The Olivewood Molestation Case

I have been following the case of Keith Milne, accused of misdemeanor child molestation, since first reading about it in the paper last year.

As a former secretary at Olivewood School who knows Milne, both as a third-grade teacher and a remedial reading teacher, I am well aware of his outstanding achievements and the support he has from parents.

I was appalled that this case ever came to trial. There was no evidence presented by the prosecution to imply any such crime had been committed by Milne.

The closing arguments mentioned a “CAP” program to help children understand “bad touches” and “good touches” that was presented at Olivewood School, apparently very close to the time of the accusations.

In discussing this with some of my friends who are still teachers at Olivewood School, they indicated the program was poorly presented and very misleading.

I’m amazed that this program wasn’t first presented to the faculty for viewing and perhaps critiqued before the classroom presentations were made. These children must be confused now that Milne has been acquitted, and maybe in the future, should they truly be the victims of child molestation, they may be unable to follow their conscience to do the right thing to protect themselves.

I feel a program is needed to educate the children as to what real child molestation is and what their role should be in protecting themselves. The CAP program presented at Olivewood School only confused the children, as well as their teachers.

MARY S. JENKINS