Stephen R. Kay, Prosecutor of the Charles Manson Family, on Susan Atkins

Most of the readers of The Claremont Conservative weren't alive when the famously brutal Charles Manson murders took place back in 1969. Most of us know the name, though -- Manson -- and the sheer horror the name invokes goosebumps or chills that rival anything to come out of Hollywood.

What many of you may not know is that one of the people prosecuting him and his "family" was Stephen R. Kay, (CMC '64) then a young prosecutor fresh out of law school. (Kay spoke in 1997 at Claremont McKenna on the murder of Linda Sobek, a starting 27-year old fashion model. It is well past time for us to bring him back to campus.)

Kay has been going to almost every single parole board hearings for each of the Manson family members to describe why they ought to be kept in prison. He's right, of course, all of the Manson family deserved the death penalty for their heinous crimes -- until an activist California Supreme Court threw out the death penalty for an estimated 115 killers.

So why do I mention Kay and the Charles Manson family?

Well it turns out that one of their members, Ms. Susan Atkins has been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She has less than a year to live and many people want her to get out of jail and die with her "family." (Ms. Atkins married to attorney while in prison. He has represented Atkins at her most recent parole hearing, during which Prosecutor Kay showed just the sheer breadth of all he knows about the Manson family and Atkins in particular. He starts with his closing statement, "Susan Atkins is obviously not suitable for parole," (video linked there) and it just gets better from there.)

Atkins murdered a pregnant woman - actress Sharon Tate and her 8 month old fetus. She confessed to the crime and even admitted to playing with -- and tasting -- Tate's blood. She was the one who wrote the word, "Pig," on the window after massacring Tate and her family.

Of course, you won't hear that from the media which apparently has taken up the issue of Atkins's parole, which they call a release on "compassionate grounds." A few have even noted Ms. Atkins's acceptance of Christ as her personal savior.

No where do they mention the question of whether or not Atkins treatment of Tate was "compassionate."

Fortunately, Suzan Hubbard, California's director of adult prisons, has to her credit, rejected release for Atkins. Hubbard is absolutely right to reject Atkins's release -- Atkins has had her request for parole rejected 11 times!

Just listen to Tate's sister, Patti describe the loneliness and struggle she's gone through. Attorney Kay's seated next to Ms. Tate.

Happy Fourth of July, Claremont Colleges

Still there, even with the bombs bursting in air

Today is the day where we celebrate the immortal words of a beautiful document that celebrates self-evident truths.

But, at the end of the day, all the words on parchment mean little if men and women of good will are unwilling to defend them. There are many, many patriots that have come out of the Claremont Colleges just as there were many who entered its first class.

Let's consider just a few of them here. Fortunately, Professor Ward Elliott has already gone to the trouble of chronicling that important history. The asides are his, written in brackets.

Many of CMC's returning Vietnam veterans were spat upon by angry protesters, who made a special trip to the airport for the purpose. Three CMC alumni, all officers and two of them ROTC graduates, were spared this indignity because they did not come back. Army First Lieutenant Jesse Clark III, '65 hit a mine on patrol in Vietnam, April 12, 1966, and died the next day. He received the Bronze Star for gallantry and the Purple Heart. Captain Stewart R. Moody '67 was a second-generation Army officer who had been a "Berger [Hall] Boy" at CMC on an ROTC scholarship. He too served in the First Air Cavalry Division and went down with his helicopter January 3, 1970, at the age of 24. His friends describe him as "friendly, a straight-shooter, tough as nails." Navy lieutenant (j.g.) William A. Pedersen '68 also went down with his helicopter. Pedersen had volunteered for service in Vietnam, served his full tour of duty, and won the Navy's Air Medal with strike/flight number "25," indicating 25 strike-flight awards. He also received the Navy Commendation Medal, with Combat "V." When his tour was over, his replacement was not expected for ten days. Rather than subject the men with whom he had served to extra duty, he volunteered once more, to serve until his replacement arrived. On the second day after answering this final call, he was killed in action. Pedersen was a student and fellow cycling enthusiast of Harry Jaffa, who had pedalled the San Gabriel foothills with him many times on pre-dawn rides. Jaffa dedicated his book The Conditions of Freedom (1975), to Pedersen with these words:

Billy Pedersen was a scholar, an athlete, an officer, and a gentleman. He was one of those "golden lads" of whom A.E. Housman wrote, who went to war, not gaily, but without a doubt that freedom and duty spoke with a single voice.... His patriotism was so natural to him that I think he was hardly aware of it.

[Pomona lost 5 alums in Korean War, one, Ronald Penn, PO '63 in Vietnam. HMC lost one alum, Douglass Yuki '69; Pitzer and Scripps lost none. As far as I know, CMC lost no one in Korean War; need to check with alums.]

To the C.M.C. students who have served, will serve, and are serving, thank you.