"I’ll Sue You, You Sue Me, What a Wonderful World It Will Be…."
This column presents a conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope you will read the column regularly and it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:
Four former residents from Dozier School for Boys have filed law suits against several state agencies and one local resident for alleged abuse they endured while interned at the reform school in the 1950’s. Why have they waited approximately sixty years to come forward?
The disproportionate number of lawyers as a percentage of the population in the U.S. and their need for funds for survival has turned our social structure into a litigation minded, suit seeking, greedy society. In this vein, every public official, every administrator of a public agency, every school board and school administrator, every doctor and every hospital administration, every company, and every citizen, and unfortunately, every politician is constantly walking on their tiptoes in constant fear of making a decision or doing something which will result in court action. We live in a "I’ll sue you if I can" society.
Herds of lawyers lurk in dark paneled offices in every city, patiently waiting for an opportunity to engage in a "class action suit" that will yield them millions of dollars in fees. When our sixteen year old son was unfortunately killed in an automobile accident several years ago, we received several letters written on fancy embossed letterhead from large law firms letting us know they were "there for us" if we had any cause to sue someone because of the accident. It made me sick and very angry at the same time, in the midst of our horrible grief.
Sly, greedy, unethical people and organizations have learned how to use this fear of litigation as a weapon to blackmail our politicians into paying the supposed victims millions of dollars of our tax monies as settlements for claims….in order to avoid the bother and negative publicity of a lawsuit. This practice is expensive, encourages future actions from other greedy people, and carries with it an implication of acceptance of guilt…regardless whether or not any real guilt is present.
I feel this exploitation and misuse of the right to sue may well be the case in the claims which four former Dozier School for Boys residents recently filed abuse claims for incidents which took place sixty years ago, against several state agencies and one local resident. I find it unfortunate that Governor Crist has already reacted to these claims by having a plaque placed at the infamous "Little White House" on the Dozier campus, where corporal punishment was administered during those years when it was a legal and effective manner of punishing those who deserved punishment. The inscription on this marker reads "In recognition of the ABUSE many suffered here". This statement implies guilt when there has been no trial, no conviction, and no proof of any ABUSE ever occurring. This action by the Governor did nothing but encourage the former residents to continue with their court action.
From this I am assuming that every whipping I ever received was a form of abuse….and I can thus proceed with legal action against anyone who ever gave me a whipping. I am in the process of locating a sufficiently hungry, greedy, unethical, qualified lawyer who will represent me in these matters. Together we stand to make millions!
First there was Mrs. McGuary, my fifth grade teacher. She gave me and about eight other unfortunate fifth graders a vicious, cruel beating with a big leather belt for running down a back stairway which we all knew was closed and not to be used as stated in posted signs and in school rules. I think I got five hard, bone crushing lashes that I remember to this day. She severely embittered my attitude and left emotional scars I have struggled with for all of my life. I feel I should be able to sue her estate for several million. I may have to find the other seven boys that were involved to really make the case sound good. I hope they will come forward.
Then there was my old football coach and eighth grade teacher, "Bull" Dawson. While he was out of the room one day a wild eraser fight broke out. One of the teacher’s pets, Betty Robertson took names of all who engaged in this duel, and when "Bull" returned to his classroom she gave him the list and told him of the fight. As a result, we were all given three licks from a special paddle he had for such an event. These three licks still ring in my ears. The sting of having my coach hit me was as bad as the physical pain. I think this whipping kept me from making all "A’s" that six weeks, and perhaps kept me from going to Harvard. I feel the lack of development that stemmed from this attack and abuse by this teacher should enable me and my hungry lawyer to sue his estate for another seven or eight million.
Then there was Tom Brantley. Tom was our principal in high school. He was notorious among the student body for abusing poor, young boys in his office as he doled out corporal punishment for relatively innocent deeds. He had a special wooden paddle which was riddled with holes to reduce wind resistance and increase impact speed during his terrible rampages of retribution. There was the time when Billy Terrell came to school after a summer in California (1957) with an Elvis Presley hair cut, complete with DA in back and a hook in front. Several of the girls in our class thought it looked cute, so we had to do something about it immediately. We told him to cut his hair (of course all of us had neat, well groomed flat tops) or he would suffer. He refused to do as we asked, so one day Bobby Rudd brought a pair of sheep shears to school and as soon as the bell rang at the end of the day, the entire football team scooped Terrell up and carried him to the dressing room under the gym. We did the shearing job…for months I proudly carried the loosened "hook" in a text book as a place marker.
Well, Billy’s mom was less than happy. She stormed to school and demanded action from Tom Brantley. He herded all of us guilty culprits into a van, took us out to the Terrell residence where Billy’s mom lectured us for about thirty minutes (while Billy stood aside, embarrassed and bald). Then Tom Brantley took us to his den of torture, his school office. Out came the dreaded paddle, as one by one we assumed the unfortunate position and had our butts whipped. I am sure that if I look closely enough today I might still see some of the resulting scars from this terrible, terrible example of administrative abuse of a poor innocent student. I am sure the other team members who had to endure this embarrassment and unimaginable pain are similarly scarred. I figure our unscrupulous lawyer should be able to get us at least ten million from the county school system and ole Tom Brantley’s estate.
Then there were the whippings all of the upper classmen in my college fraternity gave me and the other pledges during "Hell Week" prior to initiation. That case should also be worth millions.
And our liberal court system has already ruled that children can sue their parents…so I might figure out a way to sue their estates. Heck, I have already inherited that money.
Oh My god! That reasoning means my children could sue me!
Rudiments-
Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning:
· Thought you might be interested that even though our economy is struggling desperately, and many citizens are suffering…our esteemed legislators just voted themselves an increase in their petty cash allowances of $93,000 per year. This is the "pocket money" they use locally to buy votes back home.
· It seems to me that our state officials are busy cutting funding for schools and parks and items which the public will feel, while they ignore the layers and layers of bureaucracy, unneeded and ineffective programs, and unnecessary grant funding programs. They want to create as much public outcry and impact as possible.
· Isn’t it amazing that of the ten or twelve top ranked federal officials that Obama has picked for his cabinet, two have already had to admit they had been cheating on their taxes. Of course they repaid the shortages and apologized. The IRS graciously accepted their apologies and did not subject them to interest or huge penalties. I am sure we can all expect the same treatment from this benevolent federal agency.
· The pork farmers in Washington D.C. are getting ready to "bring home the bacon". I hope we all get a taste of it.
· Our nation is in a condition of evolution. Changing from what it has been, to what it will become. Standing here at the mid-point I am very concerned over our choices of routes.- Sid Riley
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Hatcher Publications.
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Well Sid I certainly do see the humor you intended in your letter. It's also nice to see that you openly admit to being a school bully that many of us remember from our school days. Additionally, there always seems to be people like you in public who feel everyone needs to "abid" by your rules and way of life, or else. Your admitted behavior of bullying others to toe your line of likes and dislikes is what's wrong with this country, but I'm sure that's lost on you. You should be thankful it wasn't you who was being bullied because you had a stupid looking flat top haircut that everyone else didn't like because they'd might be writing about how they bullied you and cut your dumb looking hair. It certainly would appear from your writings about the abuse at Dozer and the White House that you are still trying to bully people into your way of thinking....or else. Placing opinions in a paper is not the same as placing facts in print. It is blatently obvious you have little or no facts as to what happened at the Boys school and most of your opinions seem to be knee jerk and second hand gossip. Be thankful the type of stuff you are placing in print is only opinions because I'm more than sure were you to write valid facts about the White House, surely your Editor would censor it. "A bully is always a coward" English Proverb XIX century.
ReplyDeleteThere is a question in few minds that this case is about money. My purpose, as well as the purpose of my book, revolves around ‘social reform.’ We who were abused must make absolutely sure these terrible abuses are exposed and that they never happen again in the United States of America.
ReplyDeleteThere also seems to be a question as to whether the facts being presented by these men are true or false. I suppose I would think in this manner if the men coming forward were just a bunch of Charlie Manson’s sitting in a prison cell complaining about having been spanked or beaten while incarcerated at a Florida Reform School some fifty years ago. Two of these men are millionaires, one is an author, several are military officers, many are veterans, one a movie producer, another a former recording artist and many are businessmen in their local communities.
The purpose of an investigation is to find the truth. It really does not matter what either side is saying as the truth will one day determine what is fact or fiction.
As I already know the truth; my view and opinion(s) will always be slanted to my side of the issue. I do not feel that the other side is actually lying but, not knowing the actual facts of the case, will speak from a logical point of view rather from a factual point of view. Anyone involved in such atrocities will certainly claim that they knew nothing of the beatings, killings or abuses in order to protect themselves. Most will say “This could not possibly be true. How could such a horrible thing happen in our community and no one know about it?”
The biggest question is: “If this is true why didn’t someone report it?”
Mr. Henry Bevis made it very clear in his letter to me when he stated” My mother was a county nurse and heard numerous accounts of abuse from numerous church and community members. Members who were warned to keep their mouths shut or their farm loans would be recalled, their homes burnt to the ground, their cattle poisoned or they might even be shot.”
There is no doubt that the abuses and killings were well known at the local coffee shops around Marianna as well as the surrounding area.
There were many reports made by the families of the boys who were abused. On numerous occasions various Florida Governors came to the facility to investigate. Each time the boys were afraid to speak for fear of being beaten at the White House, once the governor left the campus. Several South Florida Judges came to view the facility and refused to sentence any additional boys to that school saying “This school is nothing more than a Nazi Concentration Camp for children.”
There is very little doubt in my mind that much of the abuses, rapes and murders were covered up by the local community because millions of dollars worth of peanuts, corn, sweet potatoes, beef and pork were being sifted off from the school and sold in the local community. What was not sold was loaded into railroad cars and sold elsewhere. The labor used for this venture was provided by bringing in boys from the FSB School; child labor, working children sixteen hours a day, many of the boys was as young as ten. No one in the Marianna community wanted any child to be molested, beaten or killed; but most could not speak about such atrocities because any investigation into such matters might expose the latter.
Once a boy was released, most did not speak of the abuses for fear he would one day return to the facility. If returned, he knew there would be hell to pay, even possible death. Besides, the State of Florida had complete control of these boys’ lives. Florida, to these boys, was God and there is no one about God. Just who would one report too when God has abused you? Most family members who were told of the abuses after their child’s release looked at the issue in the same manner.
I speak of these abuses with first hand knowledge. I visited the White House on five occasions and was beaten twice. The first time I left the building my back, legs and buttocks was as black and tough as a car tire. I was so bloody that I was unrecognizable by the office secretary. My underwear had to be surgically removed from my buttocks after being soaked in Elson Salts for thirty minutes at the hospital infirmary. I had bloody underwear and bed sheets for several weeks and could barely walk for days.
I suppose I could accept this type of treatment had I been a criminal. I had been molested for six years by the orphanage matron, Mayme Winters. I began to running away after the old policeman (Topper) did not believe that such a story could possibly be true; as was the case with my Sunday school teacher and my Spring Park Elementary School teachers, Mrs. Cherry, Mrs. Horner as well as Mrs. Dryer, the school principal.
There was no one to help me so I had to help myself. I did the only thing I could do to save what was left of me. That was my crime against society and I paid a very high price for trying to save myself.
Roger Dean Kiser, Author-Child Advocate
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