Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
What is the cost of allowing teachers to burn crosses into the skin of students?
Hey, remember the story of the nice Christian teacher who liked to impress the kiddies with the Power of the Lord by branding them with crosses?
Well, gee, guess what - the school district that used to employ him had to settle with one of the branded students:
District Settles With Student Who Accused Freshwater
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio—A Central Ohio school board has approved a $121,000 settlement with the family of a student who said his teacher burned the image of a cross on his arm.
School board members in Mount Vernon agreed Wednesday night to resolve a federal lawsuit by paying $5,500 to the boy and his family and $115,500 to their lawyers.
The family still has a similar suit pending against the eighth-grade teacher, John Freshwater.
So, we now know the cost: $121,000. Well, that and a small thing called the Separation of Church & State.
Oh, and just for extra fun: guess who else is suing the district? Yep:
Freshwater has filed his own $1 million lawsuit against the district, claiming it violated his free speech and civil rights.
Gotta love it.
Jim Downey
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a secret medical breakthrough?
Scar tissue never goes away. It may fade to relative obscurity for a while during youth, but as that kid ages the scar will become visible again.
Burn scars?
First and second degree burns almost never leave scars. Judging from the photos, Zachary's burn was a first degree burn, with perhaps a little second degree. His arm now (I know the family) is clear.
The situation is bad enough without alarmist exaggerations.
Addendum
I should add that the total legal costs of all of the proceedings to the Board and its insurance company are now in the neighborhood of $500,000 and are still rising. The legal costs to Freshwater are not known publicly, but have to be up into 6 figures by now.
Some corrections
Let me introduce a few corrections here. I live there, have attended almost all the sessions of the administrative hearing on John Freshwater's termination, know all of the players, and am friends with the family at issue.
First, the settlement will be paid mainly by the school district's insurance company, less the deductible (which I don't know).
Second, contrary to Milo Johnson's remarks, the mark was not permanent. It lasted for a couple of weeks. Also, the terms of the settlement are consistent with the family's wishes. From the beginning they have said that they were not seeking large money damages but were interested mainly in ensuring that the various church-state abuses in the school were stopped and that no more children would be harmed in the kind of classroom demonstration that marked their son. For one example, part of the settlement specified (at the insistence of the parents) that the school district provide training in church-state issues to teachers. That has already started -- the first in-service for teachers on it was held week before last, and was led by an attorney for the Board and an attorney from the Ohio Education Association.
The teacher in question is still a defendant in the family's federal lawsuit; the settlement was with the district defendants only. In addition, the administrative hearing on the teacher's termination is still on-going, as is a federal suit brought by the teacher against a range of defendants including the school board, various administrators, and unidentified "John and Jane Doe" defendants.
For more info than you probably want to read about it, see here.
Rats
Not enough coffee yet -- it was justice's remark, not Milo Johnson.
justice
So, the kid whose arm bears a permanent symbol of a lunatic superstition run amuck gets $5500 but the lawyers who sued on his behalf get $115,500. How about they also get some crosses burned on their fucking foreheads in return for over 95% of the settlement awarded for the injustice inflicted on their client, the person who was the actual victim?
Yeah.
The difference in the payouts was the first thing I noticed too.
They probably took the case on contingency -- the family wouldn't have to pay them anything up front because they'd get the bulk of the settlement money, which would only happen if they won -- but it's still kind of disgusting.
I didn't realize it is a
I didn't realize it is a Constitutional right to burn religious symbols into children. I don't understand how this is not assault or battery. This guy should be in jail for harming kids.