Courtesy Of State Representative (Orleans County) Scott Wheeler
Brooke Bennett was a beautiful, 12 year old girl from Randolph with her life ahead of her. But as most Vermonters and many people around the United States now know – she is now dead, killed in the last couple weeks apparently by her uncle, a repeat sex offender.
Although all murders are horrible, Brooke’s death has gripped the state, and the nation. Her death has forced Vermont officials, and the nation, to ask whether Vermont is doing enough to protect its children. Legislators in Vermont are receiving phone calls and emails from some very impassioned people weighing in on Brooke’s death and what more, if anything, Vermont can do to protect its children. Most correspondences note that Vermont is one of a few states that has not adopted Jessica’s Law. The law, which is named after Jessica Lunsford, a Florida girl, who on February 25, 2005, was raped and and murdered by a repeat sex offender, puts strict sentencing guidelines on sex offenders, including a 25 year minimum jail sentence and life long monitoring. Some members of the Vermont legislature insist that Vermont’s laws governing sex offenders are tough enough.
The following are three of the emails that I, as a legislator, have received from people from around the country following the death of Brooke Bennett. The first letter is from Chicago.
“The blood of Brooke Bennett and the loss of her innocence is on your head. It’s on the heads and the hands of you’re entire state government. Shame on you with the deepest amount of shame that morality can muster for being soft on repeat child molesters. Your state (I do not call it “great state” anymore) is forever stained by the fact that you coddle child rapists, oppose Jessica’s Law and make that place a safe haven for the worst scum our species has to offer. VERMONT IS THE CHILD RAPIST CAPITAL OF THE WORLD NEXT TO BANGKOK THAILAND AS FAR AS I’M CONCERNED.
You people in the legislature and the courts are sick and twisted because by making Vermont a veritable Disneyland for pedophiles, you make it a hunting ground for the innocent kids that have no crime except for the bad luck of being born in your cesspool of a state. I hope you see Brooke Bennett’s face in your dreams, and I hope her blood cries out to you from the ground where she spent her last dying gasps for help;. Her blood and the possible DOZENS of other kids victimized by that Vermont sex ring. Vermont is the absolute toilet of this country as far as I’m concerned, and as a PR agent with much influence on both coasts, I will make sure that everyone I ever influence will come to believe the same, and do business with your state accordingly.”
The next letter arrived from New York.
“Thank God for the Federal Government and President George Bush putting forth the law that would hopefully put to death or life imprisonment for child rapists/murders/kidnappers. Vermont surely will not do anything and the Feds know it. Time after time you let these perverts out and they re offend even while under your stupid supervision and rehabilitation which does not work for pedophiles. All of us sane people in other states know this, but Vermont, oh know, Vermont knows more than all the other 90 % of the states that passed Jessica’s law. Vermont knows nothing and the poor children suffer due to this. I blame those Vermont government officials who do not protect its most vulnerable of citizens. The children of Vermont. I blame all of Vermont officials for Brooks death and the other girl’s rape and torture since she was 9. It is all of you who opposed Jessica’s law and set this mad man out after only 4 years of imprisonment. The lowest imprisonment in the country for rapists. YOU ARE TO BLAME! DONT FOOL YOURSELF. Thank you President Bush and the Federal Government. Vermont is a weak disgusting state that others need to clean it up, because Vermont’s government will not do the dirty work and think pedophiles can be fixed. Only morons think this and Vermont is full of them. I am boycotting Vermont and have asked others to also. Anyone with any intelligence knows that pedophiles re offend and when you let them back out they will hurt another child. Study after study has proven that and that is why most of the states of this great country passed Jessica’s law. But I guess Vermont in it’s pride, thinks they know so much better. Unfortunately Brooke is dead because of your stupidity and pride. Your state let this man out under supervision and so called rehabilitation and all during it he was raping a little girl and it is on you and him. And all of you will answer to God for your evil wicked decisions to not protect Vermont children.”
The person who wrote the following letter is from Vermont:
As a new resident of Holland and a lifelong resident of Vermont, I am not sure how you feel about Jessica’s Law, but I am a big supporter of it. If ever there was a time to do something about sex predators/offenders in Vermont it is NOW!! I love the state of VT but am tired of it being a mockery when it comes to the way we treat the monsters who abuse our children and get a slap on the wrist and put back into society. PLEASE do something for our children and help get this law passed.
If you wish to contact your local legislators to share your thoughts about this tragedy, and what, if anything, Vermont can do to protect its children from sex offenders, you can find most of their numbers listed in the phone book. You can also find most of their mailing, and email addresses, at the legislative homepage at: www.leg.state.vt.us
The author of this article, Scott Wheeler of Derby, represents Orleans 1 – Brownington, Charleston, Derby, Holland, and Morgan. He can be reached at (802) 334-5920 or by email at swheeler@leg.state.vt.us
I would have to disagree with the writer from Chicago who refers to Bangkok, Thailand as a child rapist capital. Bangkok has very strict laws concerning sex with minors. The penalty is a very long term stay in a Thai prison (check out the book “4,000 Days: My Life and Survival in a Bangkok Prison“), which makes American prisons look like holiday retreats.
Bangkok (and many other countries including Brazil) always have a need for native speaking English teachers. Unfortunately, the jobs don’t pay that well. This makes it easy for foreign perverts to infiltrate an elementary school where children are an easy target. People like John Mark Carr and other monsters.
Unfortunately, he got a plane escort back to the USA when I’d rather have heard about him wasting away in a Thai prison.
The stereotypical view of Thailand and Bangkok in particular is drugs and sex. If you’ve ever lived there, you would find that it’s not a place where you would want to get caught indulging on the illegal side of either one. Anyone with half a brain and a sense of decency wouldn’t have to worry about that anyway. If you are a drug addict and a pervert, the USA and Vermont in particular is a MUCH easier place to get by if you get caught.
My wife is a Thai woman with a Bachelors degree from the most prestigious university in Thailand. Her friends, relatives and people I have met are the most gracious people I’ve come to know. Their moral values meet or exceed what I find in Vermont and the USA in general.
I can tell you that many Thai people have a stereotypical view of Americans as fat, rich, pushy, drug addicted losers. From their point of view, I’m sure they consider the USA as THE capital of sex perversion and child molestation. It must be so, because it’s always Americans and other Westerners who get caught in their country engaging in such acts. No wonder they’re suspicious of every foreign tourist that visits their land. I don’t recall hearing about many Thai perverts getting caught for such activities in the USA.
Golly,gee!! I just can’t understand those folks from Chicago and New York making such nasty comments about “wonderful Vermont”. I guess they just don’t understand that trans-genders and gays and lesbians are more important here! Murderers and child molesters just can’t be mistreated, to hell with what they have done to their victims. They are dead and gone, who cares?? As the judge said in our case, we have to look to the future of this young man. He got 10 years to life. He got out in 20,it would have been less if we hadn’t gone to parole hearings. Something has to be done to light a fire under some of our legislators. I wonder how fast they would pass Jessica’s Law if it were one of there kids?????
Yeah that was a pretty heinous crime to be sure. This state has always been pretty whacked out as far as I’m concerned.
I remember attending high school in Vermont and it was nothing unusual for many of the teachers to be sleeping around with 14 to 16 year old girls. Not just the men but the women teachers too. A friend of mine used to brag about hitting the sack with his female science teacher. Now, some of those teachers are even married to those under aged girls they used to tag.
Pretty common thing back a couple decades ago. Everybody knew about it but it was no big deal. I wonder if it’s still going on in the schools today.