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Posted on 05/01/2002 4:03:29 PM PDT by FresnoDA
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—Thomas K. Arnold
Talk show host Rick Roberts made headlines with his KFMB-AM radio show about Damon and Brenda van Dam’s allegedly swinging lifestyle. But he wasn’t the only radio personality—or media outlet—to cast a critical eye on the backstory of the Danielle van Dam kidnapping case.
John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, whose John and Ken Show airs weekdays from 3 to 7 p.m. on Los Angeles station KFI-AM, devoted three shows to the case, even traveling to San Diego to broadcast from the van Dams’ Sabre Springs neighborhood. The week before that, they were the first to cast aspersions on the van Dams, a full day before the Roberts broadcast.
The Millennium Children’s Fund had just announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the safe return of Danielle. Fund administrator Douglas Pierce had visited with the van Dams, and the next day he called a press conference in Los Angeles at which he voiced suspicions about the couple’s behavior. For an hour, Pierce blasted the van Dams for their apparent lack of emotion and general rudeness to him.
“I don’t know how much was true and how much was hysterical, but that’s what made it fascinating. We tried to unravel it on the air,” Kobylt says. “In retrospect, I think he did peg their personalities very well—the lack of emotion, the detachment, the obsession with the media message—and perhaps he got the vibe that they live a different life than most people.”
As soon as Pierce finished on-air, John and Ken introduced their next guests: an angry Damon and Brenda van Dam, who lambasted Pierce as a nut case. “We had scheduled them in advance, but when they heard Doug was on the show, they canceled, only to change their minds right before show time,” Kobylt says.
After the interview, John and Ken picked apart the conversation and spoke critically about the van Dams’ lack of emotion and their defensiveness about questions pertaining to their own behavior and actions the last night Danielle was seen. The next day, the swinger story broke in The San Diego Union-Tribune—furthered that evening on San Diego radio by Rick Roberts.
“It’s a very dramatic story,” says Kobylt. “Everybody got obsessed with it pretty quickly... We have a pretty fair audience in San Diego—we’ve even made it into the top 10 on occasion—and we started getting calls from people who live in the neighborhood and know the van Dams. As a result, it might as well have been in L.A. I tend to look at the whole [Southern California] area as the same, anyway.”
(By press deadline, the van Dams could not be reached for comment by San Diego Magazine.)
Quoting the proverbial unnamed sources “close to the probe,” the Star reported that later-arrested suspect David Westerfield “was aware of the van Dams’ sexual activities and had approached Brenda about hosting a sex-swap party in his house.” The Star said Brenda had admitted to police “that the couple belonged to a swingers’ club called Club CB” and that sources say she “flirted outrageously and danced with Westerfield” the Friday night Danielle disappeared. “He [Westerfield] knew that Brenda and her friends were sexually involved, and he wanted to be part of the action, but for whatever reason, he was not invited by Brenda to accompany her and her four friends back to her home that night for more partying and sex,” the Star says it was told by a source.
Except maybe all of what we aren't forced (by bad publicity) to give to the search organization. And oh, just a little "drivin' around" money...
FAITH:
Main Entry: 1faith
Pronunciation: 'fAth
Function: noun
(2) : complete trust
TRUST:
Main Entry: 1trust
Pronunciation: 'tr&st
Function: noun
1 a : assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b : one in which confidence is placed
Main Entry: per·se·cu·tion
Pronunciation: "p&r-si-'kyü-sh&n
Function: noun
Date: 14th century
1 : the act or practice of persecuting especially those who differ in origin, religion, or social outlook
2 : the condition of being persecuted , harassed, or annoyed
Pronunciation: 'bash
Function: verb
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1750
transitive senses
1 : to strike violently : HIT; also : to injure or damage by striking : SMASH -- often used with in
2 : to attack physically or verbally
Main Entry: pred·a·tor
Pronunciation: 'pre-d&-t&r, -"tor
Function: noun
Date: 1912
1 : one that preys, destroys, or devours
CHILDREN have been PREYED upon by PEOPLE the parents TRUST.
Predators have found exploited the faith of the parents.
Pedophile Teachers exploited the faith of the parents. (some people have lost faith in the public education system)
Pedophile Priests, pedophile uncles, pedophile neighbors and friends have exploited the trust (er faith) of the parents of their victims.
Some parent's faith in ''people'' has been undermined because they were victimized by predators.
1 : the act of preying or plundering : DEPREDATION
2 : a mode of life in which food is primarily obtained by the killing and consuming of animals
We should make the assumption that a disrupter is one who is not interested in sharing information. The common disrupter does nothing but makes personal attacks or spends most of his/her time making personal attacks.
The common disruptor is rude, obnoxious, and twists the words of others. Distracting people from the debate and attempting to ruin the credibility of others gives him great joy and pleasure. The disruptor wants to control the forum until everyone either leaves in disgust or he/she gets what he/she wants.
And with that, it's time to enjoy this lovely day..
Faith does not make one weak. Believers were advised by Jesus to be "wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove." I find nothing wise nor harmless about the van Dams' behavior on the night of their daughter's disappearance. This is just more deflection of the parent's bad behavior onto people whose children have been molested by priests.
I have a personal observation to offer in that regard. When my son was in second grade we enrolled him in a Christian school. It was sponsored by a small church. One Sunday the pastor was just not there anymore after having celebrated his twentieth anniversary at that congregation just the week before.
I asked around and no one would say very much. Finally a mother of one of my son's classmates told me what happened. It turns out that the pastor was a homosexual. (he was married and the father of four children) The only way he was caught was that one day he came onto a teenage boy in the high school when he was counseling him. The boy very smartly rejected his advances and went home and told his parents. The parents contacted the assistant pastor and the principal and they began to keep a close eye on the pastor. They noticed that he had men who were not members of the church coming in to see him quite often. They caught him in the act with one and the pastor was gone the next day. Parents of teenagers were contacted quietly and counseling was available. The church handled the situation well. In that case the Christians were not "weak" and many eyes were opened. We knew that there could be wolves among the sheep.
The van Dams apparentally were clueless and blind swingers, willing to put at risk their own children. Faithless people. Faithless to each other and faithless to their children. It is probable that the only time they have ever considered the word "Faith" was when they heard George Michael sing it. It was probably one of the songs that Brenda danced to.
sw
In my opinion, only someone who is unfamiliar with faith would say that it does, or that having faith is something to be "exploited." It was not the faith that the priests exploited, it was the innocence of youth.
We should make the assumption that a disrupter is one who is not interested in sharing information. The common disrupter does nothing but makes personal attacks or spends most of his/her time making personal attacks.
The common disruptor is rude, obnoxious, and twists the words of others. Distracting people from the debate and attempting to ruin the credibility of others gives him great joy and pleasure. The disruptor wants to control the forum until everyone either leaves in disgust or he/she gets what he/she wants.
Funny how, from where I sit, your little description looks exactly like how I see you.
The thing is, when you don't appear on these threads, we all get along fine. No one gets threads pulled. No info is lost. (Yes, I know you deny doing this, but I don't believe you.) Few if any flame wars. People intelligently express their views, and talk about the known facts. Then along comes Kim, with her Carnival of Distorted and Invented "Facts," complete with the Amazing Bleach Stories, the Astounding AWOL Charge, and the Ever Growing Number of Child Porn Images. (But wait! There's more! There's always more!)
The discussion then stops while everyone tries to correct her usual litany of misinformation. People leave the thread. It's like trying to talk while a circus is going through your living room. Which, in fact, it is.
And you call me a disruptor? You are the embodiment of disruption.
I found information here on this thread that apparently Rich, Keith, and the 2 girls were not the only ones invited back to the Van Dam's.
It would appear Brenda invited other strangers at the bar back to her house.
Now, Dad's closed, Brenda and the girls leave, then have to come back after the pack of cigarettes (my guess is the reason they had to come back after them is that is where the joints were). What if Brenda gave one/more of these strangers directions to her house? (I believe it was very close, about 5 minutes).
Back at the VD home, Damon played video games with the boys, Damon was going snowboarding on Sunday with the boys, Damon did this, did that , with the boys.
Danielle reads books, writes in her diary. Writes, "daddy, please love me" (this from Daniel Pierce).
Mommy was with her girlfriends earlier in the day. Mommy went partying with her girlfriends at the bar. Mommy doesn't come home until 2,230am and parties with here friends. Daddy (supposed to be babysitting) allegedly was partying with a female neighbor friend sometime between 830pm and the 2am time Brenda and friends come home anyway.
No wonder Danielle could have written, " daddy, please love me" in her diary. NOBODY HAD TIME FOR DANIELLE.
Someone tell me, what do children do, when no one will spend time with them ???????
Danielle, according to her brothers, had gotten out of the yard, OUT A LOCKED GATE, and gotten in trouble for it before.
So..... what if that evening, after DAD puts her to bed, or later during the party in the garage, she sneaks out? She could have been abducted by any kind of weirdo if she was walking down the street late at night.
I think this may have had a lot to do with the Van Dams behaviour. It's not that they were involved in Danielle's murder directly, or any of their friends, or Westerfield. It is that they had already abandoned the child mentally, due to selfish behaviour, and probably suspected Danielle had runaway. They were hoping she would be found, but once she wasn't, and everyone figured she was dead, the Van Dam's needed a scapegoat. Westerfield became that goat.
NOPE. Not at all. LIFE on FR would suck. First, you would never learn anything new. Second, it would be boring as hell.
Ever see the TWILIGHT ZONE episode where the guy wishes everyone was just like him? And he gets his wish ?
Bad thing.
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