Dear Ms. Pomerantz and other editors:
Unfortunately I left out one sentence in the letter to the editor
I sent you responding to Dan Kennedy's "Suffer the Children." I would
appreciate your using this revised version. The one change is marked by
two "**" and is simply the insertion of a sentence. I apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.
I have also learned that Debbie Nathan, a free lance journalist
who has studied and written about many of these daycare cases will probably
be sending you a letter addressing some of the issues Mr. Kennedy raised. I
hope you will also print her letter, as she has years of expertise on this
subject.
I'm sure your readers will appreciate hearing both viewpoints on
this controversial issue.
Sincerely yours,
--Jonathan G. Harris
-------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sirs and Madams:
Dan Kennedy's(Suffer the Children, April 28) erroneous description of
how Stacey came to accuse the Amiraults of sexual abuse illustrates how Mr.
Kennedy misleads his readers on crucial issues concerning the Fells Acres case.
He contends that before being given fully clothed anatomical doll Stacey drew a
penis on a clown and that she demonstrated oral sex on the doll without
being asked leading questions.
How did social worker Judith Kirwin describe her second interview
with Stacey? I quote her own report [with the girls name replaced with
"Stacey"]:
At the end of the 10 minutes, I asked Stacey to show Steve [policeman] exactly
what was special about the dolls [the anatomical dolls that had been
introduced in the first interview]. Stacey selected the adult male doll and
the little female doll and undressed them and pointed to the various body
parts. Stacey then pointed to the male doll's penis and stated
"that is a penis." Stacey then took the female doll and pointed to the vagina
and stated "this is a vagina" and turned the dolls over and pointed to the
anal region and stated "this is the bum."
Then Stacey turned around to the coffee table to color. I asked Stacey
help me(sic) describe the clown. Stacey stated "there's a good clown named
Hippo and a bad clown [this also was brought up in the earlier interview].
I asked Stacey to help me draw the bad clown (see attached) I drew the clown
under Stacey's direction. Stacey gave me a orange crayon and asked me to draw
the hair, blue crayon for feet and hands, and white. For his body at this
point, Stacey took the orange crayon and drew between his legs what she
described as "the clown's penis." I asked Stacey is(sic) she touched the
clown's penis, Stacey stated yes. I than(sic) inquired if Stacey touched the
penis with her mouth. She stated "yes" worker then gave Stacey(sic) to show
me what happened with the clown's penis...
I informed Mr. Kennedy that I had the DSS reports on this case,
described this interview in detail to Mr. Kennedy, and offered to send him
a copy of the report. He refused my offer.
Because these DSS reports are only summaries of the interview, they
certainly omit much of the questioning and understate its leading nature.
** Furthermore, Donna told the grand jury that she, like the other parents,
began to questioned Stacey repeatedly as soon as she learned of the accusations.
**
Unfortunately, the investigators neglected to make electronic recordings of
these initial interviews. Can one seriously believe that an interview which
extracted the first accusation from a child was any less leading than a
recorded interview done after the child had already made a disclosure?
Mr. Kennedy's treatment of Stacey's accusation is typical of how
he distorts the other issues of the Fells Acres place. To obtain accurate
information about this outrageous injustice, readers should consult the
sources cited in his article.
----Jonathan G. Harris
Newton, MA
Note to editor: If this letter is too long, one possible editing
of the social worker's description is:
I asked Stacey to show Steve [policeman] exactly
what was special about the dolls [the anatomical dolls that had been
introduced in the first interview]...
I asked Stacey help me(sic) describe the clown [introduced in the previous
interview]. Stacey stated "there's a good clown named Hippo and a bad clown. I
asked Stacey to help me draw the bad clown (see attached) I drew the clown
under Stacey's direction. Stacey gave me a orange crayon and asked me to draw
the hair, blue crayon for feet and hands, and white. For his body at this point,
Stacey took the orange crayon and drew between his legs what she described as
"the clown's penis." I asked Stacey is(sic) she touched the clown's penis,
Stacey stated yes. I than(sic) inquired if Stacey touched the penis with her
mouth. She stated "yes"...
Jonathan G. Harris
Department of Chemical Engineering, MIT Rm 66-450
25 Ames Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
harris@athena.mit.edu (617)253-5273 Fax 252-1651
(
geocities.com/jgharris7/witchhunt) (
geocities.com/jgharris7)