Book Review: "The Abuse of Innocence" by Paul and Shirley Eberle.

The McMartin Preschool scandal has largely faded from the public consciousness but during the mid-1980s it was a huge controversy. 

There were charges of Satan worship, animal sacrifice, and the  horrific sexual abuse of numerous children that attended McMartin preschool. 

California spent sixteen million dollars investigating and trying the case, but in the end not a single person was convicted and there is great doubt that anything happened at all.

"The Abuse of Innocence" covers the two trials of Ray Buckey who was the principal focus of the case. The authors carefully point out the numerous problems with the testimony of the supposed victims. They also chronicle the abuses of the prosecution and a news media that was more interested in sensationalism then telling the truth.

Some of the material in "The Abuse of Innocence" is very disturbing, but overall the authors give the reader a good idea of what mass hysteria feels like.

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"Edwin and the ghost" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Edwin the crow was munching on a discarded burrito in the Walmart parking lot that was his home when a strange creature approached. The being looked human but it was almost transparent.

"What the heck are you|?" Edwin asked. "I am Harry the ghost" the creature replied.  Edwin laughed. "I've never heard of a Walmart ghost" he said. "Technically, I'm not a Walmart ghost. I was haunting the house that was here before the store was built, but when that was torn down I had nowhere to go, so I stayed" the creature explained.

"What kind of ghostly things do you do?" Edwin asked Harry. "I like to play tricks on people. The other day, I took this old lady's purse. She was looking for it for hours." the ghost replied laughing. "That's kinda mean" Edwin commented. The creature frowned "I'm a ghost that's what I do."

"You don't have to do mean things." Edwin argued. "Playing tricks on people is more fun then being nice" Harry  responded. Just then Edwin spotted a car speeding through the parking lot narrowly missing a mother and her children. 

Edwin pointed a wing at the speeding car. "I'll bet it would be fun to try and slow that guy down"  The ghost smiled and transported himself to the passenger side of the speeding car. "Could you please slow down" he told the young driver. The teen boy looked at Harry and took his foot off the gas.

In an instant, the ghost transported himself back to the sidewalk where Edwin continued eating his burrito. "I have to admit that was kind of fun" Harry commented. "Does this mean you are going to stop doing mean things?" Edwin asked. The ghost smiled "I'll have to think about that" 

"The Bench" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

After a long walk through the park, Chris was exhausted and he began looking for a place to sit down. In a small clearing, he found a newly-constructed bench. 

Chris plopped down on the bench and immediately closed his eyes. It felt so good to relax after walking so far. Chris was nearly asleep when he heard someone walk up to him. "You can't sit here" a deep voice said.

Chris opened his eyes to see a policeman standing in front of him. "Why can't I sit here?" he asked the officer. The policeman pointed to a small sign that said: "No sitting on the bench" "That doesn't make any sense" Chris argued. The police officer shrugged "Maybe not, but this bench was donated to the park on the condition that no one was allowed to sit on it."

So are you going to arrest me if I continue to sit here?" Chris asked the officer. The policeman shook his head. "Nope, I can only warn you." Chris smiled and stretched out on the bench. After a few moments, he started to feel strange and tried to get up but found that he couldn't. Something was pulling him down! 

Chris faded away until the seat was empty once more. "I told him not to sit on the bench."  the officer said to himself.

"Fire Watch" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Brian got up from his desk and scanned the view of the forest from his tower once again. The idea was to spot forest fires before they got too big to control, but there was nothing unusual for the moment.  

Brian switched to the other side of the tower. There was some sort of disturbance several miles in the distance. It didn't look like a fire, but there was something going on. He considered calling the main ranger station, but decided against it since there wasn't much to report.

For the next two hours, Brian did some studying and then did a final check of the forest. The disturbance that he noticed earlier was closer. Still, he hesitated to call the ranger station. He didn't want them to think that he was some scared little kid.

An hour later, the disturbance was no more then a mile away and Brian finally decided to call the station. The person answering the radio wasn't  terribly impressed with his report and gave a vague promise to get back to him.

Brian made another check of the forest, but this time he didn't see anything unusual. The sun went down around nine and he decided to go to bed.

The next morning, Brian was making breakfast when he  heard something outside. He turned off the stove and descended the outside stairwell to the ground level.

As Brian walked the perimeter of the tower, a giant creature emerged from the forest. Brian immediately turned to run. "Wait...stop... I won't hurt you" The intruder pleaded in an unmistakably feminine voice.

Brian stopped and looked at his visitor. The creature was nearly seven feet tall and covered with light brown hair, A tunic of sorts covered most of its body and its face was that of a young woman.

"Forgive the question, but what are you?" Brian stammered.  "I am a mixture of two peoples. My mother was human. My father was what you would call "Sasquatch" or "Bigfoot." The creature answered.

Brian laughed. "This is a joke right?" The creature looked hurt. "I am not a joke and I'm as real as you are." "I'm sorry" Brian said. The creature held out her hand. "My name is Julie"  Brian took the huge hand. "I'm Brian" he said.

Julie went on to explain how her mother had been hiking in the Oregon wilderness when she encountered her father fishing in a stream. At first the two became unlikely friends and then later something more.

"Have there been others like you?" Brian asked as gently as he could. "I have heard stories of others, but I have never met anyone like myself." Julie answered.

"What happened to your parents? Brian asked " "My mother passed a couple of years ago. She taught me your language when I was a child. My father passed last month. "It is lonely with no one left to talk to." 

Brian knew  all about loneliness. "I'm not the most exciting guy around,  but you're welcome to visit me."  I would like that Julie said with a big smile.

For the next month, Julie came by almost everyday. They talked for hours and Brian looked forward to her visits. One day, Brian taught Julie how to play Chess and in a short time she was beating him.


One morning near the end of Summer, Brian trained his binoculars to the west and spotted a plume of smoke. He informed the ranger station and not long after a recon plane flew over the area.

The pillar of smoke grew larger and Brian could tell this was a major forest fire. He immediately thought of Julie. Would she have a place to go that was safe?

It took a week for firefighters to get the blaze under control and Brian had just about given up hope that Julie had survived.

 One morning Brian was setting up the Chess board and there she was. After a back-breaking hug, Julie explained that during the fire she had to help the older members of her people go to a safe place and didn't have time to let Brian know she was ok.

Julie took her place at the Chess board and in no time at all, he heard her say the dreaded words: "Check Mate."

"Edwin and Maurice" a short story by Craig Zimmerman

Edwin the crow and his buddy Maurice were perched atop a scraggly tree watching the action in the Walmart parking lot that was their home.

Edwin spotted  a discarded bag of french fries and he nudged Maurice. "Let's go get those fries before the pigeons see them."  Maurice shook his black head "I don't feel like it today." Edwin looked at his old friend. "Are you sick?"  "I'm just tired I guess." Maurice answered.

Edwin took a close look at his old friend. Maurice was missing feathers and his  black coat was dull and dirty. It was a hard life for all the birds that lived in the parking lot. "My mother used to talk about living in the woods like birds are supposed to do. I would like to try it."  Maurice mused.

Edwin cawed in disgust. "Are you crazy? you don't anything about living in the woods."  "I know, but I'd like to try" Maurice answered stubbornly.

The next day, Maurice was still depressed and Edwin began making plans to take him to the woods. From other crows, Edwin learned that there was a fairly large forest within a days flight of the parking lot.

After feasting on a package of discarded cookies, the two friends began their journey.They flew over roads and houses and other parking lots like the one they came from. Finally, Edwin spotted a large area covered with trees. "There it is!" he told Maurice who was flying beside him.

The two friends landed in a tall tree at the edge of the woods and looked around. Maurice cawed loudly, but no one answered. It could be that there were no other crows in these woods.

Edwin spotted a clearing in the distance and the two friends headed for it. A large gathering of unfamiliar birds looked for food in the clearing. Edwin and Maurice watched them pull worms out of the ground and decided to give it a try.

Edwin was the first to find success, but the worm tasted awful. He would settle for a stale piece of bread over a worm any day. Maurice also found a worm and tried to pretend that he liked it.

While they were hunting for a food, a large four-legged creature attacked. Luckily, the pair escaped unharmed. "What the heck was that?" Edwin asked. "It looked like some kind of dog." Maurice replied his feathers shaking.


"Maybe we should just go home" Edwin suggested. Maurice whistled in reply and the two friends headed back to the Walmart parking lot.