Dear editor,

My name is Donald Carson and at this point in time I’ve been incarcerated for 14 months for the charges of first-degree murder.

On Sept. 27, 2007 I was brought before a Superior Court judge to be sentenced to 20 years of my life in prison. I am writing this letter in regards to a situation that occurred with my family that could easily have been resolved. A family member of mine was sexually abused and it was reported to the Okanogan County Sheriffs a month and a half before my crime was committed. During this time of me being locked up I’ve put serious thought into why in the world the sheriff’s department made absolutely zero attempts to contact this man and help this problem to not occur again.

In my opinion sexual misconduct is, to a certain degree, a terrorist act all in its own. Our government goes out of its way to make absolutely sure that we know eight out of 10 children that are sexually abused are abused before age 15. But all in the same note, as they make this a noticed problem, the problem continues to happen and does not get resolved.

Meanwhile the government continues to use troops to fight for protection overseas to protect our families yet there are still problems that occur daily at home.

Me being an enrolled member of the Colville Tribe, I was raised to know and believe that the children are our future so in order for our future to continue the children should come first and be protected under unconditional terms.

I asked Judge Christopher Culp why this problem was not looked into and his response to me was to stay out of other people’s lives and problems. I’m truly sorry, but this is my life and will never be looked at in any other way.

To prevent this in the future we need to all stick together as a community to protect children from sexual abuse.

Thanks for your time,

Donald E. Carson

Okanogan County Jail