kids playing ball but, it is not a constitutional right. If you have to pay to play, get used to it, that’s life. When I was a kid we did fundraisers.
Report Post »integrican
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:42amFundraisers????? You better have all of your permits in order. LOL
Report Post »freedom101
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:34amSpeaking of Little League….I bet you have to have a birth certificate to play. Just sayin’.
Report Post »marqui
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 5:00pmInteresting point I don’t recall BHO playing LL but apparently he has been present at some games. I wonder if the LL required fingerprints before allowing him near the kids.
An absurd point I know, but where does all this paranoia end?
Report Post »EdGunz
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:17amWhere is this grant coming from. I am a Little League coach in Michigan. We are required to provide information for a background check, but no finger prints. The only ones required to have a background check are the coaches and assistant coaches.
Report Post »SearchForTruth
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:16amAs Beck has taught, one of the basic functions of government is “to help protect us and our property, so that we may now be more free to go out and enjoy the pursuit of happiness.” Fingerprinting is just another tool that helps.
NONE OF YOU PARENTS know if the guy coaching your little league has had previous “problems with children” in faraway Atlanta or Seatle. The way to find out is with fingerprints and rigorous background checks.
Predators are very adept at hiding their true intentions until the moment of opportunity arrives. Then it is too late, and everybody is outraged and says, “Why didn’t THEY (police/government?) do something?”
Well now THEY ARE DOING SOMETHING. It’s called fingerprinting and rigorous background checks.
And ALL THOSE on this site who decry this minor loss of privacy from fingerprinting are the same people who will then turn around and blame you for not being more diligent in protecting your children once something tragic has happened.
Report Post »Beckatude
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:32amI dont know if the guy coaching my kid is a predator. That’s why I take my child to practice and stay to watch. I also watch every game. It’s called “taking responsibility.” You dont just drop the kids and run.
Report Post »ARCHON
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:14amINSTEAD OF BANNING HOMOSEXUAL PEDOPHILES FROM WORKING WITH YOUNG BOYS
Report Post »they CAST NORMAL MALES WITH THE SHADE OF GUILT.
KL
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:07amMy kids were fingerprinted when they were in grade school. I still have them. Its a good idea in general, just in case something were to happen.
Report Post »Darla_K
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:02amIf they want the grant they have to submit to the control. So who do you think makes the extra scutiny policy? We, as a nation, as a people must resist the encroachment upon our freedoms. It always starts in inocculous ways. Just a bit of freedom lost in each case. You think “it’s reasonable to protect our children from possible sexual predators”. It even sounds reasonable. But after you look around and see what is happening to us you find that now we are hampered and restricted by our controllers, i.e. our government. When you speak out against the encroachment of freedom, of our liberties, you are made to look like you favor pedophilia.
Report Post »TheWatcher
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:00amIt is sad that we view everyone as a threat…. but it is a sign of the times…
Report Post »////////////////
Buck
http://www.***************
Heirloom Seeds, “How God plants His garden”
Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:58amThat is up to the NJ Little League. If they want the grant money, they will have to jump through their hoops.
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:56amHere’s the rest of the point~~~
You do NOT finger print children, ever, except when taking them out of one country into another. We are keeping our LEGAL children here with us LEGAL AMERICAN citizens.
All others may leave the country on the first pitch!
Or, ride that home run hit “out of the ballpark (AMERICA)!”
Report Post »Untameable-kate
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:17amThey aren’t fingerprinting children, just staff.
Report Post »kickagrandma
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:51amSince I can’t write my response in all caps, you have to read through this first to get to the point which is,
NO!
Report Post »kschmud
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:46amThey always use safety, especially of children…to erode individual freedom and intrude too far
Report Post »FL_Mom
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:51amThat’s it. It’s not about the kids, it’s about grant money.
Didn’t know you could tell a pedophile by his fingerprints. Alert the MSM.
Report Post »rumple
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:39amI would not have a problem with a background check, but i think fingerprinting goes too far.
Report Post »standunited
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:36amWhen people ussually work these jobs it’s because they have a kid playing there, others may be vendors at which point their employers should have had a backround check done on them, the volunteers should not, especially if they have kids playin, it deffinitely too intrusive. This is just another way of the state of New Germany(Jersey) to get information it could’t/shouldn’t get otherwise. Way to ig brother for me, I lived there and glad I moved.
Report Post »powhatan
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:35amwhy does little league want or get grant money? We always raised our own funds and had local bsns help sponsor…this is dumb.
Report Post »marqui
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 4:49pm“why does little league want or get grant money?”
Because like most people these days they expect someone else to take care of them instead of taking care of themselves. The league could have held fundraisers, etc. like in my day but they chose to take this grant instead. I expect that it may backfire and they will have fewer volunteers to help out. I know that I would have qualms about having a permanent record of a criminal background check. How will people know it was due to my volunteering to assist with Little League instead of some more insidious reason?
Report Post »UlyssesP
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:29am“It just seems like it’s over-diligent,” parent Kevin Pierce said.”
Report Post »Now the lurking pedophiles in Tenafly, NJ have a clue to who’s kid to target without even going to a game. Where is that phone book…..
Good going Kevin.
marqui
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 4:37pmPerhaps but the parents who supported the requirement for fingerprinting also gave their full names, didn’t they? Not that it matters anyway. Anyone within earshot of the game will quickly learn the names of all the kids on the team when the parents scream them out.
Report Post »Chett
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:27amsigh, is there a pedophile behind every tree?
Report Post »Untameable-kate
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:48amUnfortunately sometimes that’s true. I have coached little league and would have allowed myself to be fingerprinted. I don’t have any problem surrendering some of my freedom if it is to join the fight against child abuse.
Report Post »Pattondog
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:27amoh well if our rights are being violated in the name of grant, well hey let the infringement continue.
Report Post »a lesser degree of the commerce clause and or global laws fromthe UN.
Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:45amLoss of even the smallest of freedoms, is still a loss of freedom.
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:43amSnowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
And what does a loss of a child mean to you?
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:27amAnother nail in the old constitution by big brother and big sister.
Report Post »Robert-CA
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:00amI understand both sides but on this one I’m in favor of fingerprints , better safe than sorry + they have the option to refuse the grant & seek for a different source .
Report Post »margo7000
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:12amWill the grant help pay for the finger printing, background check through the various systems? Who is going to pay for the initial up front cost…….Where did this originate from? Was there an incident? Sounds like big brother for sure at the expense at our heart strings about children..
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:38amAnd another nail in a coffin of a kid taken by a pervert. Yep, no need to know who is stalking our children, as long as we keep our freedoms.
Report Post »DimmuBorgir
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:24amwell, you wouldn’t want a pedophile working that close to kids. it‘s not an intrusion of privacy because working at a little league ball field isn’t manditory. you want to work there, you have to follow policy
Report Post »missionarydad
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:33amI disagree little league is pretty much just part of life and while I have nothing to hide I would say screw the grant money lets raise our own funds and safeguard what freedom we still have.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:35amGovernment @ little league? If the People cannot/ do not vet themselves at this local neighborhood level, then we are truly lost. People need to take RESPONSIBILITY . Big Brother under any guise is giving up a little freedom. The things we fear have always been around. Child abduction has gone DOWN over the past 20yrs. If someone “misbehaves” with children then first a verbal warning, then…..
Report Post »BetterDays
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:38amAgreed.
Report Post »Now if they institute TSA screening and fingerprinting for fans, that’s a whole different ballgame.
afishfarted
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:38amand what other government intrusions are you willing to submit to? Remember that pesky phrase “Life liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness”? Liberty means no one has the right to intrude on me in any manner unless I have been suspected of breaking a law. Volunteering does not constitute such an intrusion. “He who is willng to sacrifice freedom for security deserves neither”.
Report Post »Franklin
wildjoker5
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:40amSounds like more bureaucracy. They already require you to submit an application with your social security number, 3 references, and copy of your driver’s license.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:43am@Missionary Dad:
Agree, the funds needed can be raised in private and from charities for kids; get the fed’s and their seizing of liberties while we still have time, and before they build even more restrictions on the tight jacket we already are being forced to wear.
Report Post »DimmuBorgir
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:44ami agree with that, if they want to keep it completely privately funded then they can make their own rules.
obviously these people can’t raise the funds. i just think that background checks are a great idea for anyone trying to work around kids. sickos are out there and instead of me having to go to jail for beating the crap out of some pedophile looking at my kid, a background check would help to keep them away.
Castration and death penalty are really the answer for those kinds of people. ah, death penalty is good enough.
Report Post »stifroc
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:45am*WHEW*
Report Post »At least they are not asking for birth certificates or green cards!
DTOM_Jericho
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:48am“Everyone from coaches, to t-shirt vendors, to concessions sand workers…”
They sell sand now at games? Mmmm, pour me a cup! Nothing is quite as refreshing on a hot summer day.
Report Post »Untameable-kate
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:51amStoic one
If someone “misbehaves” with my child there would be no ‘verbal’ warning. The first warning would be physical, and the person would not be attending or working at any more little league games.
Report Post »Redd
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 10:55amAt least LL requires a birth certificate, unlike hussein obama and glenn beck.
Report Post »SpunkyGal
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:02amNJ knows how to suck the fun out of Little League.
Infringement by any other name would smell as foul…
Report Post »bbfish
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:14amMy son had a new coach on his little league baseball team and the area did not do a back ground check or call his references, he was a creeper! We ran him off and two years later he was arrested for molesting a child. Imagine you have a feeling that the guy was a creeper and then see his name and face on the local TV news. Since then our area ( Lakewood Colorado) does background checks on all of the coaches every year. You just never know.
Report Post »Beckatude
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:19amWe do many things, daily, that are not mandatory. Where does it stop? I wouldnt use Key Bank when they instituted their fingerprint technology. Are you going to object when they make you do a fingerprint scan to get into the supermarket?Everything can be justified as “for the children.”
Report Post »cessna152
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:45am“…..the decision to add the extra layer of security….”
_____________________________________________________________________________
The most frightening term you could hear from your government! I live in NJ and coaches have had to did this for quite some time (less the finger printing.) We had to take a 3 hour course, carry a “cleared by the township” card and background checked.
Report Post »@leftfighter
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:54amYou don’t want a pedophile working with kids? Great! I don’t either.
Then again, THAT’S WHAT THE SEXUAL OFFENDER REGISTRY IS FOR!
You see, pedophiles are on the list and have actually done something to deserve the scrutiny. The rest of humanity that hasn‘t committed pedophilia doesn’t deserve to be put on the same level as pedophiles. Interestingly enough, I think that‘s why they’re left off the sexual offender database.
By watching the registry instead of taking everyone’s fingerprints, there’s an awesome side effect! It’s called privacy. You know- the thing innocent people have a right to?
“Those who would give up a little freedom for a little safety, deserve neither freedom nor safety.” ~Benjamin Franklin
Report Post »123gone
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:54amThese people don‘t seem to realize that they’re allowing Big Government intrusion into their lives for the sake of money.
A grant is nothing more than giving you back your tax dollars in exchange for allowing the Government to dictate how you are to live your lives.
The control is no different than welfare or prostitution.
Report Post »APatriotFirst
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 12:02pm@leftfighter
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 11:54am
You don’t want a pedophile working with kids? Great! I don’t either.
Then again, THAT’S WHAT THE SEXUAL OFFENDER REGISTRY IS FOR!
—————————————————————————
Can you gurantee that ALL of them are registered?
Report Post »Didn’t think so!
Dthorp71
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 12:08pmTrue, but…once we accept this a normal they will impliment the next step to remove our freedoms. They will tell us it is for our safety or national security. Then we will fall in line like good little sheep and let them take the next step. Look what they are doing in Kentucky, they now have an Iphone app. to report suspicious behavior to DHS…hope you don’t make your neighbor mad!
Report Post »http://www.unsalvageable.org/want-to-report-your-neighbor-to-dhs-theres-an-app-for-that.html
ablisterin
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 12:22pmShould not have even applied for grant monies. If you can‘t fund it yourself or by fundraisers don’t do it. Makes me SICK!!!
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 1:34pmUNTAMEABLE-KATE
I was just being polite. My grandson went missing at a county pay lake park when he was five. The park only had one entrance/exit. the police were called after an initial inspection, I MADE EVERYONE help look. after 10-15 minutes of frantically searching , the PAID EMPLOYEE children’s bird watching and coloring guide showed up with my grandson. She received a VERY PUBLIC NON VULGAR verbal dressing down from me.
walk odd with my grandson…….A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be careful what you ask for. The government often hires tunnel vision MORONS
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 1:39pmoops
Report Post »walk off with my grandson
TheGreyPiper
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 1:53pmWell, I guess the best thing that can be said here is that it wasn’t mandatory — LL had the option to toe this line or forego the dough. Actually, I can see it for the coaches, who are in very close contact all the time, and more frequently than vendors, who are at just the games.
Report Post »restorehope
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 3:40pmToo bad we weren’t this cautious in 2008 when determining eligiblity for the presidency. Thorough vetting is not such a bad thing.
Report Post »marqui
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 4:28pmStoic one
You were responsible to keep track of your grandson, not the public employee. I don’t understand why you felt you had to yell at the women for doing her job, which included keeping your grandson safe. This is one reason that few people choose to volunteer to work with children – even when you are acting in their best interests, you still get yelled at by the parents.
The overall point here is that it is not the role of the government to keep your children from harm. Checking on the coaches is reasonable but having to get all the volunteers fingerprinted is extreme, especially when they have to travel to a different city for the fingerprinting (according to the newscast).
Report Post »marybethelizabeth
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 5:05pmThe story editor wrote a humorous headline, hoping to make such governmental intrusions more acceptable to the readers, which helps to usher in the iron-fisted fascist utopia Mr. Beck favors.
Report Post »bikermama
Posted on April 6, 2011 at 8:59pm@apatriotfirst. You just proved my point. If they are not a registered sex offender what the hell good does it do fingerprinting them? I don’t allow my kids to be alone with coaches or other adults unless I REALLY know them.. my son couldn’t go on a boy scout trip without his Dad for 2 years, until we were extremely certain all the other adults were o.k. And why are little leagues getting taxpayer money anyhow? Our little league busted our humps with fundraiser constantly. And it teaches the kids that you don’t need a government handout to get what you want in life, you work hard for it. Background checks on the coaches is ok, but fingerprinting everyone that VOLENTEERS is stupid.
Report Post »Stoic one
Posted on April 7, 2011 at 12:14amMARQUI
I was talking with my wife about this incident. I went to the restroom; came back to our table and asked where is ‘Jim”? at the time she said ‘I do not know.’
Well it is a few years latter, she fessed up the park employee received permission, from her. My wife stated “i should have gone with him; then none of that would have happened”
we did part from the employee on good terms, after i had calmed down….
Report Post »Kookaburra
Posted on April 7, 2011 at 10:01pm@ DimmuBorgir: Sure, give in to everything. Now all grant money is contingent upon having your fingerscans in yet another databank. You people are idiots! They tried this same stunt with my church parish vacation bible school, stating you couldn’t volunteer without fingerscanning into the Sagem Morpho database. Doesn‘t matter you’ve been a parishioner plus 25 years with your own kids in the program as mentors either. Well, I refused and told them to get someone else. All of a sudden, bingo, well I guess we can make an exception lady. This is such garbage. The name alone identifies it for what it is: Sagem=a cloak typically worn by pagan (idolatrous) Roman soldiers in ancient times during battle. Morpho=as in the morpho butterfly/moth (camouflages itself to deceive its appearance.) Gee, doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.
Go ahead, stick your fingers in the scanner buddy. Today it’s for vacation bible school and little league grants. Tomorrow is for rounding your ass up into the concentration camps. And they’re all over the country. Over 800 count in the U.S. alone…..what a genius.
Report Post »