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A.J.'s Story
- Newspaper Articles
The following links take you to various articles in AJ's story as it
appeared in the South Florida media.
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In Loving Memory Of Andrew James "A.J." Schwarz April 24,1983 - May 2,1993 "Beautiful Child who has found love from the angels...RIP..." |
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This
page contains articles from the Palm Beach Post and The Sun-Sentinel
from the year 1996. |
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If you are interested in reading the FULL DETAILS of this case aside from what is posted here, please purchase "No One Can Hurt Him Anymore" by Carol J.Rothgeb and Scott H. Cupp. Mr. Cupp thinks it's the book that nobody will read...please show your support and show him that you care about AJ, too by ordering his book by clicking on the cover image below.
Charges Stand in
AJ Schwarz Case -- Court Denies Abuse Charge Appeal From Mother Who
Killed Stepson, 11 (1/25/96)
Endangering Children in Name of the Family (3/23/96)
County Officials Delay Renewal of Medical Examiner's Contract
(4/18/96)
Medical Examiner's Job at Stake: In Light of Past Issues,
County Urged Not To Renew Contract (5/7/96)
Benz Should
Make Graceful Retreat in Response to 'no confidence' Vote (5/20/96)
County Medical Examiner Short on Supporters (5/22/96)
The Lawyers Are Right: This Office Has Failed (6/4/96)
Medical Examiner Steps Down: Official Resigns Before
County Announces Contract Decision (6/5/96)
A Child Called 'IT' (8/10/96)
HRS Will Lose District Chief After November 15 (10/15/96)
Turner Will Keep Kids Home Safe (10/20/96)
CHARGES STAND IN
A.J. SCHWARZ CASE
COURT DENIES ABUSE CHARGE APPEAL FROM MOTHER WHO
KILLED STEPSON, 11
Sun-Sentinel
January 25, 1996
Author: C. RON ALLEN Staff Writer
An appellate court on Wednesday denied convicted child killer Jessica
Schwarz's bid to overturn her 30-year prison sentence for the abuse
of her stepson leading up to his death.
The 4th District Court of Appeal concurred with a lower court that Schwarz
abused Andrew "A.J." Schwarz, 11, and should be sent to prison.
The unanimous decision came without discussion.
"This is good news for the state," Assistant State Attorney
Scott Cupp said. "They said, `She's done.' There's no appeal to
the Supreme Court."
The 40-year-old former truck driver also was convicted of second-degree
murder in A.J.'s May 1993 drowning death and was sentenced to another
40 years, which she is also appealing.
Schwarz has also been convicted of witness tampering involving her oldest
daughter. Schwarz was caught on videotape in a police interview room
scolding her daughter to not say anything to police about A.J. She has
not been accused of abusing her daughters.
At her trial, about 20 witnesses told how Schwarz humiliated and demeaned
A.J. by making him eat his meals next to the cat litter box and run
naked down neighborhood streets.
Since her convictions, Schwarz has been very vocal. She attempted to
fire her attorney before her sentencing hearing, blaming him for her
convictions and maintaining she is innocent.
She declared a hunger strike in September while at the Palm Beach County
Stockade, where she is being held pending her transfer to a state prison.
Schwarz also has asked a judge to allow her two daughters to live with
their maternal parents in Palm City because she does not know where
their fathers are. The judge gave her lawyers 45 days to find the father.
The outcome was not known on Wednesday.
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ENDANGERING CHILDREN IN NAME OF THE FAMILY
The Palm Beach Post
March 23, 1996
Few bills this year are more mislabeled or more wrongheaded than the
so-called ``Family Bill of Rights.'' It is moving through the Legislature
under the whip hand of a senator who has turned a personal grudge against
the Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services into a zealous
quest that could endanger thousands of children in Florida.
Under the proposal, sponsored by Sen. John Ostalkiewicz, R-Orlando,
child-abuse investigators could not remove a boy or girl from a home
without a court order confirming that the child was in ``imminent danger.''
In addition, the bill would make investigators liable for felony charges
if they mistakenly took a child into custody.
Sen. Ostalkiewicz got involved in this issue before being elected to
the Legislature, when HRS took the child of one of his employees. Since
then, Mr. Ostalkiewicz - often supported by religious fundamentalists
- has characterized the agency as the devil incarnate, parading angry
parents before hearings of his committee without ever disclosing details
of their cases.
Even HRS officials acknowledge that the agency has sometimes acted too
quickly, even irresponsibly, when taking children into protective custody.
But rather than work to improve HRS - such as providing money to better
train caseworkers, whose starting salary is about $19,000 - Sen. Ostalkiewicz
would weaken HRS' powers to protect children.
If he succeeds, investigators would probably wait to act until after
a child had been injured, when there was clear proof. It would thus
be much harder to prevent abuse in the first place - making it harder
to bring the family together with counseling - or to prevent parents
from fleeing with children.
Facts don't support any need for such an extreme law. During the 1993-94
fiscal year, for example, HRS investigated 112,344 reports of child
abuse. (Three times that many were phoned into the state's abuse hot
line.) Only 4,822 children - about 4 percent - were placed in emergency
shelters. In nearly three-fourths of the 74,910 cases where abuse or
neglect was identified, HRS workers began working with the families.
Even in the 15,790 cases where children were placed under HRS supervision,
roughly two-thirds remained in their homes.
If anything, Florida has been excessively tolerant of parental abuse.
In 1989, 2-year-old Bradley McGee of Lakeland drowned when his stepfather
dunked him repeatedly in a toilet. That led to reforms that allowed
the courts to consider the child's welfare first when deciding whether
to end parental rights. In 1993, 10-year-old A.J. Schwarz of Lantana
died because his stepmother beat him regularly and HRS officials didn't
intervene in time.
The ``Family Bill of Rights'' cleared the Senate HRS Committee 4-3,
despite opposition from Sen. Tom Rossin, D-West Palm Beach. It probably
will be heard next by the Judiciary Committee. The bill would unnecessarily
burden the courts and make it harder for HRS to hire good child-care
workers. It would also make it easier for abusive or neglectful parents
to harm their kids. Those are ``rights'' that the state shouldn't sanction.
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COUNTY OFFICIALS DELAY RENEWAL OF MEDICAL EXAMINER'S
CONTRACT
Sun-Sentinel
April 18, 1996
NICOLE STERGHOS Staff Writer
The Palm Beach County medical examiner's rocky career hit another bump
this week when county officials postponed their recommendation to renew
his contract after questions arose over the credibility of one of his
associates.
But Dr. James Benz, who has fended off attacks on his own credibility,
sidestepped the latest controversy to a certain extent after the associate
medical examiner, Dr. Stephen Nelson, resigned recently to pursue other
opportunities
Nelson's resignation letter, effective May 15, is dated April 1 but
wasn't sent to Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento until Wednesday,
a few days after Bonvento told Benz of his concerns about Nelson's past.
Bonvento said he wasn't told then that Nelson had resigned.
Nelson's departure clears up the primary issue that prevented Bonvento
from sending Benz's contract to commissioners for renewal, but other
concerns remain.
"This was one of the major issues I was concerned about that I
asked [Benz) to respond to, and obviously, it's been resolved,"
Bonvento said.
He plans to sit down with Benz on Friday or Monday to discuss his future
with Palm Beach County and some remaining questions over "operational
procedures."If those issues are resolved, Bonvento said he would
put Benz's contract back on the County Commission agenda for renewal.
Bonvento postponed the item for Tuesday's meeting when he learned for
the first time of Nelson's troubled history in Broward County.
Nelson joined Benz's staff in 1993 after he quit the Broward Medical
Examiner's Office amid charges that he botched a cause-of-death ruling,
saying an 82-year-old Sunrise woman committed suicide. The woman's husband
later confessed to strangling her.
The concerns over Nelson's history, Bonvento said, cast further doubt
on the credibility of the Medical Examiner's Office, an issue that has
dogged Benz for some time.
During the trial of Jessica Schwarz, who was convicted of murder last
year in the drowning death of her 10-year-old stepson, A.J., Benz said
the drowning could have been an accident. A second medical examiner
hired by prosecutors testified it was a homicide.
In December, Benz's reputation was again on the line when he ruled that
6-year-old Tremaine Kerr died of a blow to the stomach. The State Attorney's
Office later dropped charges against Dennis Rhoden, the boyfriend of
Tremaine's mother, after several experts testified the child died of
an asthma attack.
Rhoden's defense attorney, Peggy Natale, is now asking for a second
autopsy in another case she is representing because of her lack of faith
in the Medical Examiner's Office.
Attorney Richard Lubin, too, is challenging a recent finding by the
Medical Examiner's Office in the case of Jacqueline Caruncho, the baby-sitter
accused of shaking a baby to death.
"His credibility is an issue," Lubin, who represents Caruncho,
said of Nelson, who ruled the baby died of blunt force head trauma,
possibly caused by shaken-baby syndrome. "I can't imagine relying
on his findings without independent confirmation."
Lingering questions over credibility in the Medical Examiner's Office
is one of the issues Bonvento plans to discuss with Benz in his upcoming
meeting.
"But, honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be able to resolve that
because basically it comes down to a difference of opinion," Bonvento
said.
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MEDICAL EXAMINER'S JOB AT STAKE
IN LIGHT OF PAST ISSUES, COUNTY URGED NOT TO RENEW CONTRACT
Sun-Sentinel
May 7, 1996
Author: NICOLE STERGHOS Staff Writer
The state attorney and Sheriff's Office are lobbying county commissioners
not to renew the contract of Medical Examiner James Benz at a time when
the commissioners are questioning his credibility.
And the uncertainty over Benz's future has led his only remaining assistant
to take a job elsewhere
"If [Benz) doesn't have a job, I don't have a job," said Michael
Bell, who works as an independent contractor. "Because of the uncertainty,
obviously I've had to look ahead of time and try to predict whether
Jim would be re-appointed."
Bell starts his new job with the Dade County Medical Examiner's Office
on Aug. 1.
His departure leaves Benz, who could not be reached for comment on Monday,
without either of his associate examiners. Stephen Nelson, whose past
professional problems have added to Benz's troubles, will be leaving
on May 15 to pursue another job.
County commissioners, meanwhile, have told Assistant County Administrator
Vince Bonvento that they are worried about the perception that past
controversies have cast over the Medical Examiner's Office.
Rulings by Benz and Nelson have opened the office up to challenges on
the witness stand, leading at least one public defender to request a
second autopsy in her cases.
Nelson's past in Broward County, where he quit the medical examiner's
staff after he wrongly ruled that a Sunrise woman committed suicide,
also has troubled commissioners, Bonvento said. Clouding Benz's future
even further, State Attorney Barry Krischer and Undersheriff Joe Bradshaw
have asked commissioners not to renew his contract, Commission Chairman
Ken Foster said.
Trouble erupted between Krischer's office and Benz in December, when
Krischer dropped murder and abuse charges in the death of Tremaine Kerr,
6, after other experts disputed Benz's ruling that Tremaine died of
a blow to the stomach.
But tensions existed between the medical examiner and state attorney
even before that. Last year, during the trial of Jessica Schwarz, prosecutors
hired a second medical examiner to dispute Benz's ruling that Schwarz's
10-year-old stepson accidentally drowned. Krischer's office declined
comment on Monday on Benz's contract, but Foster said he expected the
state attorney to discuss his thoughts when Benz's contract comes before
commissioners.
"I want these guys who are pointing all the fingers to say something
in public," Foster said.
As for Benz, "I think he did a great job," Foster said. "It's
obvious, though, that law enforcement agencies that deal with him don't
like his personality."
Bell said those personality differences are at the heart of Benz's problems.
"They're all without [merit), and they're personal," Bell
said of charges of incompetence against Benz. "You've got attorneys
that want to win cases, and they'll do anything."
Prosecutors have even said in open court that they want to get rid of
Benz, he said.
Benz's contract originally was scheduled for renewal on April 16, but
Bonvento postponed it after concerns about Nelson arose. The issue was
mistakenly rescheduled for today's meeting, but Bonvento said he has
not finished looking into it.
Bonvento said he expects to make a decision by Friday as to whether
to recommend that commissioners renew Benz's contract.
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BENZ SHOULD MAKE GRACEFUL RETREAT IN RESPONSE TO `NO
CONFIDENCE' VOTE
Sun-Sentinel
May 20, 1996
In sleepy, rural Florida counties, the coroner usually tends to be an
obscure public employee who rarely makes headlines, much less news.
But in a metropolitan county such as Palm Beach, with its inevitable
big-city crime and violence, the medical examiner's office often finds
itself squarely in the middle of high-profile court cases.
In an ideal situation, police, prosecutors and the medical examiner's
office should have implicit confidence in the skill and professionalism
of each other if justice is to be adequately served.
Unfortunately, that irreplaceable sense of mutual respect has been lacking
for some time in Palm Beach County. A disturbing pattern of complaints
about the work of the medical examiner's office from both the state
attorney's office and law enforcement agencies indicates it is time
for a change.
Dr. James Benz has held the title of medical examiner since 1983. His
current contract, which pays him and two associates $427,000 a year,
will expire on July 13 and the County Commission should not renew it.
It is time for the commission to seek a replacement for the 65-year-old
Dr. Benz.
Actually, commissioners originally decided not to renew Benz' contract
four years ago on the grounds that his $450,000 asking price was too
high, but Benz outmaneuvered them by going to court. Benz argued that
because the governor had appointed him, only the governor could remove
him. The commission gave in, but later passed an ordinance closing that
loophole.
The tendency of both prosecutors and defense attorneys to request second
autopsies in controversial death cases is a clear indication that neither
side retains much confidence in the work-product of Benz and his staff.
Recent highly publicized cases in which Benz autopsies have come under
scrutiny included the causes of death of 10-year-old A.J. Schwarz and
6-year-old Tremaine Kerr.
This growing practice of almost routinely requesting second autopsies
is time-consuming, expensive and has the potential of compromising the
search for truth in certain key cases.
Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento plans to ask commissioners
next week not to extend Benz' contract when it expires in July. The
commissioners should grant his request.
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COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINER SHORT ON SUPPORTERS
Sun-Sentinel
May 22, 1996
Author: NICOLE STERGHOS Staff Writer
Accusing the state attorney of waging a crusade to railroad Medical
Examiner James Benz's career, County Commission Chairman Ken Foster
on Tuesday tried unsuccessfully to get his fellow commissioners to keep
Benz for another three years.
Only one other commissioner - Maude Ford Lee - supported him. The others
opted to delay their decision on Benz's future for two weeks while they
hear more from agencies that want a new medical examiner. Commissioner
Carol Roberts was absent
Even with the delay, Benz's future with Palm Beach County seems doubtful,
considering most law enforcement agencies want him out and questions
over his credibility have already surfaced in court, where attorneys
are trying to discredit his testimony.
So far, an army of law enforcement agencies - led by State Attorney
Barry Krischer, the Sheriff's Office and the county Chiefs of Police
Association - have written to and talked personally with commissioners,
expressing concerns about Benz's credibility.
"It's going to be difficult for Dr. Benz to stay," Foster
said after the meeting. "The state attorney has literally destroyed
any opportunity for him to stay in Palm Beach County. It's all politics.
Nothing more and nothing less."
Krischer's spokesman, Mike Edmondson, who attended Tuesday's meeting,
said the issue has nothing to do with politics.
"I don't think Commissioner Foster would say that these [law enforcement)
agencies would in any way compromise their own integrity by playing
politics with an issue like this," he said.
Rather, Edmondson said, the issue has more to do with a concern for
the integrity of the county's criminal justice system, whose chief expert
witness is under attack on the stand. The more the issue is discussed
publicly, he said, the more ammunition defense attorneys have and the
worse it gets for future trials.
"That's the Catch 22," Edmondson said.
Foster and Lee said they were confused about the momentum to oust Benz
after 13 years, especially when county officials were ready to recommend
a three-year renewal of his contract in April.
But since then, Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento said,
a host of law enforcement agencies have contacted him about their concerns
over the job Benz is doing.
The chief topic of debate seems to involve recent disputes over Benz's
autopsy findings in some high-profile cases.
Problems began last year, when prosecutors had to hire another medical
examiner to dispute Benz's contention that 10-year-old A.J. Schwarz
could have accidentally drowned. The prosecution eventually won a murder
conviction against A.J.'s stepmother, Jessica.
Then, in December, Krischer dropped murder charges against Dennis Rhoden
after experts refuted Benz's finding that Tremaine Kerr, 8, died of
a blow to the stomach. The experts said Tremaine, the son of Rhoden's
girlfriend, could have died from an asthma attack.
There is even some evidence that the issue may have helped derail the
murder trial of John Zile, accused of beating his stepdaughter to death.
The lone juror who held out against a first-degree murder conviction
for Zile reportedly told fellow jurors she discounted Benz's testimony
on the child's death because of the debate over his credibility.
But the fact that Benz does not bow to the desires of the State Attorney's
Office impresses Lee.
"I think we need an independent person in that office that doesn't
necessarily respond the way the State Attorney's Office would want him
to respond," Lee said.
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THE LAWYERS ARE RIGHT: THIS OFFICE HAS FAILED
The Palm Beach Post
June 4, 1996
Unless something unexpected happens, the Palm Beach County Commission
will end James Benz's 13-year tenure as medical examiner today by not
renewing his contract. After that merciful act, however, the commission
needs to decide what caused the death of confidence in an office that
is vital to law enforcement.
State Attorney Barry Krischer is prepared to lead a contingent of police
officials and prosecutors who will say they can't trust work done by
Dr. Benz's office. "But this is not an attempt to dump the M.E.
simply because he doesn't stand up for the prosecution every time,"
Mr. Krischer insists.
Indeed, both defense attorneys and prosecutors have criticized the medical
examiner's office, especially in child-death cases. When 10-year-old
A.J. Schwarz of Lantana was found dead in his backyard pool three years
ago, Dr. Benz's office did not believe a criminal act was involved.
Prosecutors brought in a medical examiner from Atlanta. Based on his
conclusions, the boy's stepmother was convicted and sentenced to 70
years in prison.
In 1994, Jacqueline Caruncho of West Palm Beach was charged with third-degree
murder after Associate Medical Examiner Steven Nelson said the 4-month-old
she was baby-sitting died of shaken baby syndrome. Ms. Caruncho's attorneys,
however, have challenged Dr. Nelson's autopsy on the basis of a 1993
case he handled while working for the Broward medical examiner's office.
Dr. Nelson ruled that a woman had died of a drug overdose. In fact,
her husband had strangled her.
Mr. Krischer said he urged Dr. Benz to hire an associate with a background
in pediatrics. "It doesn't take much to tell how a grown man died
when he has a bullet in his forehead," Mr. Krischer said. "But
in child-death cases, the findings are critical. We only file charges
because the M.E. says so."
In one such case last year, prosecutors charged a man with first-degree
murder in the death of his girlfriend's 6-year-old son when Dr. Benz
concluded he died from a blow to the abdomen. Three other doctors, however,
said asthma could have killed the child. The state dropped all charges.
So if a medical examiner makes a mistake, a criminal can go free or
an innocent person can go through hell.
The county pays Dr. Benz and the two associates about $450,000 a year.
In looking for a replacement, however, the commission should think less
about money and more about who would be best for the job. If it will
take more to hire someone better, pay it. The expense would be offset
by savings from not having to call other doctors in when the M.E.'s
office messes up.
Given the importance of child-death cases, the next medical examiner
- or a specially trained associate - should be ordered to accompany
the county's rapid-response team every time the death of a youngster
is involved.
There is no Quincy. He was a TV character. But there are real-life consequences
to not having a credible medical examiner in Palm Beach County. And
the county doesn't have one.
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MEDICAL EXAMINER STEPS DOWN
OFFICIAL RESIGNS BEFORE COUNTY ANNOUNCES CONTRACT DECISION
Sun-Sentinel
June 5, 1996
Author: NICOLE STERGHOS Staff Writer
After years of controversy and months of public debate over his competency,
Dr. James Benz quietly stepped down from his post as Palm Beach County
medical examiner on Tuesday.
Benz formally withdrew his request for a three-year contract extension
less than two hours before the County Commission was expected to deny
it.
His contract expires next month, and county officials are in the process
of finding a temporary replacement while they conduct a fourto six-month
national search for a permanent successor.
Benz could not be reached for comment, but in his resignation letter
to commissioners, he concentrates on the positive rather than the negative
of the past 13 years he has run the county's autopsy operations
"I have served ably, competently and proudly," he wrote. "The
Medical Examiner's Office of Palm Beach County is now looked upon as
one of the finest, and I am proud to say that I have played a major
role in bringing our department to the cutting edge of science and technology."
Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento had tried for weeks to
persuade Benz to withdraw his contract renewal request in light of growing
opposition among law enforcement agencies against Benz. But Benz steadfastly
refused.
In the end, his change of heart came at the urging of Commission Chairman
Ken Foster, one of Benz's few supporters on the commission. In a phone
conversation with Benz last week, Foster suggested he rescind his request,
saying it would be best for the county and for Benz's chances for employment
elsewhere.
Benz, 65, is one of three finalists to become medical examiner for Lee
and Hendry counties.
"It was my opinion that he's already been trashed publicly, and
his credibility ruined," Foster said. "He wanted me to clearly
understand he's not a quitter."
In fact, Benz has held on firmly and proudly to his post through years
of stormy relations with commissioners and the law enforcement officials
he worked with.
Three years ago, commissioners tried to fire him because of a salary
dispute, but Benz sued, saying only the governor, who hired him, could
fire him. Commissioners then passed an ordinance to give themselves
firing powers, but the controversy died down after they renewed his
contract another three years.
New problems arose last year, this time centering on Benz's credibility
on the witness stand. Prosecutors went to Atlanta to find an expert
to dispute Benz's autopsy ruling in the Jessica Schwarz murder trial,
and in December, they dropped murder charges against another man because
experts refuted Benz's cause-of-death finding.
Other controversies swirled around the clouded past of one of Benz's
associates, Stephen Nelson, defense attorneys began using the issues
to request second autopsies. Nelson, who joined Benz's staff in 1993,
was accused of botching a cause-of-death ruling when he worked for the
Broward County Medical Examiner's Office.
State Attorney Barry Krischer, who said he was concerned about future
cases, and other law enforcement agencies began writing and lobbying
commissioners to let Benz's contract expire. Nelson resigned, and the
uncertainty over Benz's future led his other associate, Dr. Michael
Bell, to take a job in Dade County.
Because the departures will flush out the whole department after Benz
leaves, county officials will look for a medical examiner - both on
interim and permanent bases - who will be able to bring associates.
Dr. John Marraccini, a former Benz associate, has talked with county
officials about filling in on a temporary basis, and Walter Hofmann,
a part-time Boca Raton resident and Philadelphia pathologist, also has
applied for the job.
County officials will bring a recommendation for an interim medical
examiner to commissioners within 30 days. Meanwhile, they plan to advertise
nationwide for a permanent successor, which promises to be a lengthy
process.
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A CHILD CALLED 'IT'
The Palm Beach Post
August 10, 1996
Author: EMILY J. MINOR
When Dave Pelzer was little, he lived in the basement.
His mother drove the other kids to school, but not him. He walked, rain
or shine.
He stole food at school because he was seldom fed at home. His mother
hit him. Tortured him. Made him eat unthinkable concoctions. She terrorized
him mentally and inflicted physical scars that remain to this day. The
abuse went on for years. Day after day after day.
And still, when Dave Pelzer's mother died four years ago, he returned
to pay his respects.
"I love my mommy. My mother I have no feelings for," says
Pelzer.
Pelzer, who will speak today to foster parents at Palm Beach Community
College, has written a book, A Child Called It. Chapter one is called
The Rescue; it details how teachers and police risked their jobs to
get him away from his mother 23 years ago, before such interventions
were fairly routine.
And thank goodness for that first chapter. For it is best to know that
hope follows horror as you make your way through Pelzer's childhood.
March 5, 1973, is a date Pelzer remembers as clearly as his birthdate.
It's the day a team of California educators in San Mateo County, outside
San Francisco, finally saved the 12-year-old, 68-pound bedraggled little
boy whose mother showered him with cruelty.
Today, when 35-year-old Dave Pelzer looks back, he realizes that the
moment a big policeman called his house, told his mother her son would
not be coming home, and smugly hung up, was the moment his life began.
And what a life it's been.
Pelzer grew up to be an Air Force pilot. A motivational speaker. A comic.
A father. (The marriage ended in divorce, but parenting, Pelzer says,
is his greatest joy). He was named one of the Ten Outstanding Young
Americans in 1994 and earlier this year carried the Olympic torch.
"I've never had a job so fulfilling as this," says Marsha
Donohoe, who edited Pelzer's first book at a Deerfield Beach publishing
house, then quit her job and moved to California to work as his assistant.
"I realize how blessed I was growing up. I realize how blessed
I am now."
Pelzer's earliest years were happy. His father was a San Francisco firefighter;
his mother a homemaker. She cooked wonderful meals, wore pretty dresses
and a pretty smile. But his most lovely memories are the vacations the
family took along the Russian River in northern California. They swam,
ran, laughed. They were a family.
Then, when he was about 4 or 5 years old, his life began to change.
His mother began drinking more and the degrading abuse began.
"Even now, it can really, really, really scare me. If I let it,"
he says.
In those gone-but-not-forgotten years, the years that have molded Pelzer
into the man he is today, scores of bystanders did nothing to protect
the little boy, including his father. "I think he felt as though
he worked, brought home the money and she took care of things at home,"
Pelzer said.
Likewise, his two brothers never came to his rescue, lest they feel
his mother's wrath. Pelzer details the cruelty again and again in his
book:
I finish the dishes, then my other chores. For my reward, I receive
breakfast - leftovers from one of my brothers' cereal bowls. Today it's
Lucky Charms. There are only a few bits of cereal left in half of a
bowl of milk, but as quickly as I can, I swallow it before Mother changes
her mind. Mother enjoys using food as her weapon. She knows better than
to throw leftovers in the garbage can. She knows I'll dig them out.
Mother knows most of my tricks.
Today, Pelzer's relationship with his family is difficult. His father
died, in his arms, in 1980 - a victim of alcoholism and cancer. Pelzer
seldom talks to his brothers, although one did become a police officer
in hopes of helping others.
In the years following his rescue, Pelzer lived with eight different
foster mothers, one of whom he now considers his son's grandmother.
"That's the highest thing I can say about her," Pelzer says.
When he left that home to join the Air Force, she pressed a key in his
hand, letting the 18-year-old know he would always have a home.
In 1988, Pelzer knocked on a door in Salt Lake City. A woman answered.
It was the first time Pelzer had seen his mother since he left for school
that March morning in 1973.
Ostensibly, the purpose of the visit was to gather information for his
book. But the visit meant more than that.
"I knew the answers," he says. "But I had to hear them
from her."
Still, he didn't really get them. Pelzer has come to realize that there
is no answer to the biggest question that arises in child abuse cases:
Why?
His grandmother abused his mother; his mother abused him. Perhaps his
voice annoyed her. Perhaps she saw him as the weakest and most timid
of her sons. Pelzer long ago stopped trying to figure it out.
Because there is no explaining the horrible depths of her abuse.
Pelzer was in therapy a few times, but said he found the nature of traditional
therapy not very helpful.
"My work is my therapy," he says today. Humor and kindness
are his constant allies.
He can easily lapse into his Arnold Schwarzenegger routine. Or tell
a joke. Or deliver a thoughtful thank you. But his past is always there.
During a recent interview, when a particularly personal question was
posed, David Pelzer stopped. He could feel it coming. The stuttering.
The same stuttering he had when he was a little boy in that basement.
"Sometimes, I can't help it," he says. "It just takes
over my whole body."
National statistics suggest that one in five children is abused - sexually,
physically or mentally - each day. Shirley Fitzgerald, a local foster
parent, sees the victims of that abuse. The frightened faces. The burn
marks. The broken spirits.
The first time Fitzgerald went through one of Pelzer's seminars, she
couldn't help thinking of a little boy she'd read about. A little boy
who broke her heart. A little boy who died at his stepmother's hands.
A.J. Schwarz.
"We kept saying, `This is A.J. all over again,' " said Fitzgerald,
remembering the 10-year-old Lantana boy who died three years ago.
A.J.'s stepmother degraded him. She made him walk to school when the
others were driven. She served his food on the floor, next to the cat
litter box. She beat him. Made him run naked through the neighborhood.
"Just like me!" Pelzer says, as though he still finds some
kind of strange solace in knowing he was not alone way back then. "It's
almost like these freaks, these people, use some kind of genetic handbook."
There are differences, certainly. A.J.'s stepmother went to prison.
Pelzer's mother did not. A.J. Schwarz died. Pelzer is very much alive.
"But Dave Pelzer will tell you," says Fitzgerald, "that
had he not been rescued that day, he'd be dead."
In May, Dave Pelzer carried the Olympic torch through a pretty little
section of Napa Valley in northern California. And he allowed his mind
to wander, his soul to dream.
He imagined that his childhood had been happy. That his parents had
loved him. That they were alive today, sitting along the street as he
rounded the corner with the blazing torch, smiles lighting their wrinkled
faces.
Some dreams can never be realized.
And some dreams can. Today, Pelzer lives in California in a house along
the green banks of the Russian River. This is where he plays with his
son. Swims with him. Laughs with him. This is where, when Pelzer was
a very young child, he would go with his family to vacation.
This is where his mother once held him tenderly, a long, long time ago.
Dave Pelzer will hold a four-hour seminar, Through the Eyes of a Child,
beginning at 9 a.m. today in Science Lecture Room 154 at PBCC, Lake
Worth Road and Congress Avenue. Limited seats are available to the public
on a first-come basis.
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HRS WILL LOSE DISTRICT CHIEF AFTER NOV. 15
The Palm Beach Post
October 15, 1996
Author: BARBARA FEDER
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The word had been buzzing around the state Department of Health and
Rehabilitative Services for weeks, but on Monday, local HRS chief Suzanne
Turner made it official:
After three years directing the 2,000-employee district office in Palm
Beach County, Turner has resigned to become "chief executive officer"
for Home Safe, a local nonprofit agency for abused children. Nov. 15
is her last day.
Turner, 53, will replace Home Safe Executive Director Mike VanWagoner
as the agency's top administrator, leaving VanWag-oner's future there
uncertain.
In her new job, which begins Nov. 18, Turner will be responsible for
creating a "managed care" approach to helping abused and neglected
children.
What that means: Right now, abused children are shuttled between hospitals,
police stations, HRS and lawyers' offices to be examined and interviewed.
Instead, Home Safe is building a "one stop" shelter where
police, HRS investigators, doctors and others can interview children
in a comforting, "kid-friendly" environment. The center, at
John Prince Park, is scheduled to open in January.
Turner will also oversee what could be a radical restructuring in the
way the county delivers services to abused children.
Instead of giving lump-sum payments to each agency that helps such children,
Home Safe, HRS, the Children's Services Council, the Department of Juvenile
Justice and other agencies have proposed putting that money into a "bank"
in which dollars would "follow the child" for each service.
They have applied for a $925,000 federal grant to start the "managed
care" approach.
"It's an absolutely revolutionary situation," said trial attorney
Robert Montgomery, Home Safe's board chairman, who cited Turner's "vast
experience" with the county's child protective system as the reason
Home Safe hired her.
Home Safe first offered the $100,000 position to former interim Hope
House director Tom Watkins but was outbid by the Economic Council of
Palm Beach County, a business lobbying group which Watkins now directs.
"I'm extremely excited," Turner said on Monday, noting that
Home Safe's slightly more relaxed schedule will give her a chance to
spend more time with her family in Indiana. "It's a challenge.
The current system is dysfunctional."
Just how dysfunctional is something Turner, a former director of Indiana's
Division of Family and Children, learned all too well. Just hearing
the names A.J. Schwarz, Christina Holt and Pauline Cone still makes
her wince.
What Turner says she learned, and will take to her new job: where the
system's "shortcomings" - in money, people and training -
lie.
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TURNER WILL KEEP KIDS HOME SAFE
The Palm Beach Post
October 20, 1996
Author: FRAN HATHAWAY
They laughed when I suggested it might have been a difficult decision.
"Hey, more money, less hassle - what's to decide?"
But when Suzanne Turner became director of Home Safe last week, I suspect
it was with a poignant backward glance at the many public agencies she
has served.
Home Safe is a wonderful concept. It will deal more sensitively with
abused children by coordinating all law enforcement and social services
in one place. The nonprofit group's homelike $1.6 million facility is
nearing completion in Lake Worth.
It's the first agency of its kind in Florida, and Ms. Turner, county
administrator of Florida's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services,
is exceptionally well-qualified to run it.
But was the lure mainly money? She will earn $100,000, compared with
nearly $83,000. But she hesitated, she told me, because state benefit
packages tend to be richer than nonprofits'. At 53, one looks more closely
at pensions.
Was it less hassle? That depends on how one defines "hassle."
To those of us familiar with HRS' responsibilities, running the agency
seems a hellish job, even with a $144 million budget and 2,000 employees.
Every client represents a complicated, sometimes intractable problem.
When Ms. Turner came to Palm Beach County in August 1993, client records
were on 3-by-5 cards rather than computer disks. She faced a $4 million
to $5 million budget deficit, and that was just the first of the budget
cuts.
This year, the Legislature split HRS into a Department of Health and
a separate Department of Children and Families. Ms. Turner would have
run a smaller agency with the added responsibility of implementing welfare
reform.
A good time to bail out?
A pause.
"The term `bail out' implies you're in trouble and need to get
out," Ms. Turner says evenly. "Actually, welfare reform has
been pretty exciting. But Home Safe will give me a chance to concentrate
on an area I've probably had the most concern about - the abuse and
neglect of kids."
She was thinking, I'm sure, of 10-year-old A.J. Schwarz and 7-year-old
Christina Holt and 2-year-old Pauline Cone - the failures, the times
when abuse was not prevented.
After the deaths of these Palm Beach County children in 1994, Ms. Turner
appointed and vigorously led a Special Task Force on Child Protective
Services. With State Attorney Barry Krischer, she created a rapid-response
team of professionals to investigate child homicides more quickly.
She wouldn't claim it's possible to prevent all child-abuse deaths,
especially when, as in these cases, children are killed by their parents
or stepparents. But she is quick to defend those in her agency who try.
"It's a crime the way the press has portrayed HRS," she says.
"There are many wonderful people striving every day to do what's
best for clients."
Raising morale at HRS has been one of her contributions. Another has
been getting social service agencies to work more with each other. She's
worked with scores of community groups, from business leaders involved
in work force development to the Weed & Seed program in one of Riviera
Beach's most needy neighborhoods.
She'll miss that variety. It's marked her whole career. She was also
a director in the Indiana Division of Family and Children, the Missouri
Division of Family Services, and the Kentucky Department of Social Services.
Such government jobs present big challenges when there's such social
turmoil. But they also offer special rewards. At Home Safe, she will
deal with the same pathology. But she may be able to fashion new solutions.
It's too bad Suzanne Turner is leaving HRS. It's good that she's staying
in Palm Beach County.
Fran Hathaway is an editorial writer for The Palm Beach Post.
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