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Village Times/Laura Ahearn

The mere mention of commitment conjures up 1972 images of Geraldo Rivera sneaking his camerainto Willowbrook, the state institution for the retarded in Staten Island where he filmed wardscrowded with disabled children, their feces smeared all over the walls. After

exposing this abuse and neglect, public outrage and subsequent judicial backing helped to beginthe process of deinstitutionalization in the United States.

Deinstitutionalization led to a flood of reforms nationwide concerning the housing and care ofthe mentally retarded and developmentally disabled. Today, most developmentally disabled Americanslive not in institutions but under

APBnews.com/Frances Ann Burns

A man broke into apartments at the Harris Homes public housing complex, raping two girls. Police are asking residents to secure their windows at night and make sure children do not sleepalone.  He grabbed an 8 year old girl in one attack after climbing a porch to reach the secondstory of a building and removing a window fan to enter the apartment.  He abandoned her andshe returned home shortly before 3:20 a.m.  In another attack, a man climbed through anunlocked window about 3 a.m. and raped a 12 year

Darryl Arnett Floyd, a 41 year old convicted felon who was out of jail for just two weeks is now charged with kidnapping and attempted rape in the abduction of a boy at a school bus stop this week.  He was being held without bail while authorities searched for his alleged accomplice, Lewis J. Cason, a 22-year-old ex-convict.  Police said the two men snatched the boy near his downtown home and drove him to a motel room, rented in the name of one of their friends.  They gave the boy

Amnon Chemouil, a 47-year-old Frenchman, is accused of raping a 12-year-old child while he was on vacation in Thailand in 1994.  On Friday he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison.  He could have faced up to 20 years but prosecutors asked for a 10-year sentence.  He has also been ordered to pay $6,385 in damages to the victim.  This was a successful conclusion for prosecutors in their first attempt to crack down on French travelers who go overseas to sexually exploit children.

(Paris)

LaJuan Ewing, Jeffery Jackson, Lamar Toney, all 17 years old, and a 16-year-old juvenile were arrested on October 9 and charged with gang raping a 14-year-old cheerleader.  The four high school football players were ordered to return to class and the school allowed them to play in Friday night’s game.  Fans at the River Rouge High School stadium let out hearty cheers when the Panthers, including the four boys, took the filed prior to the game.  All four of them pleaded innocent to four counts each of first degree criminal

Anthony Bedoch, 31, of Hollywood, killed himself after his wife discovered him raping her 9-year-old daughter and called police.  Bedoch was found dead in the driveway of his parents’ home around 5:15 a.m. Wednesday.  He shot himself in the head with a shotgun.  The death was ruled a suicide.  Shortly after 2 a.m. Bedoch’s 28 year old wife woke up to find her husband not in bed.  She looked for him throughout the house and when she opened the door to her daughter’s bedroom, she saw him allegedly sexually assaulting