Posted: Friday, 05 October 2007 10:32AM
Bonvie Must Be Stopped
Steve Corbett Reporting
Friday, October 05, 2007
As the enforcer for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Dennis Bonvie takes the law into his own hands during every game, pummeling opponents to the ice in a cold and bitter arena.
Bloody victory after brutal victory, Bonvie then skates past his beaten foe, raising his arms in a fury that whips the crowd into a frenzy of adulation and applause.
That crowd includes children.
Bonvie must be stopped.
For too many seasons, Bonvie has sadistically thumped opponents into submission.
He has also punched our common sense into submission, as he presents one image off the ice and another when he plays. Supporters call Bonvie a nice, gentle man who loves children.
Fighting is simply part of the sport, they say.
I see a public menace, a monster thug who assaults at will, striking out with a barrage of blows to the face and head.
Bonvie could kill somebody.
When he first hit town a few years ago I asked him in a telephone interview what he would do if that happened.
He said he would skate over and shake hands with his opponent.
Bonvie didn’t get it then.
He doesn’t get it now.
Bonvie accepts invitation after invitation to local schools where he is viewed as a perfect role model.
Rather than teach our children how to fight, we must teach our children how not to fight.
We need to show them that force begets force and that violence is not the answer to any problems that might be presented in the course of our lives.
Physical violence is a last resort – self-defense when all else fails – not good, old-fashioned family entertainment.
Caller after caller to “Corbett” yesterday agreed, surprising me with their rational arguments against Bonvie’s assaults that off the ice would constitute crimes that could result in a prison sentence.
One particularly well-spoken man said that he recently talked with his young daughter about fighting when she came home worried about a friend who had punched a boy during a fight at school.
He said he told her that fighting was bad, but since the boy was protecting himself and had been bullied in the past, she should remain friends with him.
Then he took the child to the opening night of another Penguins season – Bonvie’s last hurrah before retirement – and felt embarrassed after watching her watch Bonvie pound a man into submission with his fists.
Three fights marked opening night, he said, one as brutal as the next.
Daddy’s in a dilemma.
But, good father and man with a conscience that he is, he’s trying to figure out the lessons we all must learn from what he saw at the arena.
In Pennsylvania, fighting is a crime.
The Crimes Code outlines degrees of assault and the punishment attached.
Nowhere in the law is professional hockey exempt.
That’s why Bonvie should be arrested the next time he raises his fists, taunts his target and attacks.
Wilkes-Barre Township should send officers to the next game where they can witness the regular Bonvie assaults. They should then take him into custody after the game.
In no other circumstance do police witness crimes and turn away, or worse, cheer the criminal on to victory.
Bonvie must be stopped.
We cannot measure the damage done to children who witness this ghastly spectacle. We can’t gauge the harm done to kids who go home with visions of savagery dancing in their heads.
Bloodthirstiness is a personality disorder.
And Bonvie is the leader of the pack.
If nothing else, children under 17 should be barred from Penguins games until the fighting issue is resolved.
If that ever happens, I’ll proudly don a Penguins sweater and yell “Go Pens.”
In the meantime, I’ll be happy to attend a game and then appear as a witness against Bonvie when he squares off against a gutsy prosecutor and gets his day in court.
|
Corbett
E-Mail
Print
