We, the undersigned, are concerned citizens, including former employees of YDC who worked or are familiar with the accused YDC defendants, Jim Woodlock, Steve Murphy and Brad Asbury.  We are concerned that the creation of the YDC settlement fund has negatively impacted these men’s right to receive a fair trial and believe that the YDC settlement fund was not justified because it did not consider statements from numerous former YDC workers who deny that widespread sexual abuse occurred during their time there.  We are also concerned that taxpayers are forced to pay millions of dollars to victims without assurance that adequate safeguards are in place to guard against potential false claims. 

We ask that the Legislature and the Governor conduct an investigation and inquiry into the justification for the YDC settlement fund with specific questions in mind:

·      Why did the State and Legislature create a civil settlement fund, thus acknowledging accountability before the first criminal case was even tried, and which negatively impacts the criminal trials?

·      Why did the State who interviewed numerous former YDC employees not use this information to defend against charges of physical and sexual abuse by David Meehan and others?

·      Why did the Legislature when forming the YDC settlement fund also not use statements provided to the State from former YDC employees which refuted wide-spread incidents of sexual abuse?

·      Should the State and Legislature have conducted public hearings before creating the YDC settlement fund, which places enormous tax burdens on NH citizens?

·      What are the safeguards put in place to guard against potential false claims and are they adequate to protect the public interest?