CAR-PGa NEWSLETTER
Vol. 26, No. 8
An international network of researchers into all
aspects of role-playing games
August 2017
David Millians, Editor
Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de Leon Avenue,
Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA
ARTICLES
Texas Couple Exonerated 25 Years After Being
Convicted of Lurid Crimes that Never Happened
By Jordan Smith
June 20, 2017
From Intercept
Twenty-five
years after they were convicted of a crime that never happened, Fran and
Dan Keller were formally exonerated on June 20 in Austin, Texas.
The
couple’s prosecution in 1992 was part of a wave of cases across the country
amid an episode of mass hysteria known as the Satanic Panic. Beginning in the
1980s, accusations flew that the childcare industry had been infiltrated by
bands of Satanists hell-bent on brainwashing and sexually abusing young
children. The Kellers’ exoneration closes a decades long chapter of profound
injustice of for a couple that paid an exceptionally high price for the
credulousness of local law enforcement.
“I
still can’t believe it’s happening,” Fran, now 67, said on Tuesday morning
while driving with her husband to sign the legal paperwork. She’s still wary;
they’ve been waiting for this day for so long she isn’t yet sure it is real. “I
guess I’m just tired of having to hang on for so long.”
Dan,
75, is slightly more upbeat — he always thought this day would come. He
recalled a sleepless night in prison in 1995 when he said he heard God. “He
said, ‘You’re going home, but I have some things to sort through first.’” Dan
said he slept soundly that night. “We have to try to not have doubt in our
life.”
The
exoneration is the first for the nascent conviction integrity unit of the
Travis County District Attorney’s Office under the new DA, Margaret Moore.
Court documents filed Tuesday announced that there is “no credible evidence”
against the Kellers. Moore said she personally reviewed the case and believes
exoneration “to be a just outcome.”
Fran
and Dan Keller were each sentenced to 48 years in prison for the alleged sexual
assault of a 3-year-old girl who was an occasional drop-in at their home
daycare center on the rural outskirts of Austin. The child initially accused
Dan of spanking her “like daddy” used to, but under intense and repeated
questioning by her mother and a therapist, the story morphed to include claims
of rape and orgies involving children. From there, the number of children
alleging abuse increased and the accusations grew even more lurid and
confounding: The Kellers had sacrificed babies; they held ceremonies in a local
graveyard; they put blood in the children’s Kool-Aid; Fran cut off the arm of a
gorilla in a local park; they flew the children to Mexico to be sexually
assaulted by military officials.
When
I began reinvestigating the case in 2008 for the Austin Chronicle, I was
stunned to learn that police and prosecutors who had worked the case back in
the early ’90s still believed some of the most outrageous allegations leveled
against the Kellers. The Austin Police Department refused to release its investigative
report on the case, forcing the Chronicle to take the agency to court. We
ultimately won the right to full, unredacted access.
After
reading the report, it was not hard to understand why the department had fought
to keep it secret. It was an ALL-CAPS, run-on-sentence fever dream full of
breathless accusations and absent any actual investigation that could prove or
disprove the claims. On multiple occasions, the lead investigator took the
girl who accused the Kellers to lunch at McDonald’s before setting out for
drives in the neighborhood where she would point out locations: Yes, she had
been abused there; yes, she recognized the cemetery where the Kellers had
killed and buried babies; yes, many of the residents of the quiet neighborhood
were in on the hi-jinx. Not once did investigators question the child’s
statements.
My
investigation of the Keller case turned up evidence that would ultimately lead
to their release from prison. The only vaguely physical evidence that tied the
couple to any wrongdoing was the testimony of a young emergency room doctor
named Michael Mouw, who had examined the girl and concluded there was damage to
her vaginal area that could be the result of sexual abuse. As it turned out,
the doctor was wrong. Mouw told me that not long after the Kellers were
convicted, he attended a medical conference where he learned that what he had
interpreted as signs of abuse were nothing more than a normal variant of female
genitalia.
Mouw’s
medical opinion had fundamentally changed, offering the Kellers an avenue to
challenge their conviction. During a hearing in the summer of 2013, he
unequivocally stated that there was no doubt that the child’s genitalia was
normal and that he’d gotten it wrong when he examined her in 1991. He said that
he tried to reach out to the Austin Police Department after he realized his
error but was rebuffed by the detective, who was “convinced they were guilty.”
After
the 2013 hearing, DA Rosemary Lehmberg — who had been head of the office’s
child abuse unit at the time of the Kellers’ prosecution — ultimately agreed
that the couple had not received a fair trial, and they were released shortly
before Christmas that year. While there was no doubt the couple would not be
retried, over the intervening years, Lehmberg declined to take the final step
and exonerate them, claiming to my former editor that she could not “find a
pathway to innocence” for the Kellers. She was essentially trying to prove a
negative — seeking evidence that would prove a crime never happened.
Without
a formal exoneration, the Kellers struggled to rebuild their lives. They were
still saddled with a conviction for sexual assault of a child, which made it
nearly impossible to find work or a place to live. Without an income, they had
to scrape by with the help of family and food stamps, and they have not
been able to get the kind of medical attention they need for health issues
prompted in part by abuses they suffered in prison.
The
court filing Tuesday should pave the way for the Kellers to collect roughly
$1.7 million each in state compensation for the 21 years they spent behind
bars.
Still,
the outcome should not be considered a victory for the criminal justice system.
With a few notable exceptions, the law enforcement officials in Austin — police
and prosecutors, as well as the state's Court of Criminal Appeals ’s — failed
the residents of the city and more importantly the Kellers by accepting the
shocking allegations on their face and abdicating their duty to seek the
truth of the matter.
If
it weren’t for the dogged support of people like Mouw and attorney Keith
Hampton — who has spent more than six years toiling on the case for free in an
effort to bring about this exoneration — the Kellers would still be in prison,
and that is where they would have died.
Contrary
to what many people might think, you don’t have a right not to be convicted of
a crime you did not commit. For the most part, the Constitution is silent on
this point. Instead, the focus is on whether a person received a fair trial.
Did you have at least minimally competent lawyers? Were you afforded the
ability to cross-examine witnesses against you? If so, then your conviction —
even for a crime that never happened — should stand. Once a person is
convicted, the system works only to reinforce that outcome. That remains the
reality for untold thousands who sit innocent behind bars today.
“I’m
very happy for them, and this is huge for the ultimate resolution of this
case,” Hampton said of the Kellers. “We can’t give them their 21 years back,
but we are doing everything else we can to restore them. When we finally do
that, then they’ll be in a position to forgive us for what we as a society did
to them.”
From
Paul Cardwell, Jr.
Advanced Review Copy: Paperbacks from Hell
By M. Alan Thomas II
I obtained an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) of Paperbacks from Hell by
Grady Hendrix and noticed several sections that discussed the Satanic Panic,
including a two-page spread on Mazes
and Monsters and its imitators. I am attaching a scan of related
pages. It is all quite in our favor with the possible exception of the linking
of Silence of the Lambs with
the spike in FBI "serial killer" statistics, which is noted without
any argument for exactly what happened there. It doesn't claim that the books
caused serial killers; the phrasing suggests to me that the FBI started
classifying more cases as serial killers after they had entered the public
consciousness, but this isn't made explicit.
Because this is an ARC, the text is
subject to change before final publication. Indeed, there were a number of
"TK"s in the text, noting places that content needed filling in. I
would encourage someone to grab a copy when it comes out, go through it more
carefully, and update these scans.
Book Review: Stairway to Hell
By Ted Skirvin
The full title of this
book is Stairway to Hell: The Well-Planned Destruction of Teens. Rick Jones is
credited as the author. It was published in 1988 by Chick Publications. The
book indicates that Rick Jones worked as a counselor for six years at a
residential home for troubled teenagers. If that's true then I feel sorry for
those teens.
Reading this book was
painful. I had intended to read the entire thing but after I finally got to and
read the chapter on RPGs I had to give up. Chapter ten is the one about RPGs. I
feel that the RPG community worldwide owes me a great debt of gratitude for
having read chapters one through nine. It was torture.
The writing style of
this book seems like it might be fit for third-graders at best. It is only
slightly above the "Dick and Jane" type of school book. I suppose he
was trying to make sure that even a very poorly educated teenager could read
it.
Chapters one through ten
were a meandering collection of stories about teenagers either committing
murder or suicide under the influence of Satan. Throughout the book, Jones
claims that these kids were literally possessed by demons because they had
listened to rock music, had sex, used drugs, played D&D or simpler because
they rebelled against their parents.
Chapter ten is
specifically about D&D. He makes no mention of any other tabletop RPG.
Jones describes the game as encompassing genuine occult practices. He goes on
to talk about five murders, three suicides and one murder-suicide. He claims
that D&D caused demons to possess all the teenagers and incite them to
these various acts. He provides citations from seven newspapers and some other
sources to back up his claims. I did not attempt to investigate the citations.
He claims that page 25, paragraph 3 of the Deities and Demigods book
states:
"Serving a deity is
a significant part of D&D, and all players should have a patron god."
I don't have that book
so I can't look that up.
All in all, I would have
to say that reading this book was a strange combination of agonizing, boring, and
infuriating, but I think it is a worthy, if overdue, addition to our resources
in regard to keeping track of game-bashers.
NEW MATERIAL
FROM
JOHN BOARDMAN
Associated
Press (2017 May 12) Russian Convicted After Playing Pokémon Go in Church. The
New York Times. Suspended sentence for Rusian Sokolovsky.
Common
Sense Media (2017 May 12) King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. The Washington
Post. Advice for parents.
Dargis,
Manohla (2017 May 12) Young Lad, Big Sword, Brute Fore (Wink). The New York
Times. Review of film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Goldberg,
Harold (2017 June 4) A crowdfunded journey through hell is rife with horror.
The Washington Post, E24. Review of video game Pinstripe – An Adventure Through
Hell.
Dominus,
Susan (2017 June 10) Exit the Dungeon Master. Tonys Rehearsal is Calling. The
New York Times. Visiting playwright J.T. Rogers’ youthful game group.
O’Sullivan,
Michael (2017 May 12) The ancient myth gets a power-up. The Washington Post. Review
of film King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Parker,
Laura (2017 May 11) Fans Pledge Millions for a Chance to Play. The New York
Times, B7. Record-breaking crowdfunding project, video game Star Citizen.
Shaban,
Hamza (2017 June 1) Gaming is booming online, says new report. The Washington
Post. $100 billion in revenue.
Tsukayama,
Heyley (2017 June 10) Four things to watch for at E3, the Electronic
Entertainment Expo. The Washington Post. Microsoft’s Project Scorpio, big new
games, virtual reality.
FROM
HAWKE ROBINSON
Robinson,
Hawke (2017 July 19) MDA Summer Camp. www.rpgresearch.com/blog/rpg-research-at-mda-camp-july-2017. Hawke and his team
provide games and learning at the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s summer camp.
Robinson,
Hawke (2017 June 23) Which RPG System to Use? RPG System Impact on Play Style?.
www.rpgresearch.com/blog/game-system-impact-on-play-style. One size does not fit
all.
Robinson,
Hawke (2017 June 23) Wheelchair Friendly RPG Trailer Now has Ramp Extensions
thanks to a generous donation from Veteran referred by MDA. www.rpgresearch.com/blog/rpg-trailer-ramp-extension. News update.
Robinson,
Hawke (2017 July 13) Spocon 2017 Panels I will be participating in. www.rpgresearch.com/blog/spocon-2017-panels. Hawke’s schedule at
Sponcon in Spokane, Washington, August 11-13.
Robinson,
Hawke (2017 July 21) Story #X. www.rpgresearch.com/blog/rpg-story-of-the-day/rpg-story-day-template. Sharing stories of our
games with the public.
Robinson,
Hawke (2017 July 26) MDA Camp 2017 – “Battle Royale: The Summoning”. www.rpgresearch.com/blog/mda-camp-the-summoning. Introducing
participants to drumming, shield decorating, boffer LARP, and parallel tabletop
RPG.
Robinson,
Hawke () Role-Playing Game at the Spark Central, Spokane, WA, provided by RPG
Research volunteers. www.rpgresearch.com/about/at-spark-central. Introduction to
Tabletop Role-Playing Gaming, Friday, August 18.
FROM
M. ALAN THOMAS II
Hegewisch
Baptist (2010 November 15) Mass Deliverance: Occult Renunciation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnjY4Nn44f8. Video
of an attack on D&D by Win Worley, pastor at the Hegewisch Baptist Church
in Highland, Indiana, in 1992.
.
FROM
TED SKIRVIN
Stevens,
Christopher R. (2017) Game On: Principles of Game Design. pe.gatech.edu/courses/game-principles-game-design. Online course.
CALENDAR
New
listings this month were provided by Paul Cardwell, Lou Zocchi, and James
Means. Others are urged to submit information. If you attend a convention, be
sure and check the conventions table and let us have a copy of the fliers (or
at very least the when, what, where, and contact information) for upcoming
conventions available there. CAR-PGa is international, so this includes
anywhere in the world.
Dates,
precise venue, contacts' URLs or phone numbers, and other information, where
missing from this list, would be particularly appreciated.
"[LARP]"
means only LARP events as many RPG cons include at least some LARP, as likewise
applies to the mention of specific game systems. The same bracketed information
applies as well to game systems when the con will have only those games
present.
In
an attempt to get more face-to-face meetings of the membership, we list who
will be going to what convention, if they will tell us. Get this type of
information in at least two months before the convention itself, so we can run
it at least once. Support your local cons by helping in the staff. It is a good
way to promote RPG and you generally get in free for the brief time spent
helping.
A
review of any attended convention afterwards for the Newsletter would be
appreciated too. These reviews should include demographic data such as
attendance, percentage male/female, white/ethnic minorities (or what- ever is
the majority/white/others), games in addition to tabletop RPG, and more
subjective matters such as unusual events, quality of games and dealers' room,
encouragement of new gamers, and whatever seems worth reporting. We need to
work to restore CAR-PGa's reputation as the media's go-to on gamer
demographics, especially since the media are still citing a study that cut off
all those over 35 - at a time when that was the median age of gamers - it is
closer to 40 now - which indicates we also need to work on recruiting younger
players, although some increase in college age players at conventions has been
noted.
Conventions
are currently being compiled by archivist Paul Cardwell, 1127 Cedar, Bonham, TX
75418, orplcardwell@gmail.com so please send them there.
August 2017
4-6:
Ohio Comic Con, Greater Columbus Convention Center, 500 N High St, Columbus,
OH; wizardworld.com/home-ohio
5-6:
Hobart Winter Gamefest, Lenah Valley Community Hall, 22 Creek Rd, Lenah Valley,
Tas; tasmania.eventfinda.com.au/2017/7th-hobart
16:
Akua Con, Universal Lazer Family Fun Center, 15 1st St NW, Watertown, SD
17-20:
NecronomiCon, Providence Biltmore, Providence, RI; necronimicon-providence.con.com [Lovecraft]
18-20:
Geekfest, Mayborn Space Theater, Central Texas College, Killeen, TX; starsatnight.org/geekfest
18-20:
Starfleet International Conference, Crowne Plaza New Orleans Airport, New
Orleans, LA; ic2017.org
19-20:
Pensacola Comic Con, Pensacola Interstate Conference Bldg, 6655 Mobile Hwy,
Pensacola, FL; pensacolaparacon.com
24-27:
Wizard World Comic Con Chicago, Stevens Convention Center, 5555 N. River Rd,
Chicago, IL; wizardworld.com
25-27:
Bubonicon, Albuquerque Marriott Uptown, 2101 Louisiana Blvd NE (at I-40),
Albuquerque, NM; bubonicon.com
September 2017
1-4:
Dragoncon, Hyatt Regency, 265 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta, GA; dragoncon.org; Your humble editor
will be in attendance, running games in the Non-Campaign RPG track.
1-4:
Pacificon, Santa Clara Marriott, 2700 Mission College Blvd, Santa Clara, CA; pacificongameexpo.com
1-4:
PAX West, Washington State Convention Center, 800 Convention Place, Seattle,
WA; penny-arcade.com
1-4:
TCEP, Hampton Inn Washington/Dulles Airport, 22700 Holiday Park Dr, Sterling,
VA; barkingmad.org
8-10:
Impossible Realities, InterAction School of Performing Arts, 228 Germain
Street, Saint John, NB; impossiblerealities.com
8-10:
Queen City Conquest, Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, 153 Franklin St,
Buffalo, NY; queencitycon.com
23-24:
Monster-Con, Wonderland of the Americas Mall, 4522 Fredericksburg Rd, San
Antonio, TX; monstercon.com
28-October
1: Hurricon, International Palms Resort, Orlando, FL; hmgs-south.com [miniature wargaming]
28-October
1: Travellercon, Lancaster Host Resort, Lancaster, PA; travellercon-usa.com [primarily Traveller]
29-October
1: Monsterama, Marriott Alpharetta, GA 400 & Windward Pkwy, Atlanta
GA; monsteramacon.com
30:
Hall of Fame City Comic Con, Canton Civic Center, 1101 N. Market Ave, Canton
OH; hofcitycomiccon.com
30-October
1: Geek Girl Con, Washington State Conference Center, 800 Pike, Seattle,
WA; geekgirlcon.com
30-October
1: Schweinfurter Fantasy-Festival, Jugendhaus, Franz-Schubert-Str,
Schweinfurt; fantasy-festival.de
30-October
1: Sydcon, St. Scholastica's College, Glebe, NSW; sydcon.info
30-October
2: MOAB, Sylvania Heights Community Club, Box Rd, Sylvania, NSW; [mostly
wargame including fantasy]
October 2017
4-8:
NordlichtCon, Evangelischer Jugendhof Sachsenhain, Am Jugendhof 17, Verden an
der Aller; nordlichtcon. de
5-8:
New York Comic Con, Jacob Javetts Center, New York City,
NY; newyorkcomiccon.com
6-7:
Noble Con, West Richland Elementary, 320 E North Ave, Noble,
Il: noblecon.weebly.com
6-8:
CinCityCon, Sharonville Convention Center, 11355 Chester Rd, Cincinnati,
OH; cincitycon.com
6-8:
Contraflow, New Orleans Airport Hilton, New Orleans,
LA; contraflowscifi.org
6-8:
Con-volution, San Ramon Marriott, 2600 Bishop Dr, San Ramon,
CA; con-volution.com
6-8:
Fan Nexus, Spokane Copnvention Center, Spokane, WA; fannex.us
6-8:
Gaming Arts Media Expo, Springfield Expo Centre, Springfield,
MO; springfieldgame.com
6-8:
Great Falls Gaming Rendezvous, Holiday Inn, 1100 5th St S, Great Falls,
MT; gfgr.org
6-8:
Nuke-Con, Ramada Plaza, 3321 S 72nd St, Omaha, NE; nuke-con.com
6-8:
OctoGones, l'Espace Tête d'Or, 103 boulevard Stalingrad, Lyon/Villeurbanne.
France; octogones.org
6-8:
Realms Con, Omni Corpus Christi, 900 N Shoreline Blvd, Corpus Christi,
TX; realmscon.com
6-8:
SNAFUCon, JA Nugget, 1100 Nugget Ave, Sparks, NV; snafucon.com
6-8:
Southern Front, Holiday Inn, North Raleigh,
NC; trianglesimsociety.org [miniature wargames]
7-8:
Furnace, Garrison Hotel, 635 Penistone Rd, Sheffield,
SYorks; furnace.org.uk
7-8:
Nor'easter Gaming Expo, Black Bear Inn, 4 Godfrey Dr, Orono,
ME; eventbrite.com/e/noreaster-gaming-expo
7-8:
SparrenCon, LUNA Sennestadt, Lindemannplatz 1, Bielefeld; sparrencon.de
11-15:
Brasil Game Show, Expo Center Norte, São Paulo, SP; brasilgameshow.com.br
13-15:
Falcon, Downtown Sheraton, 700 E Main St, Stamford, CT; conncon.com
13-15:
OddCon, Park Inn, Telford; oddconuk.org
13-15:
Texas Broadside, USS Texas, La Porte,
TX; texasbroadside.webs.com [primarily historical wargaming]
13-15:
XenoCon, CASI Event Center, 1035 W. Kimberly Rd, Davenport,
IA; xenocon.org
13-15:
Big Bad Con, Walnut Creek Marriott, 2355 N Main St, Walnut Creek,
CA; bigbadcon.com [18+]
13-15:
Con-Stellation, Four Points, Huntsville Airport, 1000 Glenn Hearn Blvd SW,
Huntsville, AL; con- stellation
13-15:
Gamer Fete, MS Coast Coliseum, 2350 Beach Blvd, Biloxi,
MS; fearfest.com/gamer-fete
13-15:
Viking-Con, Tårnby Gymnasiuum, Kastrup, Denmark; viking-con.dk
l4-15:
Oddmall: Hallowondrous, Seagate Center, Toledo,
OH; hallowondrous.oddmall.info [Free admission]
14-16:
NEWGamepalooza, Gruenhagen Conference Center, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh,
Oshkosh, WI;newgamepalooza.com
19-22:
CastleCon, Best Western Plus, Oshawa, ON; castlecon.net
19-22:
ReaperCon, Lakeland Plaza, 1165 S. Stemmons Fwy, Lewisville,
TX; reapercon.com
20-22:
FlatCon, Interstate Center, 1106 Interstate Dr, Bloomington,
IL; flatcon.com
20-22:
GrandCon, DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, MI; grcomicon.com
20-22:
Necronomicon, Holiday Inn Tampa Westshore, 700 N Westshore Blvd, Tampa,
FL; stonehill.org
20-22:
Questcon, Arthur R. Outlaw Convention Center, Mobile, AL; questr-con.com
20-22:
ValleyCon, Baymont Inn, 3333 133th Ave. S, Fargo, ND; valleycon.com
20-23:
Kraken, Schloss Neuhausen, Bradenburg, Germany; the-kraken.de
21:
Greek Retreat, 38 The Priory, Queensway, Birmingham,
W.Mid; ukroleplayers.com
21:
Spaghetti Conjunction, Geek Retreat, Priory Queensway,
Birmingham; spaghetticonjunction.wordpress.com
21-22:
Central City Comic Con, Yakima Valley Sundome, Yakima,
WA; centralcitycomiccon.com
21-22:
WasabiCon, Lexington Hotel Riverwalk, Jacksonville, FL; wasabicon.com
21-23:
Milwaukee Summer Revel, Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield, 375 S. Moorland Rd,
Brookfield, WI;coldiron.roseocon.net
26-29:
Spiel, Messe Essen, Essen; merz-verlag.com
27-29:
Atlanta Game Fest, Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta, 5750 Windward Pkwy, Alpharetta,
GA;atlantagamefest.com
27-29:
Central Canada Comic Con, Winnipeg Convention Centre, Winnipeg,
MB; c4con.org
27-29:
Comikaze Expo, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles,
CA; comikaze.com
27-29:
Hallowcon, Quality Inn, East Ridge, TN; hallocon.com [horror]
27-29:
Kumoricon, Oregon Convention Center, Portlandf, OR; kumoricon.org
27-29:
Mile Hi Con, Hyatt Regency, 7800 E. Tufts Ave, Denver, CO; milehicon.org
27-29:
Oklahoma City Comic Con, venue unannounced, Oklahoma City,
OK;wizardworld.com/comiccon/OKC
27-30:
Gaelcon, Ballbridge Hotel, Pembroke Rd, Dublin: gaelcon.com
©
Copyright 2017 by the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games
(CAR-PGa), ISSN 1071 7129. The CAR-PGa Newsletter is a monthly publication. For
more information contact David Millians, Editor, Paideia School, 1509 Ponce de
Leon Avenue, Atlanta, Georgia 30307 USA, phone (404) 808-1070, fax (404)
377-3491, e-mail millians.david@paideiaschool.org. Back issues are
available. Contributions of material from the membership are urged, and the
byline is responsible for content. Deadline is the last weekday of the month,
email preferred. Permission is granted to copy anything in the Newsletter,
provided we get a credit line in the publication copying it, and it doesn't
have someone else's copyright on it. Information, including details on joining
CAR-PGa, can be obtained on the Internet at car-pga.org.
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