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for Mr. Willard Owing.
    Senator MANSFIELD. Please stand to be sworn, Mr. Owing.
    Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give in the matter pending before the Standing Committee on Education, Welfare, and Public Morality of the State Senate will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
    Mr. OWING. I do.
    TESTIMONY OF WBLLAKD OWING, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, TOWN OF PEQUOT
    Mr. BROADBENT. Please identify yourself, sir.
    Mr. OWING. It is a pleasure to be here, gentlemen. It is rare enough for the educator and the legislator to sit face to face.
    Mr. BROADBENT. The record will show that you are Mr. Willard Owing, Superintendent of Schools in the township of Pequot, if you have no objection.
    Mr. OWING. Glad to be here. Eager to help.
    Friday, October 25
    Mr. BROADBENT. We understand that you were the first person the man Wissey Jones came to see in Pequot.
    Mr. OWING. Gentlemen, I hope you lawmakers will come down and visit us, come back to school, teach us about democracy.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Mr. Jones put his proposition to you?
    Mr. OWING. He was most congenial, sir. We had a pleasant talk about provisions for the gifted.
    Mr. BROADBENT. He outlined the deal he wanted to make?
    Mr. OWING. Under most circumstances, I told him, enrichment in the ordinary classroom, in the heterogeneous group-Mr. BROADBENT. I put this question to you: Did he tell you what he wanted?
    Mr. OWING. He seemed rather ill-informed on our recent thinking about the developmental process. On the other hand, he was friendly, distinctly friendly. A constructive approach.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Mr. Chairman, I—
    Senator MANSFIELD. Please try to answer the questions, Mr. Owing.
    Mr. OWING. Of course. Willingly, Senator. Anything.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Did Mr. Wissey Jones tell you he wanted to buy a young boy?
    Mr. OWING. I want to help in any way I can.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Mr. Owing, sir, would you kindly tell us your understanding of the man Wissey Jones's plan?
    Mr. OWING. He seems bitterly opposed to enrichment. I couldn't get at the reason. It seemed to be a matter of emotion, like so many parents we have coming in. Mind you, we have an exceptionally fine type of parent in my little bailiwick.
    Mr. BROADBENT. Sir—
    Senator SKYPACK. Listen, Owing, answer the man!
    Mr. OWING. My dear Senator, I am most eager to help.
    Mr. BROADBENT. The man Wissey Jones, under oath before
    THE CHILD BUYER
    this committee, testified that you were the first person he saw in Pequot, and that he outlined to you his plan to buy a child, and that you turned him over to Mr. Cleary. Is this—?
    Mr. OWING. Mr. Cleary is a strong believer in enrichment, if I'm not mistaken; dead set against acceleration. . . .
    Senator SKYPACK. Look here, Owing, we understand Cleary's a schemer.
    Mr. OWING. He's a planner, if that's what you mean, sir. No one in the town school system, including me, can take on a complex problem of curriculum or budget or transportation and effect a tidier schedule of operations, combining practical foresight with an unerring avoidance of criticism from taxpayers. He can see pitfalls from a year's distance. Oh, I bank on him.
    Mr. BROADBENT. You talked to Cleary shortly after your interview with Mr. Jones? You made a special trip to Lincoln Elementary for this purpose. Is that correct? You hurried over there—
    Mr. OWING. I'd like to ask my Board to promote Mr. Cleary to Assistant Superintendent; he has the qualities—agressive, superlative organizer, respected by the teachers. On the other hand, of course, what holds me back is that I sometimes feel a slight undertow there, a troublemaking tendency.
    Senator SKYPACK. You mean he's one of the hotheads that are stirring the whole thing up? He might be responsible for the violence?
    Mr. OWING. I didn't mean quite that.
    Mr. BROADBENT. I think you did. That's what you suggested.
    Mr. OWING. No, really, that's your implication. Or do I mean inference? Goodness, sometimes I wonder.
    Senator