GREEN MOUNTAINS
Those two words, just by themselves, conjure up a peaceful image. The literal translation of the French word "Vermont". Aptly named, as Vermont is a stunningly beautiful state. On this day, though, the words remind me only of one more thing that 12 year-old Brooke Bennet will never again see, along with sunsets, the ocean, a husband, children...in short, life. As I am writing this, actually a few days earlier than usual due to weekend travel plans, the case is unfolding by the hour. So if my "Sunday" column is missing elements, it may be that they have arisen between now and then. It may also be that the new elements are simply to horrific to put to page, as have been many of the details already gathered in this heartbreaking case.
I have written about Vermont before. Their stubbornness in enacting any kind of new, stricter laws to protect children has been baffling. In just the last three years, all but five states in the country have done something, at least, to have child protection laws beefed up to fit the new demands that an increasingly pervasive sub-culture of sub-humans is demanding. Until Brooke Bennet's disappearance last week, Massachusetts had been dominating the news with their inability to effect any change in these laws. Even as case after case after case of repeat-offenders comes waltzing down the pike, the entrenched powers-that-be have shown little shame in protecting their own positions, rather than protecting children. The message could not be more clear. "We don't care". Message received/ Citizen-reply being assembled.
Brooke Bennet disappeared last week after video footage showed her entering a convenience store in Randolph, Vermont with her uncle, then the two of them leaving and going in different directions. What has happened since then, in just days, is a myriad of mind-boggling discoveries that are just now shaping into a dark, depressing picture. Brooke's MySpace account was being manipulated by her uncle and former step-father, both allegedly members of "Breckenridge", a child-sex ring. At this writing, the breadth of that "ring' is unknown. What is known, is that Jacques was sexually abusing, that is, raping, a young girl at the same time that he was being "monitored" by the State of Vermont. Brooke's clothes were left in another location, with DNA from the boyfriend of another young girl who was already being abused. The girl was threatened with death if she told anyone, essentially brainwashed. The graphic e-mails that were released as part of the affidavit, reveal the adult males inquiring about the "training" that the young girls were undergoing. This is a reference to "sex-training", or, put another way, "how are the rapes going"?
As a parent, I watch in abject horror as these stories unfold. Knowing how vulnerable children are to everything, knowing that it is truly only fate that has separated me from the now-legions of parents who are left shelled in the wake of children that never came home. Only months ago, there was news that MySpace was upgrading their monitoring and registration procedures. One can see now how ineffective that is. Even Brooke's father had shut down her MySpace account, not comfortable with what he was seeing, and clearly he wasn't seeing all of it, but she still managed to open another account discreetly where she continued, as children will do, with the correspondence that would ultimately lead to her vicious end.
On tonight's news, sobbing relatives were shown, broken people engulfed in a grief that I cannot imagine. From my own perspective, I am saddened, of course, but more enraged that yet another in a litany of similar cases has fallen upon us. Vermont should hang it's collective head in shame. Not just the state as an ethereal whole, but every single resident who has stood by while a nation ridiculed your state, and did nothing. I feel guilty myself, I don't know why, but as though there is something I should have done. I only wish I could have. I am angry that, yet again, I am left with the hollow notion that there may be a "silver-lining" in that maybe, just maybe, Brooke's death will be a turning point for a once-conservative state that took a hard left turn somewhere along the line, and whose residents now can gather en-masse only causes such as seceding from the United States. Come to think of it, Vermont, if you;re still working at that, let me know. There's a cause I could get behind...most of us wish you weren't part of this country anyway.
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