Ohio teacher burned cross on kids' arms

[Ganja Ninja]

MOUNT VERNON, Ohio (AP) - An outside investigation has found that an Ohio public school teacher taught creationism in his science class and used a device to burn the image of a cross on students' arms.

One family filed a federal lawsuit against Mount Vernon Middle School teacher John Freshwater and the school district last week, saying their child was left with a burn mark for three or four weeks.

The report also says Freshwater was insubordinate in failing to remove a Bible and other religious materials from his classroom.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=95864da6-c4a4-41f4-bb6d-966318b82283

[TahitiNut]

1. That's child abuse, pure and simple.

:shrug: That 'teacher' should be prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with minors for at least ten years.

[Swamp Rat]

2. I'd say forever.

That guy is a nu... er, crazy. :D

[Ganja Ninja]

3. I think that when a person reaches a certain level of religious ...

fanaticism they should be considered mentally unfit for jobs that put them in a position of authority over others. Clearly this guy is nuts.

[TahitiNut]

4. Please don't say "nuts" to describe zealots like him. It's offensive to us Nuts.

Thanks. :hi:

* This is a public service posting on behalf of the International Association of Fruits & Nuts, Ad Hoc DU Chapter.

:silly:

** This message may or may not reflct the opinions of 1plain1peanut, AcadamiaNut, aquanut, B3Nut, blackwalnut, bobbonutrino, bozosleftnut, bulugnut, BUSHISNUTS, butternut, butternutty, buttnutt, Canadiangunnut, Carnut, CarNutAtl, CA_liberal_nut, Chanute, Coconut Buddha Ape, coconut55, CoconutMonkey, coconut_oil, conspiracy-nut, darlademnut, deeznuts, DemNutz, democratinutah, deznuts, deznutts, donut, donut33, donutrevolutionary, Donuts, donutwant, econut, elvisthenut, fleabitpeanutmonkey, fluffernutter, fordnut, FruityNuts, fuzzlenutz, gaygunnut, GnomesLeftNut, grapenut1998, graphixnut, gunnut12345, HangingSaddamByHisNutsack, hazelnut, HealthNut, Historynut, Jacknut, jakenuts, JaneDoughnut, JustFiveMoreMinutes, just_anuther_gurl, KnuteThingrich, KNUTSY, konominut, leftnut22, leftrightwingnut, leftwingnut, LeftyWingNut, Lefty_WingNut, Lela McNutt, Letters From A Nut, liberalgunnut, LiberalInUtah, lilpnut, Lonenut23, lonenutcracker, loosenut, Lugnut, MACanuto, madminute, MilsurpNut, Minuteman, Minutes, monkeynuts6969, monolithic_juggernut, Mr Peanut, Mr. Peanut, mrpeanut, my15minutes, NONnutcase, NoToCubanRepubnuts, nsaixphnutex, numinut, Nut Grinderswitch, Nutboy, nutcase, nutcracker420, nutcrakcer, nutgrass, nuthatch, nuthead2ub, Nutkinnews, Nutmeg, NutMeg021576, nutmeg08, Nutmeg1576, Nutmeg61, Nutmegger, NutmegJenny, NutmegYankee, nutmeg_express, Nutniks, nuton2wheels, nutone, nutria, Nutrino, NutritionFacts, Nuts, nuts101, nutsco101, nutshell2002, nutsnbolts, NutterFluffer, NuttinBut, nutty left, NuttyFluffers, nuttywoody, nututhissite, oaknut, omgiamgoingnuts, Opera Nut, ornanut, paolonutuni, peanut, Peanut Gallery, peanut3729, peanut57, peanutbrittle, PeanutButter, Peanutcat, PeanutGallery, PeanutOne, peanutz, Permanut, pnutbutr, pnutchuck, pnutfarmer, PoliSciNut, PolitiNut, PublicHealthNut, publichealthnut1, pucknut, Racenut20, reichwingnut, somenut, soulforpeanuts, soulforpeanutz, Soynut, spacenut, Spudnuts, superbeachnut, TahitiNut, the wingnuttiest, tofunut, twominuteshate, undamynutz, Unuttymuh, videonut, walnutpie, weenut1, Wingnut19, Wingnutblogger, Wingnutsawry, wwwalnut, or yoganut.

[B3Nut]

17. How 'bout batshit?

That seems to fit. :)

Signed, a proud member of IAFN :D

[TahitiNut]

28. Works for me. (I haven't seen bats organize on DU yet.)

:silly:

[Initech]

5. Holy shit!

This is the kind of thing that pisses me off about fundies. Lock this fucker up and throw away the key.

[MrCoffee]

6. Why isn't this guy in jail for assault?

[leftynyc]

9. That's what I want to know

While I appreciate the feds getting involved in a lawsuit, why hasn't this creep been arrested for assault, child abuse, endangering the welfare of a child? And if he/she is still teaching - WHY???!!!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. I'm guessing the student wanted the mark.

And the parents haven't got a problem with it.

[MrCoffee]

14. But the parents filed a lawsuit...no one bothered to call the police???

Either this is piss-poor news reporting or something's rotten in Denmark here...I'm thoroughly confused.

[mudesi]

35. Religion

When you say "religion", you're allowed to do anything.

Unless it's not the religion of the majority.

[Vickers]

7. "An outside investigation has found"

:wtf:

[MrCoffee]

15. This whole story makes no sense at all

Why didn't the parents contact the police? Why didn't they contact the principal or the superintendent? Who authorized an "outside investigation"? Where is the school district in all of this?

[ColbertWatcher]

8. YOU WILL LOVE JESUS, GODDAMNIT! n/t

[Name removed]

11. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

12. Simply removing him from his position is not enough...

[TBF]

13. I'm glad someone filed a lawsuit - it's the only way to get bad teachers

I'm not willing to tar and feather all the fundamentalists, but child abusers need to be put in prison. And WTF is he doing teaching creationism in a public school? The churches can run the curriculum in their private schools, but "creationism" has no place in public schools.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

22. Lawsuit my ass...

This guy should be in jail.. you dont brand kids in school... even if they consent..

[TBF]

31. Jail would make me even happier. I did say that in the body of my message, but obviously you only

read the subject line.

[baldguy]

16. Would a communist be allowed to teach economics?

Would a person who doesn't believe germs cause disease be allowed to teach health?

Would a person who can't add be allowed to teach math?

Then why can a creationist be hired to teach science?

[dorkulon]

18. I don't think that's a fair analogy at all.

A communist can certainly understand and teach economics.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

23. And a creationist can certainly understand evolution

The issue is not this mans beliefs but what he did in the classroom..

[dorkulon]

29. I guess I'm assuming that people who truly understand evolution

tend to believe in it. Natural selection is not something that can be realistically denied, IMO. But I agree, this guy's beliefs are not really what's at issue here.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

30. Well I understand it but dont believe it..

Enough that I could pass evo-biology at the university 200 level in any event (I wanted a hard gen-ed).

Peoples faith is in their private life it does not make them foolish or ignorant, just in a different belief system..

[dorkulon]

36. Well I don't want to get into this 'debate' again.

Suffice to say I perceive a distinction between coming to believe in something based on concrete evidence and logical deduction vs. choosing to believe in something based on word of mouth or ancient anecdotes.

If you're asking me to respect your belief in an unsupported myth as equally valid to hard science, well I'm afraid I can't do that. In fact, the better you understand evolution, the more baffling your rejection of it is to me. The best I can do is acknowledge that it's everyone's right to believe whatever nonsense they want.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

38. I dont need you to respect it, I would just prefer that people hold off judgement

as to my other qualifications..

Calls for 'if you believe X you should not be doing Y' are pretty common around here

[slackmaster]

26. We had communists teaching econ at the university I attended

Philosophy and visual arts, too.

[Dogtown]

19. Why is he not in jail? n/t

[Hekate]

20. I'd love to hear the teacher's side of this--from inside the interrogation room at police HQ, & then

...from the defendant's dock at jury trial for child abuse.

By-by teaching credentials. Hello to a new career far away from children.

Hekate

[Hekate]

21. Let's not let this instance of fanaticism & child abuse be an excuse to tar Christians, okay?

Please.

I don't want a theocracy for the very reason that it gives license to fanatics like this one and the ones who won't fill your prescription for contraceptives, BUT most Christians in this country don't want a theocracy either.

Hekate

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

24. Too late...

[Hekate]

27. That subthread (which ought to be deleted, imo) is the reason I put my comment here

Your path is not my path but I try to speak against bigotry wherever I find it. I have more reason than most to consider the benefits of religious freedom and separation of church and state, but concomitantly I respect other religions.

Be well,

Hekate

[TBF]

32. His beliefs are not the problem, his behavior is the problem. BIG problem.

[Hekate]

34. Exactly my point. Thank you! That's the entire point of the US Constitution, imo...

People are not to be punished for their beliefs, however strange or different from the norm. They break the law, that's something else again. This guy crossed the line in spades.

My MIL and FIL are Holocaust survivors. If a teacher -- ANY one -- had burned a cross on one of their kids' arms my in-laws would have had a seizure. The emotional distress would have been compounded many times over by the fact that this is the USA, not Deutschland in the first half of the 20th century.

Hekate

[spoony]

37. Well, another thread hot right now blames maniacal cannibals on religion

There's literally nothing the people who hate religion will neglect to blame on religion at large. If a religious person has done it, it will be found, posted, and held up as some "proof" of how horrible religion is. It's like what Stormfront does with stories about immigrants or minorities: take isolated instances and condemn entire groups based on them.

[TBF]

39. Well I guess that's the difference. I don't hate religion. I don't believe in it either, but

I don't believe in Santa and he still comes to our house. :)

Tolerance means respect both ways.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. OMG!

Bad bad John.

[Faygo Kid]

33. What kind of people live in that community? Has Keith heard about this?

They let this guy BRAND their children?!?

[dorkulon]

40. “They weren’t crosses,” he said, “They were Xs.”

http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/08/06/20/freshwater_upd2.html

:wtf:

[WindRiverMan]

41. I would have waited outside his apartment and

beat the living shit out of him if he did that to my kid.