"We used to amuse ourselves by cynically dissecting spiritual beliefs and
practices when we might have observed that many spiritually-minded persons
of all races, colors, and creeds were demonstrating a degree of stability,
happiness and usefulness which we should have sought ourselves."
"Instead, we looked at the human defects of these people, and sometimes used
their shortcomings as a basis of wholesale condemnation. We talked of
intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves. We missed the reality and
the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of
its trees. We never gave the spiritual side of life a fair hearing."

Alcoholics Anonymous, pgs. 49-50

> "safce" <safce@fgc.com> wrote in message
> news:feov53tg0vp58g8lepbuop8kvvdq2jaimc@4ax.com...
>> 2/06/2007 MOM AND DAD KILLED GIRL, 4
>> Hull pair charged with giving daughter deliberate overdose of
>> prescription pills.
>>
>> In a case that defies comprehension, a husband and wife from Hull
>> appeared in court today on charges of killing their 4-year-old
>> daughter with a deliberate drug overdose.
>>
>> Police said Michael Riley, 34, who was awaiting trial for attempted
>> child rape, and Carolyn Riley, 32, gave their daughter, Rebecca
>> Jeanne, a fatal dose of prescription pills on Dec. 13.
>>
>> In an affidavit filed with the court, State Police Trooper Anna
>> Brookes said there was evidence of a ''slow and painful killing of
>> Rebecca Riley over a period of days.''
>>
>> Brookes said the Rileys refused to accept help from agencies that had
>> identified problems with the way Rebecca was being given medicine.
>>
>> The affidavit said the couple was indifferent to her ''obvious pain
>> and suffering,'' and failed ''to provide any medical care to their own
>> daughter as she lay visibly suffering, drowning in her own bodily
>> fluids on the floor beside their bed.''
>>
>> The state medical examiner's office said the girl died from the
>> combined effects of three drugs used to treat bipolar disorder,
>> including Clonidine, and two over-the-counter cold medicines.
>>
>> ''This occurred as a result of the intentional overdose of Rebecca
>> with Clonidine,'' the Plymouth County District Attorney's office said
>> in a statement announcing the charges.
>>
>> The Clonidine was prescribed by Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, Tufts New England
>> Medical Center psychiatrist, to treat the young girl for hyperactivity
>> and bipolar disorder. The other two drugs were Depakote and Seroquel,
>> which are also used to treat bipolar disorder.
>>
>> Authorities said the girl was diagnosed with both disorders when she
>> was 28 months old.
>>
>> James McGonnell, Carolyn Riley's half brother, and his fiancee, Kelly
>> Williams, who lived with the family, told police they had repeatedly
>> asked the Rileys to take Rebecca to the hospital or to a pediatrician.
>>
>> They said the Rileys told them they has made an appointment, but only
>> offered excuses for not going. They said Michael Riley told his wife
>> to medicate the children when he determined that they were acting up.
>>
>> The state Department of Social Services placed the Rileys' two other
>> children, Gerard, 11, and Kaitlynne, 6, in foster care about 10 hours
>> after Rebecca's death.
>>
>> ''There were mitigating circumstances,'' department spokesman Denise
>> Monteiro said yesterday. ''We had to take custody of the children. I
>> can't say any more.''
>>
>> Carolyn Riley obtained a restraining order against her husband in
>> October, but allowed it to lapse after a few weeks.
>>
>> McGonnell and Williams told police they saw Michael Riley grab his son
>> by the neck and bang his head against the back window of a pickup
>> truck ''in an apparent uncontrollable rage,'' the affidavit said.
>>
>> McGonnell said Riley was not allowed to live with his family in
>> Weymouth public housing because of a court order issued after he was
>> arrested on sex charges in 2005.
>>
>> Police were called to the Rileys' home at 70 Lynn Ave. in Hull's
>> Kenberma neighborhood, opposite Nantasket Beach, at 6:30 a.m. on Dec.
>> 13. They found found Rebecca dead on the floor of her parents'
>> bedroom.
>>
>> An obituary prepared by the couple and published in The Patriot Ledger
>> said the little girl had died in her sleep.
>>
>> The Rileys will be arraigned today in Hingham District Court on
>> charges of first-degree murder.
>>
>> The couple was arrested yesterday at Michael Riley's mother's home on
>> Fallgren Lane in Weymouth. He was held overnight at the Plymouth
>> County jail and Carolyn Riley was held at the Marshfield police
>> lockup.
>>
>> Michael Riley was indicted in September 2005 on charges of attempted
>> rape of a girl under 14, four counts of indecent assault and battery
>> on a child and giving pornography to a child.
>>
>> Weymouth Police Lt. George Greenwood said Riley was arrested in June
>> 2005 after police searched his apartment at 43 Memorial Drive in
>> Weymouth and confiscated a computer, diaries and notebooks.
>>
>> He was scheduled for trial on May 29 in Norfolk Superior Court.
>>
>> He was free on $2,500 bail posted by his wife.
>>
>> Court records show Riley has a bullet hole and the letters ''RRR''
>> tattooed on his back.
>>
>> Michael Riley graduated from Weymouth High School in 1991 and his
>> wife, the former Carolyn DiSalvo, graduated in 1992.
>>
>> On Dec. 30, two weeks after their daughter's death, they attended his
>> 15th high school reunion at the Weymouth Elks Club. Michael Riley told
>> a friend he and his wife needed to get out so they would stop thinking
>> about Rebecca.
>>
>> Hull Police Chief Richard Billings praised State Police Sgt. Scott
>> Warmington, State Police Detective Anna Brookes and Hull Police
>> Detective John Coggins for their investigation that led to the
>> arrests.
>>
>> A neighbor, Phyllis Lipton, said Carolyn Riley, her three children,
>> Carolyn's stepbrother, his girlfriend and their son, moved into a home
>> at 70 Lynn Ave. in mid-November.
>>
>> Lipton, 51, said the family told her Carolyn's husband, Michael,
>> wouldn't be living with them although he appeared to be there all the
>> time.
>>
>> ''They moved in during the middle of the night,'' Lipton said. ''All I
>> could hear was foul language coming from the house.''
>>
>> Lipton said either Carolyn's stepbrother or his girlfriend told her
>> that Rebecca had a twin who died at age of 2 weeks.
>>
>> Lipton rarely saw the children, she said, but added Gerard Riley once
>> returned hedge clippers he had taken without asking.
>>
>> ''He had obviously gone into my shed to get them,'' she said. ''He
>> said his cousin was the one who got them from the shed.''
>>
>> Lipton said when she heard someone had died in the Riley home her
>> first thought was that Michael Riley had killed his wife.
>>
>> ''No one knew there was a child sick in the house,'' she said. ''We
>> thought they had moved out.''
>>
>> Lipton said the Rileys left about two weeks after their daughter's
>> death. Carolyn Riley's stepbrother and his family followed a few weeks
>> later.
>>
>> Lipton said all three Riley children had special needs.
>>
>> Rebecca attended the Elden H. Johnson Early Childhood Center in North
>> Weymouth. The school provides full- and part-day classes for children
>> ages 3 to 5. The center's principal, Victoria Silberstein, declined to
>> comment.
>>
>> Michael Riley's mother, Kathleen Riley, would not comment on the case
>> when a reporter arrived at her home last night.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>