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District Attorney Declines to Prosecute!
Naked Children&filmed without the permission of the State or their parents.
Naked children, hired under false pretenses, absent the protection of the
mandated Studio Teachers who are charged by the State of California with
"guarding the health, safety and morals of minors." Naked children in the
company of scores of adults who stood silent, who had forgotten that kids
are more important than even their precious jobs in the entertainment
industry.
Couldnt happen, you say? It did. In California, home of the most
progressive child labor laws in the country. The evidence is on film.
Poor Gil Garcetti. He just cant bring himself to believe his lyin eyes.
The film didnt matter. The plain language of California Penal Codes
(Sections 311.2 & 311.4) prohibiting the coercion, intimidation or
solicitation of minors in displays of nudity didnt seem to register with
this poor excuse for a District Attorney. Clearly the politician in the DA
just couldnt bring himself to reprimand the very business he will depend on
for future political donations. Oh, youll hear that nothing obscene went
on, but that ignores the laws blunt statement that obscenity is not the
issue. Minors, says the Law, cannot be used in such a fashion.
Minors may not, in Law, give their personal permission for any such acts
because they do not have the maturity to make such a decision. If their
parents hold them out as available for such acts they are guilty of
pandering. The State may not give permission. No studio teacher, producer,
studio or other agency may permit a minor to be naked in the company of
adults, nor may they be filmed.
But Hollywood doesnt think so, and we all know, dont we, that Hollywood
has the best interests of children and this country at heart?
Full frontal nudity&of children. This is the New Hollywood. Rules are for
others. This is Art.
Well, is it? Does the Industry claim on Freedom of Expression include the
right to use children to act out its fantasies? Is it Art when dinosaurs
romp all over movie screens and Nikes and soap are sold on television? Is
the fourteen year old star of "Apt Pupil," Brad Renfro, an artist?
Was Brad Renfro an artist when he participated in a filmed scene involving
oral copulation with a 30-ish actress last year in Ohio in the movie,
"Telling Lies In America?"
Look around at your country, my friends. Who is driving this cultural
decline if not Hollywood? Have we slipped so far that children are now to
be the instruments of our demise as a moral beacon for the world?
What does it mean to be a minor these days? Fourteen year olds blow away
Christians in the act of praying without remorse. Adolescent gangs rule the
streets in some of our cities and scoff at the Society that spawned them.
Babies are having babies, killing themselves in unprecedented numbers and we
shrug our shoulders at the purveyors of the filth that has shaped our
children.
District Attorney Gil Garcetti should be ashamed of himself. If the word
"children" should cross his lips in his future political races I promise you
I will be there to shout my protest, and so should you.
Eight and a half months to come to the decision to do nothing. If there
were not six children involved it would be laughable.
The Department of Labors Standards and Enforcement agency did the first
investigation, turning over its findings to the District Attorney for
possible criminal investigation. The SAFE task force (Sexual Abuse Federal
Enforcement) investigated and identified eight adults liable for criminal
prosecution and handed its recommendations to the DA. Gil Garcettis staff
admitted that "intimidation" was used on the children and recommended to
Labor that they pursue labor code violations, even as the DAs office
refuses to prosecute documented violations of the criminal code.
The two Studio Teachers who did not do their jobs still have their
credentials. The Studio and the Production Company, Sony/Tri-Star and
Phoenix Films still have the State-issued "Certificate of Eligibility to
Employ Minors" permit that promises to follow all laws of the great State of
California. Neither the 35 millimeter film nor the still photography
negatives have been accounted for, let alone destroyed. No charges have
been filed and no action has been taken.
Wonderful.
The civil suit is still pending. We can only hope that the suit comes
before Judge Fujisake in Santa Monica and is heard by a jury of twelve
Americans who have not yet lost their moral compass.
As things now stand it is "A Minor Consideration," six children, and their
parents against the power and influence of Hollywood.
Which side of this issue are you on?
PAUL PETERSEN, Friday, December 19, 1997
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