Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
The results of the investigation that the school board in Mt. Vernon, Ohio ordered regarding John Freshwater are out. You can see the entire report here. The school board confirmed pretty much every allegation against him. All that crap about a Bible on his desk wasn't even close. The students reported that he told them which things in the science book were not supported by the Bible and that they should therefore doubt and had them say "here" back to him when they got to one of those things (like radiometric dating, for instance).
And that's not the half of it. He kept creationist books and videos in his classroom, including at least one video and one book by Kent Hovind. He also kept the book Refuting Evolution there. Parents showed the investigators handouts from religious groups slamming evolution and claiming that dinosaurs and humans lived together, among other things. And here's a new allegation not previously heard, from a substitute teacher in his class talking about what was in his class plans for that day:
"The lesson of the day had been on the creation of the universe. John talked about how the textbook could be wrong. He said, 'Let me give you an example of how science can be wrong.' He then went on to say that an article in Time magazine a few years back stated that scientists had found a genetic link to homosexuality. 'In that case science is wrong because the Bible states that homosexuality is a sin' and so anyone who is gay chooses to be gay and therefore is a sinner. My reaction was one of disbelief that he was saying these things to eighth graders. I thought of how those two or three students in that classroom who might be struggling with their sexual identities would be feeling, hearing that they were sinners from a teacher. ... I was surprised at how comfortable John was talking about the Bible stating that homosexuality is a sin, and that anyone who is gay makes a conscious choice to be so. ... He had no problem declaring that not only can science be wrong by the example he gave, but heavily implied that the students' textbook was wrong as well on how the universe was created."
They also had reports from all the high school science teachers talking about how every year they had to reteach basic science for the kids who had Freshwater as a teacher, that those kids came to high school steeped in creationist material and very hostile toward evolution and practically all of modern science. In fact, even the high school principal refused to let her daughter be taught by the guy:
The High School Principal said that Mr. Freshwater has caused issues for her high school teachers in having to reeducate students from his teachings. The specific issues include a number of areas -- his failure to follow the curriculum regarding teaching creationism/intelligent design rather than evolution and his teaching of the Periodic Table, as examples. The High School Principal specifically asked that her daughter not be assigned to Mr. Freshwater for her 8th grade science due to her concern about his teaching not being consistent with the curriculum.
And yes, they confirmed the cross burning on kids' arms, something he apparently did to dozens of kids over the years.
The scuttlebutt in the community, I am told by someone who lives there, is that the school board is going to fire Freshwater tomorrow. Stay tuned for the religious right freakout as soon as that happens. But this guy should have been fired years ago. This is absolutely appalling.
Politics
Comments
If it were my kid who was burned, and the cops did not arrest him and press charges, I'd be "pressing charges" of my own. Why does this guy not have a criminal record for multiple assaults?
Posted by: rpsms | June 20, 2008 9:56 AM
So why did this sadistic, habitual child-abuser get away with it for so long? Why is he getting such a light "punishment" now? Because his actions are supported and condoned by a pervasive culture of hate so strong that even the parents of the disfigured children weren't willing to stand up to it.
The "Christian" Reich will call this an isolated incident; but the fact that this "teacher" was clearly NOT isolated, as a violent criminal should be, proves then wrong.
Posted by: Raging Bee | June 20, 2008 9:59 AM
Okay, let's look at this skeptically.
> Why does this guy not have a criminal record for multiple assaults?
The is the big question for me. I find it hard, without other evidence, to believe that he assaulted numerous kids over the years without ever being arrested (or beaten to a pulp).
I can happily accept all the indoctrination stuff but years of serious assaults on kids with no recrimination seems, on the face of it, rather unlikely.
Either way - I'll say the same thing as last time. If the assaults are true what is the Statue of Limitations?
Posted by: David Durant | June 20, 2008 10:11 AM
I'm guessing most of the crosses were burned on kids who volunteered, hence no complaints. Depending on the severity of the crime, misdemeanors normally have a statute of limitations of two years here in NC; there is no SoL on felonies. I don't know about Ohio, but it is probably similar.
Bee: "Culture of hate?" Willful ignorance, perhaps.
Posted by: kehrsam | June 20, 2008 10:22 AM
David Durant,
please consider that perhaps the those burned volunteered? it is sometimes considered macho to withstand pain (ever seen kids burn smiley faces into their skin with hot lighters?). with the added religious overtones, it could be that this act was construed as a testament to their faith, as well.
Posted by: coreydbarbarian | June 20, 2008 10:27 AM
oops, kehrsam beat me 2 it.
Posted by: coreydbarbarian | June 20, 2008 10:29 AM
Teaching of the periodic table? Was he ignorant or is chemistry also contrary to the Bible?
Posted by: KeithB | June 20, 2008 10:29 AM
Out of all of this, the thing I find really weird is that apparently there were educators who were finding it necessary to re-teach incoming students because of Freshwater's actions.
Even if you could somehow sweep all his use of the classroom as a forum for his religious views, this guy was undermining the school system's ability to deliver a good education. With the hyper-focus on test scores and academic achievement I am really straining to understand how administrators didn't come down on this guy much much sooner.
Posted by: SpotWeld | June 20, 2008 10:33 AM
If the principal knew about this, how could he have not been fired already? That's absurd. The principal should be fired for lacking due diligence.
Posted by: Braxton Thomason | June 20, 2008 10:52 AM
The Ohio Christian Alliance ("Formerly Christian Coalition of Ohio") yesterday sent out a notice that on WRFD (880 AM) in Columbus, the Friday, 3:30-6:00 broadcast of a show guest-hosted by OCA president Chris Long, "... will also be talking with Pastor Don Matolyak, pastor of John Freshwater, the science teacher who has been told by the Mt. Vernon school district to remove his personal Bible from his school desk. Pastor Don will be giving us an update on the situation with the Mt. Vernon school board."
A 5/17 release from OCA claimed that "He recently received Teacher of the Year Award..." - anybody here have any info on that?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | June 20, 2008 10:58 AM
Well, it is possible that the kids volunteered, or that the teacher was able (until this time) to pick kids who wouldn't 'snitch' either out of religious fervor or intimidation. But either way, teachers are not allowed to injure students even with that kid's full consent!
Minors cannot legally consent to have an adult injure them (I'm not 100% sure that adults can either, but it's murkier for me at that level).
Posted by: kodiak | June 20, 2008 11:02 AM
Imagine the situtation if instead of burning them he had sexually assualted them, would anyone consider the child's consent to be informed? -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | June 20, 2008 11:08 AM
I was wondering about the periodic table too, anyone know what they have against it? rb
Posted by: arby | June 20, 2008 11:15 AM
Kodiac and DJ: The issue was not whether they had consented, as they could not give valid consent. Rather, the question being answered was why he got away with it for so long. And the simple answer is, nobody complained.
Posted by: kehrsam | June 20, 2008 11:15 AM
Kehrsam - I hate to disagree when you are largely correct (as usual), but note:
Kodiak 11:02 "Well, it is possible that the kids volunteered"
Yep how he got away with it wasn't the only issue. :) DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | June 20, 2008 11:19 AM
I'm wondering where the other outraged parents are in this. Permanent scarring of a child should at the least raise questions. My parents sure as hell wouldn't have accepted it if I came home saying "hey this is so cool, we did this in class" let alone any potential "I was pressured into doing this in class" remarks...
The whole thing is disturbing on many levels.
Posted by: kodiak | June 20, 2008 11:22 AM
> please consider that perhaps the those burned _volunteered_? (my emphasis).
Jesus, that never even occurred to me. I had assumed it was some kind of punishment. Scarification is scary shit at any age but for kids... *shakes head*
How many people here were sure enough of _anything_ at that age that they would have permanently disfigured their bodies to show it?
Posted by: David Durant | June 20, 2008 11:31 AM
Pierce Butler remarked
That will be an interesting radio program, since the board of education is meeting this afternoon to consider what to do about Freshwater. As Ed mentioned, the talk on the street is that he'll be fired. We'll see.Freshwater and Daubenmire have threatened to sue the district for viewpoint discrimination, one of the Disco 'Tute's legal talking points, but haven't yet followed through. I'm going to suggest they enlist the Thomas More Law Center to help them. :)
Matolyak is pastor of Freshwater's church, a fundamentalist Assembly of God church, and that congregation has been active in supporting Freshwater. Lately it's about the only local support he's been getting. His alliance with David Daubenmire's Christian Nation loons has considerably eroded any other support he might have had even prior to the investigators' report.
This is a very conservative rural community. There's a district headquarters of the Seventh Day Adventists, a Nazarene college, and for a long time there was a seminary of the Church of the Four-Square Gospel, all within a few square miles in or near the county seat. But even most of the relatively conservative evangelicals are fed up with the shenanigans. Freshwater is pretty much down to the hard-core fundamentalists, and they are far from a majority.
I've been able to find no documentation on that "Teacher of the Year" claim. The local newspaper archives don't have anything on it, which I'd expect if it were real.
Posted by: RBH | June 20, 2008 11:34 AM
Is there an age limit in the US for getting a tattoo?
Posted by: MH | June 20, 2008 11:52 AM
Whoa, whoa, whoa there. I have never heard anything about permanent disfiguring or scarring. The most I heard was a possible 2nd-degree burn that disappeared after a few days. Was there something I missed? If not, hang the man for the crimes he committed, no need to make up new ones.
Posted by: Shygetz | June 20, 2008 11:53 AM
It varies by jurisdiction. It's safe to say, though, that no jurisdiction allows one for a child under 16 without express written parental permission. Which was not the case here.
Posted by: kehrsam | June 20, 2008 12:11 PM
18, in some places younger if the parents give permission.
Posted by: Gretchen | June 20, 2008 12:11 PM
Shygetz-
You are correct.
In one case, the burns were stated to have lasted 3-4 weeks. Other cases were mentioned but none indicated that this was a permanent scar.
Let's keep our facts straight, please.
Posted by: mandrake | June 20, 2008 12:19 PM
Not only fired long ago - this guy should have been put in jail long ago! I know men who will not speak to or be caught alone with children who are not theirs, for fear of being accused of being a "pedophile" (which still happened to one guy anyway), but this maniac gets to pull this garbage? How does that happen?
Posted by: Kristine | June 20, 2008 12:49 PM
As someone who has been an eighth-grader only eight years ago (agh I feel young), I'd like to posit that 13- to 15- year- olds are not exactly always the most forthcoming to their parents about things that happen at school. Especially embarassing things. Unless they're smart and independent and trust their parents, there's a good chance that the kid would just try to hide it and pretend that it never happened.
It's easy to take advantage of kids and get away with it. All the more horrifying that the principal hadn't done anything about it.
Posted by: Muse141 | June 20, 2008 1:05 PM
Given the burning this probably doesn't count as a tattoo for legal purposes. If it doesn't, it falls under assault and battery, in which case the student's age is irrelevant. In common law even an adult cannot consent to an assault. Unless Ohio has done something unusual in its statute law, anything that satisfies the definition of assault is a crime even if the victim consents. As a result, there have to be specific statutory exceptions to prevent, e.g., surgery from being a crime.
Posted by: Bill Poser | June 20, 2008 1:07 PM
Sometimes unionized workers stay in positions long after they're known to be incompetent, simply because nobody in management wants to go to court against the union. With cops, for instance, things have to get REALLY nasty before the department decides to terminate an officer. Could be something of the same thing happened with this teacher.
Posted by: Hank Fox | June 20, 2008 1:08 PM
I know everyone seems to be focusing on the burning, but pain is temporary. For me, the lasting harm this man has done by pushing creationist lies on young minds for 21 years is the really infuriating tragedy here. The students' arms have all healed, but what about the long-term damage done to their science education? I can guarantee some of those wounds will continue to hurt these children over and over again for rest of their lives.
Posted by: H.H. | June 20, 2008 1:26 PM
Not only are there no scars, but no doctor saw these "burns" and the school report makes no mention of their visible presence days later. When the independant investigator applied the ectrostatic device to his own arm, it produced a "slight redness" which was "gone overnight."
Freshwater appears to be a stubborn creationist who is unwilling to leave his religion out of his class, and has no business teaching science in public schools. But while his lab experiment shows boneheaded judgement, there's no crime and no evidence of any harm. This lawsuit shouldn't survive summary judgement.
Posted by: Tim | June 20, 2008 1:27 PM
Tim - so if I go up to you and slap you across the face, that's not assault because the redness, discomfort, & etc. is not permenant? What nonsense! Deliberate burning of someone's skin is at least common assault, maybe even ABH. This guy should be charged.
Posted by: DingoJack | June 20, 2008 1:33 PM
I also would like to hear about the periodic table. I do find it hard to keep track of all the crazies without a scorecard, so forgive my vagueness, but I think a couple of weeks back there was something here or at PZ's about some guy who thought that the proton and the electron were the only subatomic particles, and that the rest of them were just part of godless physicists' desperate attempt to prop up their hopeless "big bang" theory. My first thought then was that that would make hash of the periodic table (which requires neutrons at least). Who knew Mendeleev was a godless commie?
Posted by: Dave M | June 20, 2008 1:45 PM
Reading the full report is worthwhile. For example, some of the materials Freshwater submitted for review by the school board had the ID, Bible and God bits redacted but the copies given to students had those bits intact. Freshwater obviously knew he was doing something that needed to be covered up.
Posted by: Ferrous Patella | June 20, 2008 1:48 PM
RBH: I've been able to find no documentation on that "Teacher of the Year" claim.
I suspect that, if not totally fictitious, that award came from "Pass the Salt" or a hyperchristian organization of that ilk.
Bill Poser: In common law even an adult cannot consent to an assault.
So I can't legally play football?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | June 20, 2008 1:50 PM
There's an article in the Columbus Dispatch this morning that includes a photo of a "branded cross" at
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/20/mtvernon.ART_ART_06-20-08_B1_R2AHRH3.html?sid=101
Posted by: Terry | June 20, 2008 1:52 PM
A 5/17 release from OCA claimed that "He recently received Teacher of the Year Award..." - anybody here have any info on that?
I've even seen news reports claiming he got not one, but two teacher of the year awards. I think one story mentioned that the award came from the school board. However, reading through the school board minutes for 2007 and so far 2008 don't reveal anything of that nature. (http://www.mt-vernon.k12.oh.us/) He's listed on the middle school's faculty page (with an e-mail address), but that is his only mention I can find. Funny how a teacher of the year gets no apparent pubicity.
Posted by: Keith | June 20, 2008 1:54 PM
I'm bad at thinking like a fundie, so I'll throw this out there: How will the apologists defend him? Or will they throw him under the "Not a True Christian(tm)" bus?
Posted by: chancelikely | June 20, 2008 1:56 PM
Here's the story mentioning two awards and school board.
Twice he has been designated as "Teacher of the Year" by the School Board--most recently just last year.
Posted by: Keith | June 20, 2008 1:57 PM
Tim, that Freshwater is "a stubborn creationist who is unwilling to leave his religion out of his class" is the lawsuit. The lab burning is but one small part of it. Even if that turns out to be unsubstantiated, there would be no grounds to throw out the entire lawsuit.
Posted by: H.H. | June 20, 2008 2:10 PM
If they have children, I hope the reaction would fire his ass and bring him up on charges before he injures another one. The snake-handling bit at the end of Mark is not part of the original text and is contrary to the entire thrust of the Gospel.
That said, there will be some who defend him because he is "on their side." This is the same reasoning that leads to thinking the lives of Americans are worth a few million each, while those in Bhopal rated at $3.99 per (but wait, call now and you'll receive4 an even better offer!).
Posted by: kehrsam | June 20, 2008 2:18 PM
Kehrsam - "The snake-handling bit at the end of Mark is not part of the original text..". How do you know? WHERE YOU THERE? :D - DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | June 20, 2008 2:23 PM
DJ: No, I wasn't there, but neither was it. It first shows up in manuscripts of the 5th Century.
Posted by: kehrsam | June 20, 2008 2:58 PM
The answer is actually in one of the articles linked above:
So it's the old "Sure I'm biased and promoting an agenda in a public school, but everyone else is just as biased too so that makes it alright" argument. Creationists have pulled this tu quoque fallacy out of their asses several times when their religious agenda has been revealed, but they don't want to admit they're wrong.
The fact that they insist that it's impossible to separate one's value system from one's teaching is revealing of their mindset.
Posted by: Wes | June 20, 2008 3:01 PM
...and the correct response should be, "Then you need to consider a different line of work."
Posted by: Blondin | June 20, 2008 3:27 PM
H.H., right you are. While I was responding to the hysteria of some commenters, a summary of the complaint shows it to be much broader than just the incident in the lab. Outcome's the same though - the school fires the teacher, the "burns" won't fly, and the rest will be moot. The good news is that fear of the lawsuit finally motivated the school to act, and the independent report nails a teacher who should have been removed years ago.
Posted by: Tim | June 20, 2008 3:41 PM
Baloney. What usually happens is that the supervisor is too lazy or doesn't have the guts to go through the proper procedures. It is quite easy to fire someone in a union, the supervisor just has to do their job right. Of course there will be a hearing. I remember a co-worker fired for stealing from the employer a few years ago. The union rep came in, but was pretty disgusted about having to bother; nobody wants to work with a thief.
Back on topic, as I recall, most of the pain was experienced hours later. IOW, the student would not have shown much reaction to pain while in the classroom.
It's too bad the middle school teachers in my county aren't being quite so flagrant. They just tell the kids there is no gravity on the Moon, blood in your veins is blue....
Posted by: BaldApe | June 20, 2008 4:20 PM
I, too, am rather dismayed that noöne did anything despite knowing he was a terrible teacher. I can imagine that there's a lack of teachers (there certainly is here) so that they might be tempted to keep anyone onboard. But given that they then had to waste time on remedial education seems to put that idea to rest. I guess that if they had 'just' sorted the students beforehand so that only the poor spawn of crazy fundies who wouldn't amount to ever being more than burgerflippers were put in his class, we might well never have heard of this. Poor kids.
Dunno what the issue with PT was (except perhaps the implied lack of jebons upthread), but I seem to recall that only six of the seven 'ancient metals' are mentioned in the bible: gold, silver, copper, iron, lead and 'tinn' (in the form of bronze) - the one missing being quicksilver, so that must obviously be a tool of the devil. And don't get me started on all that modern stuff! "Seaborgium"?!! Please!
Posted by: Sili | June 20, 2008 4:34 PM
Freshwater should look on the bright side of this experience. If and when he's fired, he can move to Louisiana where he can use supplemental texts to his hearts content. I hear books like Refuting Evolution & Icons of Evolution will be all the rage with lying scumbag fundamentalist teachers and school board members. He can even throw in an exorcism to boot from time to time.
This guy got away with his disregard of properly teaching his students for years. His superiors knew all along he was teaching creationism. The only reason school officials are doing anything now is fear of a lawsuit because a parent finally complained about the burning. Imagine what he could accomplish under the guise of 'academic freedom'.
Posted by: silverspoon | June 20, 2008 4:42 PM
I'm a union steward at an educational institution myself, and it's not that hard to fire someone with proven egregious behavior. Yes, the union has to represent him or her at a hearing, but I've been told by union trainers that the job of the steward is to simply to witness the proceedings and ensure that the rules of the contract are followed. Sometimes you get called on to rep for someone who is already proven guilty for whatever infraction, but it's only to see that management sticks to the rules for termination.
Posted by: Joe Max | June 20, 2008 4:58 PM
Tim wrote:
This is false. The report included pictures of the burns that were taken several days later, and my friend has seen pictures that were taken even later than that. The plaintiff in the lawsuit reports that it was painful and visible for several weeks after it was done.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | June 20, 2008 8:25 PM
I'm a resident of the county in which this deplorable situation is occuring, and they've got the whackos writing letters to the editor every day supporting this nut. I've always thought he'd be better off resigning from the school and taking his "they fired me for being a christian" routine on the road. The money he could make from the ignorant and pathetic!
Posted by: fry1laurie | June 20, 2008 8:33 PM
Pierce R. Butler,
"horseplay" is one of the legally recognized justifications for assault in common law. That's why, in a jurisdiction that retains the old common law of assault, you're okay so long as you play by the rules.
Posted by: Bill Poser | June 20, 2008 9:12 PM
You all sound like a lynch mob.
Posted by: earthtrekker | June 20, 2008 9:56 PM
"You all sound like a lynch mob.
then i guess freshwater should count himself lucky we don't all live in his community, huh?
Posted by: coreydbarbarian | June 20, 2008 11:11 PM
come to think about it, i don't really live that far away...good thing they voted unanimously to fire his ass.
Posted by: coreydbarbarian | June 20, 2008 11:18 PM
FBH: "Church of the Four-Square Gospel"
In my country, Four Square is a chain of suburban dairy stores :-) Hmm...
Posted by: Heraclides | June 20, 2008 11:31 PM
Which part is false Ed - that there are no scars, or that a doctor never saw the kid, or that the machine (which he'd used the same way for the last 20 years)was tested and produced only faint red marks that rapidly disappeared? But wow, this poor victim who was in agony for weeks but never saw a doctor because his heart was so pure he just wanted to save the bad teacher's job - he (his mother) for only the highest reasons, is now compelled to sue. Spare me the tears, you'll find such altruism in every court in the land - just look around for the neck braces. From the "burn" pictures I saw, you could make more convincing marks by dragging your fingernail across your arm.
Although Freshwater's a creep who should be dismissed for his teaching failures, this injury stikes me as an overinflated pantload. Guess we'll soon see what a judge thinks. If I had any plans of being in Michigan soon, or you in Maine, I'd certainly put a beer on it.
Regards, Tim
Posted by: Tim | June 21, 2008 12:17 AM
Bill Poser: "horseplay" is one of the legally recognized justifications for assault in common law.
Oh good, then I can still play polo and buzkashi!
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | June 21, 2008 12:18 AM
earthtrekker: "You all sound like a lynch mob."
Do you have some facts most other people are missing that demonstrate this man is innocent of every one of the accusations being leveled against him from many different quarters and substantiated in the school board's own report? (Because any one of the charges would probably be enough to merit firing, let alone all of them.)
Or do you just think what he did is acceptable or even commendable?
Those are pretty much your two options. Which will it be?
Posted by: MPW | June 21, 2008 12:53 AM
The board of education initiated termination proceedings against Freshwater this afternoon. See here for details.
Posted by: RBH | June 21, 2008 12:55 AM
Kehrsam - I was joking, simply using the same idiotic comeback that faux Christians use to dismiss things they don't (or can't) understand such as Evolution, The Big Bang, erosion & etc., did you miss the smiley face? [Here :D] As it happens I agree with you (on this matter) because you are correct.
Tim - Again it's not relavant if the injury is permenant or not. If you beat your wife to a pulp, but she recovers, it's still Domestic Violence, if I stab you, and you recover, it's still GBH, and so on. There doesn't even NEED to be a wound, putting someone in fear of thier lives, or using threats against ones family, threats of rape & etc. are still classed as an assault.
Sili - how do you get an umlaut? -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | June 21, 2008 2:01 AM
DingoJack: "Sili - how do you get an umlaut? -DJ"
Not that you asked me, but on an Apple Mac at least you just type them in: ö is alt-u, then o. Ditto for é, è, ç, etc.
Posted by: Heraclides | June 21, 2008 3:12 AM
Hmm that's great Heraclides, but how do those who own a real computer do it :D
Thanks anyway but I own a PC so it doesn't seem to work, worse luck. :( DJ
PS alt-u c gets a cedilla? How about acute, grave, circumflex, and the rest?
Posted by: DingoJack | June 21, 2008 3:46 AM
Excuse the pedantry, but in Sili's comment, she uses a diaeresis, not an umlaut.
I use Ubuntu and XP, and I haven't a clue how to get diaereses on either. If I need one (for instance, for the word naïve), I just google "naive" and C&P from one of the inevitably correct results.
Posted by: MH | June 21, 2008 5:36 AM
frylaurie:
Please give us all a "Heads Up!" is Freshwater takes his show on the road. I would love to be in his audience (and have a few coathangers and my propane torch in the truck) so I could "thank" him for his service.
DJ:
I do it the "old fashioned" way, I just cut and paste anything that looks interesting and keep in on typepad.
Posted by: democommie | June 21, 2008 6:36 AM
I write this from Norway. On my Norwegian keyboard I have keys or key combinations to type, e.g., æ ø å ä ö
plus some more. However, there are some symbols that I cannot type, e.g., ¥ µ ¿. These I got into the message by first getting them into a Word document by the Insert Symbol procedure and then C&P them here.
This is of course too complicated for everyday use. But Insert Symbol is handy for someone like me who need special characters in Word manuscripts.
My pc uses Windows XP Professional.
Posted by: RM | June 21, 2008 6:41 AM
If he had done that to my child He would have been in court..Christians are supposed to love all and welcome all, at least we used to until these right wing christians took over. These people are not christians..They are KKK christians
Posted by: pat | June 21, 2008 7:53 AM
MH - Excuse my extra-pedantry but the umlaut and the diaeresis look identical, the former is from Greek and the later from German. Both consist of two small dots above a letter. - With apologies DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | June 21, 2008 10:14 AM
To open Character Map, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to System Tools, and then click Character Map to see the different characters available under windows.
Alt+246 produces ö in Word, wordpad, and notepad. The character map has a field into which one may select the characters one wants to paste for applications like this webpage which don't support the alt+ method.
Posted by: geeky tech guy | June 21, 2008 10:34 AM
Let me tell you of my experience with my local Assembly of God church. I teach public school in Louisiana, and about 10 years ago, I wrote a "letter to the editor" of our newspaper about a Woman's Right to Choose and birth control. That church mobilized....wrote tons of letters to the newspaper condemning me personally, sent letters to my home saying I would burn in hell, and put up a bill-board on my street, saying, "Abortion is Murder." They visited the school board office, and tried to get me fired. The visited the principal of my school and tried to get any child of parents belonging to that church removed from my classroom. The visited my neighbors and asked them to report any behavior on my part that could be denounced from the pulpit. I had to report the letters to the police department, because there were so many of them, and they became very personally threatening. Anyhoo, to go up against these people is very scary. If they control most of a small community as they did here, those of us who are not "fundies" have to be careful. Sad as hell.
Posted by: JAK | June 21, 2008 10:46 AM
JAK:
It's too bad that you had to go through that. I'm not sure, but I think when something rises to the level of written threats that you call DoJ, fuck talking to the locals. You get this shit out into the light and watch them scatter like the cocksu..., cockroaches that they haven't yet evolved from.
Posted by: democommie | June 21, 2008 11:07 AM
Trust a geeky tech guy to know!
Thanks all, I'll shut up now and let you get back to important stuff -DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | June 21, 2008 11:37 AM
democommie: Please give us all a "Heads Up!" is Freshwater takes his show on the road.
Dunno about Hoppin' John himself, but his most vocal defender, "Coach" Dave Daubenmire of Pass the Salt Ministries, has announced that he will be clearing Freshwater's name on the Geraldo Rivera show (Fox) at 10 pm this (Saturday) night.
Who could doubt that all our questions will be answered?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | June 21, 2008 11:39 AM
DJ:
Methinks you mean the opposite: the latter is from Greek and the former German.
For what it's worth on special characters, you can also get to the Character Map (at least in XP but probably on some earlier Windows OSs) by typing "charmap" into the Run prompt. I generally just memorize some key combinations that get me special characters, such as á (Alt+0225), é (Alt+0233), í (Alt+0237), ñ (Alt+0241), ó (Alt+0243), and ú (Alt+0250). (ï is Alt+0239, although I don't know if that's an umlaut or diaeresis or even if it really matters.) I'm definitely a keyboard shortcut kind of guy, and I prefer knowing the Alt shortcuts as opposed to program-specific ones like Word.
Posted by: The Christian Cynic | June 21, 2008 12:40 PM
I think branding would be the only appropriate punishment for a jackass like Freshwater. I can't believe he hasn't been fired before today. Clearly someone was covering for him.
Posted by: Vic Arpeggio | June 21, 2008 2:00 PM
Vic Arpeggio:
Perhaps oneathem "pillars of the community" school administrator dudes has "I'm Freshwater's Beeyatch" branded on his backside.
Posted by: democommie | June 21, 2008 2:39 PM
IANAL, but:
The statute of limitations is tolled until a child reaches majority, because no matter the actions taken on a child's behalf, ultimate standing lies with the child herself.
Posted by: D. C. Sessions | June 21, 2008 4:42 PM
The issue is not whether or not the brand left scars or if it vanished after a few weeks. Bruises from an abuser vanish also in time. The issue in regards to the branding is that the student was subjected to a wound without cause. And as the photo shows, the brand was CLEARLY a cross, not an "x".
Another factor is that this guy in a science class was NOT teaching basic science but in fact was harming the students academically with the creationism crap. Granted certain elements within Christianity would excuse branding and this guy's pro-creationism approach and teachings and that the area he's in is apparently fundie Christian indoctrinated, helping this manipulative jerk keep on doing his abuse for years, but the prinicpal KNOWING what this guy was doing and NOT DOING a thing about it really bothers me worse than the blind parents who condone this crap.
There is a mentality within evangelical Christianity that seeks to mold ( or even " mould") the society to their way by " hidden warriors" ( people who don't broadcast their religious militaristic plans and hide what they are until they can "influence" from within). Domonion Now theology a few years ago was pretty detailed about this. Even " pro-life" advocate Randall Terry actually advocated stealth methods in a famous quote.
And they wonder why their children are so uneducated and can't succeed in life....
Posted by: Moe | June 21, 2008 4:57 PM
Sorry for the diaeretical derailment.
Like RM I have lossa accent keys here in Denmark. æ, ø and å are single keys. â, ê, î, ô, û; ä, ë, ï, ö, ü, ÿ; á, é, í, ó, ú, ý; à, è, ì, ò, ù; ã, õ and ñ are made using 'dead' keys before the letter.
And I use http://linguiste.org/phonetics/ipa/chart/keyboard/ for IPA.
Posted by: Sili | June 22, 2008 12:53 PM
Since we're on to the true religion now, I'll just clarify the point by saying that the mac keyboard viewer gives a handy reminder of the keyboard shortcuts available by pressing the "alt" key then certain keys. Pressing "alt" with e gives an acute sign over the next letter pressed, as in é or á, similarly "alt-u" gives ü or ä etc, "alt-i" gives î or ô, "alt-`" gives à or è, and "alt-n" gives ñ or ã. More directly, "alt-c" gives ç straight away, without pressing c a second time, in the same way that you get å, ß and so on. Or if you're doing these things a lot, you just switch to a different keyboard layout, like the Greek one I've checked off in international preferences, and φινδ θσεφθλ φορ τηισ σορτ οφ τηινγ... οοπσ!
Posted by: dave | June 23, 2008 4:31 AM
Sounds like there are systemic problems in the school if the principal and the school board thought nothing about what this religious zealot had been doing in the classroom. Obviously this wasn't news to them as the principal had received complaints previously about this moron. Surely, more than merely firing Freshwater is called for in this case. The entire school system, board, principal, and classes need to be investigated because this behaviour was openly tolerated. If this guy wants to be a nutcase that's his business, but he has no business bringing his religious beliefs into a science class. Or any class, for that matter.
Posted by: Lesley | June 23, 2008 4:45 AM
<off-topic-and-pedantic>
Everyone, remember HTML is an ASCII markup language. The language doesn't officially allow non-ASCII symbols in its source documents. Simply copy-pasting from Microsoft Word or the character map or typing them into an edit box is likely to produce an invalid document. You can use the character map to find out the Unicode number of the symbol you wish to appear in your document, and then use the "&#digits;" markup syntax, where "digits" is the (decimal--NOT HEX) number of the symbol. Yes, that's an ampersand (&), followed by a pound sign (#), followed by the number, followed by a semicolon (;), all scrunched together.
Yes, that is inconvenient and discriminatory towards non-English speaking people, but chances are Arabic speakers, Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese would be upset by any encoding system you designed, so get over it.
</off-topic-and-pedantic>
Posted by: Shawn Smith | June 23, 2008 9:28 AM
Jeez, a classic example of grooming.
(Just send the kids in the other room and google that.)
Some SOB did that to one of my kids; be crapping teeth for a week or so.
Posted by: Icecycle | June 23, 2008 3:08 PM
Icecycle:
"be crapping teeth for a week or so."
It is poetic, I love it.
Posted by: democommie | June 23, 2008 11:42 PM
Again, thanks to all for the assistance, but:
can we all just get back to the topic of the thread now?
Thank you ☺ DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | June 24, 2008 12:31 AM
Being a former student who was assualted by my 8th grade English teacher helps me keep on open mind to what is realy going on. I hear conflicting stories from people which means some people are lying. So what the problem is we have three sides hear. The nutball evolutions and the screwball religous people. Then the third group is stuck in the middle of all the bull. These are the real Christians who have to deal with the two sides.
You worthless whiny evolutionists who demand your way or the highway and persacute anyone who stands against your teaching. Then you religous nuts who claim to be Christians but are just putting on a show.
Posted by: Jeff | July 8, 2008 3:38 AM
I met with John Freshwater and some of his friends on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2008. I had heard the allegations. I asked him about the 'cross burning' and some of the other activities he had been accused of. He told me the following:
The 'burning' was a tesla experiment, with volunteers, that was neither harmful, nor permanent, to the students. The lines drawn were across and along the length of the arm. This had been done for a period of close to 20 years without a complaint or problem until this single incident. Upon receiving the complaint, Mr. Freshwater was asked to cease with the tesla experiment and told the incident would not be reported in his file. Mr. Freshwater complied with the request to cease the experiment.
While Mr. Freshwater did teach a comparitive course on Evolution vs. Creation, it was done before the Pennsylvania court decision made that illegal.
I've read a lot of posts about teachers having to re-educate his students. There are 2 other teachers who teach science in the same grade as Mr. Freshwater. Mr. Freshwater's students scored higher in science on the national tests than the other 2 teachers' students. He has been recognized as 'Teacher of the Year'.
He and his family served 1 year as missionaries in China. He and his wife are proud of 2 sons who are students at West Point and the Naval Academy. They have a daughter, 17, who has suffered through this legal mess without anonymity.
If the public knew how bogus the 'cross branding' complaint was, and actually talked to the man, few would disagree with keeping him as a teacher. This man did not assult his students. Mr. Freshwater is an intelligent, religous man who deserves our respect and thanks for his great work as a teacher.
Posted by: Mike Smith | August 5, 2008 7:20 PM
Wow Mike Smith, you must have had a great imaginary conversation with Mr Freshwater. He lives in Ohio, not PA. He teaches 8th grade science, not a "comparitive course on Evolution vs Creationism". There is no "Teacher of the Year" award. He does not have 2 sons. The lines along and across the arm, make a cross. A tesla coil is PAINFULL!
Posted by: Mary | January 18, 2009 7:48 PM
you people that are saying freshwater is a child abuser and a felon and all the other crap im hearing just goes to show that everyone believes everything they read, even if its just one person's opinion thats written.....how about the truth? ....id say 15 years ago freshwater was my science teacher, and he was a damned good science teacher....granted, you arent allowed to teach half the stuff now that was allowed then, but parents then werent such ***holes that the parents are now....you all like to have something to bitch about, always, dont you? all im saying is, just keep your mouths shut if you dont know the real facts......including the guy who wrote this article.
oh, and, in my experience with the general public, most christians are the biggest ***holes...they dont love anyone but god, it seems. they're all crabby buttheads to everyone. oh, and as a last note, a tesla coil DOES NOT burn people, it shows how static electricity works....he used one on my class at one point
Posted by: Kelli S | February 10, 2009 1:05 PM