Officials behind a partnership between the wife of the Governor of Ohio, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, and the Ohio Resource Network for Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities are a bit red-faced. Together they came up with the idea for prisoners to produce a children's CD, full of lullabies, sing-alongs, and parenting tips (because we know that prisoners are excellent parents). They made sure to exclude any musical contributions from sex offenders and those who had committed crimes against children. Unfortunately they didn't extend that criteria to anyone who worked on the CD, leading to a credit on the CD to a man who kidnapped and assaulted two children.
Among those credited on the "Wings of Hope" CD is Raymond Towler, 49, who was sentenced to 12 years to life in 1981 for the kidnapping of two children, the assault of a boy and the rape of a girl.
"To find out that someone who had committed a crime like that participated in this initiative in any way is a huge disappointment," said Bonnie Hedrick, director of the Ohio Resource Network for Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities. "It was a huge oversight and one I regret happened."
The original plan for the CD was to distribute it to prison groups, families, libraries and social service agencies. Now it seems that only prison groups will get the CD.
