THE PERQUIMANS WEEKLY
Hertford, Perquimans County, N.C., Wednesday, November 25, 1992
Volume 61, No.48
35 Cents
'
Hertford Grammar
students set class
curriculum: Page 3
Little Rascals trial moves to Hertford
Parents say
case is
taking its toll
on families
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor
Parents of children called to
testify in the Little Rascals Day
Care sexual abuse cases, which
have drawn national media at
tention. say it is taking a toll on
their families, especially the
children. They spill stories of
nightmares and behavior prob
lems. and say they are trying to
rebuild their broken lives.
So why did the parents
choose to prosecute rather than
remain silent? How do they pre
pare their children and them
selves for court appearances
they declare heart-wrenching?
And how will they get on with
their lives after the trials of the
adults accused in the case?
Parents share common an
swers to most of these ques
tions. Silence may have been the
easiest option for now, but these
parents have staked their fu
tures on dealing with the alleged
abuse at the day care center
head on. They believe their chil
dren will cope better in the long
run.
“You can't let it drop,” one
mother said. "You can’t let peo
ple get away with it (sexual
abuse)."
The parent said it is impor
tant for the children to know
that the parents believe their
stories, stand behind the chil
dren and are willing to help get
the people who allegedly abused
them behind bars, where they
can no longer hurt these victims
or be free to hurt others.
“Nobody in their right mind
would do this unless they truly
think that they are right.” said a
parent.
The decision to step forward
and prosecute was not an easy
one. Some parents could not
face the hours in court. Others
said they could not remain quiet
and allow other children to be
hurt.
Parents whose children are
named in the indictments said
life has not been easy, even af
ter the decision to move forward
was made. Telephone calls,
snubs on the street, letters to
the editor in newspapers tagging
the case “a witch hunt” andrne
dia response has combined to
make life tough for the families
Involved in the case.
“It's been a horrible experi
ence,” a mother said. “It’s put a
•; strain on our family."
But they would do it again,
one mother said, because it was
the right thing to do.
“I centered on what I had to
do morally,” one mother said of
the ordeal.
As trial dates approach, the
parents said, tension begins to
build. Preparing children for tes
tifying is the most difficult part.
Parents cannot tell children
what to say on the stand or re
mind them of specific details
they shoiild repeat as they are
questioned.
What parents can do is tell
the children to listen to the
questions and tell the truth,
even if the answer is “I don't
•. know” or “I don't remember.”
one mother said.
The children are reassured
that their parents and the pros
ecutors believe them.
Parents must also prepare
Please see Parents. Page 3
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Testimony begins in Dawn Wilson case
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor ______
A mother's strained voice weaves ac
counts of sexual abuse she believes oc
cured at the hands of child care providers
at the now-closed Uttle Rascals Day Care
Center in Edenton.
Her testimony for the prosecution in its
case against Kathryn Dawn Wilson is
slowed by occasional tears. She flips
through the diary she started when her
child’s behavior changed in 1989, shortly
after enrolling in the day care center.
Hie mother answers hundreds of ques
tions posed by both prosecutors and the
defense, sometimes responding to the same
question three or four times before moving
on to new ground.
Friends and family scattered through
out the courtroom shake their , heads,
clinch their fists and squint in response to
some questions and answers.
Behind a table in the front of the court
room sits Wilson, jotting notes as the wit
ness talks. Once in a while, she lifts her
head, but for the most part, her eyes are
downcast.
In the front row of the audience sit
Shelley Stone and Betsy Kelly, who await
trial on sexual abuse charges also stem
ming from the Little Rascals case, and a
representative from Kelly’s attorney’s office.
They, too, take notes during the testimony.
At points, they glance at each other, some
times shaking their heads, other times
smiling.
This scene will play over and over for
an estimated two months as Wilson's trial
continues in Perquimans County court
room No. 2.
Wilson is charged with 22 counts of
sexual abuse involving 10 children at little
Rascals Day Care Center. She is the sec
ond of six*adults charged in the case to go
to trial.
Day Care Center co-owner Robert F.
Kelly Jr. was convicted earlier this year on
99 counts of sexually abusing a dozen chil
dren at the center. He is appealing the con
viction. which resulted in 12 life sentences.
Five of the children named in Ms. Wil
son's indictment also testified against Kelly
in his eight-month trial in Farmville.
A jury of nine women and three men,
selected from Pasquotank County, are
hearing the case.
Monkey see, monkey do
David Phillips and his daughter, Jamie, en
joy Mother Goose Time at the Perquimans
County Library Saturday morning. The in
novative program is designed to teach lan
guage development skills to infants and
toddlers. Songs, nursery rhymes and
hooks are used to Introduce the tots to the
joys of reading. The next sessions are
scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5 at 10 and
10:30 a.m. Parents interested in learning
more about Mother Goose Time or reserv
ing a spot for themselves and their tod
dlers should call the library at 426-5319.
(Photo by Gary Cosby Jr.)
Animal science programs to be
offered at Perquimans Library
By TRACY E. GERLACH
Staff writer
Grammar school-aged chil
dren in Perquimans Counly will
have the opportunity to meet a
reptile, touch a snake, study
rocks, and learn about endan
gered animals through a new
program called Grass Roots Sci
ence in Small Town North Caro
lina, ■ ;
For maybe the first time
ever, some of the animal science
programs large cities enjoy will
be available to youths in the
more rural areas of the state.
Six different programs will
be offered at the Perquimans
County Library during the
months of December and Jan
uary by the N.C. State Museum
of Sciences in Raleigh. A
$10,000 grant from the Grass
Roots Science Initiative has al
lowed the museum to offer the
programs free of charge.
"We npver had the money to
afford that kind of programming
and resources before," said Per
quimans County Librarian
Shelly Feam. “This will enable
us to provide a program for the
children that is unlike any we've
been able to provide before.”
It also provides an opportu
nity to tie sciences in with the
library, she said.
“We do literacy programs,
but we don’t have the expertise
to provide science programs.”
Fearn said.
The Perquimans County Li
brary is one of eight rural com
munities chosen for the
programs. They will also be of
fered in Columbia, Warrenton,
Louisburg, Pittsboro, Lillington,
Rockingham and Wadesboro.
Jesse Perry, director of pub
lic programs for the museum in
Raleigh, said Hertford was cho
sen based on its size and re
moteness.
“We chose areas that at kind
of isolated —• that didn’t receive
a lot of attention.” Peny said.
It's an “effort to take our pro
grams to places that aren't get
ting a whole lot of services
Grom the big cities,” he said.
Perry’s parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Jesse Parker Perry, are
Perquimans Countv natives,
and have come back to Hert
ford to retire.
The six programs, the first
to be offered Dec. 5, include
Endangered Animals, Growing
up in the Animal World, Meet
the Reptiles and Amphibians, a
hands-on, activity oriented di
nosaur program, Rocks and
Minerals and a program on
snakes. No poisonous snakes
will be used in the program.
Perry said.
: The programs will be held
at 1 p.m. in the Perquimans
County library on Dec. 5. 12,
and 19, and Jan. 9. 16 and 23.
Each program can accom
modate up to 30 children. To
register, call the, Perquimans
County Library at 426-5319.
t'i* - v . - , ‘
Trial hits
Perquimans
pocketbook
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Fditor
Few Perquimans County
residents have a direct
relationship to the Little Rascals
Day Care trail being held in the
Perquimans County courthouse
annex. But local property own
ers will help foot die bill for the
costs in the case, and county
employees are feeling a man
power pinch.
The trial of Kathryn Dawn
Wilson, charged with 22 counts
of sexual abuse involving 10
children at the day care, is ex
pected to last six to eight
weeks, according to prosecu
tors.
Chowan County, where the
case originated, is providing one
deputy for the court sessions,
but Perquimans also must pro
vide a deputy. The resignation
of former deputy Eric Tilley had
already stressed deputy’s work
schedules. Adding a court ses
sion will make it even more
difficult, if not impossible, to
avoid overtime pay for dep
uties, County Manager Paul
Gregory said Friday.
In addition to the sheriffs
department, the clerk of
court’s office is also being hit
for manpower. Gregory said
the state hired a retired former
employee, Harriett Dail, to help
with the burden on the clerk's
office.
Adding to county man
power woes will be the murder
trial of Vivia Darvis Burke
scheduled to begin on Nov. 30
in the main courtroom.
With two lengthy trials
scheduled at the same time.
Clerk of Superior Court Gail
Godwin said she was forced to
cancel the county’s scheduled
Dec. 2 district court and Dec. 7
superior court.
While the state is absorbing
the cost of Ms. Dali's salary, the
county coffers will be hit for
ary overtime incurred by the
deputies. Gregory said.
* Heating, lighting and custo
dial work for the courtroom
during the Rascals trial should
not be large expenses. Gregory
said.
Gregory said he should have
estimates of expenses by the
end of November. He said the
county could be hit for $2,000
over the course of the little
Rascals trial if overtime pay
stays low. But that cost could
approach $3,500 if the trial
stretches out, causing overtime
for the deputy assigned to the
case to rise.
The Little Rascals case has
been tagged the most expensive
and longest trial in the state.
Perquimans County taxpayers
will pay a little extra because
one of the cases was heard
here.
Kellys try to
prepare for
outcome
By SUSAN R. HARRIS
Editor _
Betsy Kelly smiles and pats
her daughter on the back after
she gets off the school bus. The
9-year-old smiles as she and her
mother slip through the front
door.
The two have lived in Hert
ford at the home of Mrs. Kelly’s
aunt for almost a year, since
Mrs. Kelly was released on bond.
There, mother and daughter
have worked hard to rebuild a
relationship strained by the
events that have rocked their
lives over the past three-and-a
half years.
Mrs. Kelly is one of seven de
fendants in the Little Rascals Day
Care sexual abuse case. Her hus
band, Robert, who owned the day
care with Mrs. Kelly, was tried
earlier this year. He was found
guilty on 99 counts of child sex
ual abuse and received 12 life
sentences. He has filed an appeal.
Like the families of the vic
tims, the Kelly family, too, takes
each day as it comes and tries to
prepare for the trials.
The effects of the case on her
family has been the heaviest cross
Mrs. Kelly has had to bear.
Her daughter lived with rela
tives for two years while both she
and her husband were jailed in
lieu of bond. Mrs. Kelly’s bond
was reduced and she was re
leased when her family was able
to post bond last year. The time
spent away from her daughter is
something she said she can never
replace.
“That is probably in itself the
hardest part of all of this,” Mrs.
Kelly said.
The mother and daughter are
together now, but Mrs. Kelly said
she cannot give her daughter the
security of knowing they will be
together after her own trial.
“Our lives are so much still in
limbo,” she said. “We don’t take
anything for granted any more."
Her daughter, she said, is am
azingly well-adjusted considering
what has happened in her young
life.
“She’s done very well.” Mrs.
Kelly said. “She's a real trooper.”
But the toll has been taken.
The child has a new home In a
new town with a new school and
new friends. She is aware of what
her parents are accused of and
must face the future, possibly
with neither parent. Mrs. Kelly
said she worked hard this sum
mer to help her daughter prepare
for the challenges that lay ahead.
’Tve tried hard to keep her life
as much on an even keel as pos
sible under these circumstances,”
Mrs. Kelly said.
When accusations about
abuse at the day care first sur
faced, Mrs. Kelly said she felt “a
total, total sense of disbelief.’ '
She said she couldn’t understand
where the accusations were com
ing from or why.
“You feel as though you’re in
a dark closet and things are at
tacking you and you can't see
them - you don’t know where
they’re coming from," she said.
Mrs. Kelly said preparing to
defend yourself against so many
accusations is the most stressful
thing she has ever lived through.
Nothing prepares you for your
first experience on the witness
stand, she said.
“It's almost as if someone
asks you how do you prepare to
have a baby,” Kelly said. “I don't
know that there’s any preparation
for what you have to put yourself
through.”
Kelly said attending her hus
band’s trial and Dawn Wilson’s
trial now in progress have helped
her to be prepared for her own
trial. Before these two cases, she
had no idea what to expect
As she listened to the testi
mony of a parent last Thursday,
Mrs. Kelly looked over at her at
torney's assistant and giggled. To
some, the gesture may have ap
peared to be a sign that she takes
the situation lightly. Mrs. Kelly
said that is not the case.
“Td be able to smile and to be
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