Ethics Awareness Month event with keynote speaker Denny Abbott Advocate and Author: An inspiring account of one person’s moral dilemma, the defining values of his courageous decision, and how he chose to respond. As a young probation officer in Alabama, Denny Abbott became concerned about the conditions for black children at a segregated state juvenile institution. He fought the state to champion reforms for ending the beatings and sexual abuse at a facility that was supposed to protect and educate them. As a result, he placed his family and career in peril, became a pariah in his home town, and was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan.