I was curious about some of the different opinions I read and so
discussed them with my father and a colleague, both lawyers. The
colleague does a lot of juvenile/family practice and is often a
consultant on child molestation charges Dad was a night judge and
special judicial commissioner. They pointed out several flaws in some of
the arguments, based upon the laws of my state (Tennessee). They then
pointed out that the laws on slander and what is public record vary
drastically from state to state, and even from year to year within the
same state (so if you know someone that went through this 3 years ago,
for instance, they may not understand the current legal situation.) The
message that they suggested that I send is, with all due respect to our
profession, the words "I'm not a lawyer, but" rarely precede sound legal
advice.
    This may also be worth considering. Although they acknowledge that
the nature of this crime often creates situations where the victims
remain silent out of fear, neither of them has enough fingers (or toes,
my dad said) to count the number of people of whom know  that have been
falsely accused of child molestation. Not just accused when there was
not enough evidence to convict. Accused when there was proof that they
had not committed the crime. In many cases, the lives of the accused
were ruined any way, as people understandably do not want to take
chances where children are concerned.
   I hope you get things resolved soon.

Candace Perry wrote:

>We have a kids' program on horses scheduled for next week which includes a
>trip to a stable for a short riding lesson.  One parent who registered her
>child found out, through a friend in the State Police, that the owner of the
>stable has been accused, but not convicted of child molestation.  This
>individual has been telling people not to sign up because of this (so says
>the parent with the connection.
>Our poor educator (who does not need to have to deal with this!) made calls
>to the State Police but of course can't find out anything because the person
>is not convicted.  The parent who brought this to her attention has been
>vaguely threatening -- implying that we should cancel the camp or she'll
>talk around the community. Frankly, her "friend" probably shouldn't be
>talking and most likely has committed some sort of breach him/herself. I
>guess there's all sorts of ethics involved here.
>We may cancel the program anyway because we haven't had many
>registrants...but there has been some last minute interest. We've discussed
>possibly finding another stable on this short notice, but then we're falling
>prey to hearsay.
>I'm not sure how this will resolve itself...I thought it was an interesting
>scenario in what happens when dealing with the community.
>Candace Perry
>Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Ctr.
>
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