It seems that Judge Jones is getting a little miffed by the constant lying of the defense witnesses who served on the Dover school board. Buckingham was caught in several lies on the stand, one of which implicated board president Alan Bonsell as well. That $850 check that Buckingham gave to Bonsell to give to his father for the purchase of the book appears not to have been mentioned by Bonsell in his deposition despite being asked rather directly about those transactions. In an unusual move, the judge took over and began questioning Bonsell on the witness stand yesterday himself, demanding to know why he had not mentioned this before:
After he finished reading, Jones asked Bonsell when he became aware that his father, Donald, was in possession of an $850 check used to purchase copies of the pro-intelligent design textbook.
Bonsell said he had given the check to his father.
Last week, former board member Bill Buckingham testified he handed the check, dated Oct. 4, 2004, to Alan Bonsell and asked him to forward it to Donald Bonsell. Written in the check's memo line were the words: "for Pandas and People books."
"You tell me why you didn't say Mr. Buckingham was involved," a visibly angry Jones said, staring at Bonsell as he read from his deposition.
Bonsell said he misspoke. And then, "That's my fault, your honor."
Bonsell said he didn't think it mattered because Buckingham had not actually donated any of his money. Rather, the money had been collected from members of his church.
But Jones pointed out that Bonsell had said he had never spoken to anybody else about the donations.
The judge also wanted to know why the money needed to be forwarded to his father, why Buckingham couldn't have purchased the books himself.
Bonsell stammered.
"I still haven't heard an answer from you," Jones said.
"He said he'd take it off the table," Bonsell said.
"You knew you were under oath?" Jones asked at one point.
Ouch. I suspect Mr. Bonsell may have had to change his pants after that exchange. I don't imagine it's terribly comfortable to have an angry Federal judge essentially accuse you of perjury in open court. This is the second time the judge has intervened to ask questions about conflicts between a school board member's testimony and their deposition. He also questioned Heather Geesey about her sudden recollection of the exact wording of discussions that took place at a school board meeting after not remembering anything about them in her deposition.
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Bonsell stammered.
The Patriot News quoted Bonsell's directly:
"Oh," Bonsell replied. "Then I misspoke." He then paused and stammered, saying, "I, well, and then, I'm going back there and tell you again, it's my fault, your honor, because that's not -- in that case I would've -- I would've -- I should have said that Mr. Buckingham."
And that might not be the end of it. Apparently, board member Sheila Harkins gets to testify tomorrow. She, along with, Bonsell, Buckingham, Nilsen and the Thomas More attorneys all huddled together before their depositions in January. How many clowns can you fit on one little tricycle??
I am trying to figure out whether this is an actual conspiracy of dunces, or just a bunch of idiots.
No wonder the DI guys wanted their attorney's present during the depositions.
According to the York Daily story:
"Bonsell sat quietly on the stand chewing gum and swiveling in his chair."
Can you imagine a witness being more disrespectful in court?
It would seem that the whole bunch of idiots were sitting together smoking the same whacky stuff. These are the morons who try to explain how teaching evolution leads to moral decay. When I see so much of this going on, I wish someone with authority would take time out and make an example, to show that lying and fraud are not to be tolerated.
Buckingham's pants would have needed changing if he had the sense of a Turing machine. He may not understand what happened there.
Of course, I meant "Bonsell."
Oh, hell. Is there any difference?
And that might not be the end of it. Apparently, board member Sheila Harkins gets to testify tomorrow.
Well, she testified, and to her credit, she apparently did better than Bonsell and Buckingham. Admittedly however, that bar was set pretty low .... OK.... so low a grove had to be dug into the ground to bury the bar.
At least she educated herself on intelligent design. How? She Googled it.
You just can't make stuff up better than this.
And now we have another column from the hilarious Mike Argento - Did we mention that Dover's clueless?
So returning, for a moment, to the theory that cows think in Spanish. It has as much support in the mainstream (read: sane) scientific community as intelligent design. It has been the topic of just as many peer reviewed articles in scientific journals.
And it clearly meets the strict criteria set by the Dover schools for what can get into the curriculum.
There's already a controversy regarding it. A reader e-mailed to inform me that cows may think in French. His evidence was a Pepe Le Pew cartoon in which a French cow says, "Le meaux." My reply, of course, is thinking and speaking are separate issues.
So if cows thinking in Spanish is too outside the box, maybe I can get Dover to teach the controversy.
This Dover trial is just the gift that keeps on giving.
In testimony given this morning, it was revealed that not only biology, but social studies was in the sights at the educational masterminds in that school district.
Apparently when social studies teacher Brad Neal asked pointedly in an e-mail of Assistant Superintendent Michael Baksa if the school district was moving from a "standards" to a "Living Word" driven cirricula, he was told, "Be careful what you wish for".
Along with that rather ominous response came a referral to a book entitled The Myth of Separation by David Barton. Baksa got the book from Superintendent Nilsen, and Nilsen had gotten it from board member Alan Bonsell. No word if Bonsell's father had purchased it originally using funds obtained from Buckingham's church.
Can I nominate all these idiots as an ensemble for the October issue of the Robert O'Brien Trophy?
That Argento column is hilarious. If you need a good laugh, surf over there. Of course, it's only funny if you don't think about it too much, or stop to consider that there are real, live children involved. That's a point that seems to have been lost on the Dover School Board...