Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 27

Thread: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

  1. #1

    Default Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    Hi all,

    Long-time reader, first-time poster!

    I’m 25, and had always heard rumblings about Don Henley and an underage girl who overdosed. I’d always assumed he had a party and someone had her over because that’s what I’d heard.

    Well, I recently bought tickets to their AT&T Park show in September and I’ve been listening to them a lot again. (I actually joined the forum to reminisce about the HFO record, but never got around to it.) The underage prostitute incident came up on Don’s wikipedia page and I decided to do some investigating.

    It’s not looking like there was a party. It looks like it was just him and an underaged prostitute.

    Honestly, I don’t know what I should do with my tickets. I love The Eags, as David Spade calls them, but I can’t go to a concert where a(n alleged) pederast is on stage.

    What are your guys’ thoughts on this whole thing? Am I missing a part of the story? What do we do with Don in the era of #metoo?

    I don’t wanna give up the Eags

  2. #2
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Where Faulkner collides with Elvis
    Posts
    33,663

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    I'm not sure where you got your information, but the internet is full of unreliable sources.

    I can tell you what Don Henley has stated. According to him, he did not have sex with the girl in question.

    I can also tell you that there is no evidence that he is lying. He was never accused of statutory rape, much less convicted of it. The girl never claimed that she'd had sex with him.

    I hope this assuages your fears... although I have to admit I'm dismayed by this statement:

    Quote Originally Posted by hellhathfrozenover
    I can’t go to a concert where a(n alleged) pederast is on stage.
    A "pederast" is a man who has sex with underage males, not females - you mean "pedophile" - but that piece of pedantry aside, I find it sad that "alleged" is apparently all it takes. Who needs proof, eh? "It has to be true - I read it on the internet!"

    Anyway, if you really would like to know more, the story goes thusly:

    On November 21, 1980, Don Henley had a party at his home - a "Farewell the the Eagles" party as the band was now officially ending. Invitations were extended to crew members and roadies. As was the custom for such parties, Don arranged for a madam to send over some prostitutes. One of them was the underage girl; however, her youth was not known to Don Henley.

    As I said earlier, Don asserts that he did not have sex with the girl. According to him, he spent most of his time upstairs on the phone with his girlfriend and hardly circulated at all at the party, which was taking place on the main floor of his home.

    I know it will surprise no one that drugs were passed around at this party. Don would later say these drugs belonged to the roadies. Regardless of who brought them, they were inevitably offered to the girl. She indulged in cocaine and Quaaludes, but her body apparently wasn't as prepared for the drugs as those around her. In the morning, while many were "sleeping it off," she started having seizures. Don was alerted and called 911. Paramedics arrived, the girl was treated, and thankfully she recovered.

    The police became involved at this point after being contacted by the paramedics. They searched Don's home and found more drugs as well as another underage girl. He was arrested for drug possession and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He pled "No Contest" and received two years probation in addition to a $2000 fine. The court also required him to get drug counseling.

    And there you have it.

    (The original article in Rolling Stone can be found here).

    It's not something we enjoy talking about. In fact, this is the first time since the board's inception that I've laid it bare like this. However, at this point I think it's best to get the facts out here rather than have people stumbling about the web and reading all sorts of BS.

    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

  3. #3
    Stuck on the Border
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Posts
    3,521

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    I don't have anything further to add about Don, but I have a more general concern.

    I believe it does no one any favours to describe sex with a 16 year-old as "pedophilia". It may be illegal in California but in most of Europe and in many US states, the legal age of consent is 16. I cannot feel the kind of moral outrage that pedophilia suggests and I feel it devalues the term.

    A secondary concern, is that we are judging behaviour in the past by the standards of today. In 1980, attitudes about sex (and drugs) were different.

  4. #4
    Stuck on the Border
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Central New Jersey
    Posts
    2,211

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    Well said Soda and UTW.

  5. #5
    Moderator Ive always been a dreamer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Cruising down the center of a two-way street in VA
    Posts
    20,198

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    In many states in the U.S., including California, the legal age of consent is higher than 16. However, I do not know if that was the case at the time this incident occurred. I'm not defending Don's behavior, but she was a hired prostitute, so it's possible he may have assumed she was of legal age.

    I also agree with UTW that the standards for this type of behavior in 1980 were much different than they are now. Again, I'm not judging - just stating the reality.

    And lastly, if my memory serves me correctly, didn't this young lady die of a drug overdose several years after this incident?

    "People don't run out of dreams: People just run out of time ..."
    Glenn Frey 11/06/1948 - 01/18/2016

  6. #6
    Stuck on the Border Dawn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Walking in Memphis ...
    Posts
    1,663

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    I for one, will not be suprised if it turns out there is more to this.


    "Let's burn our long johns and head west" - Glenn Frey 1948-2016

  7. #7
    Stuck on the Border Dawn's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    Walking in Memphis ...
    Posts
    1,663

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    History of California Age of Consent:

    The age of consent, at the time applying only when the girl is the younger party, was 10 when California introduced its penal code in 1850. In 1889 the age of consent was raised to 14. In 1897 the age of consent became 16. The age of consent in California has been 18 since 1913. Some media sources reported that the age of consent in California in the 1970s was 14 or 16 but in fact it was and has been 18.[29]

    In the 1990s Governor of California Pete Wilson stated that there was a trend of men in their mid-to-late 20s having sex with and impregnating teenage girls around 14 years of age and that the statutory rape laws needed to be enforced to prevent this.[33]

    In 2012 Kristin Olsen, a Republican member of the State Assembly of California, sponsored a bill that criminalizes sexual relations between K-12 teachers and students, including students over 18, as well as sexual text messages and other communications aimed at seducing a student. The bill was proposed after a 41-year-old teacher and 18-year-old high school student publicly announced that they were in a relationship.[34] The bill was killed in committee by Democratic lawmakers concerned about the constitutionality of the proposed legislation.[35]

    By 2014 there had been civil court rulings in California stating that minors under 18 may consent to sexual activity, even though the age of consent is 18 under state criminal law.[36]

    ---------

    Good Lord, 10. That makes me seriously sick to my stomach.

    Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ages..._United_States


    "Let's burn our long johns and head west" - Glenn Frey 1948-2016

  8. #8
    Stuck on the Border
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Central New Jersey
    Posts
    2,211

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    Quote Originally Posted by Ive always been a dreamer View Post
    In many states in the U.S., including California, the legal age of consent is higher than 16. However, I do not know if that was the case at the time this incident occurred. I'm not defending Don's behavior, but she was a hired prostitute, so it's possible he may have assumed she was of legal age.

    I also agree with UTW that the standards for this type of behavior in 1980 were much different than they are now. Again, I'm not judging - just stating the reality.

    And lastly, if my memory serves me correctly, didn't this young lady die of a drug overdose several years after this incident?
    Dreamer, I believe she did. This was recently discussed in Don and the Press thread after that gossip site came out with a story about it. She was with another girl who was also a minor and a prostitute at the party. The one surviving girl threatened to come out with some big story about it this spring. She is now married to a Calif. politician if I remember the story right.

  9. #9
    Moderator Ive always been a dreamer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Cruising down the center of a two-way street in VA
    Posts
    20,198

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    Thanks NKIT - However, if that is the only source, I am reluctant to believe any of it. Time will tell, I guess.

    "People don't run out of dreams: People just run out of time ..."
    Glenn Frey 11/06/1948 - 01/18/2016

  10. #10
    Administrator sodascouts's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
    Location
    Where Faulkner collides with Elvis
    Posts
    33,663

    Default Re: Can we talk about Don’s... “incident...” in 1980?

    People, I cannot stress enough...

    Don't believe something just because you read it on the internet.

    NKIT, you are repeating unsubstantiated gossip as if it were established fact.

    Everything in my post can be fact-checked via newspapers and interviews. Nothing on that "gossip site" can be verified, not even the identity of the girl.

    It's important to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources, which is why this post exists.

    Always in our hearts, Never forgotten

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •