Digital Extras

06/15/2003

Reporter Kate Bramson has received more than 100 e-mails in response to "Rape in a small town." She obtained permission to quote or feature excerpts from them, including full names where they are used. Use of a partial name or other identifier is at the writer's request in keeping with Journal policy. Some passages have been edited or condensed.

Please tell Laura it took me years to get to the point that she is at now. Her decision to tell someone about the rape and her family's support are probably a large part of that. Please tell her that eventually she will find a way to take her life back. It will never be the same as it was before she went into that basement, but it will be her life. Please tell her there will come a time when she only thinks about the rape once a day, if that. Please tell her that one day she will be able to embrace who she has become and her life. She will still mourn the life and person that was taken from her but she will be able to embrace the life she has forged for herself. Please tell her she is an inspiration.

A 32-year-old Cranston woman

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I am an Australian temporary resident in Rhode Island, with a 5-year-old daughter. Now in my forties, at times I think we all learned about rape long ago. Your story dispels that myth.

Bernadette Winfield-Gray, East Greenwich

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As I read [the story], I could not stop crying. My 7-year-old daughter wanted to know what was wrong and of course I thought of her in that horrific situation. Please send my prayers to Laura and her family.

Elaine Sisti, West Kingston

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When I was fourteen something very similar happened to me only not as severe, luckily for me. When all of my lifetime friends, my parents' friends, and all of our neighbors turned on me and stood by the man who sexually assaulted me, at fifteen years old (the age I was when I told my mom), to go through something like that had an effect on me that can never be reversed. Thank you for helping people see what it's like and what a young girl goes through when something like this happens, like it does so often.

Katie McKenna, 19

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After reading your story I thought of all the possible near misses in raising my three children. I can't even comprehend what I, as a father, would have done if he had laid a hand on my girl.

David J. Woods, Dighton, Mass.

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A similar thing happened to my best friend's sister, and she was forced to change schools too. I was one of the people who had to look out for her, and it sickened me. People were the same way to her as they were to Laura.

Jessica, Cumberland * * * * * *

Laura, you may not feel you are the girl you were before. But I think you will find the woman you are becoming will not only be a survivor, which you clearly are, but also a phoenix, rising from the ashes . . . I hope in the future that you find not all women are enemies, some of us actually stick together and support each other -- and that not all men are dogs -- some of them actually learn to be real men, like your father, who you can count on for protection, loyalty and love.

Julie Porter, Warwick

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I went from being a bright intelligent child at 15 to nothing. The power of a rape is amazing. The way it can bleed into all the other facets of your life and ruin them as well.

I admire Laura for the strength that she had that I didn't when I was also her age. I feel the same emotions. I thank Laura for her story of conviction. She is the young child that I wish I had been for myself.

Kim M. Parsons, formerly of Providence

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Your words could headline daily newspapers across America, as women become victims of this crime on a daily/hourly/as-I-write basis. However, many women do not come forward because they fear the same brutality that Laura has endured. I hope that your words have made Rhode Islanders stop and think, as turning one's head to ignore sexual offenses, closing one's eyes to not see violent acts, and blocking one's ears to not hear the cries of "victims" will not make this issue disappear.

Alison Miller, Warwick

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I am a 32-year-old full-time mother and sexual abuse survivor. As a teenager I was also called a "whore" and it haunts me to this day . . . There will always be those who choose to take the easier path and compound the pain of the victim; but, maybe someone will read your words and change their mind.

from Connecticut

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I am so glad that the family and Laura went public with her terrible experience. When will men realize that when a woman, or in Laura's case a young girl, says no she means no. Having two teenage granddaughters I now worry about what could happen to them.

Anne Connors, Warwick

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I had my two teenage daughters read the article . . . Both my daughters and myself admired [Laura's] courage and bravery . . . I can only imagine how difficult it was for her parents to endure this terrible ordeal, but they too handled the situation with a tremendous amount of dignity. It is our hope that she continues to persevere and to write about her experience in her own words, it is a story that needs to be told, especially since there are probably a number of girls who have experienced those horrific circumstances.

Meg Briggs, Exeter

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Please tell Laura that my husband and I are totally on her side. I wish that all of the people who read your story would be able to communicate with Laura to tell her how special she is, how brave she is and how nothing that happened was her fault.

Kirsten L. McAleer, Newport