That story is grim indeed. I wondered what the news has been since that graduation in 2004, so I asked Google.
has an article dated just two weeks ago from a Frederick County website.
The Dobriches’ son Alex, then in the sixth grade, rose up to make a simple statement - “I feel bad when kids in class
call me Jewboy” - but the local vultures hooted at him, with one attender screaming at the young boy
to “take your yarmulke off.”
Local politicians rose and further blasted away at the Dobriches, with one former school board member even
hinting that they might “disappear.” References to the
Ku Klux Klan began to emerge in the threats.
The talk-radio crowd got louder, shriller, and bolder. Young Alex
was routinely called a “Christ-killer” and began hiding his
yarmulke for fear of his personal safety. The family began facing more and more threats.
A well-trafficked right-wing website published the Dobriches’
names, home address, and telephone number, instigating even more smothering harassment of the Jewish family.
The Dobriches purchased a second home in Wilmington to protect their children, but eventually the
financial drain forced the family to sell the Indian River home. Samantha dropped out of college
and lapsed into depression. The Dobriches (along with the other family) filed their complaint describing
the above incidents and others. The lawsuit is pending.
Samantha Dobrich wrote this:
, the html version of the file http://courts.delaware.gov/BBMC/pdf/dobrich_03.pdf
.
Her short, mild statement does not address the abuse she suffered.
There’s a discussion of the issue here:
Our Constitutional system generally protects the rights of minorities from pure democracy and the resulting tyranny of the
majority. We’ll see how it works out in the Dobrich case.
