Hi Jeffrey,

 

       I received your letter. I apologize for the difficulty in getting the email to me. Yahoo decided to put a limit on how much free storage they give you and because I have about 20+ years worth of emails (mostly ads) they turned off my ability to receive new emails. I have been using this Gmail account instead. I finally had the opportunity to speak with my lawyer yesterday. She was out of the office last week. As I figured she would say, and you probably tell your clients the same thing, she said that there was no reason to respond to your letter or, at least, not spend any money on having them respond to your letter for me. I did, however, want to respond in a good faith effort to clear some things up and as a courtesy because I certainly do not want to defame anyone and don't feel that I have in any way defamed Cal or anyone else, but I would like to be respectful of Cal's feelings just as I wish she had been respectful of mine. I am not really sure what your letter is asking me to do though. Are you asking that I not have opinions on and not criticize a government official for her written words and attitudes? 

 

There is a lot to unpack in that letter so this is kind of long . . . 

 

       As I understand defamation, it is only defamation when you are making false statements presented as fact about a person. Opinions are not defamation and especially not opinions of a government elected official. The whole "actual malice" burden comes into play with public government people also. Because of my advocacy and activism work in the realm of sexual assault prevention & education, I am very educated and knowledgeable on what constitutes "rape culture." I don't mean this with any disrespect, but you saying that your opinion is that what she wrote isn't rape culture perpetuating does not mean that it's not. I find it difficult understand how my criticism and opinion (which is more than opinion according to leaders and organizations in the space trying to end sexual violence) that she was perpetuating rape culture in a very public Facebook forum of over 10,000+ members was something that was said with knowledge that is false or with reckless disregard of the truth. On the contrary, I know that trying to silence a victim of sexual violence, shame them for being vocal about the harm that was inflicted on them through no fault of their own, telling them to go get help in a condescending manner, saying that people have to worry about their sons being falsely accused of sexual assault is absolutely perpetuating rape culture and rape myths. I have a meeting set for the end of October with the new Executive Director of MAAV. I will bring with me the screenshots of the things that Cal and her friends have been writing and I can get her professional opinion for you on if these written words constitute perpetuating rape culture, rape myths, and victim blaming/shaming. I can update you on what she says after the meeting. 

 

       That last part in the above paragraph about people having to worry about their boys being falsely accused of sexual assault perpetuates the myth that false allegations of sexual assault are common and something that men have to worry about when the reality is that only about 5% of allegations of sexual assault are false. This has been extensively researched and I can point you to the research of Dr. David Lisak, but there is other research available on line as well. Dr. Lisak is a clinical psychologist and [now retired] professor, who has devoted his professional life to studying the causes and consequences of interpersonal violence. He has done extensive research on non stranger rapists and the rates of false accusations of sexual assault. Dr. Lisak is an extremely well respected and highly regarded expert in this field. He is a forensic consultant, professional trainer, and public speaker. He served on the faculty of the National Judicial Education Project and the American Prosecutors Research Institute and has served as a consultant to judicial, prosecutor and law enforcement education programs across the country. The fact of the matter is is that men have a much higher chance of being the victims of sexual violence themselves than ever being falsely accused. 

 

       When people try to silence victims when they are ready to speak out, that absolutely is harmful and is victim shaming behavior. The message being sent to victims in 2025 and and even for the last decade or more is that you don't have to continue to suffer in silence. Did you know that they average age for a victim of sexual violence to disclose their abuse is between the ages of 48-53 and 1/3 of victims never disclose, suffer in silence for their entire lives, and take it to the grave? That's really sad. Wouldn't you agree? I could have been one of those people. Speaking out about what Ward Hamilton did to me has freed me from the figurative prison I had been in for 33 years. The shame was never mine to carry and that shame is now with him, where it has always belonged. Ward running for public office made this a matter for public relevance. This was important information for the voters as they went to the polls to decide who they wanted to represent them and the character and morals of that person. Because of time constraints not as many people knew about this in November of 2023 and it was a responsibility that weighed heavy on me to get this information to people and to continue getting this information to people. Unless you have ever been in my exact situation, you would not know what that feels like.  We, as a society, need to do better and support and encourage victims who bravely speak out, not try to silence them and publicly say they are defaming the perpetrator of their assault. I am sure you understand how deeply and profoundly sexual violence effects every aspect of a person's life.

 

       In your letter and in what Cal has written, she claims that she wants to stay neutral except that she didn't do that. She did not stay neutral at all and she took the side of the perpetrator and not the victim. She did involve herself and she involved herself very publicly in protecting and defending the perpetrator of my assault while calling me a liar. If she actually didn't want to get involved, she shouldn't have done that. Ward Hamilton is an adult and is able to fight his own battles. Cal chose to go on this public Facebook group and stated false information about what constitutes defamation and that I was engaging in defamation. She conveniently wrote all of that when I was temporarily blocked from the group and couldn't defend myself. I am going to break that down in bullet points for easier reading. She first wrote:

​

• "The comments on this page using someone's name and accusing them of something is beyond wrong." It's not wrong. It is actually very right and it was a very brave and courageous thing to do. Ask any expert on survivor advocacy and support and they will tell you that also. Ward is a public government figure. Ward knows that he did this. I know that he did this. My roommates from the trip know he did this. Aside from standing on the corner of Main & Upham Street wearing a sandwich board (which I am not going to do) how else am I supposed to get this important information to voters besides writing in a social media group like this?

• "If something happened then that should be handled between the two people and law enforcement. Not a community page. It is defamation of a person's name and it is uncalled for." Cal knows that this sexual assault took place in 1990 so it is pretty obvious that there is nothing that the police can do at this point. Also, what I am saying is not defamation because it is true. I have a lot of evidence that speaks to the truth of what I have stated. You say that Cal had no knowledge or information, then she also had no knowledge or information to call me a liar. Cal could have educated herself on the specifics of everything and/or reached out to me before accusing me of defamation/lying in a FB group of 10,000+ members. It almost would have been better (but still cruel) if she only called me a liar because using the term defamation carries specific legal meaning. Defamation is not just an insult. It is a claim that I made a false statement of fact when what I did was make a true statement of fact about something that is a matter of public concern. She was stating that I was being careless about the truth and that I knew this was false. This is my own personal lived experience that is 100% true. Maybe it would not have been able to have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt back in 1990 but maybe it would have been. Either way it's not false. By choosing to use the word "defamation" she escalated this whole thing into legal territory. Her statements were not "neutral" in any way, shape, or form. Her statement was a reputational attack on me. She was saying that I am a dishonest person and not only dishonest, but acting with actual malice that I made my statements about Ward knowing they were false. I have a true basis for my statement, my own lived experience with evidence and screenshots. Cal and I even have a mutual friend. A friend who has known me for 30+ years. We were so close that we were in each other's weddings. This friend called Cal on the phone in October (or maybe November) of 2023 and told Cal that everything that I was saying is true. Cal had this knowledge from a friend of hers who I assume she respects and values her opinions and assessments of people, but she still chose to go in the public forum and write the things that she wrote about me. 

• Cal then writes (and you have seen the screenshots as you attached them to your letter), "It's defamation if nothing has been done about it via law enforcement or legally. You can't just smear someone's name." I know and you probably know that reporting to the police or filing a lawsuit is not the sole determinant of truth. E. Jean Carrol did not report her sexual assault to the police, but her statement about what Donald Trump did to her was determined to be true. It was completely irresponsible for Cal to write what he did in a public forum. With so many members in the group, there were most definitely other victims/survivors, people currently actively being abused, and future victims reading her words and may have thought that she knew what she was talking about because of her role as a Melrose city councilor and may now be afraid to report or speak out. It is that fear of defamation that keeps people silent and abusers rely on the silence of their victims. Threats of defamation are just a tool that abusers and their enablers use to silence victims and avoid accountability. Silence perpetuates violence. I am involved in legislative change that protects survivors from frivolous and retaliatory defamation lawsuits and threats of them. I submitted written testimony to legislators in CT and I submitted written testimony and gave testimony in person back in June at the judiciary hearing on June 17 at the MA state house. This was signed into law back in June by Governor Lamont. This is a nonpartisan bill that passed unanimously through the CT House and CT Senate. Cal then claims to me and others that she supports the Speak Your Truth Act, but at the same time does not support and tries to silence a survivor who spoke out. Lawmakers all over the country are trying to protect survivor voices and I am doing my part to help. Cal threatening defamation in that public Facebook group is one of the examples in my testimony as to why this law must be passed. This is the same law that Blake Lively was able to utilize to get Justin Baldoni's $400M frivolous and retaliatory defamation lawsuit dismissed with prejudice. 

• As you write that I was asked to move on from the topic of Cal (a government figure) and have refused to do so, Cal was asked very nicely and politely to publicly apologize for for the misinformation she wrote about defamation and the other harmful stuff she wrote in that thread and she refused to do so. Had she just apologized and corrected all of that we probably would not be in the mess we are  in today. Of course people (and not just me) are going to hold her feet to the fire on that as she is an elected government official. It was very upsetting to many people who read that. 

• As far as "smearing" someone's name, she uses that word twice in that one thread. Smearing someone means to damage their reputation by spreading false, misleading, or exaggerated information about someone. She is again calling me a liar. She called me a liar 4 times in a short thread. 

• If Cal did not feel that she had "sufficient personal knowledge or information" and actually did want to stay out of this then she should not have written those things. Or she could believe victims when they say they were harmed which is what we all should do. As mentioned above false allegations of sexual assault are extremely rare and I tried to explain that to Cal and she did not care and would not listen to anything that would educate her on this subject (by me or others who also wrote public comments to her) and  challenged what she thinks is correct about this subject, but is not. She was not behaving like a responsible community leader in that FB group and people (not just me, but also people who are her constituents) called her out on this. Writing what she wrote was the polar opposite of staying neutral. She did not avoid commenting. She commented and you saw the screenshots of it. Even if Cal had stayed neutral, people still would have the right to have an opinion of her, a government official, and her decision to stay neutral. Cal did not stay neutral and people have the right to have an opinion on that too.

• BUT, on even staying neutral: (1) Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu famously stated: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.";  (2) Elie Wiesel is quoted as saying "We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor (the oppressor in this situation is Ward Hamilton), never the victim (me). Silence encourages the tormentor (Ward), never the tormented (me)."; (3) Dante Aligheri, in the Divine Comedy wrote that inaction in a moral crisis is a condemnable act. Neutrality is seen as serving the abusers interests; (4) In Jon Krakauer's book Missoula: Rape and the Criminal Justice System in a College Town (excellent book that I always recommend that everyone read) he quotes influential and respected psychiatrist, researcher, and author, Judith Lewis Herman: "It is morally impossible to remain neutral in this conflict [sexual violence]. The bystander is forced to take sides. It is very tempting to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks is that the bystander do nothing. He appeals to the universal desire to see, hear, and speak no evil. The victim, on the contrary, asks the bystander to share the burden of pain. The victim demands action, engagement, and remembering." Again, yes, Cal could actually stay neutral (although she didn't), but people can criticize her and have public opinions of that too.

       I do not agree that it is important for any public professional to "foster an environment where no one should be deemed guilty of a crime until they have had due process of law" and I especially do not agree with that where it relates to public government officials. You should also probably note that I did not go from zero to naming him on social media overnight and I did not publicly name him when he was a private citizen as his conduct was not relevant to the masses. I made several attempts to handle this privately which he just ignored. Which, fine, ignore but not ok ignore something like that and then go run for city council. I am sure you can understand the difference. I, and many many others in this world, feel that it is important for community leaders to foster an environment where victims are believed, not silenced, and certainly not threatened with defamation if we, as a society, are ever going to break the pattern of sexual violence. I guess that falls into the opinion category too. At appears that some people do want victims to stay silent so that sexual violence can continue to thrive and there is never any accountability for those who harm, but those who were harmed have to carry that unbelievably heavy burden in silence when they did nothing wrong.

 

       Nobody is trying to put Ward Hamilton in prison or trying to make him register as a sex offender. He has only ever been asked to be a half decent human being and he has not been able to do that. There is no "innocent until proven guilty" in the court of public opinion. That is reserved only for a criminal court of law and in this situation there will be no criminal courtroom where this will be tried because of the extremely short statute of limitations. If this was all a big lie (what reason I would have for lying about this, I have no idea and none of the Ward/Cal people can come up with a reason I would lie about this either) and Ward can easily prove actual malice, then why hasn't he sued me? If I am lying, then why would I have sent Ward private messages about this through Facebook 7 and 5 years before he ran for public office? It would be pretty much impossible to concoct such an elaborate lie because I can't see into the future. Cal knows that I sent him those messages. It was in the statement I released about this in October of 2023. That right there is pretty glaring evidence that I am telling the truth, but there is other evidence as well. I am not sure how much she is telling you about this whole situation. People can, and should, believe victims of sexual violence when they say they were harmed even if there was not trial involved. If what happened to me happened to you or someone you love you would want people to be supportive and believe even if there was no trial involved and even if the person reported it to the police and the DA did not prosecute. 

 

       Are you familiar with cognitive dissonance? Cognitive dissonance is the discomfort that happens when a person holds two or more conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes, or when their behavior conflicts with their beliefs. In one of the screenshots you provided there is a line that Cal wrote that says: "I do not know Anne. I will not get involved. That does NOT mean that I don't support victims." That statement by itself and everything that she wrote in the FB group and to me in text messages contradicts that statement. She supports victims, but only the ones that she knows? How does that make any sense? That is a prime example of cognitive dissonance. She is saying one thing, but her actions and words say the opposite and people have the right to publicly criticize her and have opinions about that in her role as city councilor. 

 

       Accusations of sexual assault and battery, and rape, absolutely are serious accusations. I am not sure if you think that I don't know that. If you think that I took any of this lightly you are mistaken. If Cal thinks I took any of this lightly she is mistaken. You and Cal have no idea or care about what I have been through with all of this for decades. If someone else is making up a statement out of thin air that Ward is a rapist, yes, that could be defamation per se, but I am the victim. I am the one saying it. I lived this. I have carried this for my entire adult life because of what Cal's friend did to me. I am the one who has lived with the PTSD symptoms. It is not defamation and I know this because it happened to me. In the first sentence of the Background section of your letter, you refer to the sexual assault I endured as an 18 year old kid as "supposedly." There is no supposedly here. I don't think it was appropriate for you to tell me that what happened to me was "supposedly." Maybe say that to a 3rd party, but it is not appropriate to ever say that to a victim about their own personal lived experience. This did not "supposedly" happened to me. I was sexually assaulted by Ward Hamilton and there is a lot of evidence that I speak the truth. I made every effort to do everything right when I spoke out including hiring an attorney (at $500 an hour!) for advice on what to do and what I could do. I did not spend over $6,000 on legal advice and other legal work because I took any of this lightly. I did not just impulsively throw together some statement and post it on social media. I posted it on Facebook (in a smaller group I belong to) at the advice of my attorney for lack of a better vehicle to get this information to voters and get it to them quickly. A lot of thought and consideration went into this decision to speak out. This all still impacts me and my family greatly, but I have no regrets and now I am doing so much to help other people. If Cal thinks that she has "suffered" in all of this, maybe she could take a moment and reflect on all of the pain & suffering this has caused me and my family and in a much more significant way. She could think about how all victims suffer when this happens to them. It is not usually the actual rape that causes the most suffering either. It is the suffering in the aftermath that compounds that trauma. The way that victims are treated by the friends and enablers of an abuser make this traumatic awful thing 1,000x worse. THAT is why do many people don't report their assaults. THAT is why too many people suffer in silence.

 

       When Ward ran for city council like what he did doesn't matter and like I don't matter, it was triggering like I can't even begin to explain to you in an email. The closer it got to the election the more anxious I got. I couldn't eat. I lost almost 20 lbs in two months (I have photos of the scale with me on it during that time period) and I am someone who normally likes to eat. I couldn't sleep. I had to quit my part time job because not being able to sleep, I couldn't have anywhere to be at 8:00 a.m. You can't fake that stuff. It was horrible and I assure you that you would not enjoy that. These are all PTSD symptoms that I am stuck with because of Cal's friend and Cal wrote all that stuff that she wrote about me and all of her friends joined in and piled it on all of this horrific rhetoric and how this is defamation and I am just smearing him. Smearing him, why? For fun? There has been nothing fun about this. Does she think I enjoy being attacked and called the most horrifically vile things and victim blamed & shamed from here to next Tuesday. I don't enjoy that at all. I could show you some screenshots from her friends that I am sure you would be very disturbed by. 

 

       Rewind about 9 months ago. I filed a police report in Bermuda back in February. I learned that Bermuda has no statute of limitations for sexual assault so I wanted to take that step. It was an important step for me to take for myself. I wanted this documented because it happened. Filing a false police report is a crime, but Cal and all of her friends feel that it is ok for them to still be accusing me of defaming Ward so essentially accusing me of the crime of filing a false police report. I gave a lengthy verbal statement to the detective and it is logged in the Bermuda police system with a case number. The prosecutor is not going to prosecute because of the length of time and probably because of the logistics of Ward being in another country. That would not be my choice, but it is not up to victims whether or not something gets prosecuted which you know. As I am sure you also probably know, failure to prosecute does not make an accusation of any crime false. Even a not guilty verdict in a criminal trial does not make an accusation false and a person can be found not guilty even in criminal court, but people still have their own thoughts and opinions on whether or not an accused is actually guilty as we all did with OJ Simpson and Casey Anthony to name a couple of infamous trials. 

 

       Did you know that of every 1,000 sexual assaults only 310 are reported to the police and of those 310 reported to the police only 50 reports lead to arrest? 28 of those cases will lead to a felony conviction and 25 of those perpetrators will be incarcerated. These are stats from RAINN (Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network) which is one of the nation's largest sexual violence organizations. Only 28 of those incidents leading to a conviction does not mean that the other 282 assaults were false allegations or that all 1,000 didn't happen. There are so many reasons why victims don't report. There is so much shame and self blame and also the terrible way that victims are treated by their peers and communities. There is literally no other crime where victims are treated so poorly. Reporting or speaking out is so retraumatizing. Who wants to sign up for that? I can speak from experience and tell you that it is terrible, horrible. Nobody wants this when they are telling the truth. People certainly aren't flocking to sign up for this for a lie. It has been this horrible in 2025, can you even imagine how horribly I would have been treated in 1990 and how much more traumatizing it would have been back then??? Not reporting in 1990 does not mean that I have to stay silent forever. 

 

       This part of your letter is confusing, the Salem Witch Trials part. Who is the witch in this scenario? You can't be saying that Ward Hamilton is the witch because in puritan times he would definitely be the one burning witches at the stake. He does not like being called out for his bad behavior and, I believe, even less so by a woman. The women targeted during this time were the women who challenged the status quo, challenged male authority and the patriarchy. Cal would be standing next to the men persecuting the so-called "witches." In puritan times I would be the one accused of being a witch and even today survivors of sexual violence still face similar dynamics. Victims/survivors are ostracized, disbelieved, outright called liars, attacked, called awful names, and in the modern version, punished with threats of defamation lawsuits. Personally, I don't really feel that the Salem Witch Trials was a super appropriate analogy considering the subject at hand in this whole terrible awful situation. If you are calling me speaking out about what Ward Hamilton did to me a witch hunt that's really not appropriate either because when politicians claim "witch hunt" they are usually saying that an accusation is politically motivated and not based on actual wrong-doing which is very much not the case here as you have learned in greater detailed from my email.

 

       I would like to highlight this part of your letter where you quote me as writing (or maybe saying?) that my intent was to be "taking Cal down." I do not see a screenshot provided where I wrote that. Never once did I ever write that or even think that so I definitely did not say it to anyone. My intent was never to do that. I was just hoping that Cal would be able to at some point show even a tiny bit of empathy because as a community leader empathy is an important quality. Many people use a city council position as a stepping stone for other government positions with more power and reach. I, personally, do not feel that this country needs anymore politicians who don't care about or stay neutral in situations of sexual violence. I mean, look at what is going on at the national level with all of the Epstein victims. Those women have been through hell and back and there are politicians who don't care and have no empathy for these victims and just want to protect the men who are on that list. Maybe it is because those politicians don't personally know the victims, I'm not sure why they are putting protecting the perpetrators over accountability and the well-being of the victims. It is certainly upsetting to see these women being treated this way. 

 

       With regard to meeting with Principal Merrill. I emailed him to talk about Cal's social media activity because it was alarming and I have every right to do that. I can show you the whole email if you want to see it, but a synopsis of it is  "I would like to set up a time to talk about Cal's victim blaming attitudes, words, and behaviors towards victims of sexual violence in a very public Facebook group of 10,000+ members. As an employee and representative of Melrose High she is setting a very poor example for not only the students she coaches, but also all of the young people in Melrose." I thought we would just talk on the phone, but he said that he wanted to "meet" with me and he said that he takes the allegations I detailed seriously which any good school administrator would. I printed the screenshots for the meeting and Principal Merril asked to keep these hardcopies so, of course, I said yes. I said to Principal Merril (and the other principal who was there), and you can ask him yourself, that I was not there to get her fired or not asked back to coach. It is not my decision what they decided to do, but I emphasized that what I would like to see happen would be for Cal to be required to do some professional development on this subject and after our meeting I even emailed him the link to an organization that does this. This is the link:

 

https://www.projectcallisto.org/workshops

 

       I said to Principal Merril that I didn't think that letting her go would help her learn, grow, or be a better and more empathetic person. I said that I thought that letting her go would only anger her and that would not help her or anyone. I even told that mutual friend I mentioned above the same thing in a text message that I can provide you with if you would like to see it. I have seen this in other schools that instead of firing a teacher or coach for indiscretions they have them do professional development to give them another chance. However, a week or so after the meeting when Cal's friends were still viciously attacking me and Cal could have stopped them but didn't, I changed my mind. When others make social media posts supporting me, Cal and her friends respond with follow up posts that aim to belittle, discredit, shame, attack, call me crazy, and bully me and my supporters. The fact that, as a community leader and high school coach, she didn't put a stop to any of that made me feel that she might be irredeemable. Again though, I do not have the power to make staffing decisions at Melrose High School. Cal has to take some responsibility for her own words and actions rather than dig her heels in so far she has you send me a threatening letter because she is mad that I was concerned about the well-being of the young people and other survivors who were reading all of that. If Cal's "career" as a part time track coach has been harmed, that is her own fault not mine. Everything is not always someone else's fault. Taking responsibility for one's own words and actions is also a quality that we should look for in our community leaders and people with influence over our young people in a teaching or coaching position. 

 

       The fact that Cal retained you to bully and intimidate me into silence further demonstrates her concern is only for herself and not the greater good and safety of the young people in Melrose. Sexual violence is a huge societal problem and women ages 16 - 24 are at the greatest risk of being subjected to this egregious harm. Picture what Cal and her friends (including Ward Hamilton) subjecting me to happening to a young person. That is the example that Cal is setting for the young people in Melrose and the principal of Melrose High needed to know about it because she was doing it so publicly. A young person who may not have the support system or resources that I have subjected to that could often does not go well for that victim. People often self medicate with drugs & alcohol or engage in other self destructive behaviors when being subjected to that kind of poor treatment. The behavior of Cal, Ward, and the rest of them is the type of behavior that would cause a young person, or any person at any age, but young people are more vulnerable to take their own lives or attempt to take their own lives. Believing and supporting survivors of sexual violence, not silencing them and threatening defamation (which Cal did about me speaking out about Ward), when they say they were harmed is suicide prevention. 

 

       I have had many survivors reach out to me privately and thank me for speaking out and continuing to be vocal about this. One of these people is a young person in Melrose in her early 20s who was sexually assaulted when she was a junior at Melrose High. She messaged me back in May. Like me, she did not report and has told very few people what happened to her. Her parents don't even know, but she felt comfortable messaging me and that is a HUGE step for a survivor and mirrors my journey in my own healing process. It was not that long ago that she was a student at Melrose High. I am not going to tell you her name although, with her permission, I told Principal Merril her name. I am not going to quote her whole message here, but I will tell you part of it. She wrote "I saw your post in the Melrose Community Page [she is referring to the Uncensored group] and I just want to say you are so brave for speaking out. Sadly, I still see that the city and those within it like to silence the stories of survivors. As a fellow survivor of something similar, I want you to know that your courage to speak out is inspiring. It truly makes the younger generation more likely to hold our abusers accountable without fear of the harsh judgment of society. You have no idea how much this matters to me and the community of victims. Thank you, and I hope people listen and learn from your story." After my meeting with Principal Merrill she sent me a message saying "I admire your commitment and bravery to continue fighting this battle for all of us, Anne. It is so inspiring and I hope you TRULY understand how much I look up to you. Just being in communication with you over the last few months and seeing your endless courage despite the community against you has made it feel much more bearable to handle my own trauma."

 

       I guess, Cal has to decide what is more important to her, her concern about herself or young people like the one who wrote the above to me. As a community leader and mentor to young people she should want people like me continuing to fight and advocate for a safer world in which to send our kids out into. There is a photo on-line of Cal at the White Ribbon Ceremony in March of 2024 that the Melrose Alliance Against Violence does every year. I will attach for you what exactly that White Ribbon ceremony is and the photo of Cal at this ceremony. The people at the White Ribbon Ceremony pledge, among other things, to "Speak out against attitudes and behaviors that contribute to sexual assault and domestic violence." and " Find out how to help when I suspect that someone I know is a victim or offender of sexual assault or domestic violence." I'm not sure how Cal, in good conscience, can stand shoulder to shoulder with young people in Melrose taking that pledge, but not take any of that pledge seriously. Again, as a community leader and mentor/coach to young people it is irresponsible to not take that pledge seriously and I am allowed to criticize and have an opinion on that. 

 

       Not sure if Cal told you this or not, but last November a Melrose science teacher was fired for his harmful social media activity. He posted on, what I believe was, his personal story so not private, but a smaller audience than where Cal was writing the harmful things she was writing. Someone took screenshots and brought them to the attention of the school. People do this all the time. I believe that Melrose Public Schools (as do most schools) have very specific guidelines and rules with regard to the social media activity of their employees and representatives. I did nothing wrong and, in fact, I did the responsible thing. Anyone who is educated on rape culture would read what Cal wrote, be horrified, and say that she was, indeed, perpetuating rape culture. I know what rape culture is which is why what I wrote was a valid statement. Melrose High parting ways with Cal was initially not what I thought would be the best course of action, but there is no reason that Cal wouldn't have the same thing happen to her as the science teacher had happen to him. From what I have been told people also really loved that science teacher and their kids had good experiences with him as their teacher.  

 

        In your second to last paragraph you state that Cal's opinions are protected. You and Cal seem to be suggesting that Cal's opinions are protected, but mine are not and I am a private citizen and she is a government official. Much of what you wrote in this letter is my opinion on things that she wrote and you provided screenshots of some of it. I understand that she doesn't like being called out for it, but she is a government official and being called out for things you write in public spaces kind of comes with the job. The same exact rules apply at the federal, state, and local level. Interestingly enough I got the email with your letter about an hour before all the Jimmy Kimmel stuff hit the news cycle. I was already pretty well versed in defamation (because of course I am at this point in the whole thing), but anyone who was paying attention last week got a crash course in the 1st Amendment especially when it comes to public figures. And not unlike that situation, this letter feels like a government official trying to intimidate, harass, annoy, and silence a private citizen for criticism and having an opinion that a government official does not like. 

 

       I am not sure what the purpose of the screenshot of Shaundra Priest Taylor is for. That is the screenshot of the mom who said that her daughter had a good experience with Cal. That's great that her daughter had a good experience. I am genuinely happy that her daughter was happy. It's not relevant to any of this though. The person's daughter having a good experience with Cal does not diminish the fact that Cal's words in a very public forum were harmful and not just harmful to me. "My social media calls for her punishment?" I see people every single day on social media and regular media call for "punishment" of government officials for their public words and actions. Government officials at every single level of government. Do you not?  

 

       I am not even in that Uncensored group anymore. I think Ward Hamilton probably threatened the admin of the group the same way he threatened the admin of the Moms of Melrose Facebook group which didn't go anywhere because he didn't have a leg to stand on with that. He has gone to great lengths to try to silence me and suppress this information from voters. He really has nobody to blame for any troubles he might be having, but himself. He so arrogantly decided to make himself a public person knowing he had done this and after he tried to hide from it years before like a coward. 

 

       As a measure of goodwill, I took down the "Two Peas in a Rape Culture Pod" graphic even though I do feel like you and Cal are trying to censor. In this text of that post I wrote:

 

"Cal is a Melrose City Councilor" This is true.

"She is a Melrose townie and long time townie friends with coWARD Hamilton." This is true.

"She wrote damning misinformation about defamation in a Melrose FB group with 10,000+ members." This is true.

"I asked her to apologize publicly for this, but she has refused to do so." This is true.

"Reporting to the police or filing a lawsuit is not the sole determinant of truth." This is true.

"She wrote in a FB post that I am defaming her long time townie friend." This is true.

"Defamation is a false statement." This is true.

 

       I won't continue because this email is already too long and because I am sure you read it. The rest is all true and or criticism and opinion on her words and I can change some of my language with regard to Cal when I tell the story of this whole insane situation if you let me know where the issue is exactly. Would you want to have a conversation as to how there might possibly be some middle ground where Cal feels less defensive/angry and my 1st Amendment Right to criticize a government official and express opinions is still protected? Maybe just you and me. Cal and I don't really vibe. 

 

       There is also the issue of this cease & desist letter. I have no obligation to keep this private and now it is part of this whole saga. If I share this publicly it doesn't really paint Cal in a great light especially after all that Jimmy Kimmel stuff last week. So I don't know. What I do know is that the common denominator of everyone's problems here seems to be Ward Hamilton! Wouldn't it be lovely if he just recused himself and went back to a quiet roofer townie life and everyone could have some semblance of peace? Also lovely would be a world free of sexual violence. I am doing everything in my power to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to other people in whatever way I can contribute. I have an important story to tell and to use as a tool for education & prevention and people who work in this realm of advocacy, activism, & prevention want me to tell it because my story/experience can help and inspire other people in the same way that people who courageously spoke out before me inspired me.  

 

       I understand that Cal doesn't like me talking about and having an opinion or criticism of her words, but not liking that does not make it defamatory. Correct? The situation at hand here involved an 18 year old kid. That is the same age group of those kids she coaches. Unfortunately, stats dictated that some of these kids will be victims of sexual violence or already have been so it is hard to understand why Cal wouldn't also want to do everything possible to make this world safer for them. After you digest all of this and discuss it with Cal, please clarify what it is exactly that you are requesting from me and whether or not Cal does want to continue to harass me about defamation or if she would like to put the greater good of the young people in Melrose (and everywhere) ahead of herself. Clarification on your ask would be very helpful to everyone. As I already suggested, if you would like to have a civil discussion about all of this, please let me know because I am very open to that. 

 

Thanks and have a great weekend!

 

Anne