Dubois has slandered many who truly cared for State School residents

To the editor,

Every time I read an article about Gordon Dubois and his propaganda movie, "Lost in Laconia", it really gets my goat. He insinuates that every single solitary person who EVER worked at LSS&TC was nothing shy of pure evil ... from direct care to the grounds crew ... generations of pure undaunted evil. Well, Mr. Dubois I beg to differ!

In his film he shows footage of the residents wandering aimlessly,crying, being restrained and mistreated by staff who simply ignored their cries. Footage that was taken in the early years (all prior to 1976). He also shows footage of the windows with all the paint chipping and the buildings run down and falling apart... the way it looks today — after being closed for years and unattended, NOT the way it looked when it was open and people lived there.

I'd like to know why Mr. Dubois did NOT include footage from the 1980s... footage that included the Beach Parties on Lake Winnisquam, the Soap Box Derbies, Winter Carnivals, Just for Fun Parades, Christmas and Halloween Parties, Monthly Birthday Parties? Why was there no mention of the immaculately kept lawns or the beautiful spring tulips and daffodils, the amazing Christmas displays that people would travel from miles away to ogle over as they do at La Sallette? Why was there no mention of the rec therapist who would carry the extra insurance (at his own expense) on his pontoon boat so he could take the clients for boat rides on Lake Winnisquam?

Mr. Dubois also neglected to tell the world about the trips we would take these people on... like the Cog Railway, the Tram at Mt Whittier, riding the M/S Mount Washington on Lake Winnipesaukee, fishing trips, overnight camping trips, days at the ocean. Did these events not count for anything?

Throughout my life I have had a connection to LSS&TC. Both my grandmothers and one of my aunts were building charges, one of my grandfathers ran the farm, the other was the barber, Uncle Earl was the maintenance supervisor, Uncle Bob ran the grounds crew, Uncle Tom was security, my husband held many jobs in his 16 years there, including painter, groundsman, laundry,and food service, and I, myself , joined the crew after high school as direct care along with my aunt Patty and a couple of my cousins. I am here to tell you without a moments hesitation that we gave to these people from our hearts as did many, many others who I could easily list but there is only so much paper. I find it extremely rude and slanderous for Mr. Dubois to lump us all into one category

Furthermore, after seeing "Lost in Laconia", I realized that some of the footage included images of my grandfather... so I decided to ask each and every member of my family if they ever signed a release for this footage... and GUESS WHAT!!... NO ONE did! So what do you say to that Mr Dubois? We may have had to agree to let the state use our images for their records but YOU sir are not the State of New Hampshire. Does making the 1980s staff look like animals make you feel better.? Does it relieve some of your guilt for your part in all of it? Weren't you a "PC"...(for those not in the lingo loop that's a program coordinator... they were the ones who told the staff how to handle the residents, how to discipline, when to medicate, as well as when and how to restrain). After all we just did as you and others like you told us to.

The footage Mr. Dubois chose to use in his film was taken from a time period with a different mentality, an era where marrying off your 13-year-old daughter to the widower across town was acceptable... when beating your wife in order to keep her in line was the norm. None of it was taken from the time AFTER the buildings went ICF. Maybe I wouldn't have such a bitter taste in my mouth over this film if Mr. Dubois had shown the WHOLE picture.

Holly Tetreault

Former employee of LSS&TC

Meredith