RUPERT AND RITUALS

Siegel’s glib, facile article succeeds in its transparent purpose: to paint rural residents as hysterical, Bible-thumping, publicity-hungry hicks. In focusing on satanic rumors and fundamentalist agitprop, the author misses the real story.

These truths, and these questions, remain: Baby X was clearly mutilated and possibly murdered. Who is responsible, and how can they be brought to justice? Much more important, Timothy is undeniably disturbed and almost certainly neglected, if not outright abused. Whose fault is it, and how can it be stopped?

JUDITH PFEFFER

Victorville