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Archives > Volume 7 Issue 57 - October 9, 2009 French official defending Polanski admits to paying for sex with boys...A leading Socialist lawmaker has asked the French president to fire Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand as a scandal grows over his admission in a 2005 book that he had paid for sex with boys. MSNBC News story here 
Both far-right and leftist politicians have joined in a campaign criticizing Mitterrand that started earlier this week and now risks throwing the government into crisis mode.
The far-right National Front party has conceded that it went looking for dirt about Mitterrand after his impassioned defense last week of film director Roman Polanski. The director was arrested in Switzerland on U.S. charges connected with his having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977 in Los Angeles. For more on that story see vol7_iss54, vol7_iss55, and vol7_iss56. Mitterrand's 2005 book, "La mauvaise vie" or "The Bad Life," describes painful periods in his childhood as well as his homosexuality. One passage describes his "bad habit of paying for boys" in Thailand. The minister said Wednesday on France-3 television that he is not a pedophile and uses the term "boys" loosely. Mitterrand, whose book raised no more than literary eyebrows when published four years ago, is to go on national television Thursday evening to explain himself. President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party is squirming but so far holding firm in defense of Mitterrand, a nephew of former Socialist President Francois Mitterrand who is widely known to the French for his eloquent TV profiles of the famous. He entered the government in June as part of Sarkozy's policy of reaching out to the left. Socialist Arnaud Montebourg claimed Thursday that Mitterrand "deliberately acted in violation of national and international laws" and appealed to Sarkozy and Prime Minister Francois Fillon to fire him. "It is impossible that a minister representing France can encourage violation of his own international commitments to fight sexual tourism," Montebourg's statement said. Chicago youth violence spurs national action... Experts say the shocking video of a group of kids beating 16-year-old Derrion Albert to death in an after-school melee shows the fifth student death in just six weeks of this new school year. CBS News story here 
"What happened to Derrion is barbaric, it was barbaric," anti-violence advocate Diane Latiker said.
In each of the last three years a classroom of children has been killed - from 27 in 2006 to a record 37 in 2008. And there were 500 children injured by gunshots last year alone. Two U.S. Cabinet secretaries joined city officials in Chicago today to highlight national concern over youth violence. "To those who seek to lay blame, I challenge you to ask yourself, what have you done," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. The Justice Department is pledging $16 million to boost school security around the country - a half million for Chicago. The city is also using $30 million in federal stimulus funds to identify and help 1,200 children who are most at risk of getting shot. The students from 38 schools will be selected based on: poor academic performance, family environment and location - focusing on areas where other deaths have occurred. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the beating death of the 16-year-old high school student was a "stark wake-up call" to the nation to confront youth violence. MSNBC News story here The scenes in the video "left an indelible mark on the mind of every American who has seen them," Holder said. He said the video was a "stark wake-up call to a reality that can be easy for too many to ignore as they go about their daily lives." Holder called for a "comprehensive, coordinated approach" to teen violence involving not just law enforcement but also local religious organizations, businesses and social service groups. MSNBC video story on White House efforts here Meanwhile, Justice Department officials said Wednesday that most children in the United States are exposed to violence in their daily lives - but a leading criminologist warned the government-sponsored survey may be lumping serious and minor incidents together. AP News story here More than 60 percent of children surveyed were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly or indirectly, according to data compiled by the department. The study, which also appeared in Pediatrics, is available online at http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/pdf/Pediatrics_NatSCEV.pdf. The survey's authors defined exposure to violence as being a victim, or having witnessed violence, or learning about violence against a relative, friend, or hearing about a threat to their school or home. That approach raised questions for some. Nearly half of all children surveyed were assaulted at least once in the past year, and about 6 percent were victimized sexually, the survey found. One in five of those between the ages of 14 and 17 reported they had seen a shooting. In other news... 
In Oregon, the Newberg-Dundee Police Department recently arrested four men and one woman in connection with the sexual abuse of three minor children, including a preschooler, after a Newberg man allegedly recruited adults for sex with minors through a Craigslist ad. Newburg Graphic news story here NPDP's Lt. Jeff Kosmicki wrote in a press release that the abuse came to light September 4, when a 15-year-old female complained that Darrin Daily, 44, of 720 South River St. Apt B, had given her marijuana and alcohol and had sex with her. After executing a search warrant at his residence, NDPD detectives found enough evidence to arrest him September 11. During the investigation, detectives discovered a second victim, a 14-year-old girl, who also accused Daily of engaging in sexual activity with her. The minor reported that Daily had taken photographs of the abuse, which included having her tied up, forcing her to have sex with his dog and forcing her to have sex with other adults. Daily had allegedly recruited other adults to participate in the group sex by posting a Craigslist ad inviting other adults to engage in sexual activity with the minor. A second search warrant was executed and Daily's computer was seized, as well as other media storage devices. NDPD computer forensics detectives analyzed the computer and located many photographs of the 14-year-old engaged in sexual activity with multiple adults, as well as images of the girl engaging in sexual intercourse with the dog. Images of a preschooler being sexually abused were found, as well.
A Tennessee mother whose baby was kidnapped said she was devastated when child welfare officials took him into state custody shortly after he was recovered, describing the pain of that separation as worse than the knife wounds that the kidnapper inflicted on her. AP News story here Maria Gurrola, still recovering from stab wounds and a collapsed lung, started crying and shaking when she learned week-old Yahir Anthony Carrillo and his three siblings would be put into foster homes, said Norma Rodriguez, the cousin of Jose Carrillo, the baby's father. The children, ages 3, 9 and 11, were split up and put with strangers in two separate foster homes Saturday after investigators told the state Department of Children's Services the couple was under investigation because of allegations they had tried to sell the baby, Gurrola's court-appointed attorney Dennis Nordhoff said. On Tuesday, Metro Nashville Police announced the parents had been cleared of wrongdoing and the children were reunited with them. Meanwhile, an Alabama woman accused of snatching the newborn from his home will remain in federal custody while authorities investigate whether she was the only person involved. AP News story here Tammy Renee Silas, 39, is charged with kidnapping 4-day-old Yahir from Nashville on September 29. The baby was found with Silas three days later at her home in Ardmore, Alabama, about 80 miles south. See more at vol7_iss56.
Convicted sex offender James Nichols said he was trying to better himself by going to church. But the police who arrested him explained: The church is off-limits because it has a daycare center. AP News story here Now Nichols is challenging North Carolina's sex-offender laws in a case that pits the constitutional right to religious freedom against the state's goal of protecting the public from child molesters. "I just started asking the question, 'Why? Why am I being treated this way after trying to better myself?'" said Nichols, a 31-year-old who was twice convicted of indecent liberties with a teen girl and again in 2003 for attempted second-degree rape. "The law gives you no room to better yourself." At issue in Nichols' case and a similar one in Georgia are day care centers and youth programs at houses of worship where sex offenders can come into proximity with children. Sex offender advocates agree some convicts should not be allowed around children, but they contend barring all offenders denies them support needed to become productive citizens.
Last week, eight Perry County, Pennsylvania teens were charged with child pornography for allegedly recording sex acts on their cell phones and sending them to others. WGAL story here Now police are in the beginning stages of a large-scale investigation at a Franklin County high school. "I didn't even know what sexting was. My daughter had to tell me," said parent Sally Cournoyer. Sexting - recording sexual acts and transmitting them to others via cell phones - is something that is traceable and punishable by law. Police reports state that as many as 30 students at Chambersburg Senior High School could be involved in a recent sexting incident. The school district found out about it after students came forward to teachers and an anonymous tip line. With other cases of sexting, school officials thought they had prepared students by giving them Internet safety training. "We're very concerned that this message, for some reason, is not getting through. We want to look at how we're delivering that," said Assistant Superintendent Eric Michael. Now school officials and police are trying to figure out how to handle technology that can make things easier, but in this case, more complex. For more on protecting kids with new technology, see eGuide/cell phones and eGuide/online safety.
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