The following article is a compilation of experiences and observations by four people who were directly involved, in different roles, in the trial of Dan Loudenbeck, a teacher in the North Bend, Oregon school district, for sexual abuse of former students. Although Dan was ultimately found completely innocent of all charges, the experience cost him and his family much mental anguish, social discomfort, and financial hardship.

Mr. Loudenbeck's experiences illustrate the peril that exists for every 'teacher: Mere accusations by disgruntled students are sufficient to initiate investigations by Children's Services Division and other agencies, investigations that can and do disrupt the lives of those being investigated. Every person involved in writing this article recognizes the need and responsibility to protect our children from abuse, but each has also gained a new perspective on the fragility of personal rights when faced by institutions that fail to safeguard against abuse of their power, well-intentioned or not.

The day started out as any other day. My husband Dan had left for his classroom of fifth graders early as he had been doing for the past 14 years. He has always been conscientious and concerned about the welfare of his students and has put in extremely long hours of good, quality teaching time. This day was no different and the new school year was getting underway swiftly and looked very promising. Our daycare center was growing and full of children. We had just opened our third building and could now really boast of having the very finest daycare center in the state. Dan and I have always loved children and have dedicated our lives to the education and care of them. We both have our Masters Degree in education and have spent many long years developing programs that would help to benefit the children we worked with. We began our daycare center 13 years ago, building it up from caring for 10 children to as many as 60. All our extra time and money had gone into our business to build something that would benefit people and something that we could be proud of, but that business was suddenly and without warning closed down, and our future was dramatically altered.

My Pre-school class was buzzing, as we were full to capacity and all the eager 4 year olds could hardly contain their excitement on this, their eighth day of school, and they knew they had lots of fun ahead of them. I was busy teaching my own class when I received a phone call from Dan telling me that he had just been visited by CSD and the police, who had informed him that they were investigating accusations made against him by a couple of teenage girls. I was completely shaken by the call, but, after finding out who was making the accusations, I knew at

once what was going on and felt comfortable that we could clear everything up that afternoon when Dan got home from school. guess I was dreaming to think that an investigation meant they would look at both sides of the story.

An hour later I was sitting with a group of children at their gymnastic lessons, when I was summoned to return to the daycare center because an emergency was in progress. When I arrived, I found dozens of cars parked in front of our facility and people literally all over the place. I finally managed to find someone in charge and was told very bluntly that they were there to close our daycare down and that all children had to be moved off the premises immediately. Of course I was absolutely dumbfounded and tried to question their actions. I was finally told, after much pressure, that there had been two allegations made against my husband and that, for the safety of the children, our facility had to be closed pending an investigation.

When we asked why we were not permitted to give our side of the story or why we could not be given an alternative to closure, we were told bluntly and rudely that they were "not going to bargain with us". They then seized all our records and began calling parents, telling them they had an hour to pick up their children or their children would be placed in alternate care until they could get them. Naturally, parents flew to our center and were met at our front gate, our front door, the kitchen door, and then again at the backyard door by CSD agents. They were told only that their children had to be removed for their "safety." Parents and staff were bewildered and concerned. What could possibly have happened that required 15 CSD and police agents to take over this facility? Why was the TV camera busily taking pictures and interviewing people? Why were there newspaper reporters running around? The questions were unlimited and of course the rumors began that very hour. The afternoon all seemed to run in slow motion and is very blurry to me now. When did I call a lawyer? When did I nurse our baby? When did Dan finally come home? Who took care of our three children? When did I call my folks? The nightmare had begun, and for how long would it haunt us? Even then I could not begin to imagine all that would happen.

We remained open the next day, as we had several strong and staunch supporters. We had determined that as long as we had any children who wanted our service, we would be there. Dan continued to teach 'School, since no charges had been filed, and there we sat, the media event of the year, with broken hearts and broken reputations. We both decided that we would spend every penny we had to fight the agency that had this extreme power to destroy lives and families. We knew the allegations were false and we felt certain it could be proven that there was a conspiracy, by a disgruntled employee and a parent who owed us money, to close us down. It was just a matter of time and patience before we would have our say -- but how long would it actually take and at what cost?

The nightmare continued as some 350 children were interviewed and some very bizarre tales were told. One little 5 year-old boy said he'd been molested daily by two women employees and that they had broken his arm and burned his bottom -- but no one else had seen or heard it. Then came the Junior High girls. All of a sudden, we had several girls in the seventh grade who said that Dan had touched them on the knee or the leg when they had been in the fifth grade.

The original allegations against our daycare center had been taken care of by this time. CSD had had nothing to base the closure of the center on, but the accusations against Dan encouraged them to pursue the case, despite the absence of any real evidence. Eventually Dan was charged with four counts of sexual abuse for allegedly touching these Jr. High girls on the knee. Of course, the media had tried and hung us already and we might just as well have left town, but our stubborn determination and the firm belief that justice and right must prevail forced us to take a stand and fight back.

We kept the daycare center open and we hired another lawyer. We brought together several law firms that believed we were the victims, and they were as determined as we to prove our point. This just could not happen in America where you are innocent until proven guilty!!

Seven months later we finally got to trial. We were anxious to clear the air and show exactly how all this had happened. At this time the Judge ruled:

1. We could not bring events connected to the daycare center into the trial (a point which we felt was crucial since these Jr. High girls believed they were doing everyone a favor by helping to punish us for what they thought we had done there).
2. There would be no change of venue (since we'd been tried in the press, we felt our chances of winning in Bend was remote).
3. The knee was to be viewed as an intimate area body (even though the law is very specific about this and the knee is not mentioned).

This was an extremely emotional and tearful week, as the results meant everything to us. A guilty on even one count could have meant five years in prison 100,000.00 fine or a not guilty verdict could mean freeing our lives and our future. The week progressed, it soon became very evident that the state did not have a case against Dan. Each girl changed her story, made mistakes, and looked very bad. Other students were in to say the girls had been bragging at school about the (trial).

Our kind, experienced lawyer made the young District Attorney look like he'd never tried a case before. By the end of the week, a "not guilty verdict" was quickly reached on all four charges. We were overcome with emotion. There was a flood lily and friends who had helped get us through financially and emotionally. It was a moment in our lives that we'll never forget. Most of us do not know how is our freedom is until it is being taken away from us . Thank God we have the jury system in America.

Our troubles are not yet over. We still have the fight to our business and our dignity, but at least we have that. It's too bad that we have a law on the books that can make us guilty before all the facts are in, forcing us to disprove mere accusations.

What do an average teacher, a small businessman, and a family man have in common? First, they can be one and the same person, and, secondly, they can be utterly humiliated by a sexual abuse charge made by governmental agencies that are believed to be for justice and humanity, who can and do morally abuse their powers and make extreme efforts to convict the innocent in order to protect their own reputations.

My wife and I own and operate one of the best daycare centers in the state of Oregon. We have spent nearly fourteen years in making it the best. It only took the Children's Services Division (CSD) and the police about two hours to destroy it. One of the main reasons that I am able to relate this incredible story to you is because of our daycare center.

On September 26, 1985 1 was in my classroom teaching math when the principal came in and told me that there were a policeman and a lady from CSD wanting to talk to me in the conference room. Not knowing that hell was about to break loose, I went to the conference. They introduced themselves, then laid the bomb on me: I was accused of sexually abusing two girls. One girl my wife had fired just recently from the daycare center and the other was our neighbor. The two girls were the best of friends. I explained this. It made no difference. I felt as if the wind had just been knocked out of me. I was sitting there alone facing those two. They said that by taking a polygraph test I could clear myself.

In fumbling around trying to compose myself, knowing that I was not thinking clearly, for my mind was on the accusation of SEXUAL ABUSE, I told them that I would call my wife and talk to her about the test and that I would probably take it, but that I would call them later. I later found out that putting off a polygraph test is considered a refusal, although I had not intended it to be one. I left the room and called my wife. We decided that later I would call to set a time up for the test.

That afternoon my father-in-law came to my room and informed me that CSD and the police had raided our daycare center. They had used approximately 12-15 personnel. They had called the parents of every child at the center and told them they had one hour to pick up their children or they would be placed in foster care.

The following days and weeks CSD would interview approximately 300 children and parents. They would tell many untruths under the guise of doing a thorough job. They would release information to the media which was totally devastating to me and my family's morale: they never told the media that one of the girls had admitted that she had lied and that they didn't believe the other girl. The next few weeks were involved with lawyers. Because CSD had revoked the state license for our daycare center, we requested a hearing. Our lawyers were able to obtain a complete disclosure of information which CSD had against me and our daycare center. The lawyers felt that there would be no indictment because, judging from the information they had obtained, no laws had been broken.

Two months later, one day before Thanksgiving, an indictment did come down, and I was charged with four counts of sexual abuse. The media had a field day. The TV, radio, and newspapers showed no mercy. It had been bad before the indictment, but now it turned into a nightmare of the worst kind. Friends, colleagues, and even some relatives didn't want to become involved. People I had known many years avoided me.

More pressure against me was added at the three-month mark. We had specifically asked, in a written note, that if CSD should come to school to interview our 8-year-old son that a third party (principal or teacher) be involved in the interview. They interviewed him on a Friday, telling his teacher that if she interfered or called us, they could throw her in jail. They asked him questions mainly pertaining to how my wife and I were getting along and many other personal and intimate questions. Two or three weeks later I found out I was being sued by a customer of the daycare center for the rape of her three-year-old daughter. There were no charges, no evidence, no facts, merely the assumption made by the mother that something had happened. Another big splash in the media. Six months later, the woman dropped the case.

I then made one of the, if not the, biggest decisions of this horrible situation. I changed lawyers. I retained Ken Morrow, the most renowned criminal lawyer in the State of Oregon. His suggestion to consolidate all the charges and have just one trial instead of four worked out for the best.

With our first lawyer having already set the dates for the trials and CSD not knowing that we had decided to go with one trial, a week before the first trial CSD sent the media materials designed (we believe) to influence the up-coming trial. These materials were devastating because they used one particular word: "valid". This one word dispelled in the minds of most people any doubts as to my innocence. "Valid" in print and on TV meant I was guilty. CSD uses its own definition for its words.

There is no way on God's green earth to combat press releases like this. Time comes and time goes, as did my trial, and with my trial came complete vindication. The girls were proven to have lied. CSD was shown to have filed incompetent and error-filled reports. The jury sifted through many hours worth of "invalid" evidence to come up with the just and true verdict "Not Guilty".

Now that the trial is over, there are decisions to be make and questions to be answered. Am I going to sue the girls? Are we going to have a hearing to get our daycare license back? The answer to these questions is unequivocally "Yes". It's evident that teachers are now sitting ducks for any student who is sick, holds a grudge, needs attention, or whose parents are broke and in need of money. We, as a society, have to come to establish a method of dealing with these types of students or there will eventually be no male teachers in the teaching profession. The parents of this type of student must be made to realize the consequences of their children's actions.

I do not propose that all teachers are innocent. I do propose that all teachers have the right to mental security as well as physical security, so their classrooms will not become antiseptic laboratories of learning with no evidence of feelings involved. Teacher's feelings involve learning, not sexual abuse. I hope what has happened to me turns on the light for those who believe, "It can't happen to me!." If they ignore cases like mine, they will have to answer the same question that I do: "How am I to cope with the loss of my personal reputation, my integrity, my financial set backs, and the loss of a business that I truly enjoyed?".

Will things ever be the same and will people who are ultimately responsible for the abuse of their powers ever be brought to justice? I CAN ONLY HOPE AND PRAY THAT THESE QUESTIONS WILL NEVER BE ASKED OF YOU.

When North Bend News publisher Fred Taylor asked me in early February to investigate the Loudenbeck case, I immediately remembered last year's media publicity, last September's front page allegations involving the Kiddie Kastle. Our general manager, Robert Webster, remarked about the January 27 Children's Services Division press release which listed 13 "valid" cases of child abuse and how "awful" it was. He made one of his protective, fatherly gestures by suggesting I might not want to look at it.

Sufficiently baited, I scanned the document, looking for specific allegations. There weren't any! The long list of victims on official CSD stationery, and use of the word "valid," nearly pronounced sentence on the fifth grade teacher and co-owner of the Kiddie Kastle.

Our editor, Gary Newman, obtained indictments and other papers pertaining to Loudenbeck's up-coming April trial. The worst indictment, if true, didn't, in my opinion, call for a four day trial. All four charges stemmed from subsequent investigations by CSD after Kiddie Kastle publicity.

CSD's investigative methods were not totally unknown to me before the trial. I was closely involved with a woman who temporarily lost custody of her infant son when she reported his father for sexual abuse. Discrepancies between her testimony, what I knew to be true, and CSD reports were substantial. I thought this was an isolated case because the woman's lifestyle and personality were a little out of the ordinary. Loudenbeck's case differed substantially from that of a helpless woman who couldn't defend herself emotionally or financially. His situation was larger in scope, but he had family support and the resources to hire a good criminal attorney.

During the trial's first day, an attorney friend of mine observed the state's first witness. "Is this their best testimony?", he whispered. "I think this is the most incriminating evidence," I said. He predicted an acquittal after this first 15- minute observation.

Interestingly, well-known Eugene trial lawyer, Ken Morrow, used the variations in CSD, Grand Jury, and courtroom testimony as evidence of fabricated charges. One particularly obvious discrepancy involved a mother's phone call to CSD. The intake worker testified concerning a conversation the reporting mother had with her Junior High school daughter. The girl, after reading a front-page article about the Kiddie Kastle closure, said, "I'll bet that's Mr. Loudenbeck, I know girls he's messed around with". Both mother and daughter, separately, without hearing each other's testimony, denied the quote in the courtroom.

Another girl accused Loudenbeck of touching her on the thigh on three different occasions while she sat on a hallway heater talking to another teacher. But she broke down in tears on the witness stand, saying he only touched her once. On the trial's third day, the same girl told a male classmate "that she and the other girls got together and made up part of it". The boy testified in court the next day.

After Loudenbeck's acquittal, North Bend News began an investigation of laws and methods concerning Children's Services Division. The resulting five part series, beginning with an account of the Loudenbeck trial, included two articles on our local Children's Services Division agency, a story about the previously mentioned woman who temporarily lost custody of her baby, an account of a sexually abused child who is now an adult, and an article explaining a new organization, VOCAL, formed to help victims of child abuse laws. The series culminated in 17 complaints to date about CSD and overwhelming public support for the paper's editorial stance.

Legal documents and other proof were provided by at least half of the often desperate

complainants. Interestingly, not one community member has written or called concerning cases with favorable conclusions.

Other situations involving teachers and daycare providers, like the Loudenbeck's, have occurred in other Oregon cities. The pervasive power of Children's Services Division needs to be questioned.

I taught in the public schools for 32 years, from 1950 to 1982. I was Oregon Teacher of the Year in 1970-71. I am now retired, my wife had a serious brain hemorrhage in 1982 and I take care of her full time. We are Debbie and Dan's parents and have been involved in the above incident from the start. As we went through this terrible ordeal, two areas of serious concern came to my attention. Each of the concerns could be a possible threat to the teachers of America.

My first concern is that we must get the message out to the young people who make accusations about teachers. if these accusations prove untrue they and their parents can be held accountable for $5,000.00 in a civil suit. If this point is brought to the attention of youngsters in school, we may be able to stop some of this terrible trauma that teachers have to go through to prove their innocence.

The second concern deals with a section of the "Child Abuse Law" that gives an investigator the right to interrogate a youngster in school during school time without a school administrator being present. It states in the Oregon Statute for Child Abuse ORS418.760: "The school administrator or a school staff member designated by the administrator may, at the investigator's discretion, be present to facilitate the investigation."

ORS418.762 gives immunity to persons making reports in "good faith". Anyone participating in "good faith" in the making of a report pursuant to ORS418.760 and who has reasonable grounds for the making thereof, shall have immunity from any liability, civil or criminal, that might otherwise be incurred or imposed with respect to the making or content of such report.

It is my contention that if the investigators are acting in good faith, there should be no fear in having an administrator or a school staff member present. I recall in the history of our country where the President, Vice President, and Attorney General of the United States were removed from office for not acting in good faith. If this terrible crime can be committed at such a high level, it is my conviction that it can be committed at the level of the "Child Abuse Law" by investigators. Our children should not be interrogated by any authority in our schools without having an administrator of the school present. All citizens of the United States are protected by the Constitution of The United States from this type of interrogation. The Supreme Court of The United States just recently passed a ruling that states no criminal shall be interrogated by any authority until counsel is present. If this is the case, then all citizens of our country deserve the same protection by law.

Authorities, if they "act in good faith," should have no fear of having someone present while they interrogate a youngster in school. The teaching profession is great. The greatest thing man can do on earth is to help others learn. Without teachers there would be no great America. All my life I have loved learning, have always been curious about the things going on around me in the world. Without the experience of school or learning in one's life, there is nothing. One is not what he is because of oneself, he is what he is because of what others have taught him.

Each one of us is what we are because of the influence of many teachers in our lives.

We have a law in our land, if not used properly, that can tear our teaching profession, our family unit, and our freedom apart. I have no quarrel with the "Child Abuse Law". It needs some improving in the areas of concern that I mentioned. We in the teaching profession must let our legislators know of our concern. We cannot allow an abuse of our Consitutional Rights to continue. The law on child abuse has already had a terrific impact on our educational system and will also have a great impact in the future. We, as teachers, in the greatest country on earth, must be a part of this future.

Dan Loudenbeck

Education:

Attended Southwestern Oregon Community College 1968-1970

Graduated from Oregon College of Education 1970-1972

Received Teaching Credential 1972

Attended The University of Oregon and reeceived

his Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction 1975

Taught in the public school grades 4-6 1972-Present

Owner of The Kiddie Kastle daycare center 1972-Present

Debbie Loudenbeck

Education:

Attended Southwestern Oregon Community College 1968-1970

Graduated from Oregon College of Education 1970-1972

Received Teaching Credential 1972

Attended The University of Oregon and received

her Masters Degree in Curriculum and Instruction 1973

Taught in the public school grades 1-4 1972-1977

Owner, Directort and Pre-school teacher of The

Kiddie Kastle Daycare Center 1972-Present

John Duncan

Education:

Attended Oregon State University

Attended The University of Redlands, Redlands,Calif. Received his BS degrees in P.E., Education, and Government Attended Claremont Graduate School in Pomona,Calif. and received his elementary administrative credential. He taught in the public schools for 32 years, and was named Oregon Teacher of the Year in 1970-71. He retired in 1982

Angela J. Cohen

Education:

She attended California State University, Northridge and received her Bachelors Degree.

She attended Southwestern Oregon Community College in 1983-85.

She was a reporter for The Bay News & Tenmile Times in 1985

She is currently a reporter and photographer at The North

Bend News.