EVERY MAN MUST ENDURE A SEX SCANDAL

I am well aware that The Brownsville Observer's Jim Barton is featuring a sex scandal involving my second of five sisters and me when she was a sophomore and I was a senior in high school, which would have been in 1968. It has been two years since my sister sent him a letter denouncing me for sexual abuse. He called me and I told him I would appreciate it if he didn't print her lies. He chose to sensationalize her version instead. 

I intend to tell the whole story in the near future. The truthful version deserves its 15 minutes of fame, but in a brief outline I will address some of the prevarications she promulgates. No fondling took place as she asserts. To her credit, she is kind enough to refrain from accusing me of rape.

Her diatribe doesn't end with me. She avers that my parents told her there was nothing wrong with rape. She ranted that another sister nearly beat her to death and raved that a brother abused her son. She says that the rest of her siblings ostracized her because of her threatened actions. Her screed that Barton considers one of the four gospels eventually dissolves into incoherency.

Prior to declaring war on the family, she lost a court case in which she tried to gain custody of her granddaughter from her daughter-in-law. She went for the mother's jugular. By contrast, her rages against myself, my parents and my siblings almost sound courteous. She spent thousands of dollars on her quixotic quest, but in the end her efforts proved futile and the court returned the child to her mother.

She has not been the same since this ruling and has unleashed her fury on her family. We are a convenient scapegoat because the playing field is narrowed to a she-said/he-said brawl. She knows that she will have her sympathizers, like Barton, who will take her word against those whom she has designated as the enemy.

This is a thumbnail sketch of both the present and past realities. I am biding my time. I am drinking my wine. I am polishing my pen. I am waiting for the right time. I may be pouring gas on the fire now, but I have to strike a match in order to bring some light to the darkness. Even those who despise me recognize that if you step into the ring with me, I will be throwing punches too.

In general, I am employing Muhammad Ali's rope-a-dope strategy that he utilized against the invincible George Foreman. The experts predicted a young and formidable Foreman would kill an aging and declining Ali. For seven rounds Foreman pounded Ali who lessened the punishment by leaning back on the ropes and protecting himself. In the eighth he suddenly attacked an exhausted Foreman with a flurry of punches and kayoed him with a right.

I am going to allow my detractors to take their best shots, including Barton. Seventy five years old, I have had many persons flip on me without ever comprehending the reason or reasons for the change in their behavior. 

I have always treated Barton with respect and I have gone to great lengths to promote his blog. Whenever I see him in a social situation, I buy him a beer and we chat cheerfully. Why he has determined that my sister's allegations against me and my family meet the criteria for publishing befuddles me, but everyone has his or her own version of yellow journalism. It is safe to say that I will not be buying Barton any beers in the future.

There is a much bigger issue at stake in this unfortunate circumstance. When one is the target of a sexual misconduct charge, the alleged victim must establish his or her credibility. As much as the alleged victim insists that a life has been destroyed, he or she is also destroying a life. There are facts and there is fiction and a foundation for veracity must be established.

When you are on the receiving end of these terrible charges, you begin to think, even if you're a Democrat, that maybe the treacherous and traitorous Trump is telling the truth and the women are lying in pursuit of a cash award. 

California has a victim's fund. My sister says she received a settlement as a result of her lies. I certainly never paid her a cent. I find it odd that I was never contacted as a result of a purported investigation, but these are details that can wait until my next installment as this tragedy plays out..