Virginia McMartin
* The death of Virginia McMartin (Dec. 19) brought back memories of our life in Manhattan Beach.
My family lived in the community for 25 years and both our sons attended the McMartin Pre-school. It was a happy time. Mrs. McMartin and her daughter Peggy as well as the other teachers were a caring, dedicated and respected group of teachers.
The paranoia that later developed and spread throughout the town was a shameful episode and can only be described as a local McCarthyism, exacerbated by a self-serving district attorney.
More of us should have spoken up in defense of these women, myself included. The trial badly split the community but time and the verdict have proved the charges unfounded.
MORGAN THIEME
Cambria
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