As everyone in the science blogosphere knows by now, banana man Ray Comfort, he who cannot understand sex, is planning to distribute on the order of 170,000 (his claim) copies of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in late November on various U.S. and Canadian university campuses. The book is prefaced by an introduction (2 Meg PDF) by Ray that contains the standard creationist argle bargle.

NCSE has created a page in response called Don’t Diss Darwin that has a variety of resources and suggestions. It has an appropriate flier, posters, and a lovely banana bookmark ready for downloading.

Most important for our immediate purposes, it contains a list of universities currently targeted. That list is reproduced below the fold. (I note that Lehigh is on the list; I wonder if Michael Behe will avail himself of the opportunity to learn some evolution.)

I urge scientists and interested folks on the infected campuses to seek immunization from the NCSE page.

Hat tip to Florida Citizens for Science.

US (19 Nov)

1. Princeton University (NJ)
2. Harvard University (MA)
3. Yale University (CT)
4. Stanford University (CA)
5. University of Pennsylvania (PA)
6. California Institute of Technology
7. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MA)
8. Duke University (NC)
9. Columbia University (NY)
10. University of Chicago (IL)
11. Dartmouth College (NH)
12. Washington University in St. Louis (MO)
13. Cornell University (NY)
14. Brown University (RI)
15. Northwestern University (IL)
16. Johns Hopkins University (MD)
17. Rice University (TX)
18. Emory University (GA)
19. Vanderbilt University (TN)
20. Notre Dame (IN)
21. University of California - Berkeley (CA)
22. Carnegie Mellon University (PA)
23. University of Virginia (VA)
24. Georgetown University (DC)
25. University of California–Los Angeles (CA)
26. University of Michigan–Ann Arbor
27. University of Southern California (CA)
28. University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (NC)
29. Tufts University (MA)
30. Wake Forest University (NC)
31. Lehigh University (PA)
32. Brandeis University (MA)
33. College of William and Mary (VA)
34. New York University (NY)
35. University of Rochester (NY)
36. Georgia Institute of Technology (GA)
37. Boston College (MA)
38. University of Wisconsin–Madison (WI)
39. University of California–San Diego (CA)
40. University of Illinois–Urbana - Champaign (IL)
41. Case Western Reserve University (OH)
42. University of Washington (WA)
43. University of California–Davis (CA)
44. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY)
45. University of Texas–Austin (TX)
46. University of California–Santa Barbara (CA)
47. University of California–Irvine (CA)
48. Penn State University–University Park (PA)
49. University of Florida (FL)
50. Syracuse University (NY)

Canada (24 Nov)

1. Ottawa University - Ottawa ON
2. Carleton University - Ottawa ON
3. Queen’s University - Kingston ON
4. University of Toronto - Toronto ON
5. York University - Toronto ON
6. McMaster University - Hamilton ON
7. Guelph University - Guelph ON
8. Brock University - St. Catharines ON
9. U of Western Ontario - London ON
10. Concordia University - Montreal PQ
11. McGill University - Montreal PQ
12. U of New Brunswick - Fredericton / Saint John NB
13. Memorial U of Newfoundland - St. John’s NL
14. Dalhousie University - Halifax NS
15. University of Manitoba - Winnipeg MB
16. U of Saskatchewan - Saskatoon
17. University of Alberta - Edmonton AB
18. University of Calgary - Calgary AB
19. Simon Fraser University - Vancouver BC
20. U of British Columbia - Vancouver BC
21. University of Victoria - Victoria BC

This was the last of three October hearing sessions. The next sessions are scheduled for November 17-19.

The highlight of today was testimony by Taylor Strack, a student in Freshwater’s class, who corroborated Zach Dennis’ testimony about how the students’ arms were positioned and what stopped the shock that Freshwater was supplying via the Tesla coil.

Taylor Strack Direct testimony

Taylor Strack was a student in the 8^th grade science class at the time the alleged burning of Zachary Dennis’ arm occurred, and she saw the procedure followed. That came out in cross examination; first is her direct testimony by R. Kelly Hamilton, Freshwater’s attorney.

Some time prior to her testimony Hamilton showed Taylor the “Watchmaker” video that Kerri Mahan had once testified was shown in Freshwater’s science class (see here for her latest version). Taylor testified that she had not seen the video before Hamilton showed it to her. She had never been to FCA.

She testified that she was in class the day Freshwater demonstrated the Tesla coil. She said that if Freshwater held a student’s arm down, he would release it. She then said if a student said Freshwater held his arm down “they were lying.” That was a little confused(ing) – Taylor speaks very softly and was hard to hear.

Interpolation from cross examination

This got a little clearer during cross examination. David Millstone, the Board’s attorney, had her clarify that procedure. She testified that Freshwater asked if anyone in the class wanted to try it (being zapped). A student would approach him at the front of the room and put an arm on the overhead projector and Freshwater would apply the arc to the arm. She testified that if the student asked Freshwater to stop, he would stop. That is consistent with Zachary Dennis’ description of what happened. Overall, it’s not clear in her testimony whether Freshwater put his hand on a student’s hand on the overhead or not. She implied both that he did and didn’t during her testimony.

Back to direct examination

Taylor testified that she did not hear Freshwater mention a temporary tattoo, crosses, or red marks in connection with the Tesla coil demonstration.

With reference to a student being zapped on the butt by Freshwater, she testified that she didn’t see it. She heard the student give a :little shriek,” looked up and saw the student looking surprised and Freshwater smiling. She testified she didn’t have a sense that Freshwater did it purposely.

She testified that Freshwater never referred to the Bible in class and didn’t hold it up. She testified that he didn’t tell the class that the Bible explained the Big Bang. She didn’t remember the “hydrosphere” notion being mentioned, nor any mention of Answers in Genesis. She said he didn’t promote Easter or Good Friday in class, and didn’t mention creationism or intelligent design.

She testified that another student brought up a question about how life was formed, and Freshwater described fine tuning. The student then referred to a “higher power” and Freshwater changed the subject. She didn’t remember “here” being used.

Hamilton asked what she thought of the allegations made against Mr. Freshwater. She said that they are “… stupid. Nobody got hurt.”

Taylor Strack cross

Aside from the testimony noted above regarding the procedure by which students were zapped with the Tesla coil, Taylor also testified that there was a creationism/evolution debate in class some time that year (2007-2008), She said Freshwater made the decision to have the debate.

Asked about Mt. St. Helen’s, she said Freshwater did not discuss the rapid formation of coal in relation to it. Asked by Millstone, she gave a pretty mainstream sketch of coal formation.

Regarding dinosaurs, she didn’t recall whether Freshwater mentioned humans and dinos living at the same time. She did say that he said there was insufficient air pressure now for them to be that large.

There was no redirect or recross.

Finn Laursen Direct

Finn Laursen is the executive director of Christian Educators Association International and an experienced school administrator (principal and superintendent in Ohio). He does a good deal of lecturing and workshops on First Amendment issues in the schools.

His initial testimony was directed at the Finding Common Ground book Daubenmire used in his two-day class at Mt. Vernon Nazarene University. It seems to be a well regarded source for that topic. A variety of organizations (pdf), ranging from Laursen’s Christian Educators to People for the American Way, have signed on to it.

Laursen testified that the mere fact of a Bible on a teacher’s desk is not a First Amendment problem; that he himself had a Bible on his desk when he was an administrator. In and of itself it does not constitute a “religious display.” Asked what constitutes a religious display, Laursen said “It promotes religion, draws attention to a specific doctrine or belief.”

There was a fairly long section of testimony concerning Laursen’s interactions with Lori Miller, another teacher who had a Bible on her desk along with other devotional materials, was instructed by an administrator to remove it all, and was later allowed to put the Bible back on her desk. (See here and below for this Keystone Kops sequence.) In summary, Laursen advised Miller, who is a member of his association, that it was legal to have a Bible on her desk, and that if the administration was trying to “cleanse” her desk she should file a grievance.

Laursen testified that in his view if a school tries to “sanitize the school” from religious material, that abounts to “religious harassment,” or discrimination.

Asked by Hamilton about insubordination, Laursen said one had to consider history and patterns of behavior. He would meet with the teacher (who should have representation along), clarify what is meant by insubordination, follow up, and document everything. A successful termination, he said, depends on documentation. In investigating a situation one would talk with as many people involved as possible.

Asked about the mandatory reporting requirement for suspected cases of abuse, Laursen said that the school – teachers and administrators – must report. They do not have discretion in the matter. Asked if a parent reported an injury to a student caused b a teacher, but didn’t want the teacher to go to jail, Laursen said it is not up to the school to make that decision–the incident must be reported. Asked what one should do if he doubted to reliability of the allegation, Laursen said it is still reportable.

Laursen said that he would immediately talk to the people directly involved, especially the teacher as soon as possible after the parent(s) left his office.

Asked by Hamilton, Laursen testified that teachers in public schools “absolutely” have academic freedom. This wasn’t pursued, so we don’t know what “academic freedom” means in Laursen’s response.

FInally, Laursen testified that it was all right if FCA materials were stored in a teacher’s classroom.

Laursen Cross

On cross examination Laursen testified that it was appropriate to refer to the Bible in English and history classes where it was relevant to the topic under discussion. Asked about applications in math classes, he replied “None that come to mind.” Millstone asked, “How about Numbers?” A good laugh was had by all.

In answer to questions, Laursen said it was inappropriate to teach creationism, but that with respect to intelligent design it depends on “what is considered to be intelligent design.” “If there’s some science that doesn’t line up with evolution that would be appropriate.” Asked about the relevance of Kitzmiller to that remark, Laursen said Kitzmiller was decided on intent. Asked about whether intelligent design was shown to be equivalent to creationism in Kitzmiller, Laursen replied “In the ruling, yes.”

Asked whether a collage of 10 Commandments posters constituted a religious display, if there were no other such material, e.g., Hammurabi’s Code or some such present, Laursen testified that it could be inappropriate, “depending on the purpose.”

That ended Laursen’s cross; there was no redirect (except for another “Numbers” joke) or recross.

Patricia Dice testimony

Patricia Dice is a teacher in the Mt. Vernon school system, and accompanied Lori Miller to the meeting with middle school Assistant Principal Ritchie and Principal White (following Miller’s earlier testimony in this hearing) at which Miller was told she could keep her Bible on her desk so long as it wasn’t opened in the presence of students. The meeting was very short, on the order of 5-7 minutes, according to Dice. Dice kept notes and summarized them in a note to Miller that was introduced into evidence. Dice included a paragraph from the district’s policy on religion in the classroom in her note, though that wasn’t referenced in the meeting. m The policy says that religious materials are not to be displayed at any time.

Referring to Dice’s jewelry (recall this was the Friday before Halloween) Hamilton asked if the jewelry – earrings and a necklace of plastic skulls – promoted paganism. She said, “no.”

There was no cross examination.

Lori Miller testimony

There was some discussion about whether Miller could testify, having already testified at length early in the hearing. The referee allowed the testimony, since it refers to events that occurred after Miller testified the first time.

Miller testified that four days after her earlier testimony, accompanied by another teacher, Bill Oxenford, she met with Assistant Principal Ritchie and Principal White and was instructed to remove all religious materials, including her Bible, from students’ sight. She then contacted Finn Laursen, who advised her to look into the grievance process. She talked to Karen Seward, president of the union (MVEA), who told her she (Seward) would contact the OEA regional labor relations consultant. Miller called Laursen again, and he referred her to “Liberty Center.” I suspect, but do not know, that she meant Liberty Counsel, which is associated with the Liberty University School of Law.. That in turn is associated with Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.

Miller testified that she had trouble inducing the union to take action, and that Seward and the consultant, Jeff Kesner, told her it wasn’t a grievable issue and that she should let it go.

Then the Liberty Center (Counsel?) told her to get clarification from the administration, the first step in the grievance process. That’s when she had the second meeting with Ritchie and White at which Dice was present. She recorded that meeting, as she had an earlier meeting with administrators, though this time the recording was not surreptitious. The recording shows the meeting to have lasted less than two minutes. Asked directly by Miller, White told her she could have a Bible on her desk.

Hamilton asked her about an in-service in August, 2009, on religion in the classroom led by David Millstone (the Board’s attorney) and another attorney from a Columbus law firm. She testified that at one point in Millstone’s Powerpoint presentation there was a slide with

May a teacher keep a Bible on his or her desk?

Courts have found it impermissible to keep a Bible on the desk when it is used for other than secular purposes.

Miller testified that there was then a slide with a large NO on it.

Finally, Miller testified that after the in-service she still didn’t understand the policy.

Miller Cross

Millstone produced a printout of the powerpoint show, and there is no such “NO” slide. (I have the actual .ppt file, and there’s no such slide in it.) Asked about the discrepancy, Miller said that she couldn’t remember where she saw it, or maybe she didn’t see a slide but just heard it said.

There was no redirect or recross.

That ended the testimony for the day. Another witness had been scheduled by Hamilton, but the dog ate his homework he forgot to bring his notes on the questions he wanted to ask the witness so the session was adjourned early.

Finally, I have to relate an anecdote that occurred Wednesday, when David Daubenmire was testifying. I didn’t hear it – I had to leave for a physician’s appointment – but another spectator did and posted it on a local web board:

At Wednesday’s hearing last week during a break, Mrs. Daubenmire was speaking with Levi Stickle. I thought I caught what she said to him but I wanted to be sure so I asked her to repeat her comment. She stated to me that she asked Levi who at the hearing “was good and who was bad”.

Obviously someone attending the hearing for the first time might want to know who is supporting John Freshwater, who is not but to twist it to “who is good, who is bad” speaks volumes about how Mrs. Daubenmire views those who don’t agree with the Freshwater agenda. I wonder how her husband feels about the subject? I think I can guess.

On Thursday, October 29, the morning saw Tim Keib, former assistant principal and for a time interim principal of the middle school, continue his direct examination. R. Kelly Hamilton, John Freshwater’s attorney, introduced into evidence an affidavit Keib had signed and walked Keib through it. Keib is a graduate of Cedarville University, a very conservative Christian school in Ohio.

Keib testified that he was in Freshwater’s classroom for a number of 30+ minute observations for evaluation and perhaps 60 to 100 times for a few minutes over the years.

Over the years Keib did a number of evaluations of Freshwater, and testified that he never saw any problematic behavior in Freshwater’s classroom. Asked if he ever saw Freshwater teach creationism, Keib replied that there was “never any direct instruction pertaining to creationism that I heard.” Interesting locution there.

In a series of questions Hamilton pushed the case that Freshwater was using suspect materials in order to teach analysis and objective consideration of multiple hypotheses per the Academic Content Standards, using those materials to see whether students could use the scientific method.

Keib testified that he never saw Freshwater try to push his faith or proselytize students. He never heard Freshwater put down another person’s faith, though he voiced concerns about that to Keib privately. He testified that he never saw Freshwater teaching intelligent design.

Keib testified that he himself had a Bible on his desk while at the middle school, and knew of a “significant number” of teachers who also had Bibles on their desks. He named half a dozen. He said that Bibles mean one thing to one person and another thing to someone else. They’re used in poetry classes, as a reflective tool, in English classes, and in history classes.

He testified that he never saw Freshwater’s Bible open when students were around. He testified that he could tell the book was a Bible because he was familiar with it. Asked if in itself, sitting on a desk, the Bible denigrated or promoted a particular religion, Keib replied that “Some people might not be comfortable with it, but it’s not hurting anyone just sitting there.” Asked if the Bible on a desk constituted a “religious display,” Keib replied, “Just sitting there, no.”

Asked if it was appropriate to tell one teacher she could keep a Bible on her desk (apparently referring to Lori Miller) while instructing another to remove his Bible, Keib replied that it was hard to justify the inconsistency.

Asked what constitutes “insubordination,” Keib replied that it was a “punitive term,” and in when he uses it it is after “numerous verbal and written reprimands and warnings.” Asked if Freshwater was ever insubordinate to Keib, he replied “Not willfully.” Again, an interesting phrase.

Asked what evidence demonstrates that a teacher is teaching to the academic standards, Keib mentioned his being in the room observing during evaluations, inspecting the teacher’s quizzes and handouts, and student performance on standardized tests like the Ohio Achievement Test. Asked if a teacher can teach “beyond the standards,” Keib replied that it was sometimes desirable to do so, for example to connect classroom material with world events.

Keib testified that he does not consider Freshwater to be a “religious” man. He said that his definition of “religious” does not correspond to that of the rest of the world, that the latter is “too general.” We never did find out what Keib means by “religious.” He said some words, but I flatly couldn’t connect them into some sort of coherent thought.

Keib testified that he had had one conversation with Lynda Weston regarding Freshwater due to some complaints from high school science teachers. She had concerns he might be teaching creationism. Keib told her that he had heard it before, but he has been in Freshwater’s room countless times and never saw what she was alleging. He asked her how he could reprimand Freshwater if there’s no evidence. Keib talked to some students about it and was led to believe it wasn’t a Freshwater issue but was an issue of the town and its religious culture. When Keib asked Weston for evidence she didn’t provide any.

Shown the photos of Zachary Dennis’ arm, Keib said that he would first want to look the student in the eye and talk with him about it. He said that teachers, administrators, parents, and students are not always on the same page. When a child tells a parent what happened, it’s not always the version that another might have. In response to questions, Keib emphasized the necessity to talk directly to the child and parents in order to decide what appropriate steps to take.

Keib Cross Examination

Under cross examination by David Millstone, attorney for the Board, Keib testified that the main concern that Kathy Kasler, the high school principal, had was that Freshwater was teaching material outside the academic standards. Keib said that he analyzed lesson plans and observed Freshwater’s classes and never saw any evidence that it occurred.

Asked by Millstone what the “scientific method” is, Keib replied that it was “the steps to prove if something is a fact or a belief.” “Form a hypothesis and test the hypothesis against known laws (e.g., gravity)” (a pretty close quotation).

Millstone went through a calculation to show that Keib’s total time in Freshwater’s classroom amounted to less than 0.5% of Freshwater’s total class time during the period in question.

Keib was unaware that two teachers, Cunningham and Adkins, had traced one of Freshwater’s handouts to allaboutgod.com.

Keib recommended Freshwater for a Distinguished Teacher Award. He could not remember who else he recommended for that award. Recall that in earlier testimony we learned that there were no criteria for receiving the award beyond being nominated.

Keib Redirect

In redirect Hamilton established that Keib’s observations met the requirements of the Ohio Revised Code.

There was no Recross.

The next witness was to have been Ted Kiger, a former student, but since he had been present in the hearing room while an earlier witness testified he was disqualified (the referee had ruled at the beginning that prospective witnesses were not to hear any testimony before they testified - witness sequestration).

Darcy Ann Miller

Darcy Ann Miller is a resident of the district, a mother of two FCA members (6^th and 8^th grades) in 2007-2008, and spoke several times at FCA at the invitation of her son, a member of Freshwater’s 8^th grade science class.

Miller testified that before permission slips were required for FCA attendance (recall that FAC met during the school lunch period) there were 30-40 students per session (three sessions per lunch period). After permission slips were required attendance fell off drastically, and she found it “heart breaking.” I myself found it interesting that when parents were given some control over the religious influences their children were exposed to in the context of the school, they opted out of the apparently mainly fundamentalist views espoused at FCA. And it was also interesting that Miller apparently didn’t think that was a good thing.

Miller talked to both middle school Principal White and Superintendent Short about the permission slip policy, and they both invoked the issue of parental control over the religious training of their children, saying that without it students might wind up attending a Wiccan presentation. (Wicca is a bogeyman for Mt. Vernon fundamentalists. I think we might have all of two Wiccans in the county.)

She testified that she prayed at FCA meetings and was shocked that Freshwater didn’t join in. She didn’t know faculty members could not be actively involved in FCA proceedings.

There was no cross examination.

Robert Bender

Robert Bender is a local Salvation Army major, and spoke at FCA two or three times, invited by his daughter. He testified that Freshwater did not participate, didn’t pray, didn’t lead a healing session, and that students always appeared to be in charge.

In cross examination Millstone established that Bender was testifing pursuant to a civil subpoena issued by Hamilton and not a subpoena issued by the Treasurer of the school district, the ‘official’ issuing authority for the administrative hearing. I think this has some arcane implications, perhaps for downstream actions, but I’m not at all sure. Is there a lawyer in the house?

There was no redirect or recross.

Terri Mahan

Terri Mahan testified earlier in the hearing when the Board was putting on its case in chief. Hamilton elected not to cross examine at that time because he would call her now. Recall that her most telling points then were that she saw the “Watchmaker” video during Freshwater’s science class, that he used the handouts hinting at ID that were identified in the investigator’s report, that Freshwater taught the “hydrosphere” theory, and that humans and dinosaurs may have lived at the same time. She testified later in this session that Freshwater “… often presented things that were ‘off the wall’ to stimulate the kids to think about how they can test ideas.”

Mahan testified that she originally sent the Watchmaker video to Freshwater. She also sent it to Lori Miller and a couple of other teachers she thought would be interested. She thought she may have originally got it from her husband.

She said that she cannot now remember whether she saw Freshwater show it in science class or saw his daughter Jordan show it at FCA. However (and most missed this) she described herself as seeing the video while sitting in her normal place in the back of Freshwater’s classroom with a full complement of students in front of her when it was shown. Now, FCA did not meet in Freshwater’s room; it met either in the band room or a stage off the lunch room. The only FCA meetings in Freshwater’s room were ‘leadership’ meetings at which there were on the order of only half a dozen students, not a full complement of students. Further, Mahan testified that she had never attended a leadership meeting. Obvious conclusion: She saw the video in Freshwater’s science class.

Mahan testified that she did not see the Tesla coil used on students in the fashion that’s been described. (Millstone came back to this in cross examination, below.)

Mahan testified that the OAT (now called OAA ; educational reform by acronym revision) emphasizes abstract thinking, and that Freshwater used numerous classroom demonstrations to stimulate abstract thinking. In response to Hamilton’s question, she agreed that the four handouts could be tools to hep students learn the difference between concrete and abstract thinking.

She talked about the “spiritual nature” of children in 8^th grade, and that children come with religious beliefs and some with creationist views.

Asked by Hamilton, she testified that the scientific method was at the heart of everything Freshwater did in classes. She testified that he talked about theories, inferences, hypotheses, and laws. He never used the words “intelligent design” – “Never in front of the class.” (Another of those interestingly phrased responses.) Asked by Hamilton if Freshwater ever talked bad about evolution, she replied “Not in front of the kids.”

Asked about the difference between fact and belief, she testified that Freshwater taught that “There are some things you can’t prove because you can’t go back and test it.”

Mahan testified that during her time in his classroom he used a lot of class demonstrations and experiments, but that following the December 7, 2007 incident he stopped doing so for the remainder of the year.

She testified that she has seen the Tesla coil used to “light up gases,” but not to make marks on students’ arms. She said she never heard Freshwater refer to “temporary tattoo,” “make red marks”, or “make crosses.” She testified that if she thought a student had been hurt she would have reported it.

Mahan testified that Freshwater never referred to the “motivational statements” containing verses from Proverbs that were displayed in his room, nor did he refer to the 10 Commandments displayed on the door of his room.

After some personal comments regarding her distress after her earlier testimony and her hope that testifying today would give her closure the direct examination ended.

Cross

In cross examination David Millstone walked Mahan back through the topics he had covered when he interviewed her prior to her earlier testimony. She agreed that she had said that Freshwater taught hydrosphere theory; that some tracks showed that humans and dinosaurs lived together; that Tyrannosaurus rex’s teeth showed that it could not have been a carnivore; that Mt. St. Helen’s could have produced coal rapidly; and that Freshwater had said that “there are things I would like to say but can’t unless you [students] bring it up.”

There were some questions that tried to establish whether Mahan was in Freshwater’s classroom the day Zachary was allegedly burned, and it was not clear that she was.

She re-affirmed that Freshwater never used to phrase “intelligent design,” and “The kids would ask him. He’d never say.” She conceded that the last line of several worksheets had the question “Was an ID involved,” and that the key had the blank filled in with “ID.”

That ended Mahan’s testimony.

Jeff Kuntz Testimony

The final witness on Thursday was Jeff Kuntz, retired middle school principal.

In preliminaries, Kuntz testified that he was not interviewed by HR OnCall, the firm that did the independent investigation for the Board, and that Millstone had interviewed him in November 2008, after the hearing had begun.

A good deal of Kuntz’s testimony was taken up with walking through 13 evaluations of Freshwater that Kuntz (and in one case, a prior assistant principal) performed over the years. In all cases but the last, in 2003, the evaluations were mostly boilerplate with some specific laudatory remarks. The last referred to “Continue to adhere to Board guidelines regarding religion in the classroom.” Asked by Hamilton, Kuntz testified that that remark was in the evaluation for two reasons.

First, Kuntz had a meeting with high school science teacher(s) and Kathy Kasler, high school principal, regarding problems teaching evolution in high school because of Freshwater’s teaching in middle school. Kuntz then talked to Freshwater about it. Subsequently Kuntz again met with Freshwater, high school science teachers Bonnie Schutte and Dick Cunningham, at which he tried to get the various parties to agree on what was appropriate. Second, Kuntz received a complaint from a parent about a handout Freshwater used in class. He spoke with Freshwater about it. Because of those two incidents Kuntz inserted the language quoted above in Freshwater’s evaluation.

Asked by Hamilton if Schutte and Cunningham and Kasler produced any evidence to support their claims, Kuntz replied that he couldn’t remember specifically but that “something in what what they said had caught my attention.”

Kuntz testified that in his experience Freshwater never failed to do what he was instructed to do.

Kuntz testified that he never sw Freshwater participating in FCA on the occasions he walked through. He testified that he knew Freshwater had a Bible in his classroom, and thought others did, too, but couldn’t remember an specifically. He thought perhaps Tim Keib did. He never saw Freshwater use the Bible in class or have it open when students were present.

Kuntz Cross Examination

Again, Millstone established that the subpoena issued to Kuntz was a civil subpoena issued by Hamilton rather than by the Treasurer if the Board of Education.

Kuntz testified that he may have seen the Tesla coil used in a class perhaps once in his time at the middle school, by a Mr. Farmer.

Kuntz testified that he was surprised to learn that Freshwater claimed to have not received any direction regarding his role in FCA. Kuntz said that on at least two occasions he gave Freshwater specific guidelines covering faculty members’ role with respect to FCA, and went on to recite half a dozen of them. He said he had reviewed the guidelines with Freshwater at least twice, and had also done so at least once with Lori Miller, another middle school FCA monitor. He said he made enough copies so Freshwater could distribute them to the other FCA faculty monitors, and that he regarded Freshwater as the ‘lead’ FCA monitor.

That ended the cross examination. In redirect Kuntz testified that he couldn’t recall receiving complaints about Freshwater following the 2002-2003 school year except the interactions with Kasler and the parent who complained in 2004-5 or 2005-6. He was vague about the dates.

That ended Thursday’s testimony.

The administrative hearing on the termination of John Freshwater resumed Wednesday, October 28, and also met Thursday and Friday. I missed most of Wednesday, but hope to have a summary from another spectator sometime soon. This is a summary of the testimony I heard Wednesday morning.

“Coach” David Daubenmire Direct Examination

The first witness Wednesday was “Coach” David Daubenmire. Daubenmire once taught and coached in the MT. Vernon school system, and then left to teach and coach in London, Ohio, where he and the district were sued by the ACLU for praying with his football players. That case was settled out of court just before going to trial, with the district paying costs. Daubenmire left teaching in 2000 to found Pass the Salt Ministries. He claims a Ph.D. in “scriptural psychology” from some school – possibly Faith Bible College in Missouri. He also claims to be an adjunct professor at Mt. Vernon Nazarene University, where he taught a couple of continuing education classes for teachers, one a two-day workshop on religion in the classroom that Freshwater attended in the early 2000s. That class used a text called Finding Common Ground, which appears to be an eminently respectable guide to religion in public schools and First Amendment issues. A copy was introduced as an exhibit in the hearing.

Daubenmire was also the organizer of “Minutemen United” (whose web site now appears to be defunct; see the pages preserved in the Internet Archive) through which he coordinated picketing at abortion clinics (he testified to that); allegedly photographed license plates of patrons of a nearby strip club and posted them on the web somewhere (I haven’t been able to find documentation of that; see note at the end of this post); and disrupting services at a Baptist church that is accepting of the LGBT community. According to Daubenmire’s testimony, Freshwater joined the Minutemen United Saturday morning picketing at a Columbus abortion clinic several times.

Daubenmire had spoken several times at the middle school and high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes prior to the Freshwater affair. He said his main message was “Living out your faith boldly.” In September 2007 he was invited (by a student) to speak again at the middle school FCA. On his arrival Daubenmire was met by Freshwater who told him there was a problem and that he would not be allowed to speak. Later that day Daubenmire met with Superintendent Steve Short, who Daubenmire says is a good Christian man, who told Daubenmire that he had received a complaint about Daubenmire speaking from a parent. Daubenmire testified that “If I had been a Muslim speaker Mr. Short would have allowed me to speak.”

Daubenmire testified that at that time he was “spittin’ hot” and warned Freshwater that ‘they’ were out to get him, and that he had to push back. He said Freshwater was reluctant to make waves, and that he’d wait and see what happened. Daubenmire testified that he can “smell bigotry,” and that “someone was definitely engaging in viewpoint discrimination.” He testified that he told Freshwater “This isn’t about FCA, it’s about you. If it were me I’d fight back now.” He told Freshwater that if it were him, he’d bring suit. He referred to Superintendent Steve Short as “The man behind the curtain.”

The main burden of Daubenmire’s testimony was that he took responsibility for having organized the April 16, 2008, public demonstration in Mt. Vernon to bring attention to the Freshwater situation. According to Daubenmire, Freshwater called him the morning of April 16 to seek advice, since the school administration had instructed him to remove his Bible from his desk. Daubenmire testified that he told Freshwater “What did I tell you in September, that it’s not about FCA … I can smell it … I see where this is going … I told you so.” He testified that he told Freshwater, “I’m not going to stand by and watch this happen. … you have to take the first strike … I’m going to start working on a statement.”

Daubenmire said he immediately sat down to write a press release, and called a press conference on the public square in Mt. Vernon that afternoon by emailing and faxing reporters. He also called Jeff Cline, a Mt. Vernon resident, to alert him to the press conference. Cline, who has lectured the Board of Education about the “homosexual agenda” on at least one occasion, apparently spread the word in Mt. Vernon to raise a crowd.

Daubenmire said he called Freshwater that afternoon and told him that “they’re are going to take your job and you’re going to spend years trying to get your job back.”

A few minutes before the press conference was due to start, Daubenmire testified that he met with Freshwater and his wife in a hardware store parking lot near the square and showed him the statement he, Daubenmire, had written explaining Freshwater’s position. He testified that Freshwater said words to the effect that ‘If that’s what I’m saying, I should read the statement.’

On their walk to the public square Daubenmire said they met John Fair, a former teacher and coach (and husband of a member of the Mt. Vernon board of education). Daubenmire said that Fair told him, “This is even deeper [possibly “dirtier”] than you know.” Fair later testified that he said no such thing but rather either Freshwater or Daubenmire [I’ll know which sometime soon, I hope] told him that, and that he did not attend the rally but was merely walking past it on his way from the hardware store to his home and that as far as he could see it was all over when he was passing through the public square. This account of Fair’s testimony is second-hand based on a conversation with a spectator the next day of the hearing. Again, I hope to have a first-hand account from a spectator in the hearing. (Note that the Mt. Vernon News has a different version of what Daubenmire claimed Fair said. I’m confident of my quotation.)

Freshwater then read Daubenmire’s statement at the rally and immediately left. Daubenmire stayed, talking with onlookers and reporters.

Daubenmire’s testimony also included numerous asides in which Daubenmire extolled his own role in the situation. He said several times, “It’s what I do. I call press conferences to bring attention to things.” Of his own effectiveness, he said, “I can tell a story about a dog that would make a cat cry.” The basic point of his testimony was that he, Daubenmire, was the initiator and driver of the public hoorah on April 16, and that Freshwater was a passive participant, reading the statement that Daubenmire wrote and then departing. Daubenmire testified that “I kind of threw him in the middle of the fight.”

The Mount Vernon News quoted Daubenmire as saying

“The foundation of our country is Christian,” Daubenmire said. “It is a religion, but atheism is a religion and secular humanism is a religion and they are taught in school.”

The Columbus Dispatch reported that Daubenmire said

“Our culture is Christian. The foundation of our laws is Christian,” he said. “We’ve become so afraid of religion in America that we won’t even acknowledge what’s happened. But it’s history.”

I heard words to those effects but they didn’t make it into my notes as direct quotations. I’ll note that in a local call-in radio show in September 2007 Daubenmire also remarked about “evolutionist religion.” I know that because I was the caller about whom Daubenmire made the remark. The man is about even with Ray Comfort, which is a real tough level to reach.

Later Daubenmire was asked by Freshwater’s advisers, notably Pastor Don Matolyak, to withdraw from participation in the affair, that he was told that “it would be best if he (Daubenmire) weren’t around.” He showed some apparent resentment at that. I recall a radio program around that time in which ‘Coach’ was considerably irritated at having been pushed out of active participation in Freshwater’s resistance, though I can’t find it archived.

I had to leave for a physician’s appointment in Columbus and missed the rest of Wednesday’s testimony. After Daubenmire’s direct and cross examination were finished, John Fair testified briefly, denying that he said what was attributed to him by Daubenmire. Then Tim Keib, who was assistant principal and for several months interim principal in the middle school during the relevant period was called and began his direct examination by R. Kelly Hamilton, Freshwater’s attorney. The Mount Vernon News has a pretty detailed account of the remainder of Wednesday’s testimony.

More on Thursday and Friday as I get to them.

Relevant news stories:
Columbus Dispatch on Wednesday (See also this followup that describes Daubenmire’s motivation to encourage Freshwater to make a public fuss
MVNews on Wednesday
MVNews on Thursday
MVNews on Friday

Note added 11/2/09 re: Daubenmire and the strip club: As far as I can see now there’s no detectable connection between Daubenmire and the activities at the strip club. There once existed a site called “www.stopthefox.com/” at which the license plate photos were apparently posted, but the internet archive has only the background skin of the site. So I cannot support the rumor that Daubenmire was involved in that situation.

For those interested (purely academically, of course!) here is a story in a college newspaper by a coed who visited the strip club.

Just last week over at the Thinking Christian blog there was a huge stink raised over the alleged inappropriateness of linking ID to creationism. After much argument the anti-linkage people more or less conceded that there were some good reasons to link ID to a somewhat generic definition of creationism (relying on special creation), but still protested loudly about how inappropriate it was to make the linkage, because most people (allegedly) would assume that creationism = young-earth creationism, and linking ID to young-earth creationism was oh-so-wildly unfair.

Well, it’s now a week later, and, what do you know, but right there on the latest blogpost on William Dembski’s Uncommon Descent is a big fat advertisement for a straight-up young-earth creationist conference. And who is endorsing the conference? Dean Kenyon, Discovery Institute fellow, coauthor of Of Pandas and People, and one of the most-cited inspirational figures in the whole ID movement, who is mentioned dozens of times in Stephen Meyer’s new book Signature in the Cell. Here he is, endorsing young-earth garbage:

According to US biophysicist Dr. Dean Kenyon, “Biological macroevolution collapses without the twin pillars of the geological time-scale and the fossil record as currently interpreted. Few scientists would contest this statement. This is why the upcoming conference concentrates on geology and paleontology. Recent research in these two disciplines adds powerful support to the already formidable case against teaching Darwinian macroevolution as if it were proven fact.”

…proving that, yep, he’s still YEC, as has been his consistent position since at least 1980, even though this was widely doubted over on the Thinking Christian blog, and even though Stephen Meyer and all other ID advocates systematically obscure this fact.

So who is the one confusing ID and YEC? Not me. They do it themselves.