The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

The official student news site of Athens Drive High School

ATHENS ORACLE

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Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore under fire for sexual assault allegations

Women come forward weeks before the special election is due to take place

Roy Moore, one of Alabama’s Senate candidates, has been accused of sexually assaulting five women while they were underage. The youngest of the accusers was 14, and the oldest was 18.

Leigh Corfman was the first to make an accusation. She was 14 at the time of the assault, while Moore was 32. Corfman states that he brought her to his house twice, and the second nearly led to rape.

Wendy Miller, Gloria Thacker Deason and Debbie Wesson Gibson were three other women who were in their teens when Moore made inappropriate advances on them. Although none of the encounters ever resulted in anything more than kissing, all three women have voiced how disgusted they feel at being viewed in that way at that age. At the time, they were 16, 18 and 17 respectively.

Recently, a fifth woman has accused Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was 16. Beverly Young Nelson says that, under the guise of taking her home while working as a waitress, Moore attempted to rape her in his car.

“At some point he gave up,” Nelson said. “He then looked at me and said, ‘You are a child. I am the district attorney of Etowah County. If you tell anyone about this, no one will believe you.’”

Although a growing number of Republican Senate candidates are calling for Moore to immediately withdraw from the race, Moore’s name will still be on the ballot. A name can only be erased from a ballot if they withdraw 76 days before the election. Because the election date is set for Dec. 12, there is not a way to remove his name. However, any votes for him will not be counted.

Moore continues to deny that the allegations are truthful, saying they are “..a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on the campaign.” He claims that either he had never met the women or he was unfamiliar with the places in which they say they first encountered him.

“I think coming forward as a victim is an incredibly brave thing to do, and having this discredited by yet another white politician is very degrading to victims all over the U.S.,” said Grace Hall, freshman.

Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, recently won the special election after a very close race. A stunning result for a primarily Republican state.

 

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