{"id":3074,"date":"2018-05-17T15:42:23","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T15:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/?p=3074"},"modified":"2018-05-17T19:40:09","modified_gmt":"2018-05-17T19:40:09","slug":"where-do-you-stand-edenton-on-the-little-rascals-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/?p=3074","title":{"rendered":"Where do you stand, Edenton, on the Little Rascals case?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\">May 17, 2018<\/p>\n<p><em>In recent years the Little Rascals Day Care case, probably the most significant event in Edenton in the 20th century, seems to have been a taboo subject in the local Chowan Herald and in the Daily Advance of Elizabeth City. I\u2019m grateful that the Herald has published my letter to the editor in this week\u2019s edition:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3076\" src=\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/180517Herald80.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"80\" height=\"160\" \/>\u201cIn the 1990s the town of Edenton was torn apart by the Little Rascals Day Care case, in which seven local people were accused of \u2018satanic ritual abuse\u2019 of dozens of children. The case attracted reporters from the New York Times and Washington Post and received eight hours of documentary coverage on PBS\u2019s \u201cFrontline\u201d series. Co-owner Bob Kelly\u2019s trial was the longest and costliest in North Carolina history. After Kelly served six years in prison and cook Dawn Wilson three, their convictions were overturned.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Duke University Law School Library recently opened to researchers an exhibit and archive on the Little Rascals case, including the transcript of Bob Kelly\u2019s trial and numerous other documents. \u2018The case is one example of the preoccupation with perceived abuse taking place at daycares and preschools in the 1980s and 1990s,\u2019 Duke wrote in its announcement. \u2018Often, these cases also involved allegations of Satanism or devil worship. Like the Little Rascals case, most of these daycare abuse accusations turned out to be false.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday no reputable psychologist, social scientist or legal expert will argue otherwise. From Wikipedia to the National Registry of Exonerations, the defendants in cases such as Little Rascals are recognized as innocent victims of a bizarre \u2018moral panic\u2019 that bore striking similarities to the Salem witch hunts 300 years earlier.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDuring the years-long prosecution of the Edenton Seven, townspeople were divided family vs. family, friends vs. friends. Today the former Little Rascals Day Care Center is being converted into housing \u2013 is that what would happen if townspeople believed it was the site of mass molestation of their children? So where now does Edenton stand?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1707\" src=\"http:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/LRDCC20.jpg\" alt=\"LRDCC20\" width=\"132\" height=\"20\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>May 17, 2018 In recent years the Little Rascals Day Care case, probably the most significant event in Edenton in the 20th century, seems to have been a taboo subject in the local Chowan Herald and in the Daily Advance of Elizabeth City. I\u2019m grateful that the Herald has published my letter to the editor [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3074"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3077,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3074\/revisions\/3077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.littlerascalsdaycarecase.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}