LITTLE ROCK — Gather 'round, children. In the event your parents haven't seen fit to do it, I'm going to tell you something you need to know.
Any big person who takes you aside and asks you to expose your "private parts" or attempts to look at them or touch them or ask you questions about them is nobody you need to be around. I don't care if it's another child, a teenager, a teacher, a preacher or the chief of police, if you find yourself in this situation, get away, go quickly, because that person does not have your best interests at heart. This type of behavior is wrong and will do you harm if you don't get away quickly.
One more thing: If anything like this happens, tell someone who has not behaved in this manner-a parent, a friend, the parent of a friend. If necessary, tell a lot of someones until one of them listens to what you're saying, because it is vitally important that you do not keep what happened a secret. And remember: If you do find yourself in this situation, it's not your fault. Just get away and tell someone.
I don't know what infuriated me more, reading about the parents who didn't protect their son from the choir director's sexual abuse because they thought "a great man of God" shouldn't be questioned or the entreaty from the man's former pastor for the court to show leniency toward David Kent Pierce. People who prey on children and adolescents don't deserve leniency.
Pierce, 57, former music "minister" at First Baptist Church in Benton, pleaded guilty last week to four counts of sexual indecency with a child. He got off easy. Not only were 50 original counts dismissed in a plea bargain-each countof the Class D felony is punishable by a maximum of six years imprisonment-but he got only a 20-year prison sentence on the four counts, and even that was cut in half. He'll be eligible for parole in 18 months.
Everything about this case is an unmitigated outrage. For 29 years, Pierce held a position of trust in that church, leading the youth choir that brought untold numbers of impressionable youngsters into his despicable sphere of influence. According to news reports, his systematic abuse of teen-age boys "stayed quiet" in the 2,200-member church for who knows how many of those 29 years-the prosecutor said for at least the last 15-because Pierce was very careful in choosing his victims, singling out those he figured he could psychologically manipulate into doing what he wanted done for his own sexual gratification, youngsters he thought would never tell anyone.
Several apparently did to no avail, but fortunately another found someone who would listen and in April Pierce was arrested. The young man said the abuse began when, at age 15, he was taken by Pierce to a remote cabin on a lake and made to measure his genitals while Pierce watched and took notes. But that was the least of it, as investigators quickly found out when others came forward. In addition to "charting" their genitaliaon his spreadsheets, Pierce reportedly liked to show pornography to adolescent boys (sometimes on the computer at the church), get them to talk about sex and engage them in group masturbation.
One of Pierce's victims who is now grown and married told our reporter (on condition of anonymity) that he learned as an adult that his parents had talked about all the attention Pierce was beginning to pay to their son, but "came to the conclusion, 'Who are we to question that a great man of God wants to take interest in our child?' "
Who are they? Parents, and as such they were supposed to take care of him, protect and nurture him, question anything that didn't seem quite right, and give him the tools needed to one day take care of himself.
My mama used to say that any damned fool could have a baby, but it took at least a modicum of common sense to rear one. Among other things, she used her common sense to warn me about people who might try to mess with me, even demonstrating how to lay a man or a boy out with a swift kick or a quick thrust of the knee to his private parts if I couldn't immediately run away.
A short time later, her advice stood me in good stead when two older boys tried to assault me. I got away, shaken but unharmed, and alerted my parents, who alerted the police. The boys were quickly taken into custody.
Parents, pay attention to your children. Not all assaults are as aggressive or end as happily.
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Associate editor Meredith Oakley is editor of the Voices page.
Editorial, Pages 81 on 08/30/2009