The "Hiding A Horrifying Secret In Plain Sight: Part II" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Still upset after writing my story I posted yesterday.  Just can't understand why the abuse suffered by young children and women for ages and ages has taken so long to be revealed.  I guess being shunned is more than many can handle.  Never having gone through sexual abuse and the after-effects that you would have to go through for the rest of your life makes it harder to understand.  If you read yesterday's story you now know that 75 year old Mr. David Stoltzfus Smucker has been sentenced to 38-75 years in prison.  More or less a life sentence.  But, will he actually serve it in prison like most other sex offenders would do?  Or, will he be able to spend those years in a place called Whispering Hope?  Much has been said about the preferential treatment that Plain Sect people such as the Amish and Mennonites receive after being sentenced for crimes such as sex offenses.  

Main building as you enter Whispering Hope

Whispering Hope is located in Newville which is in Cumberland County, Pennsyl- vania.  It sits at the foothills of state forestland between Carlisle and Shippensburg.  No buildings are visible from the end of the road which leads to the dozens of small cabins or homes in the mental health facility.  Mr. David Stoltzfus Smucker's case, that sent him to prison for life, has brought new attention to how sex crimes in the Amish and Mennonite sects are being handled after the sentencing has taken place.  Are they actually placed in a state prison as they should be or allowed to spend their time in a nice little house up in the woods.  Seems the state has no license for a place called Whispering Hope, but that happens to be where Mr. Smucker had spent the ten months between his arrest and his trial.  Yeah, he did go to jail at first, but soon after, a judge approved a defense request to allow him to stay at Whispering Hope.  That move got an immediate reaction from abuse prevention advocates who felt he was given special treatment because he is Amish.  And, what special treatment did Mr. Stoltzfus give those that he sexually assaulted for probably most of his 75 years.  Whispering Hope was established in 2001 to serve the Old Order Amish.  The statement of purpose for the facility says it is a Christian home with a Bible based counseling program for men who are emotionally disturbed, depressed, having spiritual and marital problems, moral obsessions and mental illnesses.  It is nestled in the middle of farmland and looks like a summer camp with one lodge having a swing.  No children under the age of 18 are to be housed in the facility.  Three months before Mr. Smucker's arrest, he had a stroke which required him to use a wheelchair.  While in prison he fell and injured his hip.  The prison asked if he could be moved.  Is he the first prisoner ever to have fallen and injured his or her hip?  Do they more all people who are hurt or have a stroke?  I doubt it!  And, if he did have to be moved, why not to one of the five locations in Lancaster County?  Seems that Whispering Hope is a mental illness facility as well and could help Mr. Stoltzfus.  But, how about all the people whom he sexually abused?  

Photograph of the cottages at Whispering Hope

Can they be helped by staying at Whispering Hope?  Evidently they aren't important enough to be placed somewhere that may help them to feel better about themselves.  As I read more in the local paper I read that once a person is sentenced, they are not allowed to go to a place such as Whispering Hope since it is intended as a treatment facility and not a prison.  I only hope that somehow Mr. Smucker's attorneys don't talk the District Attorney into allowing Mr. Smucker to head back to Whispering Hope so he can sit on the swing set and have a good time.  He had plenty of good times it seems and now he has to pay the piper (means to bear the consequences of one's actions).  Let's hope this sentence may make many others that also assault children and women think a bit more before they act.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.