Saturday, June 30, 2012

Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials, Father of WM3 murder victim certain who killed 3 boys, Groomed - Laurie Matthew's book about abuse, neglect and organized abuse


articles:
- Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials
- Father of WM3 murder victim certain who killed 3 boys - Todd Moore
- Groomed - Laurie Matthew's book about abuse, neglect and organized abuse




Disturbing e-mails could spell more trouble for Penn State officials By Susan Candiotti, CNN Sat June 30, 2012
(CNN) -- With convicted serial child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky behind bars, new questions are surfacing about what Penn State officials knew about a 2001 incident involving the former assistant football coach's encounter with a boy in the shower -- and whether they covered up the incident.

After the 2001 incident, Sandusky sexually abused other boys over the course of years until his arrest.
CNN does not have the purported e-mails. However, the alleged contents were made available to CNN.
The messages indicate former Penn State President Graham Spanier and two other former university officials knew they had a problem with Sandusky after a 2001 shower incident, but apparently first decided to handle it using a "humane" approach before contacting outside authorities whose job it is to investigate suspected abuse.

"This is a more humane and upfront way to handle this,' wrote Gary Schultz, then vice president at the university.

Records show no authorities were ever contacted and Sandusky was eventually charged with having sexual contact with four more boys after the 2001 incident. On June 22, Sandusky was convicted of abusing 10 boys over 15 years.

In an exchange of messages from February 26-28, 2001, Spanier allegedly acknowledges Penn State could be "vulnerable" for not reporting the incident, according to two sources with knowledge of the case.
"The only downside for us is if the message (to Sandusky) isn't 'heard' and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it," Spanier purportedly writes.

The alleged e-mails among Spanier, Schultz, 62, and former Athletic Director Tim Curley, 57, never mention Sandusky by name, instead referring to him as "the subject" and "the person." Children that Sandusky brought on campus --some of whom might have been victims -- are referred to as "guests."....
Curley refers to a meeting scheduled that day with Spanier and indicates they apparently discussed the Sandusky incident two days earlier.

Curley indicates he no longer wants to contact child welfare authorities just yet. He refers to a conversation the day before with Paterno. It's not known what Paterno may have said to Curley.

Curley writes: "After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps."

The athletic director apparently preferred to keep the situation an internal affair and talk things over with Sandusky instead of notifying the state's child welfare agency to investigate Sandusky's suspicious activity.
"I am having trouble with going to everyone, but the person involved," Curley allegedly continues....  http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/30/justice/penn-state-emails/index.html




Todd Moore wrote the below article in response to an editorial published in the Jonesboro Sun by Chris Wessel.


Father of WM3 murder victim certain who killed 3 boys
By Todd Moore
Guest Columnist


I am the father of West Memphis triple murder victim Michael Moore. I am writing this in response to your editorial in the June 6 edition of The Sun titled "Justice Unserved." It has always been my opinion that justice was served when Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted in 1994 for the brutal murder of my son and his friends.

The three men who slaughtered my son were convicted by two juries that found them guilty in 1994. Despite this, the Arkansas Supreme Court generously granted the murderers the opportunity for a new evidentiary hearing to be held Dec, 5, 2011, to show evidence they claimed proved their innocence. They could have been granted a new trial to prove these claims of innocence. Instead of presenting their "new evidence" in open court last December, they opted to plead guilty to the murders in August 2011 in exchange for time served....

Absence of DNA evidence does not prove the West Memphis Three (WM3) are innocent. The killers washed most of the evidence away in the water- filled ditch where they drowned my son. There was plenty of other evidence to convict them in 1994 without positive DNA. Most murderers are convicted without DNA evidence....

The WM3 defense team has been well-funded by numerous celebrities who were misinformed by the biased "Paradise Lost” documentaries. These one-sided films left out nearly all of the evidence that demonstrated the guilt of the WM3. They caused thousands of people to support the release of the convicted child killers with a very limited unndcrstanding of the actual facts of the case....

Here are just a few examples of what was omitted from the documentaries:

• Jessie Misskelley confessed to the crime at least five times to police, prosecutors, even his own attorneys with his hand on a Bible. Misskelley confessed the first time after less than four hours of police questioning. That questioning was done with permission from his father. He continued to repeatedly confess in the year that followed.

• Damien Echols amassed a mental health record 500 pages long in the years immediately prior to the murders. In his own handwriting, he classified himself as a "homicidal, suicidal, schizophrenic, sociopath" just a months before he brutally murdered my son.

• Read Damien Echols' current Twitter account to discover his deep-seated interest in skulls and the occult. There he also recently described artwork depicting a man sawing off his own arm as "breathtaking." In addition, Echols is obscenely profiting off the death of my son by selling his ... books, promoting his ...movie, and tattooing ...groupies with his "mark." For two hundred dollars, you can have....tattoo an “X” on your arm. These Twitter posts and money-making schemes are a slap in the face to me, my family and my dead son.

• The movies omit the fact that these three men had no alibis. Damien Echols' and Jessie Misskelley's alibis completely fell apart on the stand in the 1994 trials. Jason Baldwin's attorneys didn’t even bother to present an alibi.

• Fibers consistent with a robe in Jason Baldwin's home and a shirt in Damien Echols’ home were found on the victims. Blue candle wax found on Chris Byers' shirt was consistent with candle wax found in Damien Echols bedroom.

• The crime lab found that three different knots were used to hogtie the three victims with their own shoelaces. This points toward multiple killers rather than one killer. Witnesses say that Mr. Bojangles, the disoriented man near the crime scene that night, had a cast on one arm. No one person could have subdued and hogtied three energetic young boys--not Terry Hobbs and certainly not the one-armed Mr. Bojangles....

• A car full of eyewitnesses placed Echols near the crime scene, covered with dirt, on the night of the murders.

• Numerous friends, acquaintances and cell-mates came forward with tales of confessions from all three defendants.

Throw out one or even several of those facts, and there would still be enough to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

I sat through those trials. The basic facts need to be put out there. Otherwise, it makes a mockery of my son’s short life.

Todd Moore is the father of murder victim Michael Moore.
Published in the Opinion Section of the Jonesboro Sun on Tuesday, June 12, 2012   http://www.terryhobbs.com/2012/06/todd-moore-sets-record-straight.html


Groomed
An uncle who went too far. A mother who didn't care. A little girl who waited for justice. 
 

By Laurie Matthew Simon & Schuster UK, June 2012   256 pages

Description
In this powerful and honest memoir, Laurie Matthew takes the reader with her as she revisits her childhood in 1950s and 1960s Dundee. Raised in a home which consisted of an emotionally neglectful and physically violent mother, a distant father, a chronically sick brother and a sister she needed to protect, the only ray of light in little Laurie's life came from the man who would return home from the Army with pockets full of sweets and bags of toys. Uncle Andrew would shower her with attention and love, capture the hearts of everyone around him - and carefully groom her for years of abuse by not only himself, but also by a network of paedophiles. Laurie tells a harrowing story of isolation, as her abusers went to extraordinary lengths to carry out their sick acts, wearing masks to confuse and torment her and keeping her away from other children. But these evil men had no idea that the girl they systematically violated would turn into one of the country's leading child protection experts, and that their legacy would give her the impetus to change the lives of so many innocent victims.
ISBN-10: 0857208284  http://books.simonandschuster.co.uk/Groomed/Laurie-Matthew/9780857208286



Laurie was born in 1953. She is the award-winning founder of several support organisations for people affected by sexual violence and/or abuse. She is currently based in her home city of Dundee where she is the campaigning organiser and founder of the 'Eighteen and Under' charity organisation, which helps young people who have experienced any kind of abuse. Her work is internationally commended and she has been recognised many times for her achievements. Some of the many awards given have included Dundee Citizen of the Year, 1997, International Women's Safety Award, 2004, and Charity Awards 2010 winner of Research, Advice and Support category. She has also written a number of books about child protection.  http://authors.simonandschuster.co.uk/Laurie-Matthew/400136648/biography

Friday, June 29, 2012

What the Sandusky Verdict Means to Child Sexual Abuse Victims

What the Sandusky Verdict Means to Child Sexual Abuse Victims
By Mai Fernandez Thursday, June 28, 2012

While testifying about the abuse he had experienced, one of Jerry Sandusky’s victims was asked why he had never reported the crime. “Who would believe kids?” he asked. Sandusky is an “important guy.” So like his fellow witnesses—and so many other child sexual abuse victims—he didn’t tell a soul.

Sandusky’s 45-count conviction represents a watershed for all victims of child sexual abuse.

Sandusky’s victims—whose pained, halting, and strikingly similar testimony led to the conviction—described how pedophiles prey on children who trust and look up to them. The jury believed those victims, and they can now begin healing and rebuilding their lives.

The conviction frees them from the troublesome media label “alleged victims,” which reflected the judge’s stated view that there were no victims until a conviction was achieved. As state and federal law confirm, there ARE victims prior to conviction in a particular case, and they have rights in the criminal justice system.

As victims exercised their rights in this case, their suffering was recognized and their accounts of Sandusky’s grievous crimes were validated....

The Sandusky case, as well as the Catholic Church child sex abuse scandal, has suggested the true scope of child sexual abuse. Studies show that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 20 boys are victims of sexual abuse, and an estimated 78,188 cases of reported child sexual abuse occurred in 2003.

Yet we know that the vast majority of these crimes are not reported; the numbers don’t begin to reflect the actual prevalence of child sexual abuse.

The Sandusky case also exposed the methods by which predators establish power over children’s lives. They systematically “groom” their victims, often showering them and their families with gifts and special favors, such as football tickets, access to star players, and camping trips. Sandusky preyed on children served by Second Mile, the charity he founded to help disadvantaged youth. Like so many predators, Sandusky built a reputation as a benefactor—rather than a destroyer—of youth.http://www.thecrimereport.org/viewpoints/2012-06-what-the-sandusky-verdict-means-to-child-sexual-abus

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

In the Wake of Jerry Sandusky To prevent child abuse, something has to change. So why won't it?

In the Wake of Jerry Sandusky  To prevent child abuse, something has to change. So why won't it?

BY Barry Nolan 6/25/2012
After the verdict came down in the Jerry Sandusky case, Linda Kelly, the Pennsylvania State Attorney General, stood before the assembled press and said something very important. She said: “One of the recurring themes of the witness’ testimony was … ‘Who would believe a kid?’”

Yes indeed, who would take the word of a mere child over that of a beloved coach like Jerry Sandusky about sexual abuse? Even though we know that such terrible crimes are far too common and the numbers are staggering, we can’t believe it. So, from 2005 to 2006 about 135,300 children were sexually abused.

Who would take the word of a child against a respected adult even though we know that in up to 93 percent of the time, the child knows his abuser and as many as 47 percent of the perpetrators are family members.

Who would take the word of a child even though in the vast majority of cases the only witness to child sex abuse  is the child?

The ugly truth about child sexual abuse is that we really don’t want to hear about it. And far too much of it happens after an initial complaint about a perpetrator has been made and it’s not investigated thoroughly.

Take the tragic sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, and just imagine how things could have been different if there had been real listening and forceful action early on. There were 10,667 complaints of sexual abuse against 4,392 priests and deacons between 1950 and 2002 and yet no serious or thorough investigation took place. And so the abuse was allowed to continue. Until the Globe’s Pulitzer Prize winning series compelled self-examination and change....

The first child to make a complaint in the Sandusky case came forward 14 years ago. But who was going to believe a kid over Jerry Sandusky? So the complaint was not thoroughly investigated and, tragically, the abuse continued....


Back in 1993, most people simply didn’t want to believe the awful things a kid had to say about what Jackson did behind closed doors. After all, Michael Jackson was a lavishly talented and beloved public figure. But Dimond, and a few others, listened carefully and pursued leads and looked at the evidence. And the awful truth began to come out. The boy in that case would eventually accept a settlement from Jackson that was widely reported to be in the range of $20 million.

I asked her for her thoughts on the bigger picture, the Sandusky case, the scandal in the church, and the Jackson matter. Here is part of what she sent me in an e-mail:

“Pedophiles are really the very person you think they could never be. They are the most charming, personable, charitable, and kid-friendly people you would ever want to meet. They pay their taxes, they go to church, they cloak themselves in acts of charity and they say they just want to help you raise your child by being a positive influence in their lives … Too often detectives believe the perpetrator’s version of events and they are freed to violate again.”
http://blogs.bostonmagazine.com/boston_daily/2012/06/25/jerry-sandusky-abuse/

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father, Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep


"He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year...."
NBC exclusive: Matt Sandusky details alleged sex abuse by his father

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News

Jerry Sandusky’s adopted son Matt told police he was sexually molested by his father for years — and once fled in fear from the Sandusky home — during a secret police interview that took place in the middle of his father’s trial for child sex-abuse, according to a copy of the tape obtained by NBC News....

NBC News has exclusively obtained the 29-minute audiotape, which was recorded by police detectives on June 15, four days after the Jerry Sandusky trial began. At the time, the detectives were preparing Sandusky’s son to testify as a surprise prosecution witness at his father’s trial.   

For years, Matt Sandusky had publicly stood by his father and even showed up on the first day of the trial, sitting with the rest of the Sandusky family. But after listening to the first day of testimony from a young man known in court documents as "Victim 4," Matt Sandusky contacted police and volunteered to testify on behalf of the prosecution. The prosecutors’ plan was to use Matt Sandusky as a rebuttal witness if Jerry Sandusky took the stand in his own defense. 

It turned out to be a crucial turning point in the Sandusky trial. When Jerry Sandusky learned that his own adopted son was prepared to testify against him, it was a “complete shock," and it played a big role in his decision not to take the witness stand, according to one of his lawyers, Karl Rominger....

In his interview with police, Matt Sandusky was asked directly why he decided to change his previous denials of abuse and cooperate with police.    

“I came forward, I mean, for different reasons,” he said. “But I mean for my family you know so that they can really have closure and see what the truth actually is. And just to right the wrong, honestly, of going to the grand jury and lying.”....http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/26/12417694-nbc-exclusive-matt-sandusky-details-alleged-sex-abuse-by-his-father

Teen prostitutes rescued, pimps held, in FBI sweep
Lily Kuo Reuters June 25, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Seventy-nine teenagers held against their will and forced into prostitution were rescued at hotels, truck stops and storefronts in a three-day sweep of sex-trafficking rings across the United States, law enforcement officials said on Monday.

The FBI said 104 alleged pimps were arrested during sting operations in 57 U.S. cities including Atlanta, Sacramento, and Toledo, Ohio. The operation lasted between Thursday and Saturday and involved state and local authorities as well as the FBI....

One of the minors recovered in the sweep reported being involved in prostitution from the age of 11, according to Kevin Perkins, acting executive assistant director of the FBI's Criminal, Cyber, Response and Services Branch.

He said the cases were not "one-off" incidents, but evidence of "criminal enterprises" that lure minors in, often through social media, hold them against their will through threats to them or their families, and then traffic them through different U.S. cities.

Child prostitution is "a problem that happens in all kinds of American cities and it happens to American kids," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children....

He estimated that at least 100,000 minors were victims of child prostitution and trafficking each year but said assessments were hampered due to under-reporting and other data complications....

To date about 2,200 children have been rescued in the program, the FBI said, adding that its figures do not take into account children recovered by other state and local investigations. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-prostitution-childbre85o19h-20120625,0,1822308.story

Monday, June 25, 2012

22 Faces revives ritual sexual abuse controversy


22 Faces revives ritual sexual abuse controversy by Stephen Dark

2012-06-25 ....A new book, Twenty Two Faces: Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-two Multiple Personalities, by retired, Saratoga Springs-based psychiatrist Judy Byington, tells the story of Hill, who, according to Byinton, was the victim of sexual assaults by both her father and by neighborhood boys. Hill told Byington that on June 21, 1965, in Garden Grove, Calif., she was tortured on an altar and forced to watch the murder of a 6-year-old by a satanic coven....

Subsequently, Hill was subjected to mind control experiments which resulted, Byington says, in Hill having 22 personalities. Hill moved to Utah County and ended up spending a year in the Utah State Hospital under the care of Weston Whatcott between 1984 and 1985. In a press release by the book's publisher, Whatcott acknowledges that Hill's multiple personalities were a result of childhood trauma, "namely repeated sexual assaults coupled with ritual abuse."

Byington says Hill "really wanted her story told."  Byington drew on journals Hill and some of her other personalities kept from when she was 5 to 24. "We could all be multiple personalities if we have gone through all the trauma that these people have gone through," Byington says."Children under tremendous torture, their minds can separate into different personalities."

Hill went to the FBI looking for the parents of the child she had seen killed, Byington says. While an FBI agent who looked at Hill's medical records told Byington that there was confirmation that horrendous torture had occurred, "he wouldn't open up a case for her."

Byington has also investigated local satanic covens in Utah, she says, and talked to a special-investigations unit at the Utah Attorney General's office in 2006 on ritual abuse cases. ""It's still very much of a problem," Byington says. "These covens are very active and it's very difficult to prove what's going on."
http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/blog-24-7837-22-faces-revives-ritual-sexual-abuse-controversy.html

Jerry Sandusky Juror Joshua Harper Discusses Deliberations While Victims' Families Talk, Pediatrician Pleads Guilty To Child P_rn Charge

Jerry Sandusky Juror Joshua Harper Discusses Deliberations While Victims' Families Talk 06/25/2012

....Victims' families and members of the jury have come forward to talk more about the monumental verdict that -- if it holds up despite an expected appeal -- will likely lead to a sentence of more than 400 years for Sandusky.

....The two-week trial was emotionally wrenching for some of the jury's five men and seven women, including one who appeared to cry Friday night.

But one juror described the satisfaction that came from convicting a predator who abused disadvantaged boys for years.

“It feels good to expose something that was covered up,” said Joshua Harper, 31, a Penn State alumnus, according to the Washington Post. “It’s a statement that there needs to be accountability and change. It’s the beginning of our time to heal.”

Sandusky's lack of outward emotion as the verdict was read convinced Harper that the jury reached the right conclusion.

"That was just confirmation again," Harper told NBC's Today show. "You know I looked at him during the reading of the verdict, and just the look on his face, no real emotion, just kind of accepting, you know, because he knew it was true." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/jerry-sandusky-juror-josh_n_1625166.html




Todd Parrilla, Pediatrician, Pleads Guilty To Child Porn Charge

HARTFORD, Conn. 06/25/12

A Connecticut pediatrician has admitted that he possessed more than 100,000 images and videos of child pornography, federal authorities said Monday

The U.S. Attorney's office said 48-year-old Todd Parrilla of Stonington pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Hartford to receipt and distribution of child pornography. Parrilla had a pediatric practice in southeastern Connecticut.

"This defendant possessed and distributed tens of thousands of images and videos portraying the sexual abuse of children," said U.S. Attorney David Fein. "This is a heinous crime. That it was committed by a pediatrician, whose profession is committed to the well-being of children, makes it especially disturbing." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/25/todd-parrilla-pediatrician-child-porn_n_1625197.html

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Penn State signals it wants to settle Sandusky cases - University may have to pay millions to victims of sexual abuse by former coach, Analysis: Number of victims persuaded Sandusky jurors in 'he said, he said' case

Penn State signals it wants to settle Sandusky cases - University may have to pay millions to victims of sexual abuse by former coach
By Ian Simpson  6/24/2012

BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania  — With former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky  now behind bars for child sexual abuse, the university has given an unusual signal that it wants to wrap up civil suits as fast as possible, legal observers said on Saturday.

Shortly after Sandusky, 68, was convicted late on Friday on 45 counts of sexual abuse, Pennsylvania State University invited victims to try to resolve claims against the school.
"The purpose of the program is simple - the university wants to provide a forum where the university can privately, expeditiously and fairly address the victims' concerns and compensate them for claims relating to the university," it said in a statement.

Sandusky's conviction clears a hurdle for potentially big-ticket civil suits since abuse victims suing the school now can point to a crime that was committed, the observers said.
At least two civil suits have been filed already against the school, both in Philadelphia. A filing by Sandusky's lawyers last month put the number of potential victims at almost 20....
A former assistant coach, Mike McQueary, testified he told late head coach Joe Paterno, Curley and Schultz about a 2001 incident in which Sandusky abused a boy in a Penn State locker room.

Curley and Schultz face charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse in an alleged cover-up of the incident. "Schultz and Curley will tell us a lot more about what Penn State knew"  about Sandusky's pedophilia, Kennerly said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47935946/vp/47934464#47934464


Analysis: Number of victims persuaded Sandusky jurors in 'he said, he said' case

By Wes Oliver, Special to msnbc.com  ANALYSIS  6/23/12

Friday night was not a good night for the Penn State community but you couldn't tell it from the atmosphere outside the courtroom.  Jerry Sandusky was convicted of the overwhelming majority of the child sex abuse counts of against him. The verdict revealed that the jury believed the account of every of major witness the prosecution presented. There were only three verdicts of 'not guilty' in the 48 counts Sandusky faced....

The eight witnesses demonstrated a range of credibility. Ultimately the jury concluded that all of the victims were credible but carefully examined their testimony to see if it established the crimes alleged. It is entirely possible that no single victim could have prevailed in the he-said, he-said conflict in this case. But the victims reinforced one another. The odds that they were all lying were too remote for the jury to conclude anything other than they were all telling the truth. http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/23/12370562-analysis-number-of-victims-persuaded-sandusky-jurors-in-he-said-he-said-case

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Charles Lee Bergeron Molested Boys, Told Them He Needed Their S_men To Live

Charles Lee Bergeron Molested Boys, Told Them He Needed Their S_men To Live
The Huffington Post  By Rebecca Ballhaus 06/22/2012

In a disgusting ploy to lure young boys in to molest them, Charles Lee Bergeron Sr. told them he "needed their semen to live," prosecutors said.

Bergeron was sentenced Wednesday to 120 years in prison for sexually abusing young boys, said prosecutor Cynthia Guillory, according to the Houston Press.

Bergeron would invite young boys into his home, drug or sedate them, and then perform oral sex on them. One victim, who is now 23, told KPLC-TV that Bergeron gave him alcohol with Somas and Xanax, heavy sedatives.

Another victim, who was 13 at the time, said Bergeron gave him oral sex several times, both at his house and at a Westlake, La. cemetery.

Bergeron, 80, was charged with 12 counts of oral sexual battery, 12 counts of indecent behavior, and one count of sexual battery in December. He pleaded guilty to all charges.

Bergeron was previously convicted of molestation in 2000, and he was already in prison serving a 10-year sentence for failing to register as a sex offender when further victims came forward. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/charles-lee-bergeron-molested-boys_n_1618842.html

Friday, June 22, 2012

Survivorship Ritual Abuse Webinar: "Surviving Your Therapist" Saturday, July 14

forwarded with permission

Upcoming Webinar:


Saturday, July 14
12:00 noon Pacific Time
Presenter: Alikina
"Surviving Your Therapist"


As survivors, many of us feel the need for help from a mental health professional from time to time. Yet too often, attempts to get help seem to sputter along, or even fail all together. Most therapists are caring people with a sincere desire to help, and most clients who seek professional assistance are doing their best to explain their needs and ask for that help.

If most people are mostly doing their best most of the time, why are so many clients left with the feeling that they aren't getting what they need from therapy, and why do so many therapists appear to be dealing with a completely different person from you, the lady or gentleman sitting in their office?

Often, the answer is that therapists have not experienced severe trauma and are speaking from a 'healthy lifetime' point of view, overlaid with specific ideas, theories, and requirements of their profession. Meanwhile, survivors of severe, chronic abuse are speaking from the point of view of people who have rarely, if ever, experienced a safe, content lifestyle, and while many of us are very experienced in seeing therapists, we still don't know what the heck those therapists are thinking.

The goal of this webinar is to provide the client with some insight into the mindset of the therapist (and therapists with insight into the mindset of the client), so that clients and therapists can communicate effectively.

Alikina has experience as both a survivor and a therapist. She grew up in a household that was emotionally, spiritually, physically, sexually, and ritually abusive. She has a BA in psychology and will finish her Master's degree in Mental Health Counseling this year. Alikina has been seeing clients in a community counseling center for over a year. One of her current projects focuses on collecting terminology that is often misunderstood between therapists and clients.

REGISTRATION

Registration closes Thursday evening July 12, 2012
 

To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org   and give her this information:

1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend: "Surviving Your Therapist"
3. Amount and method of payment  (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. The name you will be using for the webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)

You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes
 
COST

Webinars are on a sliding scale from $50.00 to full scholarship (while we offer full scholarships for webinars please consider paying whatever you are able to. Even $5 will help to cover the cost of the webinar provider). Please remember to factor in the cost of the telephone call if you don’t have a computer headset. The PayPal button is near the bottom of the page at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html

If you wish to pay by check please send it to: Survivorship, Family Justice Center, 470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.
 
PAST WEBINARS

Survivorship members may listen to past webinars in the members’ section.
We strive to present all webinars in our archives, and sometimes, for technical reasons, we are unable to.

For information on joining Survivorship, go to http://www.survivorship.org/about/membership.html 

Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
 

Jury finds Jerry Sandusky guilty on dozens of child sex abuse charges, Philadelphia Priest Trial: Jury Reaches Split Verdict In Case Of Monsignor William Lynn

Jury finds Jerry Sandusky guilty on dozens of child sex abuse charges
By the CNN Wire Staff June 22, 2012

Bellefonte, Pennsylvania (CNN) -- Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky was found guilty Friday on 45 of 48 counts related to sexual abuse of boys over a 15-year period.

Jurors delivered the verdict around 10 p.m. after deliberating for about 21 hours. There were convictions related to all 10 sexual abuse victims, with the three not-guilty verdicts applying to three different individuals....

During closing arguments, prosecutors described the ex-Nittany Lions defensive coordinator as a pedophile who preyed on victims using a charity he founded for troubled children, repeatedly abusing young boys in his care.

Sandusky, 68, had pleaded not guilty to the 48 charges of child sex abuse that spanned a 15-year period....

After a week of testimony, during which time witnesses graphically described sexual encounters with Sandusky that they said occurred durijng their boyhoods, jurors made their decision without ever having heard from Sandusky on the witness stand....

Eight young men testified, often in disturbingly graphic detail, of how Sandusky forced them to engage in sexual acts in various places, including showers in the Penn State coaches' locker room, hotel rooms and the basement of his home.

One told jurors that Sandusky -- whom he met, like many of the accusers, through The Second Mile foundation that the ex-coach founded -- had threatened him if he told others about the abuse. Another said Sandusky warned him that he might send him home from a trip to Texas, where they'd gone to watch a Penn State bowl game.

The defense challenged the accusers' timetable, questioned the various allegations and called multiple character witness to defend Sandusky's stellar reputation in the community. http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/22/justice/pennsylvania-sandusky-trial/index.html

Philadelphia Priest Trial: Jury Reaches Split Verdict In Case Of Monsignor William Lynn

By MARYCLAIRE DALE 06/22/12
PHILADELPHIA -- A Roman Catholic church official was convicted of child endangerment but acquitted of conspiracy Friday in a landmark clergy-abuse trial, making him the first U.S. church official branded a felon for covering up abuse claims.

Monsignor William Lynn helped the archdiocese keep predators in ministry, and the public in the dark, by telling parishes their priests were being removed for health reasons and then sending the men to unsuspecting churches, prosecutors said.

Lynn, 61, served as secretary for clergy from 1992 to 2004, mostly under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua....

Lynn had faced about 10 to 20 years in prison if convicted of all three counts he faced – conspiracy and two counts of child endangerment. He was convicted of only a single endangerment count, which carries a possible 3 1/2- to seven-year prison term.

The jury could not reach a verdict for Lynn's co-defendant, the Rev. James Brennan, who was accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy in 1999.

Despite Lynn's acquittal on the conspiracy charge, the trial exposed how deeply involved the late cardinal was in dealing with accused priests.

Bevilacqua had the final say on what to do with priests accused of abuse, transferred many of them to new parishes and dressed down anyone who complained, according to testimony. He also ordered the shredding of a 1994 list that Lynn prepared, warning that the archdiocese had three diagnosed pedophiles, a dozen confirmed predators and another 20 possible abusers in its midst.

Church lawyers turned over a surviving copy of the list days after Bevilacqua died....

With the verdict, after 13 days of deliberations, jurors concluded that prosecutors failed to show that Lynn was part of a conspiracy to move predator priests around.

The jury, however, did find that Lynn endangered the victim of defrocked priest Edward Avery, who pleaded guilty before trial to a 1999 sexual assault. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/22/philadelphia-priest-trial_n_1619355.html

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Sandusky's adopted son now says he was molested, too

Sandusky's adopted son now says he was molested, too
Jun 21, 2012

Jerry Sandusky's adopted son, Matt Sandusky, said through his attorney today that he met with prosecutors this week to say for the first time that he is a molestation victim of his adoptive father, the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News reported .

Matt Sandusky, 33, was adopted as an adult by the former Penn State assistant football coach and his wife, Dottie, after having lived with the family as a foster child. He had denied ever being abused by his adopted father until now, according to the report....

In March, The Patriot-News reported that Matt Sandusky had a rocky relationship with his adopted father. His biological mother, Debra Long, told the newspaper that she believed Sandusky had stolen her son from her.

She testified before the grand jury in early 2011 about strange behavior she says she witnessed between her son and Sandusky, the newspaper added. Matt Sandusky testified to the grand jury, too. But Jerry Sandusky’s attorney, Joe Amendola, said at the time that he was not worried about Matt’s testimony, and that Long was making false allegations because she was angry at the Sandusky family.

During testimony at trial, Victim 4 told jurors that on one occasion when Jerry Sandusky began touching him during a shower, Matt Sandusky was present but left the shower when the assault began. http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-06-21/jerry-sandusky-adopted-son-matt-sandusky-accuses-molested-first-time?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtml

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Soap opera comparison in Sandusky trial and coaches showering with kids just isn't normal, Jurors Report Split Over Church Abuse Charges

Soap opera comparison in Sandusky trial adds insult to tragedy
Alleged abuse victims weren't characters on daytime drama — and coaches showering with kids just isn't normal

John Kass June 20, 2012

....If you don't think something's wrong with an adult naked in a shower with kids, then you're not a parent. But this week, Amendola put witnesses on the stand to say that it's not unusual for grown men to take showers with children at Penn State. The witnesses said it was normal.

So we asked some experienced coaches if it was normal here, in Illinois.

"That type of thing is not part of any culture or system I've been in in high school or college or as a coach," said Brett Detering, 1st vice president of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association. "There are separate facilities for coaches and students."

Detering is the head coach at Anna-Jonesboro High School in southern Illinois. He played football in high school and in college, and he's been coaching for 17 years. And he doesn't take showers with his players. He's never taken showers with his players.

"I would say that's just common sense," Coach Detering said of not showering with his players. "How anyone could be confused about that is beyond me."

John Elder, executive director of the Illinois Coaches Association, spent 40 years as a football coach at Alexis High School in western Illinois, and retired from coaching eight years ago. He played at Alexis as a boy.

"But it was not normal, even then, for coaches to shower with the team," Elder said. "It wouldn't have been done back in the day, and it definitely wouldn't be done today." http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0620-20120620,0,4414967.column


Jurors Report Split Over Church Abuse Charges
By JON HURDLE and ERIK ECKHOLM June 20, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — In its 12th day of deliberations, the jury in the landmark trial of a Roman Catholic Church official accused of covering up sexual abuses by other priests said Wednesday that it was deadlocked on four of the five charges in the trial.

“We, the jury, are at a hung jury status on all charges except for one,” jurors said in a note that was read aloud by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina of the Court of Common Pleas.

The judge instructed the jury to keep trying to reach unanimous agreement on all five charges. The church official, Msgr. William J. Lynn, is accused of two counts of endangering the welfare of children and one of conspiracy. A priest, the Rev. James J. Brennan, faces charges of endangerment and attempted rape. Deliberations will resume on Friday.

Monsignor Lynn, 61, served as secretary for clergy for the 1.5 million-member Archdiocese of Philadelphia from 1992 to 2004, in charge of recommending jobs for priests and investigating charges of sexual abuse. He is the first church official in the United States to be tried on accusations of enabling the depredations of priests, rather than committing abuses himself. Prosecutors said he had repeatedly played down credible accusations of abuse, lied to inquiring parents and parish officials about predatory priests and reassigned them to unwary parishes. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/21/us/monsignor-lynn-jury-says-it-is-deadlocked.html

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

The rights of children have collided head-on with the First Amendment rights of others in a suit filed by Backpage.com over a landmark law in Washington State

2012-06-19
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is representing the Internet Archive in a fight against a Washington state law designed to prevent the sex trafficking of minors. EFF, which bills itself as "Defending Your Rights in the Digital World, is a Washington, DC special interest group and long-time supporter of near absolute Internet "freedom."

This article in the august National Law Journal provides a good overview of the case. What the article doesn't tell you is that the new plaintiff in the Washington litigation (which was brought by ...Backpage.com and Village Voice Media Holdings), the Internet Archive, shares a board member with EFF, Brewster Kahle....

It's also curious that the newly minted plaintiff, Internet Archive, is funded by the American people through "institutional support" from the National Science Foundation and the Library of Congress....

EFF, which is funded by ....craigslist, also deserves a closer look....http://www.childlaw.us/2012/06/eff-joins-the-child-exploitati.html




Backpage.com Sues Washington AG Over Child Prostitution Law
By Sue Reisinger  Corporate Counsel June 6, 2012
Update: U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez in Seattle on Tuesday issued a temporary restraining order against enforcement of a new Washington State law targeting child prostitution.

Martinez said Backpage.com “has shown a likelihood of success on the merits of its claim . . . as well irreparable harm, the balance of equities tipping strongly in its favor, and injury to the public interest, justifying injunctive relief.”

The restraining order takes effect immediately and continues for at least 14 days. The court set Backpage’s motion for a preliminary injunction for a hearing on June 15.

-----

The rights of children have collided head-on with the First Amendment rights of others in a suit filed by Backpage.com over a landmark law in Washington State.

The online classified-ads site filed a complaint [PDF] against Washington State attorney general Rob McKenna and the state’s county prosecutors on Monday to try and stop them from enforcing a new law that would require providers like Backpage to verify the ages of people in ads offering “adult services,” which can include prostitution.

When the bipartisan bill passed the legislature in February, child protection advocates hailed it as the first of its kind in the nation. It is to take effect on Thursday, unless the U.S. District Court in Seattle grants Backpage’s motion for a temporary restraining order while the suit is heard.... http://www.law.com/jsp/cc/PubArticleCC.jsp?id=1202557433632


EFF challenges as overbroad Washington state law targeting child trafficking ads

By Sheri Qualters The National Law Journal June 18, 2012
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is helping an online library fight a Washington state law that could expose third parties to criminal charges for content related to sex trafficking of minors. EFF's intervention comes on the heels of similar measures introduced in New York and New Jersey and poised to take effect in Tennessee. http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202559922324&sl

Monday, June 18, 2012

Sandusky jury may view unaired NBC interview footage, Jerry Sandusky: Jury could get sex abuse case by Thursday

Sandusky jury may view unaired NBC interview footage
POST STAFF REPORT  June 18, 2012

Prosecutors are reportedly weighing whether to use unaired portions of a creepy interview given by former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky, in their case against the accused pedophile.

NBC’s Bob Costas repeatedly asked Sandusky in November whether the former Nittany Lions defensive guru had inappropriate contact with kids -- and at least one of the coach’s weird answers that didn’t make air could be used by prosecutors, according to the network.

“Many more young people who would come forward and say that my methods and -- and what I had done for them made a very positive impact on their life,” Sandusky said of kids he met through his Second Mile charity.

“And I didn't go around seeking out every young person for sexual needs that I've helped. There are many that I didn't have - I hardly had any contact with who I have helped in many, many ways."

That exchange could be used against in the current trial against Sandusky, according to NBC.

Sandusky’s odd response -- that he didn’t seek out “every young person for sexual needs” -- could make it look like he approached at least some kids, said NBC News legal analyst Wes Oliver.... http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/sandusky_jury_may_view_unaired_nbc_fmc6Ja8lPw8I4S10cdGFHN



Jerry Sandusky: Jury could get sex abuse case by Thursday
By Michael Muskal June 18, 2012 The jury in the Jerry Sandusky case could get the case as soon as Thursday, the judge said as the defense began its presentation Monday.

Sandusky, 68, faces 51 counts of abusing 10 children over 15 years. If convicted on all of the charges, the former football coach at Penn State University could be sentenced to hundreds of years in prison.

The case, being tried in Bellefonte, Pa., has been moving rapidly with the prosecution formally resting on Monday and the defense kicking off its presentation immediately after. On Monday, the defense called three witnesses who praised Sandusky as an upstanding member of the community and one who worked with at-risk youth at the Second Mile, the charity he founded. http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-sandusky-defense-20120618,0,3998891.story

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Candace Conti Awarded $28M In Jehovah's Witness Sex Abuse Case, In the Stillness: A Spiritual Response to Ritual Abuse by Cath C.

Candace Conti Awarded $28M In Jehovah's Witness Sex Abuse Case 06/16/12 AP

OAKLAND, Calif. -- A Northern California jury has awarded $28 million in damages to a woman who said the Jehovah's Witnesses allowed an adult member of a Fremont church to molest her when she was a child in the mid-1990s.

Alameda County jurors awarded $7 million in compensatory damages on Wednesday and another $21 million in punitive damages on Thursday to Candace Conti, her attorney, Rick Simons said.

"This is the largest jury verdict for a single victim in a religious child abuse case in the country," Simons told The Associated Press.

In her lawsuit, Conti, now 26, said from 1995-1996, when she was 9 and 10 years old and a member of the North Fremont Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, she was repeatedly molested by a fellow congregant, Jonathan Kendrick....

Conti also claimed in her suit that the religion's national leaders formed a policy in 1989 that instructed the religion's elders to keep child sex abuse accusations secret. Congregation elders followed that policy when Kendrick was convicted in 1994 of misdemeanor child molestation in Alameda County, according to Simons.

Kendrick was never criminally charged in the case involving Conti, but besides the 1994 conviction, he was later convicted in 2004 of lewd or lascivious acts with a child, records show....

Jim McCabe, an attorney for the congregation, said he planned to appeal the jury's decision.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/16/calif-jury-awards-28m-in-_n_1602997.html




In the Stillness: A Spiritual Response to Ritual Abuse by Cath C. follows the life of educator Barbara B. in her recovery from ritual abuse torture. Born into a family that practiced satanism, torture, and sacrificial ritual, Barbara’s story illustrates four aspects of ritual abuse: the practice of mind control in ritual families, ritual desecration, the hardship and peril of escape, and the lasting impact of sexual exploitation.

Barbara’s recovery as an adult shows how each aspect of the evil was answered by and, ultimately, rendered ineffective through spirituality. Barbara shares what she did to achieve mental and physical wellness, spiritual strength, a productive career, and a satisfying personal life. In the Stillness: A Spiritual Response to Ritual Abuse offers hope to other survivors.  ISBN 9781477567883
http://web.me.com/katecollier/Stillness/Welcome.html

Friday, June 15, 2012

A look at the 10 alleged victims in the Jerry Sandusky trial, Sandusky prosecution brings 8th accuser to stand 'Who would believe kids?'

Sandusky prosecution brings 8th accuser to stand 'Who would believe kids?'

Friday, 15 Jun 2012, GENARO C. ARMAS and MARK SCOLFORO,Associated Press

BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) - Jurors in Jerry Sandusky's case were told Thursday the trial would not resume until next week after prosecutors finished calling to the stand eight young men who claimed the former Penn State assistant coach sexually abused them when they were children.

Sandusky's trial on 52 criminal counts has moved more quickly than many observers have expected, and his lawyers could begin to put on their witnesses as early as Monday. There are two alleged victims have never been identified.

Testimony on Thursday included three more accusers, including a young man who claimed the 68-year-old Sandusky raped him as a teen guest in Sandusky's basement.

That witness, now 18, told jurors his abuse began with fondling and forced oral sex and led to several instances of rape in Sandusky's State College home, where he spent more than 100 nights and where his muffled screams went unanswered by Sandusky's wife, Dottie, who was upstairs.

He said he figured the basement must be soundproof.

"He got real aggressive, and just forced me into it," he said. "And I just went with it — there was no fighting against it."

Under cross-examination by Sandusky lawyer Joe Amendola, he said the attacks sometimes left him bleeding, but that he never sought medical attention.

"I just dealt with it," he said.

Described as Victim 9 in court records, he became known to investigators after Sandusky was first arrested in November and his mother summoned police to their home. He said he didn't want to talk to them at first.

"Who would believe kids?" he said....

Earlier in the day, an accuser called Victim 6 testified that Sandusky described himself as a "tickle monster" and embraced the then-11-year-old boy in a Penn State shower in 1998, an encounter that prompted an investigation but ended without any charges filed.

Now 25, he told jurors Sandusky embraced him in a locker room shower, lathered up his back and shoulders then lifted him chest-to-chest to a shower head to rinse out his hair.

The man said the shared shower happened after a brief workout at a campus gym, even though he hadn't broken a sweat. His mother went to authorities when she saw her son come home with wet hair, although the inquiry spawned by her report didn't lead to any charges.
http://www.wtnh.com/dpps/sports/football_ncaa/sandusky-prosecution-brings-8th-accuser-to-stand-sp12-tvw_4208388#

A look at the 10 alleged victims in the Jerry Sandusky trial

By Associated Press, Friday, June 15, 2012

Pennsylvania prosecutors say 10 young men were sexually abused by former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, charges he has repeatedly denied.

Here’s a breakdown of alleged Victims 1-10, as they are referred to in charging documents, and the alleged abuse.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-look-at-the-10-alleged-victims-in-the-jerry-sandusky-trial/2012/06/15/gJQAx9mGeV_story.html




Thursday, June 14, 2012

Final alleged victim tells of rape by Sandusky, Ex-Citadel camp counselor pleads guilty to sex abuse, Twenty-Two Faces - Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities

articles:
- Final alleged victim tells of rape by Sandusky
- Ex-Citadel camp counselor pleads guilty to sex abuse
- Twenty-Two Faces - Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities
- Protecting Children From Sexual Abuse And Helping Victims Recover

Final alleged victim tells of rape by Sandusky

Thu Jun 14, 2012 (Note: explicit sexual content)
By Ian Simpson

(Reuters) - The final alleged victim to testify in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse trial told jurors on Thursday the former Penn State University assistant football coach sodomized him as a boy in the basement of Sandusky's home as he screamed in vain for help.

His account provided a dramatic bookend to the prosecution's presentation of graphic testimony over 3-1/2 days in the closely watched trial in Pennsylvania from eight men who described being sexually abused as young boys by Sandusky.

The latest witness, now 18, spoke quietly with his head down as prosecutor Joseph McGettigan questioned him....Sometimes he would scream, at least once when Sandusky's wife was in the house, but no one ever responded, the man said. "No one can hear you down there," he said in the hushed courtroom, his head hanging....

Sandusky, 68, faces 52 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. Two of the boys have not been identified. If convicted on all counts, the former defensive coordinator for Pennsylvania State University's successful football program faces a sentence of more than 500 years in prison. Earlier on Thursday, jurors heard from two other men who also accused Sandusky of molesting them and from a university campus detective who recalled Sandusky saying "I wish I were dead" after being confronted by an alleged victim's mother about showering with her son. Sandusky, who retired from Penn State in 1999, is accused of meeting his alleged victims through the Second Mile charity for needy boys that he founded in 1977....

Like many of the alleged victims, the man came from a broken home. When he met Sandusky, he was living in a trailer with his mother, who was working in a bar, and the father was not around. He later spent time in a foster home. He said he never told his anyone about the abuse, including his mother, saying, "How can you tell your mom about it?"
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/14/us-usa-crime-sandusky-idUSBRE85B03Q20120614





Ex-Citadel camp counselor pleads guilty to sex abuse

Wed Jun 13, 2012

(Editor's Note: Please be advised that this story contains content of a sexual nature)

By Harriet McLeod

(Reuters) - A former South Carolina educator and coach who once worked as a summer camp counselor at The Citadel military college was sentenced to 50 years in prison on Wednesday after pleading guilty to sexual abuse crimes involving 23 young male victims.

Louis "Skip" ReVille, 32, was arrested last fall and accused of abusing boys he had coached at schools and in community recreation programs, taught in public and private schools, and led in Bible study at his church.

Prosecutors said the crimes took place over the course of a decade, with some victims as young as 10. The charges were based on 23 cooperating victims, but ReVille named about 35 victims in all, said prosecutor Scarlett A. Wilson.

"I want to apologize to the victims. I am the only one responsible. I am sorry for what I did," ReVille said during his plea hearing in Charleston....

In November, the school said it had investigated accusations against ReVille in 2007 but took no action.

After graduating from college, ReVille worked for the next nine years as a sports coach and teacher at several public and private schools in three South Carolina counties. He also was a youth church leader in Mount Pleasant, where he supervised overnight church youth events and formed a Bible study program....

ReVille was assistant principal of Coastal Christian Preparatory School in Mount Pleasant when he was arrested last fall. He faced charges including criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the first and second degrees; criminal solicitation of a minor; lewd acts upon a minor; and dissemination of obscene material to minors.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/14/us-usa-crime-citadel-idUSBRE85D03H20120614



Twenty-Two Faces
Inside the Extraordinary Life of Jenny Hill and Her Twenty-Two Multiple Personalities

Judy Byington MSW, LCSW ret.


Saved by an angel from certain death, Jenny Hill utilizes prayer, forgiveness and her multiple personalities to triumph over a Nazi mind controller attempting to mould her into a Manchurian Candidate.

Twenty-Two Faces documents how the only known survivor-intended-victim of a modern-day human sacrifice ceremony six year-old Jenny Hill, overcomes multiplicity resulting from brainwashing, her perpetrators having subjected the child to insidious mind-control techniques culled from Nazi Germany. As is the case for thousands of children across the globe unfortunate enough to be born into families still practicing these aberrant religious rites. Using a lone resource: faith in God, Jenny tries to make sense of a life where she jumps from one day to the next. Eventually with help of a psychologist: she takes charge of her divided mind by facing alter personalities and their traumatic repressed memories, overcomes family-society rejection, confronts and forgives abusers, showing an ability of the human spirit to overcome against all odds, profound emotional shock and miraculously healing from severe childhood trauma.
http://22faces.com/ 


Protecting Children From Sexual Abuse And Helping Victims Recover
Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Today is day three in the trial of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. He’s accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15 year period starting in 1994. When the charges were first made public at the end of last year, a graduate of a prestigious New York city private school decided to revisit decades old alleged abuse incidents at his school. Last Sunday the New York Times published his piece. The number of responses to the article suggests that child sex abuse is much bigger problem than most acknowledge: Join us to discuss how to protecting children and teenagers from sexual abuse and how to help victims recover.

Guests
Frank Cervone

executive director, Support Center for Child Advocates.

Dr. Liza Gold

clinical professor of psychiatry, Georgetown University Medical Center
vice president, American Academy of Psychiatry & The Law

Amos Kamil

screenwriter, playwright, and brand strategist
1982 graduate, Horace Mann School

Dr Richard Gartner

a psychologist and psychoanalyst practicing in New York City,
author of " Beyond Betrayal: Taking Charge of Your Life After Boyhood Sexual Abuse"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-06-13/protecting-children-sexual-abuse-and-helping-victims-recover

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Alleged victim testifies Sandusky threatened him unless he kept quiet

Alleged victim testifies Sandusky threatened him unless he kept quiet                       
By Kim Kaplan, NBC News, and M. Alex Johnson, msnbc.com

6/13/12 Jurors heard more graphic testimony Wednesday in the trial of former Penn State University assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, including testimony from an alleged victim who said Sandusky threatened that he would be cut off from his family if he told anyone about their sexual relationship....

"He said if I told anyone, I would never see my family again," the man said. Sandusky then apologized and said "he loved me," the man said, adding that he remained silent about incidents until last year "because I was scared, I was ashamed (and) I was embarrassed."....

Sandusky, 68, the former longtime defensive coordinator at Penn State, denies all 52 counts alleging that he abused 10 boys over 15 years. Two grand jury reports accused him of having used his connection to one of the nation's premier college football programs to "groom" the boys, whom he met through his Second Mile charity for troubled children, for sexual relationships.

It was the third straight day that jurors in Bellefonte, Pa., heard disturbingly graphic descriptions of Sandusky's alleged pedophilia. Two of the alleged victims testified Wednesday, and three more alleged victims are scheduled to testify....

Sandusky gave the boy tickets to Penn State football games for more than a dozen years, beginning in 1997, he said.
The man testified that he didn't tell his story until last year because "it was just something I didn't want my family or anyone to know. I just figured I'll keep it to myself and I get to to go to these games, so I'll push that part to the back of my mind."....

The final witness of the day was a Penn State physical plant worker who testified that one night he saw "one set of hairy legs and one set of skinny legs" in the showers. Shortly thereafter, Sandusky and a small boy emerged, and "I said, 'Good evening, Coach,'" said the man, Ronald Petrovsky. After a long bench conference, Petrovsky was allowed to testify that he later talked to Penn State janitor who also had seen the incident and was severely shaken....
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/13/12202218-alleged-victim-testifies-sandusky-threatened-him-unless-he-kept-quiet

Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Conference - August 2012

forwarded with permission


The 15th Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference

August 10 – 12, 2012

DoubleTree near
Bradley International Airport
16 Ella Grasso Turnpike
Windsor Locks, CT

Internet conference information:
http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/

Conference Goals
- To help stop future occurrences of ritual abuse
- To help survivors of ritual abuse
- To name the groups that have participated in alleged illegal activities
- To unite those working to stop ritual abuse

Conference Schedule
There will be a small get together, deli dinner, dessert and early registration for pre-registered attendees only, on August 10, Friday evening. The conference will be all day on Saturday August 11 and Sunday August 12. Please check our conference home page for the latest conference schedule information. Some presentations will also be recorded.

There will be a Ritual Abuse And Extreme Abuse Clinician's Conference 2012 for licensed clinicians on Friday the day before the conference.  Information is at http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/ritual-abuse-and-extreme-abuse-clinicians-conference-2012/



Conference Registration

(Please read the entire brochure before registering.)
Registration is not guaranteed, please wait for approval before making travel arrangements. Or you can preregister via E-mail at: SMARTNEWS@aol.com Please mail registration form and checks (US Banks only please), money orders (US) to: RA Conference, c/o S.M.A.R.T., P O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027 USA

Name: (please include names and individual addresses of all registrees, thanks.)

___________________________

Agency: ___________________________________

Street: ____________________________

City: ___________________State:______

Zip:________E-mail_________________

Fees
Early registration fees (all fees are per person)
(note: fees must be received by the due date below to get the special prices)

One and two day registrations do not include the Friday deli dinner and dessert buffet.

Before 6/25/12 – 2 day $175, one day $90 (until June 5, Friday night included in this price)
Before 7/10/12- 2 day $185, one day $95
Before 8/1/12 – 2 day $205, one day $105
After 8/6/12 – 2 day $215, one day $110
(All fees must be received by due dates above.)

(Circle one – Sat – Sun for one day registrations)

_______________________

To add Friday night early registration, get together, deli dinner and dessert – $37.00

Donation to help those on fee waiver (not tax deductible):

_____________

Total Amount Due _____________

special meals needed ____________________

Please make checks payable to S.M.A.R.T. (US banks only, please.)

Refund Policy: Fees will not be refunded after July 10, 2012. Please send us written notice. Refund will be minus $70.00 deposit per registree.

S.M.A.R.T. 2012 Conference Schedule - August 10 - 12 (Fri, Sat. and Sun.)
(Please note : this schedule may be subject to change.  Please write us for the latest schedule.)

 Speakers and Biographies

Please note: Listing of these speakers does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are speaking at our conference for educational  value  only and some may be heavy for survivors.  Listening to the speakers at the conference may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when listening to any speaker or contacting any resource mentioned in this brochure.  These descriptions may be heavy for survivors to read, so please use caution while reading these.

Neil Brick is a survivor of Masonic based Ritual Abuse and MK-ULTRA. He is the editor of S.M.A.R.T. – A Ritual Abuse Newsletter. His topic is: Recent Child Abuse Crimes and Efforts to Unite Survivors.

Shamai Currim PhD is a retired therapist, educator, and educational consultant. She continues to work with survivors and has been involved with children and families with special needs, AIDS hospice, and Prison communities. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Survivorship and the Steering Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis. Her topic is: Meaghan's Story: A Tale of Integration

Dave Staffen was satanically abused for over 50 years by those he loved and trusted, as well as others who were paid to harm him for his refusal, as a child to join their cult. Dave hopes his story and recovery will help others by giving them hope and courage. His topic is: My Life and Attitudes Before and After My Recovery
 Sarah Jacqueline freed herself through deep self-journey from years of living in hell as an alleged victim of satanic abuse to now survivor.  Born into a family of Satanists and has experienced  and seen some horrific abuse.  She speaks of hope and freeing and illusion. Her topic is: Exposing Satanic Abuse

Until age seven, Maria was subject to satanic abuse. Maria experienced perverse worship, torturous brain programming, sexual violence, body dislocations, and was drugged. Although relocated at age seven, molestation from random strangers and family members continued until she moved out. She lives well with profound awareness. She now experiences joy and peace. Her topic is : Free at Last

Alexandra is a multi disciplinary therapist.  She incorporates various types of energy work, muscle testing, NLP, essential oils, and color into her cognitive behavioral therapy practice. She has an M. A. in Counseling Psychology and has been working with ritual abuse survivors for over 20 years. Her topic is: What I have learned so far.

Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. A history of Survivorship's last twenty plus years of work helping survivors will be presented with interviews from members of Survivorship. The presentation will include Survivorship's present day activities and ways survivors can learn more about the organization and get involved. Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org

Janet Thomas has been in active recovery from the effects of ritual abuse for more than 25 years. Her book, "Day Breaks Over Dharamsala--A Memoir of Life Lost and Found" chronicles her personal journey. "The Battle in Seattle" an earlier book, chronicles the global struggle for justice that we are now seeing rise.  She writes and teaches writing in India and in the U.S.

Sponsorship  and Co-sponsorship Information

All sponsors and cosponsors have made promotional contributions to the conference. We want to thank them for all their efforts.

Please note: Listing of these resource organizations does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are helping to promote the  conference and some may be heavy for some survivors, so use caution  contacting any resource mentioned in this brochure.

The conference is sponsored by  S.M.A.R.T.,  a newsletter that examines the possible connections between ritual abuse and secretive organizations. E-mail:  SMARTNEWS@aol.com http://ritualabuse.us/

Promotional Co-sponsors

Mothers Against Sexual Abuse (MASA) 404 Wilson St., Union, SC 29379 864-429-9161 Updated website at http://www.Againstsexualabuse.org, newest book http://www.Childhooditshouldnothurt.com  MASA is dedicated to education and helping survivors of sexual and ritual abuse. We are in the process of trying to raise funding for a legal defense fund to assist protective parents involved in court cases where the perpetrators are winning custody over 70% of the time. MASA will be celebrating our 20 birthday March 25, 2012.  We are proud of our accomplishments, but there is still so much work to be done.  Every person must become a voice for the children who have no voice and no choice.

Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. The organization serves survivors, partners and other allies, therapists, clergy, and pro-survivor activists and advocates. Contact information: Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org

The North American Truth & Reconciliation Coalition (NATRC) seeks to raise public awareness about historical and ongoing human rights violations in North America, and works to establish an accurate and truthful historical record of such crimes, including human trafficking, organized ritual crime, child soldiering, mind control experimentation and other forms of torture, in both the private and public spheres. The North American Truth & Reconciliation Coalition (NATRC) PO Box 401 Council Bluffs, IA 51502-0401 http://natrcoalition.org

The Mission of the California Protective Parents Association is to protect children from incest and family violence through research, education and advocacy. California Protective Parents Association PO Box 15284   Sacramento CA 95851-0284 http://www.protectiveparents.com/  cppa001@aol.com

Conference Information

Conference Participants
The conference will include all those either recovering from ritual abuse and/or fighting against ritual abuse. This includes survivors, co-survivors, therapists, other helping professionals, lawyers and all others interested in learning more about ritual abuse.

Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.

People have told us that last year's conference was the safest conference they have ever been to. But, this conference may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques and staying with that person or another safe person at all times.

Registration Waivers
Fee waiver application fees are $95.00 for two days and $50 for one day, and are non-refundable. Please do not send fees until your application is accepted. Please add $30 to attend the Friday night early registration, get together and dessert buffet. Applications will not be accepted after July 1, 2012, payment must be made by 7/14/12. Acceptance will partially be contingent on the number of paid applicants. Fee waiver registrees must volunteer for four hours at the conference. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to pay any travel expenses. Please E-mail or regular mail us for a fee waiver application.

Transportation
There is a free shuttle to and from the airport. Hotel parking is available at no charge for those attending the conference. Conference sponsors, etc. assume no responsibility for ground and/or air transportation arrangements. Conference sponsors cannot assume responsibility for additional expense or losses due to illnesses, cancellation of flights, strikes or other causes.

Accommodations
Room rates at the DoubleTree Hotel at Bradley International Airport (CT) are $89 a day for one person (not incl. tax), please mention the SMART 2012 conference to get the special rate. This rate is guaranteed until 7/7/12 or all rooms at the special rate are gone. Call 860-627-5171 for information. Lunch will be free both days for all conference attendees that register before July 20, 2012. The hotel has no information about the conference, other than room information.

Attendance Policy
Survivors should try to bring a support person with them to the conference. Presentation of a picture ID will be required of all conference participants, unless prior arrangements are made. This is for the protection of all participants. Some of the topics discussed may be very heavy for survivors. The conference is educational and not intended as therapy or treatment. Conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, organizers and exhibitors assume no responsibility for any reactions resulting from attending our conference. Statements made and materials exhibited and distributed by attendees, speakers and exhibitors are their own and don't necessarily represent the policies or views of conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, exhibitors, organizers or attendees. Children are not permitted to attend the conference. S.M.A.R.T. and its representatives also reserve the right to remove anyone from the conference at any time. Photographing, audio taping and videotaping without written permission from S.M.A.R.T. are prohibited.

Exhibitors
Tables and half tables will be available for exhibitors. All exhibitors and their materials, etc. must be pre-approved. Write for more information. Whole tables are $25, half tables are $15. Take one table fee is $5.00 per item.

Volunteers
S.M.A.R.T. is currently looking for volunteers to help at the conference. Volunteer need to be registered at the conference. Please let S.M.A.R.T. know if you are interested.

Conference Donations
Please consider sponsoring a full or partial registree, so that all are able to attend the conference. Thank you. (Donations are not tax deductible.)

For those interested in helping to promote the conference, please write smartnews@aol.com for a press release to forward to others.

S.M.A.R.T. – Copyright 2012 (Entire Pamphlet and conference name) -
All rights reserved, no reproduction of any material without written permission from S.M.A.R.T.

Permission to forward without headers and trailers to those that are pro-survivor.





Tuesday, June 12, 2012

NBC: Former Penn State president could face charges in Sandusky case

NBC: Former Penn State president could face charges in Sandusky case                 

6/11/12

Disturbing details emerged at the sexual abuse trial of former assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. During the emotional testimony, the first witness who was identified in court documents as 'Victim 4,' said he was a teenager when the abuse began. NBC's John Yang reports.

By Michael Isikoff, NBC News national investigative correspondent

Pennsylvania prosecutors are considering criminal charges against former top Penn State University officials for allegedly concealing what they knew about the conduct of former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, law enforcement told NBC News.

As Sandusky's trial began Monday on 52 counts alleging that he abused 10 boys over 15 years, the sources said investigators had obtained new evidence, including internal university email messages and other documents.

Prosecutors made their first public reference to the material in a court filing Monday, saying they included a file on Sandusky that was “created, maintained and possessed” by former Penn State Vice President Gary Schultz.

In addition, prosecutors said, the recently discovered emails “contradict” the testimony of Schultz, former athletic director Tim Curley “and others” before a grand jury about what they knew about an allegation of possible sexual misconduct by Sandusky.

A spokeswoman for Curley and Schultz said their lawyers had not yet seen the new filing by prosecutors and couldn’t comment on it. Both men were charged with perjury for their testimony regarding Sandusky last November.

Legal sources tell NBC the emails and documents were recently discovered by investigators for former FBI director Louis Freeh, whose firm has been hired by Penn State to conduct an internal investigation into the school’s handling of the Sandusky matter.

The documents, the sources say, show that former university President Graham Spanier and others discussed whether they were obligated to tell authorities about a 2001 allegation involving a late-night encounter in a Penn State shower room between Sandusky and a young boy, both of whom were naked.

The documents allegedly show that university officials even did legal research on whether such conduct might be a crime. But in one email exchange, Spanier and Schultz agreed that it would be "humane” -- to Sandusky -- not to inform social services agencies, two sources said.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/11/12169577-nbc-former-penn-state-president-could-face-charges-in-sandusky-case

Monday, June 11, 2012

Sandusky Trial Begins, Rev. Kevin Annett - Public Declaration to the Vatican

Sandusky Trial Begins With Disturbing Testimony
By KEN BELSON June 11, 2012


BELLEFONTE, Pa. — When Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football assistant coach, retired from Joe Paterno’s staff in 1999, he devoted himself full time to his charity, which tried to help children from disadvantaged families and broken homes.


On Monday, prosecutors opening their sexual abuse case against Sandusky told jurors that Sandusky kept a private list of boys the charity was helping. That list, they suggested, amounted to his own sort of scouting report on potential targets for him to abuse, complete with asterisks next to some of the names and notations about their hair color, shoe size, whether they had parents and other details.


Some of those targets may ultimately have become victims, prosecutors claimed on Monday, sexually abused as a consequence of “systemized behavior by a serial abuser.”


And on the opening day of Sandusky’s trial, one of his accusers stepped into public for the first time, taking the witness stand at the Centre County Courthouse and offering several hours of methodically disturbing, often graphic accounts of sexual assault at the hands of the man who for decades had been Paterno’s top lieutenant. Sandusky, 68, is charged with more than 50 criminal counts of abusing 10 boys over a number of years.The 28-year old man said that Sandusky repeatedly had sexual contact with him in locker rooms and showers on the Penn State campus and other locations over several years starting in 1997, when he was 13....


But Sandusky also showered regularly with the boy, during which he began having soap fights and then fondling him, the man said. Over time, Sandusky’s advances became more forceful and sexual, including wrestling the boy to the ground and forcing him to perform oral sex, he testified. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/12/sports/ncaafootball/jerry-sandusky-child-sexual-abuse-trial-begins.html


VIDEO: Rev. Kevin Annett - Public Declaration to the Vatican/The Republic of Kanata (Canada)


In this video interview with Alfred Lambremont Webre, Rev. Kevin Annett, Acting Secretary of the International Tribunal for Crimes of Church and State - www.itccs.org - discusses a public declaration to Pope Ratizinger and the Vatican stating that unless specific actions are taken by the Pope and the Vatican by September 15, 2012, "every known Roman Catholic priest or official who has harmed a child or protected those who have will be publicly named by our network, and will be publicly arrested and expelled from their churches."


The Declaration continues, "This decision is made under the common law right of citizenship arrest of those who endanger children when established authorities refuse to protect the community.


Such direct action to protect our children will be accompanied by ongoing occupations and seizures of Roman Catholic Church property commencing globally on September 15, 2012.


These measures are being taken because of the refusal by you and your church hierarchy to do justice to your victims and abide by the law and morality; and specifically, because of your refusal to agree to these ten measures, issued to you on May 4, 2012 by our Tribunal:


1. Issue full reparations to survivors
2. Surrender the remains of those who died for a proper burial.
3. Return all land and wealth taken from church victims
4. Surrender all evidence and perpetrators of crimes against children
5. Annul Crimen Sollicitationis and all Vatican policies that protect child rapists
6. Expel and defrock all child raping priests and those who protect them, including the pope
7. Agree to the licensing of all clergy as public servants
8. Withdraw from all tax exemptions, concordats and privileges
9. Annul the status of the Vatican as a state and abolish Rome's authority over its congregations
10. Redistribute the wealth of the Vatican Bank to church victims and the community, as Christ commands


Update on Genocide of First Nation Children at Brandford, Ontario


Rev. Annett also provides and update on the continuing search and discovery of evidence of child genocide at the residential school at Brandford, Ontario....




Information: http://www.itccs.org


ARTICLE: http://bit.ly/MzKnt9


Rev Kevin Annett: Public Declaration to the Vatican & The Republic of Kanata (Canada)  http://youtu.be/08e30vnE6js

Sunday, June 10, 2012

A Guantanamo Connection? Documents Show CIA Stockpiled Antimalaria Drugs as "Incapacitating Agents"

A Guantanamo Connection? Documents Show CIA Stockpiled Antimalaria Drugs as "Incapacitating Agents"

Wednesday, 06 June 2012 By Jeffrey Kaye, Truthout

A Truthout analysis of historical records concerning government research and nonmedical use of antimalarial medications has revealed that such drugs were the objects of experimental research under the CIA's MKULTRA program. Even more, one of these drugs, cinchonine, was illegally stockpiled by the CIA as an "incapacitating agent."

Antimalarial drugs were studied as part of the CIA's mind control program MKULTRA. Cinchonine, an antimalarial drug derived from chichona bark, was one of the drugs used by the operational components of MKULTRA, code-named MKNAOMI and MKDELTA. The CIA worked with researchers for the Army's Special Operations Division, a secret component of the US Army Chemical Corps based at Fort Detrick, to develop delivery systems for the drugs.

Revelations concerning CIA interest in use of antimalarial drugs would be of historical interest, as it has never been written about before. But such interest gains contemporary significance in the light of actions taken by the Department of Defense (DoD) in the "war on terror," and the fact that a key DoD expert on antimalarial drugs was a psychiatrist involved in training personnel for Guantanamo interrogations.

In January 2002, the DoD deliberately decided that all incoming detainees at Guantanamo would be given a full treatment dose of the controversial antimalarial drug mefloquine, also known as Lariam. The purpose was supposedly to control for a possible malaria outbreak, in deference to concerns from Cuban officials.

But specialists in malaria prevention have said they have never heard of such presumptive treatment for malaria by mefloquine in this type of situation. Furthermore, a summary of antimalarial measures at Guantanamo given to Army and Center for Disease Control (CDC) medical officials at a February 19, 2002, meeting of the Armed Forces Epidemiological Board failed to describe the mefloquine procedure approved a month earlier.

Was mefloquine used at Guantanamo to help produce a state of "learned helplessness" in detainees? Were experiments conducted on adverse side effects of mefloquine on the prisoners held there?
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9601-a-guantanamo-connection-documents-show-cia-stockpiled-antimalaria-drugs-as-incapacitating-agents

Prep-School Predators - The Horace Mann School’s Secret History of Sexual Abuse Allegations, ‘No Way Out But One’ Domestic Violence

Prep-School Predators - The Horace Mann School’s Secret History of Sexual Abuse
By AMOS KAMIL June 6, 2012 

....When the Penn State scandal came out last year, I kept getting tangled in the questions everyone else was getting tangled in: How does an institutional culture arise to condone, or at least ignore, something that, individually, every member knows is wrong? Andrew’s story came back to me in a rush. The questions of Penn State, I realized, are the questions of Horace Mann and perhaps every place that has been haunted by a similar history.

....I spoke with nearly 100 people for this article, including 60 former students and 15 former or current faculty members. Some of them implored me not to pursue the subject, insisting that no good could come of opening old wounds. Others said that Horace Mann today is a very different place than it was back then — eagerly responsive to the concerns of students and parents. Some said they were unaware of these rumors. Some said nothing had happened to them but that they had heard similar stories from classmates. Many said they were surprised it took this long for these stories to come out.

The former students who chose to share their stories with me are all men, but if their classmates are to be believed, the situation was far more complex. People who haven’t set foot in the school in 30 years still rattle off the names of male teachers who were said to be sleeping with their female students. A couple of female faculty members were said to be sleeping with male students. Once I started asking around, these stories continued to bubble up — from friends I thought I knew well and from other schools, public and private, each with their own elaborate histories of which teachers you ought to steer clear of, which students seemed too old for their years. In just the past couple of years, among just the tiny fraternity of elite New York City private schools, two allegations made the news. A male math teacher at Riverdale Country School pleaded not guilty to charges that he had oral sex with a 16-year-old female student. And Poly Prep was named as a defendant in a lawsuit in which 10 former students and two day-campers say the school covered up for a football coach who was molesting boys. In New York City public schools, during the first three months of 2012, reports of sexual misconduct involving school employees were up 35 percent compared with the same period last year.

I have several friends who confided in me, back in high school, about their own sexual encounters with teachers, but who are now unwilling to talk about it. I can’t say I blame them. Victims rarely speak out, said Paul Mones, a lawyer who represents people who have been sexually abused by authority figures. “The whole goal of the grooming process is to wrap the child close,” he told me. “The affection and trust is to make the kid complicit in the act. Make them feel like it was their fault, so it won’t even occur to them to talk.” Even if they do, New York State’s statute of limitations, which says people who were victimized as minors cannot take civil action against an abuser after they turn 23, makes it unlikely that they would find justice. 

....Stories like theirs point to why sexual abuse by teachers — or religious leaders or relatives, for that matter — is so especially damaging. As Mones said: “It’s counterintuitive, but sexual abuse emotionally binds the child closer to the person who has harmed him, setting him up for a life plagued by suspicion and confusion, because he will never be sure who he can really trust. And in my experience, this is by far the worst consequence of sexual abuse.” That’s one reason, he said, why those few victims who ever speak out at all tend to do so only after the abuser is dead or dying: telling the truth while the other person is still strong enough to deny it, or to blame the accuser, is just too terrifying.

....I have similarly conflicted feelings about Horace Mann. It was in many ways an amazing place filled with inspiring teachers and smart, funny students, with a sense of enthusiasm and possibility. Despite all I’ve since learned about it, I still look back on my years there with affection and gratitude, as do so many former students, even some who shared their harrowing stories with me. But that gratitude is part of what makes these stories so painful. We were at such a vulnerable moment in our lives — just beginning to make the transition from childhood into early adulthood, struggling to come to terms with the responsibilities of sexuality and trying to decide what we were willing to stand up for. We needed strong and consistent role models. In many cases we got them. But in too many other cases, we got models of how to abuse authority, how to manipulate trust, how to keep silent, how to fix your eyes forward.

Amos Kamil is a screenwriter, playwright and brand strategist. He graduated from Horace Mann in 1982. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/magazine/the-horace-mann-schools-secret-history-of-sexual-abuse.html


Prep-School Predators: Report Alleges Sex Abuse at Elite New York City School
A scathing exposé alleges that decades of sexual abuse by teachers at the elite Horace Mann school went unreported and unpunished.
By Catherine Traywick June 9, 2012

The world of elite New York City private schools was rocked this week by allegations in a special New York Times Magazine report alleging decades of sexual abuse at one of the most well-respected institutions in the country.

For decades, a handful of teachers at the Horace Mann school, an elite prep school in the Bronx, sexually abused both their male and female students with various levels of impunity, according to the exposé by screenwriter Amos Kamil. In the article, Kamil, a Horace Mann alumnus, recalls his friends and classmates privately confiding in him the abuse that they endured at the hands of their teachers.... http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/09/prep-school-predators-report-alleges-sex-abuse-at-elite-new-york-city-school



‘No Way Out But One’ Wednesday, June 6, 2012

California Judge Michael Nash this year ruled to open child welfare hearings in Los Angeles County unless there’s proof that doing so will harm the child.

Advocates in favor of more transparency in family courts applauded the decision, because they believe the secrecy can lead to decisions that hurt children.

Gail Helms was behind the push for more transparency in California. In 1995, her 2-year-old grandson was beaten to death by his father, who had been awarded custody despite a history of drug abuse.

Around that same time, Holly Collins of Minnesota was on her way to the Netherlands with her children, 11-year-old Zachary and 9-year-old Jennifer. They had been placed in their father’s custody, and she says she fled to protect them from abuse and a court system that ignored her pleas for help. http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2012/06/06/domestic-violence-out