Change law on rapes

I want to thank Shawn Vestal on his Dec. 29 article stemming from his original article from Sept. 28. As you may recall, both articles were centered on Virginia Graham and her brother and sister, who were repeatedly raped by their stepfather.

The problem is that Washington has a statute of limitations that is too short to prosecute child rapists. Right now, Washington is one of only 17 states that have not adequately increased the statute of limitations on child rape.

This last year HB 1657, which would have eliminated the statute of limitations for child rape, passed the House of Representatives 98-0; however, Sen. Jim Hargrove refused to give this bill a committee hearing. Recently, he indicated that he may want to work with us on this bill.

To give you an idea on how bad Washington is on this crime, Penn State Coach Jerry Sandusky could not have been convicted on any of his charges. Today, he is serving a life sentence for being convicted on 45 counts in Pennsylvania.

Again, I want to thank Shawn Vestal for bringing this very important issue to the public.

Former state Rep. John Ahern

Spokane