Introduction
During my years as a newspaperman I had made many friends on the police force and in the offices of county and state agencies. One of my old friends, who knew I am now retired from the news-game but still active in writing, contacted me some months ago and asked if I would be interested in what he called a "bundle of dynamite".
My friend was a clerk in the State Probation Office, and had ready access to reports and applications for probation. Because of the current furor over Sex Education in the public schools, and the notoriety about the conviction on sex charges of a local teacher involved in a Sex Education project in a small-town junior high school, my friend was sure that I, as a writer on sexological subjects, would be interested. He knew his hunch was right when he lifted the file of Bruce Norman-as we shall call him-and examined it fully.
Because my friend is a conscientious man who believes in justice, he developed strong feelings about the matter, and made a full photo-copy for my use of the defendant's pleas to the probation officer and the court, complete with various documents Norman had included. Although this material was part of the public record, only a small part of it had come out during the court hearing, since the accused man had pleaded nolo contendere-"no contest". Understandably, the county newspapers had not seen fit to rake over the full details of this sordid case.
When I read Norman's bizarre account of what had actually happened, I found it difficult to believe. I made it my business to contact the other principals in the sensational affair.
This was not easily done. The children were being protected from "nosey reporters" and the other teachers involved were either in jail, in mental hospitals, or fired and had left town.
After weeks of sweat, blood and tears, I finally contacted some of the students. Most of them verified Norman's account as to the series of events, the "overt acts"-but most of them refuted his claim that he had been lured into the scandalous affair by the promiscuous, provocative behavior of his female students.
One of the two girls in his English II class whom he said had displayed her privates to him purposely, denied it, saying that "Mr. Norman was always trying to look under the girls' dresses."
She told me he used to play with his genitals while he sat at his desk, and his conversation while doing this was always sex-oriented. She said his actions and his conversation had piqued the interest of the girls in the class, including herself, and that she finally succumbed to his verbal advances.
I'm afraid I had to discount this girl's account of Norman's behavior, because she was unaware that he had included her own theme on Sex Ed in his probation application. Of course, Norman could have written this himself, but I doubt if he had the simple teen-age jargon used in the theme that much under his knowledgable control.
The girl's account was also refuted by her best friend, who freely admitted her preoccupation with sex up to the time when the Sex Ed affair blew up in their faces.
I interviewed Bruce Norman in the room of the attorney at the county jail, and he swore to me that the events as he had recounted them, in his eloquent appeal for probation, were true. I obtained his consent to collate, rewrite when necessary, edit and publish any and all of his material including the students' themes, with all names of people and places changed, of course.
I got an eminent psychologist to read Norman's story, and asked him what he thought of the man. His conclusion was that Norman obviously was a sick man. He commented that prison would only worsen his malady, that it was apparent that this man could be easily led into homosexuality behind prison bars. He described him as a sexual psychopath, a pedophile, but harmless to all except young girls, and then harmful only to their morals, not to their physical bodies.
I have collated Norman's documents and edited and filled in his account where necessary for clarity and dramatic impact, striving at all times however, to leave it in his own candid and frequently shocking language, to reflect the intensity of his guilt feelings. I have not changed a word of the precocious students' submitted themes, as I believe it necessary to read them exactly as they were written. Naturally, the themes Norman had picked for inclusion were the most literate and graphic ones.
I have my own opinions on the degree of guilt this man bears, but then perhaps I have been too closely associated with the case to examine all aspects impartially.
I submit it therefore, to you, the reader, for your judgement. If you were the judge, what would your verdict have been on a plea of "no contest"? And if that verdict was "Guilty", what would you have meted out as punishment?
Do you agree with the psychologist who states this man is ill and should not be treated as a criminal? Do you think he should be given a chance to undergo psychotherapy that could help him? Or do you believe he is "an animal" and should be penned up to protect society?
Read his story and then ask yourself the question: "What would I have done in Bruce Norman's place?"
-Rex Sonavan