WEBVTT

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It is now spring back
in Paintsville Kentucky,

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and that football superstar
Shawn Grim has climbed

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a giant mountain all his own.

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Shawn Grim!

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Beating the odds, Shawn Grim
becomes the first person

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in his family ever to get
a high school diploma.

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Shawn is on his way up and
out, because Pikeville College,

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about an hour from
his home, has awarded

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him a football scholarship.

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He gets that surgery
on his damaged knee,

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complete with tempting
prescription painkillers

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with his mother Tina.

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OK.

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It'd be $150 for these 30.

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If I wanted to sell, I
could get rid of it today.

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But my son is more
important than $1.

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As we said, it's a big
achievement for Shawn

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to go to college.

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His stepbrother, Little
Man, dropped out of school

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and has two kids.

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[MUSIC PLAYING - "LOLLIPOP"]

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Listen.

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We were in Little Man's
trailer when Shawn played me

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that ringtone again.

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Can I see the dance
you do to "Lollipop"?

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I don't know the dance.

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I bet you do.

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Seriously, I don't.

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Sorry.

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I know the song.

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But just as Shawn is
getting close to going off

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to his new life, a new blow.

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Little Man's girlfriend,
the mother of his children,

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says at 3:00 AM she found Little
Man and his 15-year-old half

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sister out in back of
the trailer having sex.

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Shawn's mother Tina
called the cops.

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Knowing they're blood-related,
and knowing that that happened,

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that is really
disgusting in my book.

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Shawn's stepdad Rick says
if Little Man comes around,

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he's ready.

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I'd blow his head off his body.

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I'd shoot my own mother.

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The parents are
heading out to see

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their daughter, who's been taken
to a social services facility.

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Later, Tina tells us she too
was molested by a family member

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when she was young.

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Rick says this kind of
thing doesn't just happen

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in Appalachia, it's everywhere.

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Well, did you ever hear the
old saying, the closer the kin,

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the deeper in?

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It doesn't matter who it is.

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They lay down.

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Black, white, crippled,
it don't matter.

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In tears, Shawn's half
sister tells their mother

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that little man gave her
pills or marijuana or money

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in exchange for sex,
and back home says

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that wasn't the first time.

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It happens all so
fast, you really

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don't know what's
going on around you.

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You just go on all
through the days,

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pretending like
nothing's ever happened

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because you're so scared.

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Little Man says
he is not guilty.

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The mother of his children
has now recanted her story.

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Well, unfortunately,
Eastern Kentucky

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has a stereotype of incest,
but it's everywhere.

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It's in the whole United States.

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And we have to be able
to make sure and get out

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that this cycle
has to be broken.

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For Shawn, anger
and embarrassment.

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In the wake of all this, he
goes off to Pikeville College

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to begin his new life, trying
to upend all those stereotypes.

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Us hillbillies don't
want to do nothing

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but drink and do drugs
the rest of their life?

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Is that what you're saying?

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Stereotype.

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Arriving at school,
it's clear he

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doesn't have the advantages
a lot of the other kids have.

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What's your story?

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I ain't got a lot of money and--

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You ain't got a lot of money?

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No.

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What'd you live in back home?

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A house.

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I slept wherever I fell asleep.

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Hut!

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For eight weeks, he goes
to football practice,

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where his teammates
are now twice his size.

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He also struggles
in the classroom,

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says he's feeling overwhelmed.

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And by the way, his
girlfriend from the right side

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of the tracks has long
since broken up with him.

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Failing is probably I guess the
biggest thing to ever scare me.

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But I guess I'm just going to
work harder and try harder.

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Even with the
scholarship, he says

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he has no money for what
other kids can afford--

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supplies, food, fun.

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After only eight
weeks, he loses heart.

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He drops out and goes back home.

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Found out I couldn't
pay for the college.

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Had to come home.

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No one's perfect.

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Winter is coming.

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The family needs coal,
so Shawn heads out

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for one of those illegal
scavenging trips on the highway

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wall on Route 23.

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And all the people
whizzing by have no idea

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that the kid digging coal
on the side of the road

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was once the hope and hero
of Appalachian football,

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now on the side of the highway,
with nothing around the bend.

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