Dean, look for Pete's website. I read somewhere that it originally appeared on his site in June of 2002.

There's a mention of said letter here.

http://www.nypost.com/news/worldnews/66694.htm.

Actual link to letter is here
http://www.petetownshend.co.uk/media/020116adifferentbomb.pdf

I downloaded it in case it disappears, whatever.

I think he's innocent, but slightly slow when it comes to "pre-emptively" prorecting himself. There's just too much background against such a thing in his life that I believe him until proven guilty.

By the way, i keep on making the point in various discussions about this - the police have to look at some of this stuff too. They are not immediately guilty of a crime, nor are they sick perverts for doing so.

It's their job. Townshend felt the same, probably. Saying that, I'm not going to believe any celeb after this who says they were "just doing research." They now know that you can get in serious trouble. Duh?

Also, where does that "distribution" come in? I think that was just an overheard word or a rumor spread by a cop who grew up liking Black Sabbath better.

There's just too much background against such a thing in his life that I believe him until proven guilty.

Precisely. This man has been in the position to have as many 12 or 13 year old girls--or boys--he could ever want. The tales of womanizing from rock stars of his era are epic. I find it very difficult to believe that he wouldn't already have a reputation, at minimum. But he doesn't.

Dean:

I love Pete Townsend.

I have always said that if I could become any guitarist, living or dead, I would choose Pete. (Keef is a close second).

That said....your contention that we should have seen a pattern of behavior by now if Pete were a pervert...

Remember: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

This stuff about Pete is very difficult for me to consider. I am a victim of incest, as well as sexual exploitation by non-family members, and I was also abused in other ways when I was a child.

The one thing that seems clear to me is that the people who are most vocal about Pete have either never been victims themselves, or if they were, they've never thoroughly processed it with the help of a competent mental health care professional.

It takes a very long time to come to terms with these sorts of "life events"--years, not just 6 - 12 weeks of sessions with whatever "provider" some HMO is willing to "co-pay."

As a lifelong Pete Townshend fan (I loved the Who even before I knew who they were!), and as a survivor of some especially vicious child abuse, I find myself in rather a baseball moment, feeling more than ever the old, "Say it ain't so..." sentiment of that legendary little boy addressing Shoeless Joe Jackson.

What is horrible is that I know, all-too-well, at this point in time, with the evidence to which I have access, there is no way to exonerate Pete.

It could go either way.

My direct experience with paedophiles, however, has been that they *never* "turn themselves in," as Pete did. My personal experience with real paedophiles for whom suspicions have been raised, has been observing them display absolute denial behaviour (as in, "this is preposterous, I would *never* do such a thing"), succeeded by flight behaviour, when the heat is turned on. They don't turn over their computers, nor willingly allow their homes to be searched. They run away--or they are trapped. Neither of these apply to Pete.

I do believe Pete has enough money that he could have successfully fled and became an exile.

The fact that he did turn himself in is the only solid evidence I have that he may be innocent--it is moot to me whether he was "tipped off" that he was under investigation. Real paedophiles that I know and/or know of, who discover that they under investigation, always flee.

The sad truth is that paedophiles are tragically clever and manipulative, and I realize that Pete turning himself in could simply be a new mutation to an old twist. And the lyrics of "Behind Blue Eyes" do trouble me: "...but my dreams, they aren't as empty, as my conscience seems to be."

One loss I'm surrently having to come to terms with is that I'm a dj, and until he is exonerated, I do not feel comfortable playing his music. This does not mean I believe he is guilty. It simply means I know enough about this horrible stuff to know that there's currently not enough information available to know one way or another.

I'm mentally preparing for the worst, while hoping for the best.

One thing is clear. Pete has put himself in a very powerful position to positively affect a change in child pornography, in the event of his innocence. I hope he follows through on the task. He's usually pretty good about finishing things.

With hope and prayers for all,

Richard

Innocent until proven guilty! I am a big Pete Townsend fan. My favorite song by him is "let my love open the door." In my heart, I feel that he is innocent. I don't know all of the particulars of his case but my heart cannot stand that he may be capable of such a horrible act. R. Kelly has made me sick to my stomach with his child's play issues. I just can't take another one.

Has anybody heard anything of late about Pete's status. The whole thing seems to have dropped off the news services. The way they jumped on the story (and Pete), one would reason that any news, as the case evolved, would be out there. Like most of these dated views I read here tonight, I want to believe that Pete is innocent, but I have a son who is not quite 2 years and find it difficult to impossible to accept his (or anybody's) justifications for why he was lurking about at these sicko child exploitation sites.

I hope he is innocent and I hope he can turn this horribly negative attention into a positive to fight and hopefully one day stamp out the depraved criminals who partake in all the forms of child pornography and paedophilia. All you can do is all you can do.

es

Pete is innocent. I know it, you know it, Pete knows it and most of all, the police now know it. The Only thing Mr.Townshend was every guilty of was having a mega-dumbass moment. Hell, I've had several myself over the years. So. let's drop it ppl and move on.

Pete's a boy lover (common among gays/bis) - - a lover of adolescent boys. What exactly is the nature of the"child porn" in question? Is no one getting sick of the Stalinist hysteria which sqeuelches discussion and terrorizes the young?? Cowards and fascists all. No time - - but arrgggh

Pete's a boy lover (common among gays/bis) - - a lover of adolescent boys. What exactly is the nature of the"child porn" in question? Is no one getting sick of the Stalinist hysteria which sqeuelches discussion and terrorizes the young?? Cowards and fascists all. No time - - but arrgggh!

Pete's a boy lover (common among gays/bis) - - a lover of adolescent boys. What exactly is the nature of the"child porn" in question? Is no one getting sick of the Stalinist hysteria which sqeuelches discussion and terrorizes the young?? Cowards and fascists all. No time - - but arrgggh!