Unspeakable Acts: The Ordeal of Thomas Waters-Rimmer

Waters, one of four children, was the only son of their abusive, alcoholic father, Tom Sr. His mother died when he was 18 months old, perhaps beaten to death by her husband. Some three years later, when Tom Sr.'s abuse became apparent, the children were taken away. Children's Services placed Waters and his sister Patty with their father's second wife's sister and her husband, Carl Rimmer, because ``they were family,'' despite the fact that the department was apparently aware of allegations that Carl had previously molested a young boy. Waters was sexually abused by his foster father (which Carl admits) until his sisters rescued him at age 16. In 1987, as a college freshman, Waters sued the Lorain County (Cleveland) Children's Services Board for $5 million, not so much for the money, he claims, as for the future of other children. Waters and Morris, author of The Kids Next Door , knit together the grisly details of Waters's life in an overlong book marred by the intrusiveness of Morris's voice and by his tangential obsession with the death of his mother. Waters won his suit and Carl went to prison. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)