Letter to the Editor

Your View 7/28: System failed

Monday, July 28, 2003

As Mother of Calvin Anderson "Ande" King, I would like to share my views on the recent events that led up to the arrest of my son.

As you well know, Ande hit Jack Pruitt with a baseball bat twice. Eyewitness accounts stated that the blows were not hard enough to break the skin. Although I do not condone what Ande did, I do take issue with the aftermath. Jack Pruitt was freed on a bond set at $65,000. My son's bond has been set at $75,000!

After meeting with the prosecutor and his assistant, I asked why a person charged as a child molester could have a bond set so low, that the possibility would be there that he would be freed into society, where he could commit his sick, evil acts again. I did not receive a legible answer.

It is up to each of us to protect our children from the scum of this type, and, again, not approving of my son's actions, you can certainly see what drove him to commit this offense.

Questions have to be raised on why the parents of these children were not notified that he was free and able to commit these horrible acts again, and why wasn't the bond set so high as to prevent his release?

My son took the justice into his own hands because the system failed these innocent children and of course my son is now paying the ultimate price.

Lou Presley King