Last Friday the referee in the John Freshwater termination hearing released his recommendation that Freshwater should be fired (here) and last night the Mount Vernon School Board voted 4 to 1 to terminate his contract (here). The one dissenting vote was from Steve Thompson, a vocal supporter and fund raiser for John Freshwater, who didn't recuse himself but did complain about Paula Barone not recusing herself. The hearing cost the school district about $900,000.
Now the excitement is all over unless Freshwater decides to appeal the decision, or, maybe I should say; if the grandstanders and theocracy advocates don't push him into another appeal. It seems to me that John Freshwater has, from the beginning, been pushed in directions that were not in his best interest by people who used him to fulfill their own agendas. I don't mean to absolve Freshwater of responsibility. The fact that he tried to conceal his actions is clear evidence that he knew he was breaking the rules, but with media-whore, bully, Dave Daubenmire and ignorant clown of a lawyer R. Kelly Hamilton in his corner, not to mention all the fundies who always want to try evolution in the court of public opinion, he was doomed from the start.
This fiasco was predicated on the fundy belief that their religious opinions should supersede legal and moral codes. From the very beginning supporters were incorporating creationist, Christian nation rhetoric that made it clear that they intended the hearing to be a referendum on the incorporation of religious dogma in public education instead of a simple determination of guilt or innocence. If their goal was to siphon off $900,000 of taxpayers' money that should have been spent on kids' education; if their goal was to bankrupt the teacher they professed to be supporting; if their goal was to prove that the court of public opinion is always trumped by real courts, they were very successful. However, if their goal was to prove that their fundy beliefs were true, they failed, and they did a hell of a lot of damage in the process.
1 comment:
Freshwater won't appeal. He's broke, flat-busted broke. And, since he has been officially fired, he now has to pay for the medical coverage which he was still receiving during his suspension. He had to put up his 40 acre farm as collateral to his lawyer on the other two suits he was involved in ((Doe vs. MV Board of Ed. (settled) and Freshwater vs. MV Board of Ed. (dismissed)). A lifetime of savings and assets gone! A mountain of debt accumulated with nothing to show for it. Poor fool.
Speaking of being broke...
From: Coach Dave at Pass the Salt Sent: Tuesday, November 09, 2010 3:06 PM To: Subject: We Ran the Wheels Off!
…::: News and Announcements :::…
Dear Friends, Last weekend our 1999 Plymouth Voyager started sounding like a Helicopter. It seems that after 238,000 miles “Old Red” had made her last trip out of the driveway. This comes on the heels of our 2001 PT Cruiser suffering a similar fate after 228,000 miles early last Spring. Pass The Salt currently stands in need of reliable transportation. We were wondering if someone would like to a make an end-of-the-year donation to Pass The Salt in the form of a set of wheels. Your gift would be tax-deductible and would help as Coach Dave travels around to pound knots on the Devil’s head. If you have an interest in helping, please contact us at coach@ptsalt.com or 740-323- 0871 . You have not because you ask not.… Pass The Salt Coach Dave Daubenmire Passing the Salt, www.ptsalt.com
Ah yes, I am happy, thrilled even, that that blowhard runt Daubenmire can't get a car loan (neither he nor his wife have had full-time jobs for years) and have to beg for a donation of a car since his ministry is a financial failure.
Only a few evagelicals successfully rise to the top and make big bucks. Many others, like Daubenire, barely scrape by or just give up and get real jobs.
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