Posted on 07/31/2005 9:25:28 AM PDT by kristinn
07/31/2005
School trustee tangled in Web
By William J. Kemble , Correspondent
HYDE PARK - Two school board trustees say comments posted on a Web site by new board member Kevin Post may conflict with his obligation to uphold state and federal education laws.
In telephone interviews last week, Trustee Doug Hieter said a district resident contacted him about Post's comments on the Web site www.freerepublic.com under the user name kphockey2. Hieter said he's particularly concerned about seemingly homophobic comments made by Post.
Trustee Stephen Hughes said he was troubled by Post's "derogatory" references to school board actions and the types of people Post considers harmful to society.
"I hope he realizes his own personal views can't color his decisions on what the school district has to and should do," Hughes said. "I also think it was somewhat misleading of him not to fully express his position on all areas related to the school district."
Both Hieter and Hughes have asked district Superintendent Carole Pickering to look into the matter.
POST, AN operations engineer with Central Hudson in Kingston, received 1,267 votes in the May 17 school board election, making him the leading candidate among four who were vying for two seats.
Reached by telephone at work on Friday, Post confirmed having made several postings to the Free Republic Web site but declined to discuss them.
"Thank you very much for calling and checking into it," he said. "I just don't have any comment."
POST'S profile was deleted from the Web site following Friday's interview, but on Thursday night included this message: "F the Democrats! I am a former Republican Committeeman in the Town of Plattekill/County of Ulster in New York State. School Board Elect member of the Hyde Park School Board. I will eventually be a Republican Committeeman in the Town of Hyde Park/County of Dutchess in New York State."
The profile concluded with the message: "Always up for a good freep," a nickname for Free Republic counter-demonstration activities by self-proclaimed "protest warriors." Post referred in the profile to demonstrations against gay rights activities in New Paltz and antiwar demonstrators in Kingston, as well as an out-of-state anti-John Kerry campaign in 2004.
IN AN 11-paragraph account of a November 2004 trip to Clarks Summit, Pa., Post wrote: "Couple great freepers were a part of the group. First, my lovely wife, Mrs-kphockey2, who came down for the weekend; Dutchy came in Friday morning and stayed through Monday and then cam(e) back for the party Tuesday night; and finally, COACH, a freeper from Staten Island who is the founder and genius behind CatholicsAgainstKerry.com. He is a wealth of political knowledge."
In some postings, kphockey2 is accompanied by the identifier "Yasser Arafat burn in Hell" or "Michael Schiavo burn in Hell," a reference to the husband of Terri Schiavo, the vegetative Florida woman who died after her feeding tube was removed by court order earlier this year.
ON JULY 5, four days after Post started his school board term, he wrote: "Got to vote against the national school lunch program/reduced or free meals tonight. I hope it turned some heads." In another posting, he wrote that in "my first official meeting as a member of the skool board, I cast a NO vote on the participation of our district in the Nation(al) School Lunch program. Too bad the lemmings said yes."
In response to an apparent June 28 request to participate in an upcoming protest, Post declined to attend because there was a board meeting where he said he could "vote against the current sb vp (school board vice president) for not having a clue."
In response to a June 22 post about the death of a John Kerry supporter, kphockey2 wrote: "Good f'ing riddens. One less commie voter. Only 50+ million more to go."
A July 2, 2004, posting about a counterdemonstration in New Paltz opens with: "This evening we FReeped the dykes - women? - in black again." Women in Black is an organization that frequently has protested the war in Iraq.
DESCRIBING the May school board election, kphockey2 wrote: "Yesterday afternoon I unleashed a solo one-legged FREEP of the School Budget Vote in my town of Hyde Park, NY. My wife and I cast our vote against the 7%+ Budget Increase (9%+ Tax Increase). We then set up at the entrance to the parking lot. I held up my sign from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. to catch the bulk of the working voters."
Post offered this account of a 2004 counterprotest in Kingston: "On Saturday Nov. 13, the forces of Good and Evil once again clashed, this time in Kingston, NY. The leftists were there to 'Protest the Iraq War and the loss of life in Falluja.' The leftist scum amassed on the Academy Green with about 100 in number."
IN A Jan. 4 posting on social events attended by Tri-State Chapter members of Free Republic, Post wrote:
"As you probably already know, THE ANN COULTER joined us for our party. The look on everyone's face when she arrived was priceless! There was a simultaneous "Holy $@%#, is that Ann Coulter?!" Coulter is a conservative commentator and author whose best-selling books include "Treason" and "How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must)."
IN OTHER postings prior to the school board election, Post wrote that his Free Republic background could hurt his chances of becoming a school board member. In a March 11 posting under the heading "Freeper planning on school board - any advice?" he responded to one person's statement that "my ideas are far to radical" by writing: "So are mine. Keeping my mouth shut until after election day."
Referring to local newspapers as "fish wrap" in another message on March 11, Post appears to seek help from fellow Free Republic members in manipulating a Freeman online reader survey about the war in Iraq.
"Need lots of help here," he wrote. "Big-time commie area - New Paltz, Woodstock, Vassar, Bard etc."
HYDE PARK school board President Kevin Sheehan said on Friday that he had not read the postings but was aware of them, having been contacted by a concerned local resident. He also said Hyde Park students should not be concerned if they fit the profile of a group opposed by Free Republic members.
"This is not the type of opinion, belief or core belief that I think the majority of the board has, so I don't believe that anybody has anything to worry about," Sheehan said. "We've had board members in the past that have provided some distraction, entertainment, so it is what it is. People who choose their elected officials have the right to do so, and they have the right to decide whether that's somebody they agree with or that's somebody they don't agree with."
Now if this particular FReeper were posing suggestions for anal lube on a homo website, or organizing an illegal traffic-stop "demonstration" against the war, the authorities would be conducting the same level of "investigation," right? Because those activities don't fall under the right to free speech either?
I don't get it. Why does having an opinion make Kevin Post less qualified?
Criminy...the dopes behind this smear campaign are of the same caliber of idiots who wanted General George Patton relieved of command because his language was coarse. Nevermind that he did his job and did it well!
A DU Troll emailed your posts to these people.
Really? I was just going to ask who narc'd him out.
"Seemingly homophobic?" He doesn't seem afraid of them at all. Acerbically contemptuous, perhaps, but not afraid.
Public comments on a message board are fair game. Politicians are held accountable for their comments all the time.
Is the subject of this post still with us?
"I hope he realizes his own personal views can't color his decisions on what the school district has to and should do," Hughes said."
Just why is that? I would imagine that one reason to get elected is to make decisions based on one's personal views.
apparently homophobic refers to more than fear.
"irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals"
Good point. This is an elected, not appointed position.
A phobia is a persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.
Arachnophobia, for comparison, is not "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against" spiders. The "discrimination" add-on is too politically correct for me. Plus, if one knows anything at all about Greek, the "discrimination" add-on is also demonstrably false....a politically-motivated lie.
I didn't see anything in those posts, that should warrant this kind of backlash...
I hope he is still with us...he sounds like a terrific freeper!!!
phobia means fear, nothing else.
"I think we need to ask our system admin to allow a flag that would make a new post only be to registered freeps."
I wasn't aware a "guest" could post without first registering. Is this a new policy?
Then school board President Kevin Sheehan added ..... " as long as THEY are someone who fits the Hyde Park School Trustee "mold" and isn't a FReeper !."
Yeah, but how was it determined that kphockey2 is definitely Kevin Post? Granted, the posts themselves and the "kp" in the screen name are big clues, but is there some way for an outside party to definitvely identify a freeper's real name?
Yep, he is still with us.
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