I realized with a start today that little Caleb's story has not been told on WS. Not many people in Southern Oregon do not know the story of Caleb. The misery and sadness of his short life has created a ripple effect throughout our region. I've always been so struck by the inadequate sentence handed down to Caleb's abuser, his mother, and I wanted you to know that all is not well in Oregon when an abuser can be handed down mere months in the brutal killing of a child.
We don't have a lot of fine investigative reporting here in Southern Oregon but I believe that the reporter, Ms. Specht, did a fine job of shining a light on this travesty. Please spend a few minutes to learn about little Caleb.
Caleb's legacy, the Nurturing Center, is something that I worked long and hard for before I was forced to retire due to illness. It is truly a dream come true for me. IMO, Nurturing Centers should be essential in every community.
Fly with the angels, sweet Caleb. Know that your "neighbors" keep you in our thoughts.
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/NEWS/911220325
Caleb's Legacy
The tragedy of one little boy speaks to the drive behind an effort to change the response to child abuse
"Trisha Torresan's 2-year-old son had been fussy and cranky all day. Caleb missed his nap because they were out doing errands. Now it's dinner time and he doesn't want to eat. As Torresan drags Caleb to the upstairs bedroom of their Phoenix townhouse, she smacks him once or twice.
It is 7 p.m., Feb. 22, 2007. Caleb Hearne will be dead within hours. The fatal blow was struck long before.
Mention Caleb's name and the pain becomes palpable. Members of the social services network and the justice system that work to save children like Caleb grow pale, quiet and grim, even two years after his death.
Caleb's prolonged abuse during his short lifetime is well-documented in court filings and witness testimony in separate cases against his mother and Bruce Ryan Satterlee, her boyfriend at the time. Despite calls from neighbors, friends and family members reporting abuse toward Caleb and his younger sister, Lynna, despite welfare checks by the Department of Human Services, police and even a doctor, Caleb's abuse continued. Ultimately, blunt force trauma to the 30-month-old boy's abdomen damaged his internal organs so severely Caleb died of pancreatic failure....."
much more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/OPINION/911220318
Protecting the defenseless
"Caleb Hearne's painful death at the hands of the person who should have loved him and nurtured him more than anyone else his mother was an unspeakable tragedy. Just as tragic is the reality that 2-year-old Caleb's situation was not unique.
Every day, somewhere in the United States, five children die from abuse and neglect. Many, many more live to be abused or neglected again and again.
In Oregon, a child is abused every eight minutes. In Jackson County, one child in every four is abused or neglected...."
much more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/NEWS/911220332
Parents under pressure need community help
"A community that supports and protects its children also supports its families and struggling parents in particular, says Mary-Curtis Gramley, director of the Family Nurturing Center and a member of the Jackson County Child Abuse Network.
Help can be as simple as offering an understanding smile, or even acknowledging a parent's stress level in a calm and compassionate manner, she says.
The Nurturing Center provides respite nursery care for parents in crisis. The horrific stories of abuse Curtis hears from the parents about their own childhoods beg the question: How could they know how to raise their children in a loving home with effective, abuse-free discipline when they never knew such a home themselves?
Society tends to operate on the assumption that being a model parent is somehow genetically encoded into our DNA, Gramley says. But parents who are young, stressed out and operating on the ragged edge of poverty need help especially from more experienced parents who can offer support in a respectful and nurturing way, she says......."
much more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/NEWS/911220333
For every Wednesday child's sake, don't turn away
Wednesday's child is full of woe, so says the nursery rhyme.
Caleb Hearne was born on a Wednesday in the summer of 2004.
His birthplace? An Oregon prison. His mother, Trisha Torresan, was serving time for identity theft. His father, Joshua Hearne, also had been imprisoned, for a series of property crimes. Both of Caleb's parents abused drugs and alcohol. After Torresan's release, the couple were reunited, and although his parents fought a lot, Caleb soon had a little sister.
Not surprisingly, neither child thrived. Ultimately, only Lynna survived.
After months of neglect and abuse reported by family, friends and neighbors, Caleb was found facedown on his mother's bed one cold night in February 2007.
"There's something wrong with your son!" screamed Torresan's boyfriend at the time, Ryan Satterlee.
The 21/2-year-old was a victim of homicide, the coroner ruled....?
more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100326/NEWS/3260320/-1/NEWS02
Woman who killed toddler son could be getting out
".......According to Oregon prison records, Trisha Marie Torresan remains a prisoner in the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, and her projected release date is listed as April 9, 2010.
Torresan was incarcerated for the beating death of her toddler son, Caleb Hearne. She pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and first-degree criminal mischief in March 2007 in Jackson County Circuit Court. She was sentenced to 31/2; years in prison after investigators determined her 2-year-old son died from a blow to the body that caused a hemorrhage to his liver and pancreas....."
more at link
ETA: Word on the street is that the mother was released today, after serving less than 3 years for murdering Caleb. Is this justice for this child? Caleb has brought about change in our county as to the way we respond to abused children but has Caleb's mother truly paid the price for his death?
We don't have a lot of fine investigative reporting here in Southern Oregon but I believe that the reporter, Ms. Specht, did a fine job of shining a light on this travesty. Please spend a few minutes to learn about little Caleb.
Caleb's legacy, the Nurturing Center, is something that I worked long and hard for before I was forced to retire due to illness. It is truly a dream come true for me. IMO, Nurturing Centers should be essential in every community.
Fly with the angels, sweet Caleb. Know that your "neighbors" keep you in our thoughts.
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/NEWS/911220325
Caleb's Legacy
The tragedy of one little boy speaks to the drive behind an effort to change the response to child abuse
"Trisha Torresan's 2-year-old son had been fussy and cranky all day. Caleb missed his nap because they were out doing errands. Now it's dinner time and he doesn't want to eat. As Torresan drags Caleb to the upstairs bedroom of their Phoenix townhouse, she smacks him once or twice.
It is 7 p.m., Feb. 22, 2007. Caleb Hearne will be dead within hours. The fatal blow was struck long before.
Mention Caleb's name and the pain becomes palpable. Members of the social services network and the justice system that work to save children like Caleb grow pale, quiet and grim, even two years after his death.
Caleb's prolonged abuse during his short lifetime is well-documented in court filings and witness testimony in separate cases against his mother and Bruce Ryan Satterlee, her boyfriend at the time. Despite calls from neighbors, friends and family members reporting abuse toward Caleb and his younger sister, Lynna, despite welfare checks by the Department of Human Services, police and even a doctor, Caleb's abuse continued. Ultimately, blunt force trauma to the 30-month-old boy's abdomen damaged his internal organs so severely Caleb died of pancreatic failure....."
much more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/OPINION/911220318
Protecting the defenseless
"Caleb Hearne's painful death at the hands of the person who should have loved him and nurtured him more than anyone else his mother was an unspeakable tragedy. Just as tragic is the reality that 2-year-old Caleb's situation was not unique.
Every day, somewhere in the United States, five children die from abuse and neglect. Many, many more live to be abused or neglected again and again.
In Oregon, a child is abused every eight minutes. In Jackson County, one child in every four is abused or neglected...."
much more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/NEWS/911220332
Parents under pressure need community help
"A community that supports and protects its children also supports its families and struggling parents in particular, says Mary-Curtis Gramley, director of the Family Nurturing Center and a member of the Jackson County Child Abuse Network.
Help can be as simple as offering an understanding smile, or even acknowledging a parent's stress level in a calm and compassionate manner, she says.
The Nurturing Center provides respite nursery care for parents in crisis. The horrific stories of abuse Curtis hears from the parents about their own childhoods beg the question: How could they know how to raise their children in a loving home with effective, abuse-free discipline when they never knew such a home themselves?
Society tends to operate on the assumption that being a model parent is somehow genetically encoded into our DNA, Gramley says. But parents who are young, stressed out and operating on the ragged edge of poverty need help especially from more experienced parents who can offer support in a respectful and nurturing way, she says......."
much more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091122/NEWS/911220333
For every Wednesday child's sake, don't turn away
Wednesday's child is full of woe, so says the nursery rhyme.
Caleb Hearne was born on a Wednesday in the summer of 2004.
His birthplace? An Oregon prison. His mother, Trisha Torresan, was serving time for identity theft. His father, Joshua Hearne, also had been imprisoned, for a series of property crimes. Both of Caleb's parents abused drugs and alcohol. After Torresan's release, the couple were reunited, and although his parents fought a lot, Caleb soon had a little sister.
Not surprisingly, neither child thrived. Ultimately, only Lynna survived.
After months of neglect and abuse reported by family, friends and neighbors, Caleb was found facedown on his mother's bed one cold night in February 2007.
"There's something wrong with your son!" screamed Torresan's boyfriend at the time, Ryan Satterlee.
The 21/2-year-old was a victim of homicide, the coroner ruled....?
more at link
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100326/NEWS/3260320/-1/NEWS02
Woman who killed toddler son could be getting out
".......According to Oregon prison records, Trisha Marie Torresan remains a prisoner in the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, and her projected release date is listed as April 9, 2010.
Torresan was incarcerated for the beating death of her toddler son, Caleb Hearne. She pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and first-degree criminal mischief in March 2007 in Jackson County Circuit Court. She was sentenced to 31/2; years in prison after investigators determined her 2-year-old son died from a blow to the body that caused a hemorrhage to his liver and pancreas....."
more at link
ETA: Word on the street is that the mother was released today, after serving less than 3 years for murdering Caleb. Is this justice for this child? Caleb has brought about change in our county as to the way we respond to abused children but has Caleb's mother truly paid the price for his death?