slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (09/18/85)
On the 60 Minutes show on D&D:
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.
There was no mention of D&D. She also stated that neither of the boys
was heavily involved in D&D--it was a minor interest--and that
police searched the boy's rooms but found no physical evidence
to connect the deaths to the game (no logs, diaries, etc.). (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
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