![\"141108SouthernA\"](\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/141108SouthernA.jpg\")
Nov. 8, 2014<\/p>\nNov. 8, 2014<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the summer of 1989, I accepted my first job at a daily paper when The Daily Advance hired me to cover a two-county beat \u2013 Chowan and Perquimans. When I arrived, Bob Kelly had just been arrested and charged in about a dozen cases. My editor told me about it, almost in passing, and said, \u2018You might want to keep an eye on it.\u2019 I did, and for the next two years it consumed my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was 24 years old with a wife of two years and no children. I had no experience reporting on police and courts and was very naive as to how the system worked. As the case expanded I became convinced of the defendants\u2019 guilt. Their lawyers wouldn\u2019t let them talk and they were hard to reach in jail. Prosecutors were also tight-lipped, but some of the parents couldn\u2019t stay that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor two years all I had to go on were the stories of parents and what I believed to be a mountain of evidence in the hands of prosecutors. Shortly before Bob\u2019s trial began, three important things happened. I finally got to interview two of the defendants (Robin Byrum and Scott Privott). Their stories were very convincing and I was no longer certain of their guilt. I was also promoted to an editing position and was no longer actively reporting on the case. I was in charge of the reporters who would. Also at this time the \u2018Frontline\u2019 show came out, pretty much blowing the lid off the prosecution\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Bob Kelly\u2019s trial unfolded, I found that the prosecution had little to no evidence. My faith in the case was weakened and I was surprised when Bob was convicted. Then another defendant (Dawn Wilson) fell and Bob\u2019s wife Betsy Kelly pleaded no contest. That upset me because I was convinced she was innocent and I wanted her to fight and prove it.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point in my life, I had become a parent and soon my first marriage would end. I returned home to Colorado but continued to follow the case from afar. I was happy when the convictions were overthrown and the other charges dropped. As a parent I could now see and understand that what was normal childhood behavior was being grossly misinterpreted as signs of child sex abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn hindsight, I feel bad for everyone involved in the case. Both sides went through hell. Most of all, though, I feel for the children. Their lives were altered and family and community dynamics changed by forces beyond their control and beyond reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 Joe Southern, recalling his experience covering the Little Rascals case for the Elizabeth City Daily Advance<\/em><\/p>\n This 1991 piece, reprinted in a\u00a0Del Rio, Texas, paper<\/a>, seems to be reporter Southern\u2019s lone Little Rascals story to survive online. He is now managing editor of The Sealy News in Sealy, Texas.<\/p>\n