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N0KFQ > TODAY 22.03.16 15:44l 55 Lines 2480 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 88418_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Mar 22
Path: IZ3LSV<F1OYP<F4DUR<CX2SA<CX2ACB<XE1FH<N9PMO<NS2B<N0KFQ
Sent: 160322/1440Z 88418@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1984
Teachers are indicted at the McMartin Preschool
Seven teachers at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach,
California are indicted by the Los Angeles County grand jury
after hearing testimony from 18 children. Included among the
charged are Peggy McMartin Buckey, the head of the school and her
son Ray Buckey. Seven years and millions of dollars later, the
case against the teachers came to a close with no reputable
evidence of wrongdoing and no convictions.
The McMartin school debacle began on August 12, 1983 when Judy
Johnson reported to the police that she believed her
2-1/2-year-old son had been molested at the McMartin Preschool.
The first major blunder occurred less than a month into the
investigation. On September 8, the Manhattan Beach Police
Department sent out a form letter to more than 200 families,
alerting them of an investigation into the allegations of child
molestation and naming Ray Buckey as a suspect.
The latter set off a wave of hysteria in the community.
Compounding the problem, virtually every child who attended the
school was sent to the Children's Institute International, an
organization that claimed it could get children to reveal abuse
even when they didn't want to talk about it. Unfortunately, CII
was also capable of getting easily manipulated children to reveal
abuse when it had never actually happened.
The allegations that CII produced grew more bizarre every day.
They reported that they had been taken to a cemetery where dead
bodies were dug and hacked to pieces (causing blood to spurt
out). The local Catholic church invited an expert on Satanic
cults to talk to the congregation in the wake of the allegations.
Of course, there wasn't any corroboration of these wild
allegations from any witnesses although the school often had
visitors and guests. The truth or falsity of the allegations
mattered little to the community at large. The McMartin school
was burned down in an arson attack and seven other local
preschools closed down as people who worked with children began
to fear that they would be the next accused.
Unfortunately for other child care workers around the nation, the
abuse scare of the early 1990s found many victims. More recent
research has demonstrated that questioning techniques of children
can easily be manipulated so that the child will give the answer
that the questioner desires.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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