Monday,  Feb. 17, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 216 • 18 of 38

(Continued from page 17)

20s was forced to confront her experience. Overwhelmed by a flood of emotions, Loetscher swallowed a bottle of pills one snowy evening. She nestled up in a white comforter between her two dogs and waited to die. When she awoke the next morning to see the sunlight coming through her blinds, she felt a new sense of purpose.
• "You've got a reason that you woke up," Loetscher told herself.
• As she went through therapy, her resolve grew stronger. In 2012, Loetscher started Selfspiration, a day camp for girls who have been sexually abused. This year will be the third for that camp and the first year for a boy's camp and a retreat for adult women.
• The gathering shows participants they are not alone, she said.
• Loetscher said she had hoped to take legal action against the man who abused her, but by the time she felt empowered to do so, the statute of limitations had expired. She could take no criminal or civil recourse, and that frustrated her.
• In 2012, she worked with a former legislator to remove South Dakota's criminal statute of limitations on some child rape cases.
• "I'm so excited that what I can't have -- the justice that isn't going to happen for me -- somebody else is going to get," Loetscher said.
• Confronting the perpetrator of her abuse also provided some resolution.
• In 2011, she travelled to her hometown on a two-hour trek that felt like eternity. The drive, she remembered, was eerily quiet and the white sky blended seamlessly with the snow-covered earth.
• She thought her legs would give out when she faced him. But Loetscher said she stood tall and told him, "I know what you did, and I will not be quiet."

Patrol: 2 teens killed in 1-car wreck in Minnehaha

• SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Authorities say two teens have died in a single-car crash in Minnehaha County.
• The South Dakota Highway Patrol says 17-year-old Raphie Phan was driving a car south on 463rd Avenue toward 268th Street early Sunday when he lost control on a curve.
• The car entered the median and rolled, throwing Phan and 19-year-old passenger Amanda Rose Doty from the car. Both were killed.
• The patrol says neither was wearing a seat belt.
• The accident remains under investigation.


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