By Donna Westfall – February 9, 2017 – Ordinarily you hear that when you’re arrested and awaiting trial you are innocent until proven guilty. But in this sad saga, the deck has been stacked against a very nice, moral, fundamentalist Christian couple trying to raise their large family with old fashioned values.
The husband has been sitting in jail going on four years. His parental rights have been terminated without benefit of trial. Try to tell me he is not considered guilty and the potential jury pool hasn’t been tainted when all of that has already taken place. The wife does not have any charges against her, but is treated by many in the public as guilty by association. Her parental rights were also terminated.
Judy Ranger brought over two large boxes filled to the brim with legal paperwork. As we went through them, she handed me a letter dated from 2013 from a long-term friend. It was a letter written to the former Editor of the Triplicate in response to a story they published on October 10, 2013, “C.C. Man faces sex crimes charges” by Reporter Anthony Skeens. From the tone and tenor and bias of his article it is apparent to me that he did not read the court files and transcripts. This is the type of biased inflammatory reporting we have become so used to from the Triplicate which along with banning people from writing into their publication has led to cancellations of subscriptions.
On December 20, 2013, Jane Chastaine D’Alaine Christmas, wrote a letter to former editor, Richard Wiens, which the Ranger attorney at that time advised not to publish so it wouldn’t taint the jury pool. But, as the years went by, Judy Ranger states that the jury pool has already been tainted. As we go through Jane’s letter, remember it’s dated 2013. Both Judy and Jane gave me permission to print Jane’s letter today’s date. Also keep in mind that the “teenager” referred to is now 21 years old. Even though Supreme Court rulings allow minor children’s names to be used in newsworthy stories, we have chosen for now not to do so. In red, I have deleted the number of children in this family for the time being.
Now that letter to editor published for the first time:
“Dear Mr. Wiens;
I am sorry to have to inform you that the allegations contained in the above captioned article are entirely fictional.
I have been acquainted with the Ranger family for approximately 15 years. During their residence in Crescent City, I had the pleasure of visiting them in their home; we had many long discussions about their religious faith and their efforts to bring up their (# of children deleted by Editor Donna Westfall) children in accordance with Biblical principles. The allegations brought against Bryan Ranger are so far out of character as to be termed insane.
Apparently, the Rangers’ eldest daughter became very angry at her father, first for insisting that she stay with their family until she is of age, and secondly for demanding that she return an expensive gift from an alcoholic lecher more than twice her age. Hell bent on punishing her father for going against her wishes, this determined young teenager concocted a series of sleazy sex/molesting stories that have no basis in fact. It is obvious that this rebellious young lady (who is otherwise a fairly talented fiction writer) is getting a thrill out of upsetting her parents’ apple cart and causing a great deal of hardship for everyone, including the breakup of what was once a lovely Christian family.
This kind of situation makes things very difficult for law enforcement, social services, law courts and other agencies charged with protection of underage girls, which agencies are left with the unenviable choice of appearing to be insensitive to this kind of crime (even if, as in this case, the crimes never occurred) or swallowing idiotic guilt from a story-telling teenager who is mad at her Dad. Reminding everyone that this is still the U.S. of A. where the accused are held innocent until proven guilty, irregardless of how closely related they are to their accusers.
Sorry this is such a horrible subject. Merry Christmas to you and your staff at the Triplicate, anyway.
Sincerely,
Jane Chastaine D’Alaine Christmas
(a former investigator)”
Stay tuned to Part 2 – the Response to Motion in Limine by Attorney William Cater; and the dollars and cents of placing children in foster care and adopting them out.
