The Wall Street Journal, Dorothy Rabinowitz, Friday, Oct. 6, 1995

Wenatchee Update

Ever since this page published details of the spree of child abuse prosecutions in the town of Wenatchee, Washing, readers have been calling and writing to express astonishment that inquisitions of this sort could still be taking place in this country. The rampage of arrests and prosecutions-mounted on the basis of the flimsiest of accusations - that have wrecked so many lives in Wenatchee is of course no different than so many of its kind that have taken place around the country over the past decade. After all the revelations about the McMartin Case in California, the Edenton Case in North Carolina, The Wee Care Case in New Jersey, and not least the Amirault Case in Boston, there is in fact nothing much suprising about the fantastic abuse charges recited by child witnesses in the Wenatchee case, or the Orwellian theories offered up by therapist and investigators in support of the charges.

That we have heard all this before doesn't, needless to say, diminish the terror of those accused and facing long years in prison because their names were included in a long list of alleged participants in a secret sex circle that supposedly operated in some 23 houses. The chief accusers in these cases, as we pointed out last week, turn out to be none other than the foster children of the very investigator busily building all the molestation's cases - Wenatchee's own police Detective Robert Perez.

Even so, it should be clear that responsibility for the legal reign of terror that has had Wenatchee in its grip the past year and more can't be laid at the feet of a police detective. The entire law enforcement establishment, the prosecutors will to present cases based on patently nonsensical testimony, are the real subjects of interest here. So, too, are principals like town mayor, Earl Tilly, who not long back issued a declaration addressed to the Children of Wenatchee. In it the Mayor suggested that while the Oklahoma bombing was terrible, what had happened to the children of Wenatchee was, in his view, no less terrible. No less interesting, of course, is the governor of the state, Mike Lowry, who dispensed special funds - some $45,000 - to advance the work of the sex ring investigations.

We are pleased to report that the governor's attitude has changed decidedly within the past week. On Tuesday, Governor Lowry dispatched a letter to Washington, D.C., also signed by Speaker of the House Clyde Ballard, asking Attorney General Janet Reno to look into the above abuse investigations and review the actions of the officials involved.

In his October 3 letter to Attorney General Reno, Governor Lowry wrote:

"As you may be aware, actions and allegations related to reports of the sexual abuse of children in Chelan and Douglas counties here in Washington state have led increasingly over time to great concern by many state residents and officials.

"We have concluded and trust you will agree that review by your office offers the best means to respond to this situations. A review...would be of great value to the communities involved and to all of us."

For the 28 people now in prison in the town and also for the hard core of sane and brave Wenatchee citizens - Concerned Citizens for Legal Accountability - who have organized to seek justice for the accused, this is a clear step forward. Whatever the Attorney General's answer is, the powers that be in the state have now acknowledged their consciousness of the travesties being perpetrated in the name of justice. From this acknowledgment there is no going back.