Dear Bill,
I know you wrote this to Hank and not to me, but I really felt that I
needed to respond...
 BS> I am encouraged to see that beginning to happen.  There is a VOCAL
 BS> in the Seattle area which has been operating for several years; the
 BS> founder is not a victim.  Several political activists, not victims,
 BS> formed the Swan Defense Fund which has made the words "the Swan case"
 BS> a terror to our prosecutor, our former state attorney general and
 BS> now our judge, as they run for office.  And just last week in
 BS> Witchhu.. er, Wenatchee, WA, 2000 citizens, not victims, signed and
 BS> submitted a petition for review of the handling of the
 BS> child-molestation ring trials going on there.
That is encouraging news and I'm glad to hear it.  I am the local VOCAL 
contact person here.  Not much at that moment for meetings, but lots of
support from friends that are not involved in the system.  Some of the
support is local, a lot of it is nationwide, and some of our support 
comes from all over the world (New Zealand to name one).  Our case is
becoming known, although I'm certain it will never be as famous as yours
unless I get so desperate that I do something I will regret later on.
Luckily I'm a fairly easy going, forgiving type person, so I don't think
I'll do anything I shouldn't.   The petition sounds like a good idea
though and I'd like to get something like that going that here.  
 BS> Things *are* going to change, Hank, they're changing already, but
 BS> it's going to take time to *win*.
You've got that right!  Today, 8/2/95, has been particularly difficult
for me (2+ hours on the st*nd, I can't t*lk about it) and I really needed
some encouraging words.  One thing in our favor is that when an agency that 
is investigating the handling of our c*se asked what we wanted the outcome 
to be, our answer was "To make sure that this never happens to someone 
else."  This made a big impact on the investigator and caused them to 
look at us much more favorably.  
Anyway, thanks for the encouragement.  I really needed it and am grateful
that you were the one to provide it. :)
Val
P.S.  I'll be okay.  I'm one tough lady and I'm not beaten yet!
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