Prior Lake Anti-Gay School Board Member Wants to Sue the School

I've been following this story from the beginning of the controversy before he was fired. I'm starting to really despise this jerk.

Prior Lake resident and parent said:
Read this about Mr. Lind. All that has been said in the media is heresay. Unfortunately the truth will come out in the courtroom. The school HR and attorney made some serious mistakes and will now have to pay dearly!

A good journalist will include the "who, what, where, when, why and how" in the lead of a story, so "why, why, why, why, why" doesn't cut it with me.

Why? Why is Mr. Chris Lind being wrongly persecuted to the point that he is unable to support his wife and four children?

Why? Why have misinformation, half truths, distorted "facts", out-right lies and emotional responses to these things been so emphasized in our local newspapers and those of our neighboring school districts, as well as Minneapolis and St.Paul?

Why? Why do people believe only one side of a story without getting down to the truth?

Why? Why do people believe outrageous rumors about what Mr. Lind has been accused rather than search out the truth?

Why? Why do people not understand that the school district has treated Mr. Lind not only unfairly, but illegally?

One cable network calls its news "Fair and Balanced" but in my opinion it is not fair nor balanced. I had hoped that the newspapers in our communities would be fair and balanced but in my opinion they often have been neither. Some examples are below.

FALSEHOOD: Mr. Lind refused to be on the finance committe of the school board even though he campaigned partially on finances.
TRUTH: Mr. Lind accepted the position on the finance committee and also asked to be on the curriculum and building committees.
FALSEHOOD: Mr. Lind was accused of several inappropriate actions that led to his dismissal.
TRUTH: Mr. Lind was accused of three incidents.
FALSEHOOD:According to many, Dr. Westerhaus stated the main reason he resigned is because Mr. Lind was elected and caused the levy and referendum to fail.
TRUTH: Mr. Lind was elected with over 3000 votes and was 4th in a list of 8 candidates.
The levy and referendum failed because local issues are the only way people can protest high taxes and wasteful spending, or not being satisfied with something. Dr. Westerhaus unfortunately was not of the same mentality as Minnesota's (and South Dakota's) Hubert Horatio Humphey "who did not turn away after defeat". (Quote from the Opinion Exchange section of the "Minneapolis Star Tribune" on Sunday January 13.) Our school district has a history of many levies and referenda being defeated up to three times before being passed. In addition to this, Mr. Lind has only 1 of 7 votes on the school board and Dr. Westerhaus, who has been such a successful superintendent, evidentally felt that was a threat to him and his record. How unfortunate for our district!
FALSEHOOD: Our local newspapers are unbiased.
TRUTH: If so, why was the letter supporting Mr. Lind from a girl who is on the student council at Prior Lake High School published but not put online like letters of those who have opposed and in many instances, slandered Mr. Lind?
FALSEHOOD: Mr. Lind ridiculed a girl by telling her it was "National Pick On Lesbian Day".
TRUTH: The girl has written a noterized letter stating that she was not rediculed as was a part of the "joke". It may have been a foolish thing for Mr. Lind to say but in light of the student involved it was not serious. It became "serious" when someone supposedly heard Mr. Lind's part of the conversation,and supposedly reported it to Mr. Massura and Mr. Massura recorded this heresay information.
FALSEHOOD: Mr. Lind spoke of celibacy with a child.
TRUTH: When approached by a young man who had graduated two years previously and who asked Mr. Lind about Biblical perspectives on celebicy, Mr. Lind spoke of St. Paul's gift from God to be able to be celibate if one wanted to, or was expected to be so.
FALSEHOOD: Mr. Lind spoke of bi-sexuality with a child.
TRUTH: The child was an upper-classman who asked what to do because his girl friend was bi-sexual. The conversation was limited because Mr. Lind evidentally was told by the boy that he was going to break up with his girl friend any way, so Mr. Lind did not even have to answer the question.
FALSEHOOD: Mr. Lind has threatened to sue the school district for a six figure amount.
TRUTH: No amount was stated in the letter asking for mediation. Mr. Lind is only trying to clear his name so he can support his family.
FALSEHOOD: Parents are informed about their children's activities and classes in our schools.
TRUTH: Those young people who are in need of council because of sexual concerns can be a part of the GLTB(Q) group, which I heard is called a "class" without their parents knowledge or permission. Girls who become pregnant have been counseled and even had arrangements made by school employees for their abortions without parental knowledge.
FALSEHOOD: Mr. Lind is inappropriate in his relationships with students and other young people.
TRUTH: Mr. Lind tells those who come to him and ask his opinion about Biblical perspective on issues of sexuality responds to them in love and Biblical passages, which many of us believe are the infallible TRUTH of God. Therefore young people are given a choice of what to believe. Similar questions may be about the theory of evolution and the theory of Intelligent Design and so students are given choices to consider. I thought "choice" was very important in our society!

The battle in our community today is not only about Mr. Lind, Dr. Westerhaus and Mr. Massurus and those of differing opinions. It is a battle of truth versus lies, rumors and distorted facts. Perhaps, I dare say, it is even a battle between Love and Hatred. If God is Love, as His Word states, who is Hatred? A law of physics says that for every reality their is an opposite.

The misinformed, gullible and ignorant people are not Hatred. They are perhaps deceived. It remains to be judged which camp I am in. In which are you?

The Prior Lake resident and parent has no idea what's in Lind's personnel file. For someone who decries hearsay, it's hypocritical to start talking about school officials arranging for abortions without evidence.

Also, as a lifelong non-Christian (atheist, if you're wondering), I'd trade the persecution I've faced from Christians and Jews for the persecution Lind has allegedly faced (and he hasn't -- I'd expect to be fired for the three incidents mentioned above). You have no idea what it is like to have to keep driving by a church in your home town decrying you on its marquee (one that it usually uses for announcing Mass times how Jesus loves you and other innocuous items) or to have a (successful) Presidential candidate declare that you're not an American (and I'm descended from two US Presidents, a Cherokee Indian and some guy who came over on the Mayflower). And I'm lucky -- I've never faced any actual discriminatory acts, just a mood of hatred from folks who only profess love. (And I've seen it cut the other way too -- I've benefited from Christian compassion as well.) At least Fred Phelps is honest about his espousal of hatred. This is one reason I've been wary of moving back to the suburbs, as my wife is a druidess (something that provokes worse reactions than atheism, in my experience, probably due to the lack of familiarity) and we now have a daughter (with another on the way) and in this polarized environment, I fear the persecution my girls may face. (I was pretty lucky, in retrospect -- the evangelical movement was not as strident in my suburb in the 1980s. We were about 20% Jewish and about 5% Catholic, and the one religiously devout classmate I had was a Catholic and a friend.)

The disclosure of information on this case has always favored Lind, because unlike the school board, he is not legally bound to keep silent. The four reasons given are the ones that the school board feels it can confidently state without a libel suit (and none such is pending, I might add). I guarantee you that the incidents officially cited are not the only ones in the personnel file. Some of the other incidents in the file are indeed hearsay, which is why the school board did not mention them or act on them. Others will have more substance. Lind's request for settlement is probably an overplaying of his hand, one that makes him look motivated not by the Almighty Jesus Christ but rather by the Almighty Dollar. Any opening of his file will make him look bad.