Cretinon Story Has No Happy Ending, No Matter How it Turns Out

by Nancy Sapir
(October 17, 2003) Lots of people like Richard Cretinon. He’s got a great smile and a better laugh, and he did favors for people. As a matter of fact, he helped me to bury my dog, and after we’d all placed some shovelfuls of dirt over her grave, he cried with us because he loves animals.

I remember Richard driving around town with a little black and white dog named Jessica who was blind, but she clearly adored Richard. Lots of people have really good Richard stories, and I have mine.

Last week a woman called me at home to say she wanted to say something good about Richard. It is her feeling that he was entrapped by the 14 year-old Plymouth boy who is his accuser. She says other people agree with her assessment. I told her we’d have to await the evidence and then form a judgment about the situation.

Kingston is a funny town like that. If people here like you, they’ll give you a pass on almost anything. A person could be an entirely worthy one with special gifts, but if the people of Kingston don’t like you, it doesn’t much matter.

Richard Cretinon is accused of a heinous crime, and what we have been told may only be part of the story. This is a sad situation. A well liked public official and neighbor may spend the rest of his life in prison. There’s a terrible tragedy here for both the accuser and the accused, Richard’s family, friends, and the community.

Right now, only Richard and that 14 year-old boy know the whole truth. As the process unfolds, we’ll here more of the evidence, and no doubt stories about the young boy that are unflattering and calculated to make him less credible. It seems to happen to all rape victims. Then we’ll hear more high flown rhetoric about Richard’s standing in the community and “the thousands” who support him, as his attorney suggested at the arraignment.

The evidence must be presented before anyone can judge Richard Cretinon either way, but if there is truly a preponderance of evidence to support the child’s allegations, then this community has to stop its rationalizing and accept the outcome no matter how awful. That doesn’t mean discarding our good memories of Richard, it just means we have to come to terms with a side of him we may not have even suspected was there.

If he did this thing, it is awful, and the state in its wisdom won’t care how much we like him, the state will impose the appropriate penalty, and that is as it should be.

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