XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: child-rapist-liberals@democrats.org   
      
   At 7 p.m. in the Ogemaw Heights High School auditorium, the Rose   
   City community will learn the fate of seven West Branch-Rose   
   City teachers who recently wrote letters in support of a   
   colleague convicted of molesting a young student.   
      
   John and Lori Janczewski, the victim’s parents, want the   
   teachers fired. They also want school board member Michael Eagan   
   – who sat with the family of convicted child molester Neal   
   Erickson during his sentencing – recalled from office.   
      
   “We had been quiet … and sat back and said nothing,” John   
   Janczewski said of the investigation and arrest of their son’s   
   teacher in an interview with EAGnews. “But when (the letters of   
   support from teachers) came out in court we were angry and sick   
   to our stomachs.   
      
   “We can’t believe (educators) who took an oath to protect and be   
   there for the child would turn a blind eye,” he said. “We   
   promised ourselves we’re not going to stop until the (teachers   
   who supported Erickson) are fired and this board member is   
   recalled.”   
      
   On July 29, the WB-RC school board held a special meeting at the   
   Ogemaw Heights High School auditorium where a steady stream of   
   concerned parents and local residents made their way to the   
   podium and urged school officials to terminate the seven   
   teachers who supported Erickson.   
      
   School leaders are attempting to determine if the terminations   
   would violate the teachers’ constitutional right to free speech,   
   which could trigger lawsuits that would undoubtedly cost far   
   more than the district can afford.   
      
   Meanwhile, hundreds of parents who are rallying behind the   
   Janczewskis are threatening to pull their children from the   
   district if the school board doesn’t act, a serious concern   
   because of the potential loss of per-pupil state funding.   
      
   “It’s a huge decision, whichever road we go down,” WB-RC board   
   president Jack Money said at the meeting. “Don’t underestimate   
   how huge it is.”   
      
   The discovery   
      
   The Janczewskis have been through a lot over the past year.   
      
   In October 2012, Lori Janczewski was diagnosed with cancer. Days   
   later they received more heartbreaking news.   
      
   “Four days after my wife was diagnosed, a state trooper came out   
   to our house and we found out our son was molested,” said   
   Janczewski, who is also fighting his own battle with Multiple   
   Sclerosis. “Somebody sent an anonymous email with pictures of my   
   son to the board of education and the superintendent.”   
      
   The email and pictures proved Erickson “was a predator and he   
   groomed our son to molest him,” he said.   
      
   Someone also posted the pictures online.   
      
   “They never found out who sent the emails and brought it to the   
   surface,” Janczewski said. “On the one hand, we’re very   
   appreciative … but on the other hand, we’re angry. Why didn’t   
   they come forward sooner? Why did they put the pictures on a   
   porn site?”   
      
   Yet despite the horrible news, the family finally had an   
   explanation for their son’s troublesome behavior.   
      
   Their son had grown increasingly distant from the once close-   
   knit family through his early teens, as Erickson, his middle   
   school math teacher, manipulated the young boy into a twisted   
   relationship that lasted from Aug. 2006 to Aug. 2009. The victim   
   frequently lashed out at his father and the tension tore their   
   family apart.   
      
   Lori Janczewski worked with Erickson at Rose City Middle School   
   and had asked him for insight into the boy’s rage, but he   
   shrugged her off. The discovery that Erickson had molested their   
   son brought a new sense of clarity after years of turmoil and   
   anguish, John said.   
      
   “He carried this inside him all these years,” Janczewski said of   
   his son’s suffering. “It not only impacted us recently, it has   
   impacted us for about nine years now.   
      
   “Our son shut me out of his life. There were heated battles   
   between us. It just got worse and worse and worse. It was total   
   hell. It caused physical and mental stress on our whole family,”   
   John said. “I chalked it up to puberty, but it was horrible. We   
   couldn’t put our finger on what was wrong, but now we know.”   
      
   “Now we understand why he was so angry and emotional,”   
   Janczewski said.   
      
   Despite the disturbing revelations, the Janczewskis were content   
   to let the legal process take its course. They kept a low   
   profile and followed Erickson’s criminal case closely. Erickson   
   admitted to his misdeeds, and the couple attended his sentencing   
   July 10.   
      
   Teachers take sides   
      
   That’s when they learned for the first time that numerous   
   teachers in the school district wrote to the court to plead for   
   a lenient sentence for their colleague. They were shocked to see   
   several teachers – and school board member Mike Eagan – sitting   
   across the courtroom with the sex offender’s family.   
      
   “Neal made a mistake,” teacher Sally Campbell wrote to the   
   judge, according to the Ogemaw County Herald. “He allowed a   
   mutual friendship to develop into much more. He realized his   
   mistake and ended it years before someone anonymously sent   
   something in to the authorities which began this legal process.”   
      
   “I am asking that Neal be given the absolute minimum sentence,   
   considering all the circumstances surrounding this case,” wrote   
   Amy Huber Eagan, a teacher and wife of board member Mike Eagan.   
   “I am also hoping that he can stay remanded to the custody of   
   the Ogemaw County Jail and not be sent to a prison facility.”   
      
   “Neal has pled (sic) guilty for his one criminal offense but he   
   is not a predator,” teacher Harriett Coe wrote, according to the   
   Herald. “This was an isolated incident. He understands the   
   severity of his action and is sincere in his desire to make   
   amends. He has been candid and conveyed his action to his   
   family, friends and co-workers.”   
      
   In all, 10 people, including seven WB-RC teachers, submitted   
   letters of support for Erickson, most pleading for a reduced   
   sentence. They included Campbell, Amy Eagan, Coe, Toni Erickson,   
   Carol Rau, Marilyn Glover, Sandi Lee, Kathryn Weber, Kathleen   
   Sheel and Kathleen Palmer, the Herald reports.   
      
   Judge Michael Bumgartner told Erickson he was “appalled and   
   ashamed that the community could rally around, in this case,   
   you,” according to the Herald.   
      
   “What you did was a jab in the eye with a sharp stick to every   
   parent who trusts a teacher,” he said shortly before sentencing   
   Erickson to 15-30 years in prison.   
      
   The Janczewskis felt betrayed, hurt, and angry.   
      
   Now they have made it their mission to ensure those who   
   supported Erickson no longer work with the community’s children.   
   They have vowed to recall Eagan from the school board if he   
   didn’t willingly step down.   
      
   “They are all sick in the head,” Janczewski said of Erickson’s   
   supporters. “They can do their freedom of speech, but their   
   actions” have consequences, he said.   
      
   Until Erickson’s sentencing, the family members were “very   
   private people,” Janczewski said. But the teacher support   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)