from our PRINTED MAY 1, 2021 EDITION
SPECIAL COMMENTARY
by Lonnie Brennan
There’s an old ballad about a man named Big Bad John who used all his strength in holding up a support beam to allow 20 miners to escape from a would-be grave. Take away the beam, the mine, and the poisonous gases, and there’s still quite the analogy between the fictional efforts of Big John and the real work a man named Kevin Hall has done.
Kevin is the New England Director of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights. Readers of the Broadside may be familiar with some of his work, but they may not know that he’s also been the behind-the-scenes guy, working tirelessly, doggedly, to save children and adults from drugs and psychiatric abuse.
From fighting against the 1980’s wave of Ritalin tranquilization of school children, to his many behind-the-scenes actions and investigations, Kevin has fought the good fight. Locally, he was there at the onset of the Justina Pelletier case, and played a pivotal role in helping to expose the ill treatment of children at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in Canton, Mass.
In short, Kevin has helped, either directly or indirectly, many people, and few know of his minor or major roles in those instances.
Kevin just found out he is about to die.
In a phone conversation last month, we reviewed some of Kevin’s actions, starting with the Judge Rotenberg Center, the minor and major torture which took place there, including the story of one boy who was electrically shocked 30 times in one day. The child had to be transported to the hospital, having entered a catatonic state. That case, of course, like the Pelletier case, went national.
Whether working locally or nationally, Kevin put to use his skills at “working with good people” and assembling bullet-proof evidence, testimony, and details to effectively fight against medical malpractice and psychiatric drugging, and to expose the truth.
Unknown by many, Kevin played a supporting role against psychiatric abuse on behalf of Justina Pelletier and the Pelletier family.
Justina, the vivacious Connecticut teen who was held in a lockdown psychiatric unit at Boston Children’s Hospital, saw her first and second teenage years replaced with nightmares. She was ripped from her family and friends and confined to what has been described as a sterile and sinister environment. When Kevin learned of her captivity, he went to work. Due to his connections and a little luck (he’s modest), Kevin was the first person to get a major network to properly cover Justina’s story.
Kevin is also the guy who gave the producer of The Kuhner Report (Jeff Kuhner, AM 680 WRKO talk host) the personal number for Justina’s father, Lou Pelletier. Most of us know where that eventually led: The most massive public protest of its kind ever before the Massachusetts State House led by “The Kuhner Man.” With more and more piling on daily after that, the government finally released its grips on the young lady, returning Justina to her loving sisters, Julia, Jennifer and Jessica, and parents Linda and Lou.
There was never any justice for Justina, but she was released back to a caring family, and she will always serve as evidence of an overreaching government and psychiatric medical providers. Sadly, she is but one of countless others thus entangled in a corrupt system.
“In the United States,” Kevin related, “the psychiatric system is seen in the abuse of the elderly – they pretty much give them a diagnosis so they can take away everything from them … put a guardianship on them. Same thing [happens] with child protective services. It’s really a branch of psychiatry where people are getting labeled, force drugged, sinking away, based on all kinds of strange labels, such as, for example, with Justina and the Bader 5 [Children’s Hospital] psychiatric unit. Their diagnosis for a new psychological disorder was brand new. A lot of it came out of Harvard [University].” Kevin then explained how the psychiatric “experts” had gotten it wrong.
“But, for every case like Justina Pelletier that comes out,” Kevin said, “I probably see 50 or 100 abuses by the psychiatric community that never see the light of day.”
“In Justina’s case, I was contacted by someone close, from Connecticut, who gave me the [phone] number, so I spoke with the Pelletiers. Basically, the story was covered up for six months, and a lot of the data that [the Pelletiers] tried to give to reporters was getting back twisted [they were backstabbed] to the courts, to be used against the family. So, they found someone who had an interest, a young reporter, and I got in touch with him. He came up and did a couple of real stories.” Kevin continued to pound the press to release information and get other media involved.
That’s what Kevin does. He makes connections. Gets information out. Connects key players. Gets documented insider information, gets whistleblowers to tell their stories, reveal their data.
The Diagnosis
Kevin was recently diagnosed with fourth-stage pancreatic cancer and given three to six months to live. The clock has been ticking.
Kevin knows that such a diagnosis for the most insidious type of organ-destroying cancer is, at best, optimistic. Many succumb within 45 days. In the best of cases, less than three percent survive beyond 24 months.
The Man
Those who know Kevin can relate that he has the humor of Jack Benny (died of pancreatic cancer), the charm of Patrick Swayze (died of pancreatic cancer), definitely does not sport the vocals of Luciano Pavarotti (died of pancreatic cancer), but has shown similarities to the depth and compassion of Michael Landon (died of pancreatic cancer), the brilliance and crispness of Rex Harrison (died of pancreatic cancer), and the arrows-to-the-spark-of-the fire of Bill Safire (died of pancreatic cancer).
Our rambling discussions went from local, to family, to national, to international. Thinking about where others fail to get traction, Kevin related how “those in charge, those elitists who have taken control, are sort of like ghosts in the background. What I mean is, for some issues, it’s like the conservatives were just fighting ghosts – saying it’s this or that or the Federal Reserve, or what have you. They’re called conspiracy theorists, and partially because their research – even though it’s been heavily researched by some – still is questionable, and it really needs to be dug down to exactly who is running things, because you can never win by fighting a ghost.” Kevin dives deep into the origins of evil or incompetence, to expose and illuminate.
“So, the reason why I write on psychiatric abuse, and work on it so long, is that I find that psychiatry is [often used as] a political manipulation tool, of those working far behind the scenes to drug up and drug down any resistance to them. A lot is done through behaviorism, and that’s what you see in the schools. So, you have trapped audiences there, both college and all the grade schools and high schools.”
Kevin cautioned that “with psychiatry, you have the tools to take people away without any hearings, without any justice. Like what you had with Russian gulags under Stalin, and that’s what you have in China now, throwing people into mental institutions and harvesting body organs … that’s what was done in South Africa which was a psychiatric slave labor state … the prime minister in 1954 who started apartheid was a German-trained eugenicist. So, they had six big psychiatric slave labor camps where they would take Blacks who were off curfew or whatever …”
Talk Shows
Kevin has spoken up and down the AM and FM dial, “probably doing about 600 or so talk shows between radio and cable TV,” he recalled. “Some of the stories were really big, like the Pelletier case, then there’s the case of Rebecca Riley, a 4-year-old from Hull, Mass., who died of a psychiatric drug overdose [in 2006, and featured on CBS news and 60 Minutes].
“The new welfare system changed under Clinton, which required people to go to work after two years. So, instead of working, they [the states] started switching people over to psychologic Social Security, and that would give them more money – get them labeled as medically ill, and drug companies would feed off of it, and kids would get destroyed, labeled, and were being given drugs,” Kevin said.
In the Riley case, Kevin detailed the type of drugs involved, and the actions taken, eventually leading to a huge settlement from Tufts Medical Center. (The mother was later convicted on second degree murder, the father on first degree murder. However, the psychiatrist, who prescribed a wide range of drugs for the child, skated.)
Looking Forward/Looking Backward
Asking about his family, through choked-back tears, Kevin explained “I’ve been so blessed, focusing on good people, working with good people, for decades. There are so many great people I know.”
“I’m pretty spiritual, so I’m not afraid to go, but telling people I love is pretty tough,” Kevin related. From his first marriage, he has a daughter named Tina who is forty years old. For the past 28 years he’s been married to his current wife Monica, and together they have a son they love who is currently attending graduate school.
Regarding siblings, Kevin’s youngest brother Phil died of brain cancer at age 50; his sister April, and his three older brothers, Gary, Doug and Alan, he spoke of with reverence. “I got along great with all of them. Like Monica, they put up with my wise-assed jokes, and sometimes putting the world before them, working countless hours fighting against psychiatric drugs and abuse.”
What Do We Say to the Readers?
“I appreciate the paper, the readers who are actively working to make a better world,” Kevin said. “To me, those are my friends. I’ve got a lot of social friends, but the ones who are actively working, they are my – removing the Russian connotation – they are my comrades.”
Monica related that her husband is “such a kind and decent person, he’s always looking to help someone improve themselves in any way that he can, and if he can educate or share information with others, he will take his time and do it. You don’t see this that much these days, most folks focus on themselves. Kevin will help others. He’s a very kind and generous person, and I’ve been so happy to have this time with him …”
“Your paper has been a source of inspiration for her,” Kevin said of his wife. “It shares a lot. And from there, she went to … well, she does a dance to our dog every day at the sound of Jeff Kuhner’s opening and Rush Limbaugh’s opening …”
Their Future
Kevin and Monica are selling their home. It’s too much for her to take care of. She’s a hotel worker, still furloughed (by COVID). And together they’re thinking of what can best be done now. She wants to stay in the area, downsize, find a place where their cute dog can be happy too.
Connecting
The Broadside will be reprinting several of Kevin’s stories over the coming months and relating some more of his past from our recent discussions with him. You can reach out to Kevin at E-mail, and send any notes to him and Monica, care of the Broadside, P.O. Box 4200, Peabody, MA 01961.
