The Backstory
In the spring of 1989, Debbie Smith was raped. While her husband was asleep upstairs, Debbie was kidnapped from her own back yard in Williamsburg, Virginia, dragged into the woods and raped. Her attacker left her with the threatening words that he knew where she lived, and she had best not tell anyone of her shame. But Debbie Smith would not be cowed. She immediately told her husband, a police officer, and the rape was officially reported.
Trying to wring one last river trip out of our
summer here in the region known affectionately as "The State of Jefferson," a
few days ago our family decided to head south from Ashland through the rugged
Siskiyou Mountains to explore McCloud Falls in Northern California.
