I have two items today which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as "unceasing," "grudging," and "vengeful destruction."
Frankly, I did not expect to be sharing this story of grudgingness today. I try to find outrages that go under the radar, as it were, and, although this is a followup to an earlier story you may remember, I still expected it to be picked up by other sites and get a lot of publicity. I was wrong. I find that sad.
"Please accept our condolences on your loss,” explained a letter from the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority of New Jersey. “After careful consideration of the information you provided, the authority has determined that your request does not meet the threshold for loan forgiveness. Monthly bill statements will continue to be sent to you.”
The recipient of this letter received no direct benefit from the loan in question, and indeed, no indirect benefit, such as 
being related to someone who has increased earning power, which sometimes comes to those who graduate from college. The student, the borrower, was her son. And he was murdered last year.
The loans were not Federal loans. The Federal Government has provisions to give some relief to borrowers who experience life-changing circumstances – such as losing a job. Wken non-Hodgkins lymphoma survivor Chris Gonzales was laid off by Goldman Sachs, the Federal Government suspended his federal student loan payments. However, he had also received some loan funds from New Jersey – which sued him and confiscated his state tax refund.
Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti, the bereaved mother who received the letter quoted above, has been forced to make 18 monthly payments of $180 to the state. Only 92 to go.
Not every state administers its own student loan program (states that do not do administer their states' share in the Federal loan programs.) Two that do are New Jersey and Massachusetts. But, in Massachusetts, there is automatic debt forgiveness if the borrower dies or becomes disabled. New Jersey, on the other hand, goes aggressively after loan repayment regardless of the circumstances. And, since federal law does provide some possibility of relief, New Jersey pretty much stopped giving federal loans some years ago, substituting their own loans instead.
But New Jersey will sell students taking out loans life insurance! My, what a big heart! Knock yourself out, Megaera.
There is another story, this one of vengeful destruction, which needs to be told. THere is a church in Kansas where a volunteer in 2014 attempted to rape and electronically solicit two girls under fourteen who attended the church. Last year he pleaded guilty to these charges.
The volunteer, who was seventeen, at the time of the crime, had a string of past sexual conduct and crimes behind him, but was still allowed to be around children without supervision. On June 9 of this year, the girls and their families filed a lawsuit against the church, alleging that the church violated its own protocols, thereby allowing the assaults to occur.
Naturally, the church has filed a petition asking the court to require the victims and their parents to identify themselves publicly before the case can proceed.
Wait a minute, you are probably saying to yourself. What is this church? Westboro Baptist? That's in Kansas, right? Well, no, it isn't Westboro Baptist, though it is a Southern Baptist church. It's just creepily similar. Its name is Westside Family Church.
David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has been a victim advocate for 28 years, and has never seen a petition like this before in a case involving children, and only occasionally when the victim(s) are adult. And children these victims still are. If they were under fourteen in 2014, they cannot now be older than sixteen.
Clohessy called the move "a shameful move by officials who profess to be 'Christians.'" I concur. Tisiphone, you know what to do.
(Note: the photo of mother and son shows the mother and son in the story. The photo of the girl is a stock photo from Shutterstock, which AlterNet picked to illustrate the narrative.)
The Furies and I will be back.
Cross-posted to Care2 at http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/3997742
6 Responses to “Everyday Erinyes”
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Both well deserving of the furies given the absence of empathy or compassion of the perpetrators whose conduct is truly heartless and immoral. Thanks Joanne.
The first is exactly what I would expect from PIGnocchio and the Republican Party.
I also concur. The boy is clearly in need of help, and until and unless he fully resolves the issues in his life that trigger his abuse, he should be separated from children,
Megaera: Over $16K in student loans, that this mom must pay, how heartbreaking! Wow!! This makes me ill. This is really sick for NJ to do this to her….how sad.
Tisiphone: I fully agree with Clohessy's statement. Leave those children alone, and go after this so called "church". The girls and their parents have been through enough, to last a lifetime.
Thank you, Joanne for post.
That is a travesty, compelling the mother to repay the loans, even though her son has died!
I agree with Pat B. the church should be in trouble, not the children involved, and the young man needs serious psychiatric help.
I think you need to be more specific to whom your sending Magaera in New Jersey, Joanne. PIGnocchio aka Chris Christie is the one they should go after. Because this student loan scheme has his disgusting fingerprints all over it. He's running the state in debt and has tried to cover it up with Hurricane Sandy's relief money, money that should have gone into pension funds and now with this student loan scam. He's substituted the federal loans program by one of the state's and then have his administrators go after the students who have borrowed money as the worst kind of loan sharks. New Jersey's loan program has nothing to do with giving young people the opportunity to get a good education but is only there to make money of students even after they've died (murdered!) or became disabled. And to make even more profit for the state PIGnocchio offers them life insurance to go with the loan. It's utterly disgusting and should be stopped, so go get him, Magaera. States shouldn't be allowed to run their own loan programs that are worse than the federal programs.
The Westside Family Church couldn't give a damn about the well-being of their (young) members and shirked their responsibilities to follow protocol when allowing the volunteer to be around young girls without supervision, so it's not really surprising they couldn't give a damn they're further damaging the victims of their neglect with this petition. It's ironic that the Catholic Church hadn't dared to go this far when their abuse cases were under investigation. and this so-called Church has set a new precedent. We can only hope the court sees how wrong this petition is and how it will further damage those girls and their families and throws it out. Better make sure of that, Tisiphone.
You may well be right about Christie. He has been the Governor for six years, and I couldn't find an exact date the emphasis shifted to State loans. The AlterNet article does say the agency head, Garbielle Charette, is his appointee, and that she has a lot of power – she appoints the board, and she has veto power over it. BTW while looking, I did find some Google and Yelp reviews that might come in handy if you want your hair curled. Including a snark one signed "The Devil": "I don't know what everyone is talking about. This place is great and their high interest rates are phenomenal."