of the kids in Adenville who were victims of Tom and his Great Brain. As this trial occurred soon after the disastrous river rafting, Tom is also accused of being negligent toward Jimmie Peterson and Howard Kay. Marie Vinson, daughter of the Vinsons, a prominent family in Adenville. Sweyn has a crush on Marie, much to John and Tom's chagrin. John refers to her as "that stuck-up Marie Vinson". Sweyn later returns home from high school wearing fancy Eastern clothing which he shows off to Marie, causing further mortification for John and Tom. Religious demographics Catholicism is central to the family's life and identity, a recurring theme in a town where Catholics are distinctly in the minority. The breakdown is said to be 2,000 Mormons, 500 or so Protestants, and only about 100 Catholics. All the non-Mormons or "Gentiles" attend a generalized community church, and the Fitzgeralds have to make do with the services of itinerant priests and of the local preacher, Reverend Holcomb, who preaches "strictly from the Bible" so he does not show favoritism to either Protestants or Catholics. It was said that once a year a Catholic priest would visit Adenville to hear confessions, baptize babies or do specifically Catholic rituals; other times a Protestant minister would do likewise, such as marry Protestants. The Jewish population is almost nonexistent, consisting solely of an aging itinerant Jewish peddler named Abie Glassman who sets up a shop in Adenville with tragic results, as chronicled in the first book in the series, The Great Brain. Abie dies of starvation because his small shop cannot compete with the ZCMI store. Papa explains to the townspeople that it was because Abie was a Jew that no one recognized or helped him with his situation. With Abie's death, it can be inferred that the town no longer has any Jewish people living in it. It is also not known if Basil Kokovinis and his family are Greek Orthodox. Education Papa, who had migrated from the northeastern United States, is the only person in town with a college education. Although many adults in Adenville lack a formal education, they are respectful of those who do, and the narrator remarks that his father was considered the smartest man in town as he was the only resident of Adenville to hold a university diploma. Papa also bemoans the fact that most boys in Adenville will be