Patty Wetterling’s whole address is here
Foley sent obvious predatory signals, received loud and clear by members of the congressional leadership, who swept them under the rug to protect their political power.
If a teacher did this and the principal was told but did nothing, once the community found out, that principal would be fired.
If this happened in a church and the minister received information and he did nothing, he?d be fired.
Congressional leaders shouldn?t be held to a lower standard than what we expect of our community leaders.
And these two clowns were high school teachers. There is no excuse.
Secrecy is the common ingredient in all child sexual abuse. When we have reason to believe someone is sexually abusing a child, we must act. When a child has the courage to come forward, we must not become part of the secret. We must make the protection of our children the highest priority.
Having worked worked with young people who were preyed upon and having to stop doing that for my own mental health as I got too angry everytime, this is what anyone who works with kids this age knows. You also know the warning signs and Foley, even in the most innocuous e-mails released, clearly demonstrates several.
It’s one thing to make the initial mistake though. It’s horrible, but people are human. The problem is we don’t have the full story and no one seems to interested in telling us what that is. The odd timing of the House Clerk’s departure and his silence had certainly be for some reason I cannot discern becuase if it inolves Shimkus and this situation, Shimkus is going to be in very deep hot water.