slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (09/18/85)
My 12 year old had an interesting comment to make on the show.
When the mother denied responsibility for the boy's suicide,
she yelped, "What do you mean, 'it's caused by D&D'--you're
the people who had a gun in the house!" (NRA flames will be
sent to my daughter, who is very good at consigning things to
/dev/null. :-)
On a similar note--the Rocky Mountain News carried a story today
in which the mother of the two Lafayette boys who were mentioned
in the 60 Minutes show stated that she does not believe the
deaths were related to D&D. She said that the older boy was
depressed over his upcoming sentencing on an auto theft charge.
He was afraid that he would be forced to return to high school
(he had dropped out.) This perhaps says a lot about his stability.
His suicide note stated that he preferred death to losing his freedom.
She also stated that neither of the boys was heavily involved in D&D--
it was a minor interest. (I can post the full text of the article,
if requested. That was the gist.)
For those who do not live in Colorado, an interesting aside. The
policeman who was showing the crime site under the bridge (Corey is
the name, I forget his title) was the major spokesman to the media.
Starting from the first news reports, he was assigning all blame to D&D.
Many of his statements contained blatant errors of fact (such as that
if you die, you *win* the game) and odd choices of language that would
lead one to believe that he is connected with a fundamentalist group
(his references to D&D being related to the Antichrist, for instance.)
These misstatements, and the fact that he seemed to be the only
person getting information to the press, have caused me and other
people I know much nervous laughter. (You know the kind--when you
don't know whether to laugh, cry, or go punch a pillow.)
To my knowledge, this is the first time that the older boy's criminal
record has been mentioned. The fact that his mother had to make a
painful statement herself to get the information to the press, and
that a policeman seemingly twisted an investigation for his own
philosophical purposes worrys me. Does it worry anyone else?
Just to let you know where I'm coming from, I have a personal bone
to pick in this case. A friend of mine, a teacher in a local school
who was DMing games and knew the boys, (and who will remain nameless)
was questioned in the case, and is since very upset and worried--really
feeling he has to "lie low". He feels like he can no longer mention
D&D to others at work, for instance, and he is hesitant to help
publicize IFGS, to which he belongs. (I know other teachers in this
area who feel the same way.) I think he was really raked over
the coals by the police and the school administration. He is one
of the nicest, gentlest, kindest people I know and it is sad to see
him feel persecuted.
--
Sue Brezden
Real World: Room 1B17 Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb
AT&T Information Systems
11900 North Pecos
Westminster, Co. 80234
(303)538-3829
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your god may be dead, but mine aren't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (09/18/85)
Another note on the statement by the mother of two boys
who killed themselves in Layfayette, Colorado--D&D being
blamed for the deaths. The paper said:
"Betty Erwin said police scoured her boy's
rooms but never found concrete evidence linking
their deaths to a fantasy game. `I'd heard
that in (suicide) cases where there's a
connection, kids sometimes keep a diary,' she
said. `Danny didn't keep a diary or log of
his characters. He just wasn't obsessed with it.'"
Uh-oh. Is keeping a "log" of your characters indicating
obsession now? I don't know about anyone else, but I couldn't
keep things straight without some kind of log.
And I'd hate to think what the police would make of my piles of
notes, maps and etc. on my world that I DM in!
--
Sue Brezden
Real World: Room 1B17 Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb
AT&T Information Systems
11900 North Pecos
Westminster, Co. 80234
(303)538-3829
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Your god may be dead, but mine aren't.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (09/20/85)
> Over the past few days there have been a number of articles saying that > certain portions of the D&D "article" on 60 Minutes were completely > untrue. If you can substantiate those statements, please do so! Send > letters to Ed Bradley (the reporter on this item) care of 60 Minutes at > CBS (address below) quoting the articles and specifying the issue of > the publication, send them to TSR (address below), or send them to *me* > and *I* will collect them and mail them in! Yes! I already sent a copy of the article from the Rocky Mountain News to Bob. I know this will make it a long posting, but after typing it in, I decided to post the entire article to the net. This is so that you can quote directly if you feel like it when you write Ed Bradley. GAME CLEARED IN BOYS' DEATHS (Rocky Mountain News, Wed., Sept. 18, 1985, Denver, Colo.) By Charlie Brennan Rocky Mountain News Boulder Bureau Lafayette--Daniel Erwin, 16, and his brother Steven, 12, carried out a suicide pact last fall because Daniel feared his sentencing in an auto theft case, not because of the Dungeons and Dragons fantasy game, their mother said Tuesday. Betty Erwin's first interview since the brothers' deaths Nov. 2 came in the wake of a Sunday broadcast by CBS-TV's "60 Minutes." The segment focused on Dungeons and Dragons and the game's possible role in suicides by several young people, including the Erwin brothers. Steven Erwin shot his older brother with their father's .22-caliber pistol about 7:30 a.m. as they sat under a Lafayette railroad trestle, and then he turned the gun on himself. The family Tuesday discounted any connection between the boys' deaths and their interest in the popular Dungeons and Dragons game. Daniel had pleaded guilty to auto theft and was scheduled to face sentencing Nov. 30--four weeks after his death. The charge stemmed from Daniel's joyride in a car belonging to a friend's mother that ended several days later with his arrest in Colby, Kan., Betty Erwin said Tuesday. Although Daniel was likely to receive only a 6-month deferred sentence, Betty Erwin said, he was extremely afraid of the criminal justice system. "I know he was pretty scared," she said, sitting on a sofa in the living room of her trailer home. "It was the first time he had been in trouble with the police. "I mean, I was scared, and I wasn't even the one that was in trouble." The family had not publicly discussed Daniel's arrest before Tuesday. The Boulder district attorney's office confirmed the car-theft incident. "I don't think it (Dungeons and Dragons) had anything to do with it," Brian Erwin, 14, said of media reports that his brothers were obsessed with the game. "It's only a game. They weren't even really into it." Brian Erwin, who has been left an only child, said Daniel also was upset that a likely condition of probation was that he would return to Centaurus High School, where he had dropped out shortly after his sophomore year began. "He just didn't want to go back," Brian said. "He wasn't going to go." Betty Erwin, 43, released Tuesday for the first time the full contents of Daniel's suicide note. She said it supported her belief that the boy crumbled under the pressure of his legal troubles. "Dear Mom and Dad," the note said. "I am sorry that it had to end this way, but things just came to a close. A man without his freedom is not a man at all. Therefore, this man is now targeted for termination and my goodbyes are now, so shall it be. Love, Dan." Betty Erwin said police scoured her boys' rooms but never found concrete evidence linking their deaths to a fantasy game. "I'd heard that in (suicide) cases where there's a connection, kids sometimes keep a diary," she said. "Danny didn't keep a diary or log or his characters. He just wasn't obsessed with it." During the "60 Minutes" show Sunday, Lafayette Police Chief Larry Stallcup admitted that he said Dungeons & Dragons played no part in the Erwins' suicides after he received a letter from the game's manufacturer implying a threat of legal action. Stallcup's final remarks on the case came after a police detective had said he believed the boys' involvement in the game led to their suicides. Critics have contended that the game encourages suicide by impressionable young people as the only way to ultimately win the game. In a letter Nov. 20 to an outspoken opponent of Dungeons & Dragons, Stallcup apologized for his remarks on the case. Stallcup said in the letter, "I sincerely hope you will understand what has happened and forgive me...My obligationto this city as a whole to protect them from serious financial litigation was predominant." Just 12 days earlier, Stallcup had received a letter from the vice president of TSR, Inc., the Dungeons & Dragons maufacturer, asking Stallcup to closely "monitor" police department comments linking the game to the Erwins. "We are always concerned about the negative impact inaccuracies, speculation, and unsubstantiated guesses can have on our company's and product's images and consequently on our business results," the TSR letter said. The apology mentioned in his letter to Pat Pulling, president of Virginia- based B.A.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons) was simply an explanation that his personal feelings about the case were not relevant, Stallcup said. "Being a public official, I do not have the pleasure of a personal opinion. Therefore, I appologized to her for not being able to give my personal opinion," Stallcup said. Pulling, who lost a child in a suicide for which she blames Dungeons & Dragons, traveled to Lafayette late last year to discuss the Erwin case with the boys' parents and Stallcup. Stallcup's letter became public when Pulling turned it over to "60 Minutes." Thoughts of their departed children are never far away. "Sometimes at night, I'm washing dishes or lying in bed, and I think that out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of Steve's white T-shirt going by," Betty Erwin said. "But there's nothing there. It's just my imagination." Why did Steven pull the trigger on his father's gun, killing Daniel, then turn it on himself? "The only people who know the answer to that are the boys," Betty Erwin said softly. "And they can't answer." -- Sue Brezden Real World: Room 1B17 Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb AT&T Information Systems 11900 North Pecos Westminster, Co. 80234 (303)538-3829 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your god may be dead, but mine aren't. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~