posted on August 4, 2004 07:10:25 PM new
I heard on the news tonight that he's going to the judge to get the restraining order lifted. He's 21 so I guess he should be able to do what he wants. However, I consider what she did pretty darn close to child molestation. He was 12 for God's sake. Willing participant or not, he was still a child and she was a grown woman old enough to be his mother. She left the kid with two children of his own at an age when having children should have been the furthest thing from his mind. IMO, something must have been lacking in his own childhood. I've seen videos of his mother and she doesn't look to be a very loving type. I feel sorriest for the children of these two. They won't have an easy time of it.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on August 4, 2004 07:14:14 PM new
Kraft, I will send you the money if you really want to know what Twelve would teach. But would you really want information from the 1900's?
Kraft, ask a first grader. You could get more correct and current information from them than you would from Twelve.
Let's have a BBQ, Texas style, ROAST BUSH
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YOU CAN'T HAVE BULLSH** WITH OUT BUSH.
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We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union....
.....one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for ALL.
posted on August 4, 2004 07:26:58 PM new
No Kraft.. I wasn't thinking along those lines.. about sending a message to other female rapists... I find the only difference is in the numbers.. many more men rapists than females that is true... but that should not make a difference when it comes to punishment....rape is rape or molestation is molestation... he was 12 years old... she was sick in the head and an adult in a position of authority..
Not to mention what she did to the minds of her own children.. by this selfish, abhorrent act.. She should have been put away for 20 years... I guess when it comes to kids and innocent animals.. I find it impossible to have any mercy on their abusers... mm
posted on August 4, 2004 07:32:17 PM new
And she has turned this kids life upside down. While she has been in jail, he has been unable to finish high school and he's had other problems probably related or exacerbated by this affair. On top of everything he and his mother are now abandoned with two children.
posted on August 4, 2004 07:38:30 PM new
I'm not disagreeing about her motives or the fact that he was a child. She should be punished for breaking the law. I just mean legally - I'm just not sure what more jail time will do for society or her & her new family, plus I'm not sure if the courts can legally keep them apart.
What a drag Logan! I was hoping he would share some of his advanced ways to treat women so I could find out what I'm missing.
posted on August 4, 2004 08:03:26 PM new
Kraft, I would have liked her original sentence to have been 20 years. I don't know if the courts should keep them apart now that they are both adults. She has served her sentence.
But as I said.. she didn't serve an appropriate sentence.. in my opinion...I don't care if the abuser is male or female.. harm a child ... throw away the key.. and I feel almost as strongly about people who harm innocent animals... mm
Oh by the way.. I don't know who Harold and Maude are either? MM
posted on August 4, 2004 08:06:52 PM new
She may have 'turned his life upside down' Helen, but the mother sued the school dist, and at the time they were living at Park Place (projects right above Evergreen HS) and they spent that money fast. Now a book (s ?)...... mom and Vili need more money...........
posted on August 4, 2004 08:14:26 PM newNo I don't mind because you don't matter
Who does matter to you here? Go ahead. List 'em. I'm betting you won't.
Obviously, your mother's lessons of common courtesy were lost on you. Or don't they teach manners up on Twelvepole Creek?
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Beware the man of one book.
- Thomas Aquinas
posted on August 5, 2004 05:43:16 AM new
It would take quite a bit more than your juvenile taunts to hurt my feelings 12. But if it makes you feel good to think you have, it's ok to add that delusion to your extensive collection.
___________________________________
Beware the man of one book.
- Thomas Aquinas
posted on August 5, 2004 05:48:20 AM new
It's terrible for the mother or the son to make any money over this mess. Think of the effect it will have on the children. Later on in life they'll have the book and probably a made for TV movie to look forward to. The children need to come first and I don't think they are. IMO, none of the relatives should have custody of them without the stipulation that the situation won't be used for monetary gain. I suppose it's too late for that. I don't think either parent is giving any thought to the children at all. How selfish an act.
Cheryl
. . .if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist- I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you and you are no longer my friend.. . - War and Peace, Tolstoy
posted on August 5, 2004 06:18:22 AM new
Nearthesea, I said, "And she has turned this kids life upside down. While she has been in jail, he has been unable to finish high school and he's had other problems probably related or exacerbated by this affair. On top of everything he and his mother are now abandoned with two children."
Nearthesea You said, "She may have 'turned his life upside down' Helen, but the mother sued the school dist, and at the time they were living at Park Place (projects right above Evergreen HS) and they spent that money fast. Now a book (s ?)...... mom and Vili need more money..........."
I read that they lost the suit against the school district. So, how could they spend the money fast when they were awarded none? I hope, for the sake of the children that the book is successful and that the profits from that book will benefit the children, the kid and the grandmother. Or would you rather see them suffer a little bit more?
posted on August 5, 2004 11:16:42 AM new
Your right Helen. We did follow some of this thing back then, and I was hoping the son and mother didn't win. We *kinda* knew this kid through my youngest friend, who went out with him before he quit Evergreen HS... I even asked her WHY she went out, and she giggled and said, because all the girls want to, he's been on tv and stuff. that coming from a 14 year old.
An article from the PI:
The million-dollar civil suit by Vili Fualaau and his family is a big ole' money grab.
With stakes so high, Vili is saying what he needs in order to win.
Look at what happened this week.
Vili took the stand in King County Superior Court and said that he and his sixth-grade teacher, Mary K. Letourneau, had sex on school grounds at Shorewood Elementary School.
Never mind that in previous depositions, Vili flat out denied having had sexual contact with Letourneau on school property.
But such is the twisting fate of truth in this real-life version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"
Let's face it, what Vili has gone through is awful.
Despicable.
Something no kid should have to deal with at 12.
Letourneau was a public school teacher entrusted to nurture and instruct young people.
She crossed the line of moral and professional propriety by initiating a carnal relationship with Vili. At the time Vili was too young to fully understand the complex notions of love, nascent sexuality and the repercussions of becoming involved with his teacher.
He said as much himself. He wanted sex, he said, but "I wasn't expecting kids."
Appropriately, Letourneau -- who had two children with Vili -- is doing time for her crime, serving seven years in prison after being convicted of child rape in 1997.
Case closed on the criminal case.
Open sesame for the civil proceedings.
In the civil suit, Vili & Co. blame the Highline School District and the Des Moines Police Department, saying both agencies should have done more to shield Vili from Letourneau's predatory embrace. Vili this week told jurors in a Kent courtroom that he had kissed Letourneau in her classroom while other kids were at recess.
Vili, now 18, also claimed another teacher once heard him cry out, "I love you!" to Letourneau. He then testified that he and Letourneau were intimate in her van in a school parking lot, in a girls' restroom and in a gym.
Attorneys for the school district dispute those claims as conveniently new -- fresh ammunition loaded to win the civil case.
The timing seems funky.
What's more, Vili's attorneys haven't unveiled a smoking gun that shows that school officials knew something was going on, but failed to act.
It would be nice to hear from witnesses who saw Vili and Letourneau in flagrante delicto -- or hints thereof.
Otherwise, casting such allegations only serves to soil the reputation of school officials who had in place reasonable measures to protect students. The only reason they did not act on behalf of Vili wasn't because of neglect or carelessness but because they never had any suspicions.
It didn't help that Letourneau tried to keep the relationship a secret.
The city of Des Moines also is taking a hit.
In 1996, the city's police officers caught Vili with Letourneau in the back of her parked van at a city marina. But the officers, Vili's lawyers claim, didn't do enough to intercede.
Well, the officers did investigate the situation. They asked if anything was going on.
"I said no," Vili recalled telling the officers at the scene.
The officers then asked if Vili and Letourneau were touching each other. "I said no," Vili replied.
Undeterred, police took an additional step by calling Vili's mother, Soona Vili, who was working the graveyard shift at a bakery. She told officers it was OK for her son to go home with Letourneau.
So let's recap.
Vili didn't come clean with police. Vili's mom said everything was fine. Which brings us to this conclusion -- the police didn't do enough.
Puuuh-leeeze!
Sadness soaks this entire case:
A once-respected teacher is in prison, her family cloaked in shame; Vili had his childhood violated and remains, he says, confused and depressed; two young children -- fathered by Vili -- are growing up in a lousy situation.
And there's the issue of Vili's mom. She should have been in the best position to know what was happening between her son and teacher, right?
Then again, Vili himself said he was drawn to Letourneau because "she was the only person that took an interest in my art and recognized the talent that I had."
Vili's words make you wonder just how much of a mom his mother actually was, and subsequent actions buttress that point.
After the story of the affair broke, Vili and his mom got a book deal and made TV appearances. They were paid handsomely for those efforts -- some $180,000.
They've blown much of that loot.
Now they want the big bucks -- a payday that would come at the expense of the school district and the police department.
That would be a double slap in the face.
Should any money be rewarded, it ought to go to the most deserving parties in this story:
Two innocent girls -- now 3 and 4 -- who have no clue of the mess they were born into.
