Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 9/18/21
Cobb
County resident Bob Snelling is a 77-year-old grandfather of six. A graduate of
the U.S. Naval Academy, Snelling was a career pilot with Delta Airlines, a
State Representative in the Georgia House of Representaives, and a long time
Presbyterian elder. As though all of that would not keep a man totally
occupied, Snelling is a former member of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS)
in which he was active for over 30 years.
Snelling
delights in sharing all of his hobbies with his grandsons, including his
barbershop harmony singing. When Grandson #6 became 12, Snelling took him to a
rehearsal of the local chapter of the BHS, the Big Chicken Chorus (BCC), where
he was immediately welcomed. The grandson soon acquired a serious interest in
BCC, noting that the rehearsal times were like “walking into a roomful of
Grandfathers.”
Sadly,
however, it turned out that one of the BCC members was a sexual predator, a
fact that came to light about two years after the grandson began participating
in the group. Abused by this predator, the grandson possessed, in Snelling’s
words, “the courage to face the abuser in court.” The abuser is currently
serving a sentence in the Georgia State Prison System.
Although
the predator was brought to justice, Snelling is on mission telling how his
local BHS chapter reacted to his grandson’s charges. On the morning of August
29, 2019 to the complete surprise of Snelling and his family, the perpetrator
arrived in the court room accompanied by three members of the local BHS. The
purpose of those members appearing was to serve as character witnesses in hopes
of getting the perpetrator’s sentence reduced. All three testified. Knowing
well the BHS Code of Ethics and its Youth Policy, Snelling concluded that the
witnesses had violated both.
To
honor his family and to respond to the blindsiding of the witnesses, Snelling
filed an ethics complaint with the BHS Ethics Committee. Of particular concern
to Snelling and his family was the fact that one of the three witnesses was a
local high school choral music teacher. According to Snelling, the music
teacher called his grandson twice during the week of the hearing trying to get
him to soften his testimony.
The
BHS Ethics Committee concluded that none of the three witnesses violated BHS
policy or ethics. According to Snelling, they reasoned that because the
witnesses’ testimony was legal it was therefore ethical. After receiving the
Committee’s decision, Snelling filed an appeal with the full Board of Directors
and was disregarded a second time.
Snelling’s
take on the series of events is that the BHS enables sexual offenders and that
its Code of Ethics and Youth Policy are “eyewash and no more than a paper
tiger.” Also, when the abuse occurred his family received no support from
anybody inside the BHS either locally or nationally. Any support given by
members was for the convicted perpetrator.
In
my conversations with Snelling, a former colleague in the Georgia House of
Representatives, he drew my attention to American lawyer and gymnast Rachel
Denhollander who was the first to accuse Dr. Larry Nassar of sexual assault
when she was 15. Nassar, the former Michigan State University and USA
Gymnastics doctor, was convicted and sentenced to 175 years for his cumulative
crimes. Snelling recalled how Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias denied charges
made about his sexual deviancy which his ministry acknowledged soon after his
death. Snellings’ point was to indicate how rampant the problem of sexual
assault is.
Snelling
asserts that not only was his grandson harmed by the sexual predator; his
entire family was as well, given the emotional trauma that accompanies such
crimes which can last a lifetime for victims. “The BHS ignored the injuries it
caused and rationalized its own lack of responsible action in not enforcing its
own policies,” Snelling claims. “They demonstrated to the world that, in disregarding
their own Youth Policy and Code of Ethics, the moral fiber of the BHS is not
only negligible; it is non-existent.”
In
a letter to churches and businesses that host BHS rehearsals at their
facilities, Snelling urged them to reconsider their relationship with the
organization and to have a full and open review with the leadership of the
local chapters using their facilities.
Readers
desiring more details about Snellings’ story or his complaint against the BHS
can find complete documentation at http://www.bobsnelling.com/BHSStory. All of
the complaint documents and the full court hearing transcript are available for
review.
Roger Hines
9/16/21
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