Post by Moses on Mar 30, 2005 4:00:32 GMT -5
"Right Wing" School Assembly Offends and Angers
Here's yet another story of of the outrage Bradlee Dean offers schools. An outraged party phoned Walgreen headquarters Media Relations, asking why they are a corporate sponsor. They deny any such sponsorship and are talking to lawyers. Now this sleuth is checking out Target and Marriott, to see if they are, as claimed, sponsors of Dean's work.
Classes were aborted last Wednesday morning for about 335 Eureka Springs school children seated on the high school gymnasium floor while a group of men and women in black blasted them with near-90-decibel heavy-metal music featuring what the school superintendent, students and faculty described as “religious, right-wing” messages.
The purported content of the compulsory assembly was characterized by the performing group, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide (YCRBYCH), as “drug and alcohol awareness” but the program’s actual content addressed a much broader list of concerns.
The music was so loud a concerned staffer distributed literature detailing the threat of permanent damage to children’s hearing ability, including that of about 135 7th and 8th graders bused in from the middle school.
Assembly rules waived
Some students and teachers walked out. High School principal David Childers intervened when two teachers ordered students to return to the assembly and allowed them, and others, to leave.
Following the musical assault, lead speaker Bradlee Dean, founder of Minneapolis-based YCRBYCH, spoke about his life as a reformed cocaine addict. Speaking at a blistering pace while writhing from one foot to the other, Dean shouted about homosexuality, abortion, divorce, single-parent families, liberal politicians, the news media, gun control, the Kennedy assassination, creationism, Christianity and the sanctity of virginity.
Dean said pornography increased by 97 percent when Bill Clinton was President and opined that “blaming Columbine on guns is like blaming sthingys for Rosie O’Donnell being fat.”
After two hours in the gym, the boys, girls and faculty were divided into separate groups.
Dean faced immediate opposition from some of the teachers corralled in the EAST lab. Teachers’ initial comments included: “This is propaganda;” “I was completely offended;” “Faith-based nonsense;” and “You shouldn’t even be here.”
One teacher asked Dean what the “Jesus song had to do with drug awareness?” He responded, “There is nothing in our Constitution or founding documents about separation of church and state,” and characterized evolution as just a theory.
English teacher Cathy Remenar explained the difference between evolution and creationism, saying “one is scientific theory and one is religious theory,” and added that it is the school’s obligation to teach the former but not the latter.
Dean sped into a rap about the need for more corporal punishment and too much free speech and permissiveness in schools, adding that Dr. Benjamin Spock’s son committed suicide.
Leftovers?
In the girls’ assembly, Amy Deitchler walked out when a female YCRBYCH staffer told the young ladies they would be serving “leftovers” to their husbands if they lost their virginity before marrying a “God-fearing man.”
Walk-out Kristen Cuypers, said, “They’re selling us propaganda. I don’t think I should be told how God affects my life.” Allyson Pokrzywinski, a junior, said, “I don’t think this is legal. This is a violation of our rights. I believe in separation of church and state.” Ashley Smith said, “They’re trying to create fear by stereotyping.”
Eureka Springs school superintendent Reck Wallis, who was in Little Rock Wednesday, said Thursday, “I take responsibility. We had no idea about their religious, right-wing message. They misrepresented their program. We want [Eureka Springs schools] to be open and all inclusive. If we’d known... They won’t be back.”
Second guessing
With Wallis in Little Rock, Childers, the high school principal for the past six years, was the man in charge of the assembly. He decided to cancel YCRBYCH’s follow-up act at the elementary school.
“I was afraid elementary school students would not be able to understand the material if it was presented the same way. I didn’t want to take that risk.” As to the program’s laundry list of right-wing opinions, Childers added, “I was concerned by several things, but I won’t go into specifics.
“If I’d been given the content of the program on the front end, I wouldn’t have let them in my school. A lot of the program was good about drugs and alcohol. At the same time, you can’t offend people. I apologize if a lot of people in the community were offended.”
Childers added that he suffered discrimination as a share-cropper’s child growing up in northern Mississippi and knew first-hand the importance of not offending others.
Asked if he was personally offended by YCRBYCH’s performance, Childers replied, “Well, maybe something.” When asked if he considered stopping the program because of its potentially damaging volume level or its politically and religiously-charged content, he replied, “I entertained the idea but I thought the anti-drug message was there.”
One teacher was overheard to remark, “That was the best assembly we ever had,” while leaving the gym.
Easy pickings
The men and women in black drove a $100,000 rig out of town after the revival. They’re banking on receiving $2,700 for the three-hour rave to be paid by the Eureka Springs School District with federal funds distributed by the Arkansas Department of Education.
The YCRBYCH website makes no mention of the group’s ideological bent but does list its corporate sponsors. Among the corporations with local ties are Best Western, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Super 8 Motel and Holiday Inn.
According to a June 16, 2001 article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press covering reaction to a YCRBYCH assembly, more than 60 parents petitioned their school board “to investigate possible malfeasance by an administration that turned the other cheek while Dean humiliated our children.”
— Vernonn Tucker
Lovely County Citizen
2005-03-29
www.lovelycitizen.com/cgi-bin/news/fullnews.cgi?newsid1111635608,96888,
Here's yet another story of of the outrage Bradlee Dean offers schools. An outraged party phoned Walgreen headquarters Media Relations, asking why they are a corporate sponsor. They deny any such sponsorship and are talking to lawyers. Now this sleuth is checking out Target and Marriott, to see if they are, as claimed, sponsors of Dean's work.
Classes were aborted last Wednesday morning for about 335 Eureka Springs school children seated on the high school gymnasium floor while a group of men and women in black blasted them with near-90-decibel heavy-metal music featuring what the school superintendent, students and faculty described as “religious, right-wing” messages.
The purported content of the compulsory assembly was characterized by the performing group, You Can Run But You Cannot Hide (YCRBYCH), as “drug and alcohol awareness” but the program’s actual content addressed a much broader list of concerns.
The music was so loud a concerned staffer distributed literature detailing the threat of permanent damage to children’s hearing ability, including that of about 135 7th and 8th graders bused in from the middle school.
Assembly rules waived
Some students and teachers walked out. High School principal David Childers intervened when two teachers ordered students to return to the assembly and allowed them, and others, to leave.
Following the musical assault, lead speaker Bradlee Dean, founder of Minneapolis-based YCRBYCH, spoke about his life as a reformed cocaine addict. Speaking at a blistering pace while writhing from one foot to the other, Dean shouted about homosexuality, abortion, divorce, single-parent families, liberal politicians, the news media, gun control, the Kennedy assassination, creationism, Christianity and the sanctity of virginity.
Dean said pornography increased by 97 percent when Bill Clinton was President and opined that “blaming Columbine on guns is like blaming sthingys for Rosie O’Donnell being fat.”
After two hours in the gym, the boys, girls and faculty were divided into separate groups.
Dean faced immediate opposition from some of the teachers corralled in the EAST lab. Teachers’ initial comments included: “This is propaganda;” “I was completely offended;” “Faith-based nonsense;” and “You shouldn’t even be here.”
One teacher asked Dean what the “Jesus song had to do with drug awareness?” He responded, “There is nothing in our Constitution or founding documents about separation of church and state,” and characterized evolution as just a theory.
English teacher Cathy Remenar explained the difference between evolution and creationism, saying “one is scientific theory and one is religious theory,” and added that it is the school’s obligation to teach the former but not the latter.
Dean sped into a rap about the need for more corporal punishment and too much free speech and permissiveness in schools, adding that Dr. Benjamin Spock’s son committed suicide.
Leftovers?
In the girls’ assembly, Amy Deitchler walked out when a female YCRBYCH staffer told the young ladies they would be serving “leftovers” to their husbands if they lost their virginity before marrying a “God-fearing man.”
Walk-out Kristen Cuypers, said, “They’re selling us propaganda. I don’t think I should be told how God affects my life.” Allyson Pokrzywinski, a junior, said, “I don’t think this is legal. This is a violation of our rights. I believe in separation of church and state.” Ashley Smith said, “They’re trying to create fear by stereotyping.”
Eureka Springs school superintendent Reck Wallis, who was in Little Rock Wednesday, said Thursday, “I take responsibility. We had no idea about their religious, right-wing message. They misrepresented their program. We want [Eureka Springs schools] to be open and all inclusive. If we’d known... They won’t be back.”
Second guessing
With Wallis in Little Rock, Childers, the high school principal for the past six years, was the man in charge of the assembly. He decided to cancel YCRBYCH’s follow-up act at the elementary school.
“I was afraid elementary school students would not be able to understand the material if it was presented the same way. I didn’t want to take that risk.” As to the program’s laundry list of right-wing opinions, Childers added, “I was concerned by several things, but I won’t go into specifics.
“If I’d been given the content of the program on the front end, I wouldn’t have let them in my school. A lot of the program was good about drugs and alcohol. At the same time, you can’t offend people. I apologize if a lot of people in the community were offended.”
Childers added that he suffered discrimination as a share-cropper’s child growing up in northern Mississippi and knew first-hand the importance of not offending others.
Asked if he was personally offended by YCRBYCH’s performance, Childers replied, “Well, maybe something.” When asked if he considered stopping the program because of its potentially damaging volume level or its politically and religiously-charged content, he replied, “I entertained the idea but I thought the anti-drug message was there.”
One teacher was overheard to remark, “That was the best assembly we ever had,” while leaving the gym.
Easy pickings
The men and women in black drove a $100,000 rig out of town after the revival. They’re banking on receiving $2,700 for the three-hour rave to be paid by the Eureka Springs School District with federal funds distributed by the Arkansas Department of Education.
The YCRBYCH website makes no mention of the group’s ideological bent but does list its corporate sponsors. Among the corporations with local ties are Best Western, Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Super 8 Motel and Holiday Inn.
According to a June 16, 2001 article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press covering reaction to a YCRBYCH assembly, more than 60 parents petitioned their school board “to investigate possible malfeasance by an administration that turned the other cheek while Dean humiliated our children.”
— Vernonn Tucker
Lovely County Citizen
2005-03-29
www.lovelycitizen.com/cgi-bin/news/fullnews.cgi?newsid1111635608,96888,