A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

8:30AM Doron Weinburg shows up.

8:40AM the Pedophile and his Slatternly Wife show up.

8:42AM Doron whines to prosecutor about how he’s so terribly important and busy with the Spector trial and can’t possibly do the victims the benefit of even putting on a show trial during ayres' lifetime. (Well… not his EXACT words, but you get the idea…) Prosecutor makes a pretty good show of being angry about it. (Thanks Melissa!) I know that I was feeling embarrassed for Doron.

Sometime immediately thereafter, probably between 8:45 and 9AM: Court is called to order and they give the judge the “for real, firm, really going to happen this time… for sure, not to be changed trial date of:

MAY 11, 2009 at 8:30AM

(Remember to use PENCIL when you mark your calendar! BUT... you can use a pen to tally your guess as to the number of underaged male "sex workers" you imagine the Pedophile is possibly victimizing as his trial dates keep getting pushed out.)

No pre-trial hearing is scheduled. (Clarification: there is no further pre-trial hearing planned, as it seemed from discussion immediately before the hearing that there were no plea-bargains offered; or if there were, they were not terms that were acceptable to the defense, and so the judge appeared mostly concerned with making a trial date stick. )

The judge then basically said: no point in discussion today as no one has anything to offer, buh-bye now.

And everyone filed out, with The Slattern doling out dirty looks for all. The Pedophile helped a young woman with her jacket. Safety warnings were not issued, as the Pedophile appears only to like young boys.

The whole thing was over quicker than you can say "Watch out for shrinks, they're a bunch of sadistic, manipulative perverts!"

Quite a let down. Although, I’m a bit delirious, as I’ve only slept about an hour in the last 40 hours.

Maybe I’ll post more later. If I post more now, it will be very filthy, and everyone's eyes will bleed.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

(Well, against my better judgment: not EVERYONE. Some of you should probably get around to the business of rotting in hell. Why don’t you do us all a favor and go play on the train tracks? (I think you know who you are...))
TAGS: Dr. William Hamilton Ayres Solveig Ayres Solveig Troxel pedophile child molester arrested charges president American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry AACAP San Mateo County Children and Families First Commission child psychiatrist psychologist Judge Marta Diaz Peninsula Psychiatric Associates Ronnie Sue Leith Etta Bryant Piero Cerruti Howard Hoffman Joanna Perry Jeffrey Weiner Hugh Ridlehuber Mike Callagy Melissa McKowan Rick Decker

PRE-TRIAL HEARING - NEW DATE

The Pre-Trial Hearing TODAY:
December 23, 2008 at 8:45AM

GO There!

Updates will be posted TODAY ASAP.
More to follow as I get information....

Stop Supporting Child Molesters

This will be a long post. It is possible that you will be offended or upset by one or two things that I write here if you are a victim or the parent of a victim. It is not my intent to offend. Sources will be listed and linked at the end of the posting, and referenced by number parenthetically within the posting.

I’m sick and tired of hearing about people who refuse to do anything about these pervert child molesters, especially when they are professionals in a position to make a real difference. Some of them are ardent supporters of the molesters, and some of them are genuinely struggling with the notion that a person that they “know” could possibly be guilty of these crimes. There is an article in the New York Post that says that a study indicates that :

“Three-quarters of Americans have at some point in their lives thought they knew of a child being abused - but only 12 percent of them actually decided to report it to authorities” (1)

It goes on to state that in New York City, only ten percent of the complaints investigated came from the general public, meaning that most of the 12% that ARE reported came from sources that are REQUIRED by law to report allegations of child abuse. It is frustrating to me that some of these mandatory reporters seem so jaded by the “good” that these alleged molesters have done that they question and even refute their own better judgment in order to temper their disbelief.

Rather than speak out against these alleged molesters, or simply remain silent, these professionals in the field use several techniques to try to convince us and themselves that there is nothing untoward going on with the professionals that they hold in such high esteem, even though they are accused of molestation. They deny, they hide behind moral righteousness, and in some cases, they actively support the alleged perpetrators with prejudice, while at the same time claiming that the victims have no right to make such prejudiced claims against these people. Oddly enough, In many cases, the very statements that they make in support of the accused seem to belie their real feelings.

They deny to themselves and others the possibility that the perpetrators have done any wrong. In discussing Dr. Mel Levine (accused of child molestation) Dr. Lawrence Diller, M.D.; Behavioral-Developmental Pediatrician says that he doesn’t

“… know what to make of the charges of such a respected individual. I tend not to believe any of it…”(3)

and in discussion of the same Mel Levine, Dr. Mary Johnson; Pediatrician, says that she has

“…a hard time believing that Dr. Levine would be so stupid or brazen as to have done the things he is accused of. Given his reputation in the medical community, I simply cannot wrap my head around it.” (4)

These denials often become the source for the argument that even though they might have committed crimes, these perpetrators should be treated with kid gloves. I’ll go into this more in a bit.

To me one of the most maddening things about these professionals is that they try to hide the crimes of these alleged molesters under the blanket of moral superiority; invariably these professionals seem to think that “innocent until proven guilty” is somehow an inalienable right in this country, and that it applies across the board, in daily life as well as in the courts. Briefly: “Innocent until Proven Guilty” is not set in stone, it is NOT in the constitution of the United States, and it generally applies to CRIMINAL jury admonitions. Indeed, even an acquittal in a criminal trial does NOT equate to a declaration of innocence.

Update 10/13/2008: Dr. Johnson takes issue with my legal arguement here. Fine. Neither of us are constitutional lawyers. To clarify: my discussion here involves the real interactions between people, and not the criminal letter of the law. I think I was already clear about that below, but let's keep it on track.

“Innocent until proven guilty” should in no way be forced upon the thinking that we do in our daily lives when we make grown-up decisions about what kinds of people we should interact with. It REALLY IS OK for a parent to avoid people who “feel” suspicious or weird, or who have been accused of crimes. It’s important to understand that just because a professional in the field is implying that you’re somehow a bad person because you’re using common sense, doesn’t mean that you should follow their advice, in fact, in such a case, they are JUST PLAIN WRONG. Almost all of professionals who talk about Levine in their blogs mention this alleged “right”:

Dr. Diller says:

“In the public realm of child sexual abuse claims unfortunately, it's the one arena where you're "guilty, until proven innocent." (3)

Liz Ditz says:

“I don't know the extent or the robustness of the evidence in the prosecution's complaint, or the extent or robustness of the evidence for acquittal. Therefore, I will assume his innocence. “(6)

Karen Janowski, an Assistive & Educational Technology Consultant, says:

“In America, people are innocent about (sic) proven guilty.”(7)

Finally, Dr. Johnson says:

“Until Dr. Levine is proven otherwise - in a court of law - where people like your friend can be properly vetted, he gets the benefit of the doubt. A life and career are at stake.(4)

This is a good point Dr. Johnson! And so are the lives of the victims at stake, and it is fair game for parents and victims to warn others about these dangerous criminals, so that more lives are not destroyed, especially while the wheels of justice grind slowly behind the scenes. Granted: there are certainly cases when people are falsely accused, and for that we have civil courts; meanwhile, he does NOT get the benefit of the doubt, MANY lives are at stake.

Worse than the doubters and those hiding from the reality that their colleague may indeed be a molester, are those who actively SUPPORT these alleged perpetrators. Etta Bryant M.D. has been a vocal supporter of William H. Ayres M.D.:

“As a colleague for over 30 years, I know his superb clinical work with disturbed and troubled adolescents. He has been a relentless advocate for excellence in all psychiatric services for children and youth, nationwide. He holds himself to those highest standards.” (2)

I don’t know what is more astounding, the support that Etta gives, or the support that the wives of these accused perverts give to their husbands, even after the details of their disgusting behaviors come forth, often from multiple multiples of victims. Dr. Colleen Halloran M.D.; pediatrician has publicly supported her husband Bernie Ward, convicted on charges related to the possession and distribution of child pornography. Solveig Ayres has apparently spoken out on blogs about the innocence of her husband William H. Ayres as well.

These supporters, perhaps in the process of trying to mitigate some of the feelings of betrayal, seem to assume that the “contributions” that they have made somehow delete any bad that they may have done. They say things like:

“I don't know what to make of the charges of such a respected individual.” (3)

And:

“I find it impossible to overlook his valuable contributions and often bring him up in professional conversations, albeit with reservations, considering the accusations against him. “ (7)

In a glaring example of allowing a “good behavior” credit, a commenter on Dr. Diller’s blog (3) who purports to be a medical professional says:

“I hope to God we haven't got another shadow personality in the case of Dr. Levine- he did enough good- in my mind- to deserve a considered- aggressive and fair review.”

Each and every one of these professionals are so emotionally tied-up in using the "great ideas" and "research" that these accused professionals have provided that they feel that they have to balance good vs. evil, so that they can feel OK about their own work. If the "good" that was produced by these people does NOT outweigh the evil that they've done, then they have to feel guilty about using the spoiled fruit of the “research” that the accused have provided. They refuse to accept that the "good" that they see was most likely been done to cultivate more victims, and to make it easier for them to explain away their actions if and when they were caught molesting. “People” like Mel Levine and William Ayres, who are accused of molesting should not get a bye simply because in addition to the colossal damage to many they have potentially done, they also did some things that may be of benefit to shrinks, and pediatricians in their "treatment" methodologies.

When these professionals become desperate to divert attention from the fact that their heroes may be bad people, they begin blaming: they blame society, they blame the press, and perhaps worst of all, these professionals often submit the victims and their families to further degradation by placing the blame squarely on them.

Rather than blame her husband Bernie Ward, convicted of trading in child pornography (including graphic photos of adults having sex with infants, he also had lengthy online chat discussions with a "professional mistress" detailing -- in what turned out (allegedly) to just be Bernie's fantasy -- molesting his own children and their friends.) Dr. Halloran (again: Bernie's pediatrician wife and mother of the children he had fantasies about molesting) blamed: not Bernie, but society, for the troubles their family is having:

"The justice department sure hasn't got any of the real terrorists out there, they got us into a war that was based on a lie, they can't control the economy, they can't control gas prices, but oh boy, they got that really dangerous criminal Bernie Ward off the street and have destroyed his family. I thank you all very much." (5)

Etta Bryant blames the press for the troubles her friend William H. Ayres is having:

“I AM APPALLED at the harsh and damaging tone of your front-page article (Wednesday, April 26) regarding one of this county's most prominent physicians and citizens, Dr. William Ayres.” (2)
“I deeply regret that a more balanced account of this tragic story was not presented in your article.” (2)

And worst of all: Blame the victims! Apparently Dr. Johnson thinks that the victims got themselves molested so that later in life they could SUE, SUE, SUE!

“[…] in the 1980's, Pediatricians were not quite so aware of "scum-sucking pieces of excrement" who might sue them 20 years later.” (4)

“Forgive me if I do question twenty-year old memories of children now grown who may see an ea$y target - and may be motivated by $omething other than "justice." (4)

When the heat got turned up on Dr. Johnson’s blog, and people started to call out the flaws in her thinking, she locked the thread. Yet another personal aside to Dr. Johnson: NO amount of money is going to make this shit any easier to deal with; and we know this because there are plenty of people who REALLY did go through this stuff, and sued and won settlements, and are still miserable.

UPDATE 10/13/2008: In comments to this posting, Dr. Johnson has stated that she was referring to lawyers, not victims, when she used the phrase "scum-sucking pieces of excrement." She does, indeed refer to a victim's lawyer in this way a paragraph or so before the section that I am quoting. In the paragraph that I am quoting, it reads to me very much like she is referring to Levine's patients, but I'm willing to extend the benefit of the doubt, and accept that she was talking about a victim's lawyer here. This does not however change my position or arguement, as Dr. Johnson herself argues that the proper place for this is in the courts: why then, when a victim gets legal help, should they be verbally abused by a third party, albeit second-hand through the vehicle of their legal representation?


UPDATE 03/08/2011: I'm rescinding my already tenuous "benefit of the doubt" extension. Dr. Johnson is continuously berating victims for pursuing the only legal recourse left to them due to statute of limitations laws on criminal charges. She is clearly bereft of any compassion for victims of this kind of crime, and has no understanding of the psychology involved.

Dr. Diller apparently thinks that the victims and their families are too stupid to tell the difference between a hernia examination and masturbation (which is one of the things that both of the doctors that he refers to are accused of doing):

“So I don't get this private physical examination routine but I still know how troubled children and families can misinterpret even the most benign actions (remember McMaster! (sic)).” (3)

It seems that in our little cache of blogging professional educators, pediatricians, and head shrinkers, we never once seem to stop and think that maybe these alleged perpetrators are profiling victims, finding those people who will be least likely to report, or be believed if they do report: They pick kids who are troublemakers, because they won’t be believed, and kids who are continuously bullied, because they know that the victims CAN be bullied, and that their parents are ineffective in dealing with it. And then our little group of intelligent professionals seem to think that after the victims became adults, and worked through enough of their feelings of guilt at having not done something to stop these molesters from molesting countless other kids, to actually report, even though it’s way too late, that THEY are the problem, not the molesters. The molester is assumed to be simply the victim of false memories and litigious charlatans. I have bad news: the memories were not repressed, they were simply not acted upon due to years of pent up guilt from not having done something sooner.

Before this turns into a complete indictment against all of the professionals quoted here, I think it’s important for me say that I think that for the most part, these people are simply doing as they state: They’re struggling with the fact that their mentors may not be as shiny as they thought. Dr. Diller, in the midst of saying that he doesn’t believe the charges against Levine, begins to express some doubt in his own conviction:

“I don’t know what to make of the charges of such a respected individual. I tend not to believe any of it but I am bothered by the one report (if confirmed) that he did physical examinations of prepubescent children without the presence of a parent or another professional.” (3)

Dr. Diller then spends nearly the whole paragraph (the longest paragraph in his posting - check the link to read it yourself) giving a narrative about the trouble he went to to verify that Levine’s "examinations" were probably suspect.

Dr. Johnson, despite her vitriol against many anonymous posters speaking out against Levine on her blog, concedes the following, in a seeming about face:

“There was one more observation I wanted to make. The initial story talked about Dr. Levine's clean public file at the Medical Board. But (playing devil's advocate) a clean public file doesn't mean a whole lot. Complaints can be made and dismissed without the Board taking public action.”(4)

So what IS going on here? Why do I only see postings that are supportive or at least apologist about these child molesters? Why are pediatricians and shrinks balking in the face of what should be common sense in these cases? The answers I can come up with seem to range from “unacceptable” to “dangerous.” At least three of the people quoted here seem to have confirmed credentials as professionals in these fields. They are therefore “mandatory reporters” and must report child abuse when it is either suspected or directly reported to them. The fact that they are bold enough to express doubt in a public forum would seem to indicate to me that they are not likely to report problems as required in all cases, and especially in the cases in which someone “respected” is involved. I can’t imagine what fascination it is that caused these people to post in public to begin with. There are only a few conclusions that a reasonable person can draw, and none of them are particularly flattering: These professionals are so jaded by their heroes that they actually think that being a “pillar of community” is a viable defense against molestation, or they have been using these same practices (but not molesting) as espoused by their heroes, and they now feel so guilty about having been duped by a molester, that they feel the need to defend them so that THEY don’t look like a criminal. The last possible reason I can think of is that they too are molesters, and they are covering for a fellow molester. To be clear, I don’t THINK that that’s the case with these bloggers. But their clear lack of compassion convinces me that if I hear of ANY children that I know of going to ANY of these professionals, I’m going to be vocal about the risks involved.

In any case, it’s very distressful to me to keep seeing everyone turn away from the victims, and especially distressful to see that mandatory reporters are so easily biased. I truly hope that these folks are able to do the right thing in their jobs, and that if they receive molestation reports about a respected colleague, that they are able to see past their bias and do what they need to do to help the victims.

Where are all of the professionals making postings AGAINST this kind of behavior? Is there so much stigma associated with speaking against abuse within the profession that you’re just keeping your mouth shut, or is it more professional to not say anything, and the people who ARE speaking out in support of these perverts are just clueless?

The most troubling thing of all is that AFTER the victim’s complaint finally gets through all of this professional bias, the crimes still have to get reported to county social agencies, where there is apparently another similar bias at work… See the depressing list in the post below this one for the nauseating detail...

Everyone seems to hope that the problem will just go away without their direct involvement.

To parents: Know your pediatricians / (and God forbid... Shrinks) well, research them and quiz them! If they appear to waver on this issue, avoid them like the plague. You need someone who will back you, and help you be strong, not ridicule you and/or abuse your child – it IS OK to be discriminating.

To medical professionals and social agencies: Stop ignoring the problem and whitewashing it. YOU of all people know that anyone can be guilty of these types of crimes: temper your bias with reason.

Please.



Links:

(1) (New York Post) Kid-Abuse Poll Shock
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09262008/news/nationalnews/kid_abuse_poll_shock_130771.htm

(2) (Oakland Tribune) Letter: “In defense of Dr. Ayres” Etta Bryant, M.D.
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060503/ai_n16345579

(3) (BLOG:Psychology Today Blogs) Lawrence Diller, M.D., Behavioral-Developmental Pediatrics ;
http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-last-normal-child/200808/there-are-no-heroes

(4) (BLOG: Dr J’s HouseCalls) Dr. Mary Johnson, Pediatrician
http://drjshousecalls.blogspot.com/2008/04/on-dr-melvin-levine.html

(5) (ABC Channel 7 News) “Ward sentenced to 7 years for child porn”
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=6356752
(6) (BLOG: I speak of Dreams) “Mel Levine Accused of Sexual Abuse” Liz Ditz
http://lizditz.typepad.com/i_speak_of_dreams/2008/04/mel-levine-accu.html

(7) (BLOG: EdTech Solutions: Teaching Every Student) Karen Janowski (Assistive & Educational Technology Consultant)
http://teachingeverystudent.blogspot.com/2008/08/mel-levine-dilemma.html
TAGS: Dr. William Hamilton Ayres Solveig Ayres Solveig Troxel pedophile child molester arrested charges president American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry AACAP San Mateo County Children and Families First Commission child psychiatrist psychologist Judge Marta Diaz Peninsula Psychiatric Associates Ronnie Sue Leith Etta Bryant Piero Cerruti Howard Hoffman Joanna Perry Jeffrey Weiner Hugh Ridlehuber Mike Callagy Melissa McKowan Rick Decker

Reports of ayres' abuse

From smdailyjournal.com forum memebers Taylor and Wilson, we have the following list of reported attemps to do something about ayres.

http://smdailyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=695

(Re-posted immediately below) I'm overloaded right now. Commentary will follow sometime soon.

From Taylor:

Here is a list of people we know who complained about Dr. Ayres. Very incomplete.

1) In the mid-1970s, Dr. Hugh Ridlehuber, a partner of Ayres, inherited a patient from Ayres, a dentist's son. The father told Ridlehuber that the boy refused to go back to Ayres because of the physicals he was getting. Ridlehuber asked Ayres why he was giving the boy physicals. Ayres told him he was trained to do so at Judge Baker in Boston in the 1960s. Howeve,r a number of his colleagues at Judge Baker insist that this was not so, and indeed Judge Baker had its own pediatric unit, where the children were giving physical exams.


2) June 1987. Therapist Jeff Lugerner files a formal complaint with San Mateo Childrens Services on behalf of Ayres victim Greg Hogue. Lugerner told the Chronicle that Childrens Services covered it up because he was their primary vendor. He suspected that others had complained to Childrens Services about Ayres. He said no one contacted him again and when he tried to call, he was told that the case was closed.

3) 1987 - Dr. David Schwartz told San Mateo police officer Rick Neilsen that he believed that he had a patient, a Hispanic boy from a group home, who had been molested by Ayres. He told Neilsen that under no circumstances should a child psychiatrist be giving physicals to kids because it was dangerous. Neilsen who was investigating Ayres as part of the Greg Hogue case, deemed the case "unfounded."

4) In the 1980s, a concerned father of a victim asked pediatrician Sam Leavitt, who had referred his sons to Dr. Ayres, whether it was normal for Dr. Ayres to be making his sons strip and showing them "anatomical drawings." Dr.Leavitt, a staunch, opera-going pal of Ayres, didn't want to discuss the matter with the father and just changed the subject.

5) 1994- A victim went to the California Medical Board to say that Ayres molested him in 1966. Because the victim is out of statute, the Board does nothing. They don't even alert the police.

6)1994- A man in Folsom Prison for bank robbery confesses to a nurse during a psychiatric evaluation that Ayres molested him during court ordered sessions. When the police tried to investigate, the victim became too distraught to talk about it.

7)1997- Ten years before Ayres was arrested, a mother of a victim called Ayres' partners to complain that Ayres was touching her son. His partners held an emergency lunch and confronted Ayres. Ayres gave him the old song and dance about how he was trained at Judge Baker to give physicals in the therapeutic sessions. But all physicals of children at Judge Baker were done by their own very good pediatrics department !!! Gee, how is Dr. Ayres gonna explain this ? And how is he going to explain that he spoke quite differently in his deposition when he told lawyers that it was "highly unusual" for him to ever ask a child to take his pants down and that years went by when he never asked a boy to take his pants down ? In fact, he says that he has never asked a boy to take his pants down.. So why is he telling his partners that he gives physicals to boys ? The mind boggles...

Shame on his partners for not challenging their "esteemed" colleague. It is possible that they were either intimidated by Ayres and duped by his arrogance. Or, more realistically, they just didn't want to see the truth and didn't want to be bothered.

8)After Ayres was arrested, a reporter from the Bay Area
learned that another boy who had been molested in a group home around 1997, was then sent to Ayres, who tragically, molested the poor boy
again !!! The mother confronted Ayres who apologized and said it wouldn't happen again. So there we have it: Dr. Ayres admitted he was doing something wrong.

9) When a man filed the civil molestation suit in 2003, a psychiatrist
named Dr. Albert Rainieri told the victim's mother that he was "not surprised
to hear" that Ayres had molested the victim because he had been hearing stories about Ayres and boys for years. Ranieiri committed suicide in 2005.

10) A therapist revealed to a source recently that he had heard stories about Ayres and boys from another doctor "years before he was arrested."

11) A female therapist recently revealed to a source that she had a boy who was a juvenile offender who was getting strange physicals from Ayres. Alarmed, she and another therapist went to Childrens Services to file a complaint. Childrens Services thwarted them, saying there was nothing they could do because Ayres was a medical doctor and giving physicals were within his rights. Shame on you, Childrens Services.

12)Some months before Dr. Ayres was arrested, the mother of a victim told his crony and blind loyalist Dr. Etta Bryant that Ayres had molested her son. We are still waiting for Bryant to come forward to the police.

13) In the summer of 2007, after the arrest of Ayres, a group of juvenile defenders serving on the San Mateo Citizens Review Panel learned that a large number of doctors knew what Ayres was doing to boys but instead of reporting him, as they were mandated to by law, they just stopped referring boys to him.

Do we smell a plea bargain ?

Feel free to add to this list.

From Wilson:

Psychiatrist Dr. Dick Shadoan is in the same category with Ayres cronies Dr. Etta Bryant and Dr. Sam Leavitt. We hear that he is angry at the psychiatrists who believe the victims of Dr. Ayres.

It was Dr. Shadoan who tried to get Dr. Ayres elected President of the American Psychiatric Association. We are thankful that the esteemed members of this association elected Dr. Rodrigo Munoz instead, in a landslide victory in which Munoz took 49 out of the 50 states. At least there are some good and savvy psychiatrists out there !

September 11, 2001

My prayers to the victims, their families and friends, and everyone else who was, and still is affected by the events of 7 years ago today.

Pediatricians, Lawyers, and Pedophiles; Oh My!

Tangentially related to the Ayres case:

Local talk show host Bernie Ward (KGO810 AM Radio in San Francisco) was sentenced yesterday to 7 years in prison for child pornography charges.

There’s a story with some interesting quotes on the KGO news site.

Dr. Colleen Halloran, Bernie Ward’s wife (AND PEDIATRICIAN for crying out loud) apparently blew a good deal of hot air complaining that the Feds had screwed up Iraq, the economy, and gas prices, but THEY managed destroy Bernie’s family… Hmmmm... You don’t think your SICK and Twisted husband had something to do with destroying your family?

And what’s with with all of these WORTHLESS pediatricians supporting child molesters anyway? ARRRRGGGHHH… I’d think twice about sending my kid to that twit.

Anyhow… all of this probably seems familiar to many of us. I think we’re all expecting to continue hearing exactly this same sort of filthy excrement pouring out of Solveig’s mouth.

Also of note: Doron Weinberg, Bernie Ward's attorney, is also william ayres’ attorney: In reading his quote, it appears that Weinberg thinks that the laws are all wrong, and should not punish people who like to watch kids getting molested. What a peach! (On the other hand, at least he's not doing his clients much good...)

There’s a more detailed article about what Bernie did over at SFGate.

And make sure you read the KGO news blog about this too.

Personally, I think they should execute the pervs, and give the light jail sentences that they're handing out to the enablers that seem to surround these creeps.
TAGS: Dr. William Hamilton Ayres, MD Solveig Ayres William H. Ayres pedophile child molester president American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry San Mateo County Children and Families First Commission Peninsula Psychiatric Associates

A"Professional's" Opinion

We have another live one:

Dr. Lawrence Diller, MD., longtime behavioral/developmental pediatrician and family therapist in Walnut Creek gives us his professional opinion about politics, and about his pal, Mel Levine, doctor and accused child molester. He throws in William Ayres for good measure. His statements are subtle, and he tries to show an air of neutrality, but just open your eyes, and read what he's really saying. His comments will help clarify, if there's any doubt left after reading his main article.

It's over here (Thanks again to all of you astute readers for pointing this link out to me! I fancy myself a pretty good googler, but you guys all keep scoring all the hits!):

http://blogs.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-last-normal-child/200808/there-are-no-heroes

As a side note: I just realized that I've read at least two of this guy's books, and thought he was pretty darned level-headed.

How ironic that his blog entry is titled: "There Are No Heroes" and his first line reads: "Are there no heroes? Can you count on anyone these days without the distinct possibility that they will let you down in the future?"

With professionals like this, who needs, well... who needs professionals?

Don't linger too long; it will leave a bad aftertaste!

Having a rough month?

Well, this is just a quick note, while I'm working on a larger posting.

I've been having a fairly tough month this month, (nightmares, poor coping behaviors, etc..) in dealing with my feelings about the ayres crap, and I wasn't sure why, and while I was replying to an email, I think I may have realized what set me off:

All of this news about Russia and Georgia have really brought back some of the tensions I remember having as a kid during the last part of the escalation of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This was right at the time that I was being sent to ayres. I KNOW that at the time I was very worried about the world coming to an end. When the news about Russia/Georgia/NATO started breaking, The first thing I thought of was "Maybe we're going to nuke it out after all..." but since then I've hardly paid attention to the details, but I HAVE been VERY MUCH MORE pissed about ayres since then. I think September 11th may have been the triggering onset of the downfall for me for much the same reason.

Or maybe I'm just nutty.

Anyhow.. having a tough time with with the blog lately. I'm going to set comments to unmoderated for awhile, so you can just post away while I work on my next entry. Be civil please. When I get back to look at it, I'm going to just delete the stuff I don't like, without any warning or explanation. Possibly even posts that I DO like. Hopefully I won't offend anyone too much. Behave and you'll be fine.

EDIT: Please also see the NEW post below, it includes an email that I received from a former ayres patient.

About the "Etta Bryant Molester Defense"

I recently received an email in response to my posting on Etta Bryant's defense of Ayres. and to those that seem to accept that excuse:

He quite clearly takes exception with the idea that Ayres' "medical exams" were necessary.

This letter is from a man who says that it's OK to use his full name. I'm actually not going to print his full name name. If he INSISTS, I'll go for it and put his full name here! I'm just going to call him "Dave" for now.

Hello Deep Sounding

I was a patient of Ayers (can't call him a doctor) in 73/74 and there was some inappropriate behavior involved. I was going to testify in the original civil trial when they settled at the last minute. I just want to comment on the excuse that physicals involving the genitals are necessary. I was recommended to Ayers by my father who was my pediatrician. Even if it may be normal to check out some physical characteristics in a regular patient of a non-medical family, what is the excuse to do it to someone who obviously is getting regular physicals from a prominent and qualified professional. Ayers is guilty as hell and I would let anyone know who wants to. Anyone still defending him obviously does not care what he has done to others.

Thank You for Your Time
David

An Advocate for former Ayres Patients!

In my efforts to put articles on this blog, I have neglected to mention someone:

There is one person who clearly stands out as a voluntary advocate for the former "patients" of Ayres in this case. Probably they don't get much chance to say thank you, as they're probably dealing with quite a bit of pain.

Victoria Balfour has worked hard to bring all of the info about Ayres forward!

Someone just forwarded me a link to this article about her efforts. As it happens, it's also a very good article with some of the background info about William Hamilton Ayres, his career, and what he has done to children over the years.

Go to SFGate and read the article before you read all of the other stuff here!

I've also put a permanent link to it on the right hand "Career Milestones" box. Just click on "Great Background Article!"

On Solveig Ayres (Part 1)

Well, I was working on a posting about Solveig Ayres, the wife of William Hamilton Ayres, when I came across some postings on the San Mateo Daily Journal website about Solveig’s postings on an art website. So I decided to speed up this posting, and I’ll post more later. I’ll talk about the art blog posting in a bit, and re-post them here incase they disappear from there as well, but first let me talk about why Solveig is even an issue here:

Why would I want to post about Solveig Ayres, when she has done nothing, as far as we know? Here’s what’s bugging me about her: I keep hearing stories (from people who I happen to believe) that say that she is generally rude to Ayres' victims and the families of those victims when they are doing nothing but showing up in court to follow the case. I can understand “standing by your man,” but there’s no good reason to be rude to victims, especially if you're taking the “I’m innocent” high road.

Also it’s very odd, as you’ll see in her postings to the art blog, that she very much seems to Freudian slip with regard to her feelings about her husband, William H. Ayres. It’s also odd behavior, I think, to be flitting about in public circles with apparently no care at all, when very serious charges are leveled against your husband. Perhaps a more mature, reserved behavior would be more advisable. (Gee, what am I saying here? Go for it... Keep acting like a socialite twit, one or two more slip-ups like this, and you'll have as good as testified AGAINST your husband...) Well enough about my feelings about this for now.

Here is some background for these postings:
Apparently, Solveig went with Ayres or some pals or something to some art festival in Ashland, Oregon on the week of August 3rd, 2008, and saw some plays. When she got back she commented on the plays as posted below. While you’re reading this, keep in mind that William Ayres is a fat pig, and you will see why it’s important to keep that in mind:

The original site that this was posted on :
artscatter.com/general/ashland-report-words-fail-and-rescue-the-festival/
(I’m not sure what happened to post number 8, by the way… It may have been deleted by the Johnny Jeter guy who reposted to theburlingamedailynews.com)

Originally From artscatter.com and lifeted from theburlingamedailynews.com:


5.. Just spent a lovely 5 days in Ashland. All the plays I attended made me think, at least a little. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner was the most intriguing to fathom. I was struck with an insight and came to this sight looking to see if anyone else thought this. I thought of the truly obese people I know. Most of them allow themselves to get in this condition because they aren’t happy with what life has dealt them. They allow themselves to indulge in overeating in order to counter the dissatisfaction. They often seem placid and good natured, but eventually they may face their discontent. They withdraw internally and balloon up and totally withdraw. Minnie floats so high that she can no longer tend to the people who (as she says)“bring her down.” When she has succeeded in getting her husband and sister to take responsibility for themselves, she can completely withdraw and attend to her own thoughts and move on to where she is unreachable. Where does she go? Maybe she dies. Maybe she goes mad. or, in this case, maybe she just mystically disappears.
Thanks for the opportunity to put my thoughts in writing.
Solveig Ayres
Comment by Solveig Ayres — August 4, 2008 @ 3:30 pm

6…. and that’s what makes a ball game! Thanks, Solveig and Marc, for your insights about “Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.” If the point is to provoke thought, the playwright has succeeded. One thing we ask our artists to do for us is to create metaphors for us. Often those metaphors are open-ended, and they take each of us into different interesting places, based on our own experiences and how we interpret the “signs” the artist has given us. As the parent of 14- and 10-year-old boys, I like the idea of just floating off into space and disappearing for a spell!
Comment by Bob Hicks — August 5, 2008 @ 2:37 pm

7. Bob,“As the parent of 14 and 10 year old boys”, you probably should NOT be hanging about with Solveig Ayres and her husband William Hamilton Ayres. Just google “William Hamilton Ayres” and you’ll see where I’m coming from.
By the way, one has to wonder if Solveig is refering to her own rather portly husband, when she says that they seem “placid and good natured, but eventually they may face their discontent.”
Food for thought… as it were….
Comment by Jerry Fletcher — August 11, 2008 @ 2:05 pm

8.. I will help you out, Jerry Fletcher.
Here is one of many articles on the arrest of Solveig’s husband Dr. William Ayres, from the Los Angeles Times:

http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr/06/local/me-ayres6

Bob Hicks: You mentioned your 14 year old son’s doctor. One fervently hopes that it wasn’t Dr. Ayres !
I too was struck by Mrs. Ayres’ description of obese people who aren’t happy with what life has dealt them. She could be describing her own hefty husband, whose entire adult life has been a sham. Perhaps Solveig’s subconscious does know the truth about her husband after all…

Comment by Diana — August 11, 2008 @ 5:45 pm

10. I don’t believe this is exactly a forum to use to accusations which have been leveled against my husband and which are not true. What you’re witnessing is a modern day witch hunt.. And my husband’s weight, which he would agree is “rather portly” cannot compare with the ballooning up of Minnie in Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I have had a couple of friends who are approaching being as big as Minnie and my observations are
based on that. However, I’ve said what I have to say about this year’s Shakespeare in Ashland.

Comment by Solveig Ayres — August 11, 2008 @ 8:16 pm

11. Solveig:
It is precisely the forum to use to speak out against the atrocities that you continue to support. The accusations are TRUE. You have no right to claim that they are not true, you WERE NOT THERE.

But you don’t care about the children that were hurt by your husband, or even about the fact that your husband is in jeopardy… you are concerned about your observations about Minnie in “Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.”

Wow… denial is running deep this year.

And yes… this is a witch hunt… and unfortunately for many, the witches are real….

Comment by Gunther Balboa — August 11, 2008 @ 8:36 pm

12. A “modern day witch hunt”…hmm. Sounds like something the “good doctor’s” lawyer would say. Why am I getting the feeling that Solveig’s heart really, really isn’t into defending her husband anymore ? Why do I get the feeling that her defenses are crumbling ?

Solveig, surely you saw last week on the front page of the New York Times that a very prominent, nationally known pediatrician by the name of Dr. Mel Levine has been accused by 43 men of doing the very same thing to them that your husband did to vulnerable little boys ? Go to the New York Times home page and put in his name. Levine and your husband were in Boston together. Do you happen to know whether they ever crossed paths ? Because, as you will note, their cases are shockingly similar.

I think it’s great that you’re having doubts about your husband. It must take all of your willpower to defend him. I think you know what the truth is though, and we think you should go to the police with your suspicions that you have had about your husband for years. And take Dr. Etta Bryant too, who was told about the abuse before your husband was arrested. Also, take your friend Thea, who was also told by the mother of a victim about the abuse.
One gets the sense that you’ve been beaten down and controlled over the years. You seem like an intelligent woman, and it’s time to stand up for yourself and speak the truth !

Comment by Jackson — August 12, 2008 @ 2:51 am

Dr. Etta Bryant defends Child Molester ayres

Here is an interesting letter posted to the Oakland Tribune in May 3, 2006 by (presumably) Dr. Etta Bryant, defending William Ayres. This was posted AFTER a cival lawsuit against Ayres, which was settled and sealed, but BEFORE his criminal arrest.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060503/ai_n16345579

I've copied it below in case they delete it:

I AM APPALLED at the harsh and damaging tone of your front-page article (Wednesday, April 26) regarding one of this county's most prominent physicians and citizens, Dr. William Ayres.

As a child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist in the San Mateo County community for 32 years, I feel compelled to respond. I have known Dr. Ayres personally for over 40 years. His moral substance is impeccable.

I have had the privilege of being taught by him in my child psychiatric residency training, as have many generations of child and adolescent psychiatrists in the Bay Area and across the country.

Related Results As a colleague for over 30 years, I know his superb clinical work with disturbed and troubled adolescents. He has been a relentless advocate for excellence in all psychiatric services for children and youth, nationwide. He holds himself to those highest standards.

Dr. Ayres cannot respond to your article, but I can. Not only is he unable to respond for legal reasons, but basic tenets of psychiatric medical practice prohibit the violation of confidentiality between doctor and patient (i.e., disclosing the content of an office visit, examination, or therapy session).

So while each of the men quoted in your article reported that Dr. Ayres examined their genitalia, only one of them mentioned that it was one part of a physical examination, and a portion of the initial psychiatric and neurologic evaluation. Dr. Ayres taught and practiced in those years with the precept "You are a physician first, and a psychiatrist second."

Many child psychiatrists did perform, at that time, complete physical exams as part of the initial evaluation of their patients In fact, some child psychiatrists had their initial training in pediatrics, as did Dr. Ayres.

There are many, many adults in our community who were helped in their adolescent years by Dr. William Ayres.

These individuals may not speak up because of the stigma associated (still) with receiving psychiatric care.

I deeply regret that a more balanced account of this tragic story was not presented in your article.

Etta C. Bryant, M.D.

San Mateo

It's not too late to help lock this guy up:

Do you have information that will help put this guy away? Are you a victim, or do you have important information that can help lead to a good solid conviction?

If so, contact:

Detective Rick Decker at
The San Mateo Police Department

OR

Melissa McKowan at
The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office

Psych Watch Blog - Lots of posts about psychiatrists

Psych Watch: Child psychiatrist trial postponed

This website has MANY links to news stories about Psychiatrists and Psychologists who are behaving very badly. I wonder if sick and twisted people gravitate to this profession?

About posting comments to this blog.

I have three simple pieces of advice to give you (READ THEM, then see below for detail for each):

1. Post important new info to "the usual" places AS WELL AS HERE!
2. Make sure you know if you're posting anonymously or not!
3. If you need to send me email for attachments, please read my posting on sending me email!


1. Why post to other places as well?
This is an anonymous blog. It is hosted for free by a BIG corporate entity (Google). There are various reasons that this blog could go down, and all of the information could be gone, most of the reasons I can think of will be out of my control. Recovery of the info would be slow. (But, yeah, I'm working on backups tonight.)

Conversation here is NOT dynamic, at least for now. I am moderating the comments, so they don't post until I get a chance to get off my butt and look at what is waiting. This means that you won't get the sometimes instant replies to your post like you do in a public unmoderated forum. Less sniping, but slower flow of info... (Am I the best person to be moderating your comments? Nope, probably not, but what are you going to do?)

Visibility. Other people who are just finding out about this crud are probably not looking here first.

2. What's the deal with posting anonymously?
OK If you're concerned about who's going to know that you're posting read this part carefully please! Once the cat's out of the bag, it's not going to go anywhere near that bag again!

NOTE: This is about replies to comments, NOT sending email... Go here for that... whole nother discussion...

When you reply to a comment on this forum, you either log in with one of the various methods, or you select the anonymous button. Once you submit your post, I either post it, or I deny it. If I post it, it goes out AS IS.

If you have logged in with your google ID or another method, IT WILL SHOW, unless you select the anonymous button!
I can not change your comment, or edit out your ID.
I CAN DELETE your comment after the fact if you request it, but it could be a while before I even see that you've made that request, and by then it may be indexed by every search engine under the sun.

SO PLEASE Make sure you are selecting correctly when posting comments, if it's an important issue for you.

3 Sending me an email, rather than adding a comment to a posting?
READ HERE

How to contact me via email

OK, so how do you email me to send me info/hate mail, etc?
You might want to send me email so that I can get attachments to post, like pictures, court transcripts, coupons for a Chevy's restaurant, etc... Maybe you want to just say hi, or maybe you have a good idea for a new post, and it just doesn't fit as a comment for another post.

Send it to the following email: DeepSounding AT gmail.com

Some notes about this: You should assume that I'm going to post whatever you send to me, and may publish who I got it from, if you don't explicitly ask me not to!

I'll use my best discretion, and I'm pretty reasonable. It will probably work like this:

If you tell me not to use your name, I won't, but if you're sending me sketchy info, I probably won't post it or bother to reply. If you're sending usable info, I'll attribute it to Anonymous or something.

If you tell me to use your name, I probably will.

If you don't tell me either way, I'll assume you're using a non-traceable name/email, and will use my discretion. Clever or funny names will probably get you credited in this case.

Special case: Hate mail:
Probably I'll ignore altogether, but I may publish it if it's funny. In that case, I'll probably post your name regardless of whether you tell me to or not. If you send particularly bad hate mail or death threats, I'll probably publish your email address too in full email format so that spambots will find your address, as well as posting whatever other personal info I can find about you. Don't spice it up just for glory to get me to post, I'll probably just post your email address in a hidden list so that the spambots find you, but people won't even notice you. (Don't say I didn't warn you!)

One more note on my email address: I don't check it 10,000 times a day, so if it's urgent, call 911 or something.

Let me repeat that in a another way: There's no guarantee that I'm going to be speedy about checking my email. From time to time, it will be more than 24 hours between checks, so don't be offended if I don't reply right away. And by the way, posting here and checking my email are NOT occurring at the same time right now, so you might see a post, but no email reply for awhile.TAGS: Dr. William Hamilton Ayres Solveig Ayres Solveig Troxel pedophile child molester arrested charges president American Academy of Child and Adolescent PsychiatryAACAP San Mateo County Children and Families First Commission child psychiatrist psychologist Judge Marta Diaz Peninsula Psychiatric Associates Ronnie Sue Leith Etta Bryant Piero Cerruti Howard Hoffman Joanna Perry Jeffrey Weiner Hugh Ridlehuber Mike Callagy Melissa McKowan Rick Decker

Career Milestones

Here are some of Dr. William H. Ayres, MD's illustrious career milestones (index to lots of news articles).

Great Background Article!
Another Good Background Article
Ayres' California Medical License

2003: Ayres Sued - Confidential Settlement
04/06/2007: Arrested
04/12/2007: Prohibited from practicing.
04/13/2007: In Jail Again.
07/24/2008: Trial in January 09

William Ayres: Unmitigated Gall


10/14/2008: Pre-Trial Hearing
01/05/2009: Trial