As this kid headed toward the staff dining area Smith his fat sweaty self, stood there checking out the kids every step. Truth is this kid was not only confused as to why he was even there, he was sick to his stomach with how this man looked at him. For the first time is this kids life he felt he had indeed been abused. Smith took this kid into the restroom to the side of staff dining room and forced him (not physical force but causing this kid to feel he had no choice but to do as Smith demanded) to perform oral sex on him. As the change in how Kershaw cottage operated became complete and in line with the other cottages this kid soon realized the incident with Mr. Brunson was the spark which would place him in the position to be used by Mr. Smith and other staff seeking favors from Smith for a period of time before it would stop.
For more than a year this skinny kid who made no secret he was gay would be sent to the kitchen whenever Smith requested no questions asked. It was no secret to any of the staff from counselors in the cottages to the social workers, teachers, administrators etc that Wade Smith was actively engaging in sexual acts with kids in the custody of the SC School for Boys yet no one did anything other that enable him to do so. It was shortly before this kid was released in the summer of 1975 that Smith stopped asking for him. The reason being the kid who Smith had been molesting for years who lived in Lee Cottage had returned to the school. It was summer of 1975 and without his knowledge the kid was being prepared for discharge in a plan between his mother & father that would have him moving to Colorado to live with his mother after some number of years.
He was discharged to his father in the summer of 1975 and went to live with his father, younger sister, step-brother & step mom in Camden, SC. He was born in Camden and had always lived there except for his time at the school or John de la Howe etc. At 13 yrs old after returning to his dad’s house it wasn’t long that people he and his family had known for years started showing up wanting to visit. One person in particular who we will use just his first name of Russell, showed up one evening wanting to talk to him. Russell was a few years older not sure exactly how many but enough that Russell had his own vehicle and drivers license. He found the visit somewhat strange because truth is while he knew Russell, knew his mom, aunt and cousins his whole life, he never really did hang with and interact with Russell at all. Turns out several of the letters this kid had written over the years to certain men along with people gossiping about how the kid was supposedly in love with another kid his own age he had considered his best friend had gotten to Russell. Little did this kid know (though he had suspected it) Russell apparently was Bi-sexual and thought maybe this kid returning home might provide him new opportunity in a small town where people where determined to remain in the closet at all costs. That is people other than this 13 year old kid who never felt the need to hide who or what he was even in a small SC town at a time that many would have liked to tie him to the back of a truck and drag him down a bumpy dirt road at high speed. Nor did this kid need, seek or even think about others approval or acceptance of him.
The move to live with his mother was still working its way through the social services process because due to the kid being under the supervision of family court there were certain procedures needing to be followed in what was called interstate compacts where one jurisdiction agreed to accept responsibility from another. Before the move took place the school year had started. As was the case with this kid, he found the structure and confinement of public school more than he cared for so he chose make his own schedule and it would soon result in his being expelled until he moved to live with his mom. To be clear for this 13 year old boy the most pressing matters in his life in the late summer early fall of 1975 were how the price of a pack of cigarettes suddenly rose to $0.50 a pack and how he was going to steal the boyfriend of the Sheriff’s niece who lived across the street from his dad. What is more surprising in contrast to the narrative of current day gay issues is this kid was clearly openly gay yet never once had issues with any other kids at school or people anywhere. No doubt many had things to say outside his presence but never once did anyone have the nerve to ever make any such statements in front of him. For the next two months or so from September to mid/late October 1975 he spent his time agreeing to give his grandfather a chance to get him to stop smoking by switching to a pipe his grandfather gave him and making sure to always get as close as possible to Pam’s (Pam was the niece of the county Sheriff who would turn out later to designate this kid as his #1 Sheriff’s Hall of Fame pain in the Ass, and his neighbor) boyfriend whenever he was across the street with Pam. He knew this kid liked him and he did his fair share of playing off of it with Pam having no clue.
October 1975 and the day had come. He and his dad made the drive from Camden to the airport in Columbia where he would board his first ever flight. He boarded Delta airlines flight which took him from Columbia SC to Chicago O’Hare where he would connect to another flight from Chicago to Denver. This was a time when smoking was allowed on flights and regardless of class you were served meal on flight taking place during normal meal times. From Denver he boarded a Frontier Airlines (not the new Frontier) flight to Pueblo Colorado where he was met by his mother whom he had not seen for several years. Arriving for his new life with his mom and step father his older sister was also reunited with him. The first course of business would be the expected. Get him enrolled in school. After having been enrolled in school for the first time in his now 14 years of life, he experienced his first encounter with someone who had a problem with his being openly gay. While outside during a lunch period in a common area students gathered, he suddenly heard scuffling behind him and turned to see what was going on. Immediately upon turning around he saw three Chicano students had taken down this white kid who had a switchblade type knife in his hand. He would soon find out the white kid was about to stab him from behind with that very knife when the three Chicano students saw what was taking place and had decided to stop him. Here you had this skinny, high pitched voiced open white faggot with the worst southern drawl accent you could ever have being protected from another white kid by three Chicano kid who had never even met this kid. That moment served as a turning point in so many ways. Remember this kid was not a easy mark and had never backed down from a fight in his life.
1975 Pueblo Colorado Eastside aka Dog Patch an area which you would not often find anyone who was not of Hispanic heritage and at nighttime guaranteed you wouldn’t find a white person driving through much less walking in. That was until this skinny white openly gay 14 year old kid from South Carolina arrived. The three Chicano students who had jumped the kid attempting to stab him lived in Dog Patch. Needless to say this kid and those three kids became friends with no problems as to his being gay or white. To this day the kid says those three guys in reality saved the life of the kid attempting to stab him. See as stated earlier, the one thing you never wanted to do was make this kid angry. Once he became angry it was as if he turned into the Hulk strength wise and worse, if he became angry at a specific individual who was seen as a threat, that anger and strength most often resulted in a bruising punishment inflicted on the threat. For the first time this kid enrolled in activities in school including ROTC, Swim team and Tennis team. All of which he soon became bored with. Like had always been the case he soon became bored with the structure and confinement of school but unlike in South Carolina, you were not immediately expelled for skipping class. This change of norm for him was something he wasn’t prepared for to say the least. At the same time this kid was beginning to see things differently for the first time. He was in what at the time seemed a different world. Suddenly he was in a place where different cultures, foods, music, religious practices were all on display compared to his previous life of everything being black & white, Baptists & Baptists.
Within a few weeks this kid started to redefine his accent and lose its southern drawl, he not only went to Dog Patch walking no less, he wanted to live in the community, he became interested in exploring foods other than fried chicken and grits, he wanted to know and understand the conflict between Chicano vs Mexican also referred to then as Wetback. To be clear yes there were some in Dog Patch who were not happy with this white kid suddenly feeling comfortable walking its street without fear. But those same individuals became some of his best and most sincere friends the rest of all their lives. They were impressed in this white kid fearing nothing and no one, his bold unfiltered expression of his opinion and his soon to be seen as trademark of not only being fearless in telling any guy he thought was hot that he thought that but his introducing himself when he met new people loudly, boldly and proudly as “Lorenzo Jotoloco”. It was just a couple of months before the honeymoon of being reunited with his mother after years before this kid would have his first incident where he was pushed into losing his temper. While this kid loved his mother more than life itself and had in fact defended her against an abusive drunk cop husband years earlier, the two when they got into an argument where tempers were lost, lets just say it wasn’t pretty and things got said that at the time were taken in a way that got authorities to act certain ways.
It was one of these times when both the kid and his mother got into an extremely heated argument and both said things that neither meant but when this kid got angry, it was as if he became of completely different person. The police were called (not because there was really any danger but throughout this kids short life span, one thing his mother had always felt and said was that she felt something was not right and everyone else was missing it) Police felt because of the level of anger in this kid it was best to do what was referred to as an emergency psych hold. It would be discovered years later this was a practice which was used far more than it was intended for. As such because the state hospital was located in Pueblo any emergency psych evals were taken directly to the hospital for admission. The law required the hospital make a determination as to whether they believed a person required further evaluation which had to be submitted to the Court. In this case it was the Juvenile Court Judge who was Donald Abrams at the time. His name is mentioned because we believe his actions and decisions should be recognized as he was truly a Judge who was more concerned with doing everything within his power to see kids become the best they can be in life. Having been taken to the hospital in cuffs and in a highly angry state was enough to make the hospital immediately file a request with the court for an extended evaluation period which by law entitled the patient to a hearing or jury trial to grant or deny it. We were now in 1976 and given the fact that kid was sent to live with his mom under an interstate compact other issues were involved in how the court could proceed. It didn’t help matters that despite being sent to live with his mom his dad still held custody of the kid.
While being evaluated the kid fell in love with his first crush in his new state. He as a Chicano kid who lived in Dog Patch and who was in a different cottage but that didn’t stop this kid from thinking the guy walked on water. As the time for evaluation was nearing its expiration date one of the Psych Tech’s accidentally mentioned to him the staff was asking the court for an additional 90 days. That was all it took to set this kid off and end in his being placed in four point restraints and injected with Thorazine. When the request was made the court noted that South Carolina officials had requested the kid be returned to their custody under the terms of the interstate compact as well as the fact that the parent with legal custody was his father. Shortly afterwards arrangements were made and the kid was flown back to South Carolina where upon landing in Columbia he was taken to the SC State Hospital. At 14 years old openly gay and extremely effeminate he was placed in a unit with adult patients. It was his third day in South Carolina and around eight at night when a male hospital worker called for the kid to go with him. The worker in his early to mid 20s, good looking tall black male began escorting the kid down a long hallway in one of the hospitals older buildings when the two were joined by a second hospital worker equally good looking it not slightly more than the first, black male muscle toned. After coming to a locked door one worker opened it where the three entered another hallway which was vacate and had no other people near. Maybe ten steps into the new hallway and both workers stop open a door that leads into a small supply room containing bedding, the workers enter the supply room with the kid closing the door behind them. Once inside the first hospital worker begins to kiss on the kids face and rubbing his arms while the second worker begins running his hand in the kids curly hair from behind while running his other hand down the kids back before massaging the kids buttocks. The first worker then reaches his hands under both arms of this kid and lifts him up as it he was a sack of potatoes, pulling him up against his body pressing the kids face against his filling the kids mouth with his tongue. The second worker reaches for the kids waist undoing his pants and begins to lower the kids pants and underwear. The entire time the kid is not resisting or objecting but its still important that this is a 14 year old kid who his engaged in sexual contact with two adult male State of South Carolina employees who took it upon themselves to initiate this activity with a kid.
The two hospital workers proceeded to have this 14 year old kid perform oral sex on both of them as well as both engaging in having anal sex by entering this kids anus. After having completed the desired sexual contact the kid was returned to his wing where he was told to take a shower and then go to bed. Two days after this took place the kid was allowed outside this locked wing where he found his way off the hospital ground and made his way to the Fort Jackson Army base where his older brother was currently assigned. His brother surprised as well as realizing something wasn’t right obtain permission to leave base, after contacting the kids dad the brother drove him to Camden about 25 miles away where his dad and sheriffs deputies met them. The kid was taken to the Reception & evaluation center on Broad River road where he had been on multiple occasions over the years where he was held until being transferred back to the school for boys in Florence. It turned out that the kids dad and SC officials were already in the process of his dad surrendering custody to his mother which would allow the state to release him back to his mother in Colorado allowing the State of South Carolina to once and for all rid itself of what we are certain they saw as a burden or more appropriately huge pain in the ass. As we all know government processes are not exactly completed quickly and that was no different in 1976 in this case. The kid was returned to school for boys and Kershaw cottage no less. Shortly after his return a counselor had let him know his stay would be short as the state was in the process of securing his return to his mother. The counselor however didn’t realize that information was not supposed to have been disclosed to the kid yet. In the second week after his return to the school this kid was once again taken by a new counselor hired after the kids last discharge, and taken to one of the old two story cottages that hadn’t been used for anything in decades other than storage in their basements. But this counselor didn’t know anything about this kid, especially the part about how becoming angry results in him having a strength unheard of. In the room the counselor is clear the kid is there for sexual purposes, but the counselor failing to know anything about this kid turned out to be a big mistake for him. See the new counselor did indeed expect to be sexually serviced by this 14 year old kid, but this counselor had a different idea as to what sexaully serviced meant. Turned out this counselor enjoyed obtaining sexual service by force. He wanted to degrade and obtain sexual service through forced submission. His mistake was not knowing you don’t try to force this kid to do anything, not to mention you don’t strike this kid in any manner thinking you are going to make him cry or beg you to stop. What you will and he did get in return for not knowing this kid was a broken nose and four teeth knocked out of his mouth. What he did not get was sexual satisfaction or fired from the state because there had already been decades of the school enabling, supplying kids to its employees to use sexually and doing nothing about it, with that one noted exception of Mr. Brunson who it is believed was only fired because he threatened other staff without knowing the school had a history of allowing staff to have sexual contact with the kids in its custody.
As a result this kid was put in Sumter Cottage aka the Flat Top Hotel or the jail style cottage until being transferred to what was considered the states actual juvenile jail John G Richards in Columbia. Once at John G Richards this kid was placed in a building which was like a prison cell block with barred cells down its length on two floors. The kid was told that he was going to be charged with criminal assault charges but that never happened nor would it have ever happened. Truth is this kid was seen as a threat to the secrets that were only secrets to those outside the system of what takes place at the school. There was no way the State of South Carolina and its Division of Youth Services was going to risk this kid exposing them. Instead the kid was held in a cell for two weeks as the state moved as fast as they could to complete the process of moving this kid back to his mother.
The day came and the kid again was put on a plane to Colorado. Upon arriving he was surprised to find the decision had been made that he would go home to his mom with the hope things were better and there would be no need for any other actions. Things went fine for a few months but as had always been the case when this kid and his mother lived together the smallest disagreement got turned into a full-blown knock down drag out situation. He and his mother many years later came to the agreement & conclusion that they are just so connected emotionally and so much alike that neither could deal with disagreement, contradiction of the other. Both had to been in complete & total control of all things at all times when it concerned them. As soon as he returned to his mom’s he was determined to find the love of his young life he had fell for at the hospital. Jerry Vigil was in his mind the finest most desiring man on earth. Jerry and his family lived in Dog Patch at the time and of course he was immediately going to the neighborhood he felt the most free in. While he fell for Jerry the feeling was not ever confirmed mutual. Jerry loved the attention because of course it made girls more interested in him as if they were competing. But Jerry remained friends always. About three months after returning to his moms they had yet another confrontation which resulted in the kid deciding he would simply leave. After not returning home for the evening his mom reported him as a runaway. Another unusual note about this kid is his eyes are always dilated except in cases where bright light is shown directly into his eyes, whereas most people just out in normal daylight will not have dilated pupils. This quirk immediately cause Pueblo Police to always immediately think the kid was high on drugs, they always immediately told his mom he was high on something because his eyes were dilated big time. Despite his mom telling them his eyes are naturally dilated and have been his whole life it didn’t stop them from literally making part of their official maintained record on this record claim he is/was high on some unknown drug every time they ever made contact with him. A few days after his mom reported him as a runaway he was picked up by local police.
