WOOOO!!!.....my little hole in the wall town is on the Drudgereport page!!!

[Wheezer]

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) - A public school teacher preached his Christian beliefs despite complaints by other teachers and administrators and used a device to burn the image of a cross on students' arms, according to a report by independent investigators.

Mount Vernon Middle School teacher John Freshwater also taught creationism in his science class and was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible and other religious materials from his classroom, the report said.

School board members were scheduled to meet Friday afternoon to discuss the findings by consulting firm H.R. On Call Inc., hired by the district to investigate. The report was released Thursday.

School Superintendent Stephen Short wouldn't comment on the report before Friday's meeting, his office said. A message seeking comment was left for Freshwater's attorney, Roger Weaver.

The report comes one week after a family filed a federal lawsuit in Columbus against Freshwater and the school district, saying Freshwater burned a cross on their child's arm that remained for three or four weeks.

Freshwater's friend Dave Daubenmire defended him.

"With the exception of the cross-burning episode ... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district," he told The Columbus Dispatch in a story published Friday.

Several students interviewed by investigators described Freshwater, who has been employed by the school district for 21 years, as a great guy.

But Lynda Weston, the district's director of teaching and learning, told investigators that she has dealt with complaints about Freshwater for much of her 11-year term at the district, the report said.

A former superintendent, Jeff Maley, said he tried to find another position for Freshwater but couldn't because Freshwater was certified only in science, the report said.

Freshwater used a science tool known as a high-frequency generator to burn images of a cross on students' arms in December, the report said. Freshwater told investigators he simply was trying to demonstrate the device on several students and described the images as an "X," not a cross. But pictures show the images depict a cross, the report said.

Other findings show that Freshwater taught that carbon dating was unreliable to argue against evolution.

Here is my local paper with pics:Text

it has really divided the town.....he was a well liked teacher apparently.

During the school season over spring when this whole thing came to light part of the middle school student population made t-shirts in support of this jackass....kids that did not wear the t-shirts got roughed up and picked on....now that's not very "Christian" is it.

he has been covertly doing this for years apparently and no one on the school board had the balls to take care of it...now that there are new members something is finally being done.

He bitches about his "rights" being infringed upon but on the weekends his little group of merry men would sit in the parking lot of a strip club a few towns over and take photos and license plate numbers and mail them to the homes of guys he saw going in from this area.....the guy and his supporters are idiots.

 

[sdifox]

WTF. How can it take that long to get rid of that zealot?

How about we make his wish come true? Feed him to the lions and make him a martyr.

 

[Tim]

Different strokes for different folks is all this boils down too.
Either way, somebody will be repressed in the end.

 

[Ramma2]

If that is an "X" then my name is Jesus.

 

[nakedfrog]

What a nutjob/jerk/etc. Can him already, surely there's work for him at a private school.

 

[PokerGuy]

Yeah, I read about it in the Columbus Dispatch. What a wacko, and the fact that half the town supports him and wants him to continue teaching their children when it's been demonstrated that he's a nutjob is truly sad.

What I don't understand is that they are arguing about him teaching his beliefs in class etc... am I missing something? What about the fact that he branded students with an "electrostatic device"?? The debate shouldn't be about whether he should be teaching, it should be about how many years he should be in prison for assaulting children. I'd say 10 years with no parole is about right.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: theplaidfad
Different strokes for different folks is all this boils down too.
Either way, somebody will be repressed in the end.

Yea because burning crosses onto kid's arms in a public school is free expression.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: theplaidfad
Different strokes for different folks is all this boils down too.
Either way, somebody will be repressed in the end.

How dare they repress his right to brand children with a Cross!

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: theplaidfad
Different strokes for different folks is all this boils down too.
Either way, somebody will be repressed in the end.

Not when you are employed by the public school system you don't. It's one thing to preach his beliefs on the street corner, quite another in a public school class.

 

[Tim]

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: theplaidfad
Different strokes for different folks is all this boils down too.
Either way, somebody will be repressed in the end.

Yea because burning crosses onto kid's arms in a public school is free expression.

You're right!

 

[venkman]

How was he not arrested for that? Even if you buy his cockamamie story about the X, why would he demonstrate it on a students skin?!?!!??!!?

 

[rasczak]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: theplaidfad
Different strokes for different folks is all this boils down too.
Either way, somebody will be repressed in the end.

How dare they repress his right to brand children with a Cross!

He should have burned a Nazi symbol onto his forehead instead.

 

[Feldenak]

I've got nothing to say about the topic at hand but...I pass through Mount Vernon on Rt. 3 about once a month to visit my sister.

 

[ghostman]

It's disgusting that he could ever be hired as a "science" teacher.

 

[Atomic Playboy]

It's obvious, and I think I speak without hyperbole here, that he should be killed immediately. He'll ascend to the Kingodm of Heaven where he will spend eternity in bliss alongside God and Jesus, and we won't have to deal with his narrow-minded world view down here on Earth. It's win-win. People like this are the reason religious wars start. He has nothing to offer except fanatical devotion to an outdated interpretation of religious dogma, and therefore has nothing positive to offer the world.

 

[K1052]

Originally posted by: Feldenak
I've got nothing to say about the topic at hand but...I pass through Mount Vernon on Rt. 3 about once a month to visit my sister.

Perhaps you could be so kind as to stop in let them know that the Enlightenment occurred.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: K1052

Originally posted by: Feldenak
I've got nothing to say about the topic at hand but...I pass through Mount Vernon on Rt. 3 about once a month to visit my sister.

Perhaps you could be so kind as to stop in let them know that the Enlightenment occurred.

Heh, I would but my sister lives in what appears to be the heart of Amish country. They might take offense to that claim and I'd be buggy whipped.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Ramma2
If that is an "X" then my name is Jesus.

Hello Jesus, would you like to be my landscaper?

"With the exception of the cross-burning episode ... I believe John Freshwater is teaching the values of the parents in the Mount Vernon school district,"

:laugh: