He marveled at their naiveté, yet gloried in the simplicity of their approach. A case which would have, and still could, interest the supreme court of the nation was being reduced to its nuts and bolts and would be settled one way or another within the hour.
Unfortunately, this board's decision would not settle the matter for Ben Troop. The case would go on to court and on that ground, where formalities interceded and justice became more opaque, Ben Troop would probably lose. Campbell didn't like it.
Well, he'd come to take a stand if he deemed it a moral course. Buster had agreed to back him. He could always claim it was a decision by the previous administration, he thought wryly, and raised his hand for recognition.
Did he sense a chill in the air as the plump board president recognized him? Probably, even when you were on their side, Perry Countians didn't like outsiders meddling. He rose, remaining in his aisle, with his long arms allowing him to clasp the back of a seat before him.
The classroom years served him well and his presence demanded attention. His voice, resonant with power, proclaimed the eminence of his position and it was Earl Roebuck's turn to mentally use bad words.
"Mr. President, members of the Newport board: my name is David Campbell. I am executive secretary elect of the state teachers' association. I have been empowered to speak for the association on this occasion, if I so desired. I find that I do, and with the board's permission, I will enter a few comments."
An excited buzz coursed through the assembled teachers. Many had voted for David Campbell; few had ever seen him. Now he appeared unannounced in Newport to either lend the support of their entire organization or withhold it, from plain old Ben Troop. The proceedings took on added importance. They were impressed. Not all were pleased.
Campbell continued, "Lest there be some misunderstanding, may I point out that I have known Mr. Troop for some years. He was, in fact, a student teacher under my direction.
"On this occasion I have weighed the evidence, facts, speculation, and arguments presented before this board and have found myself impressed with the sincerity of everyone concerned that justice be done in all aspects of the incident.
"Within a few weeks, I will take office as the leader of the teachers' organization of this state. I was elected to that office on a platform that emphasized return of authority, responsibility, and independence to the classroom teacher. At the present time that authority is so weakened that teachers across the commonwealth are experiencing classroom revolt similar to that currently under investigation by this board.
"There are nearby urban school systems that post guards in their hallways and escort teachers to and from classes. Principals have been assaulted during the performance of their duties and chaos threatens the school grounds.
"Meanwhile, school boards twiddle their thumbs and fear to act, court decisions inhibit effective disciplinary actions, and teachers choose to retreat rather than stand their ground. A sorry situation, by any measure.
"Thanks to effective leadership and a decisive school board, Newport has been spared such bizarre spectacles, but tonight, gentlemen, you play with fire! Tonight you risk all that you have so wisely held together throughout the years for, at this meeting, you are considering not supporting a teacher in a valid defense of his own person.
"If you think I over dramatize, let me assure you I do not. A single foot in the door is all that is needed to bring your codes of ethics, of dress, of discipline, and of conduct tumbling en masse about your ears. Let your teacher fall and others will fall after him. Allow a victory by those who wish to destroy our traditional educational process and you will find yourselves continually in the trenches.
"Turn them away now! Let them know in positive terms that Newport stands solidly behind its educators and that if you attack one, you attack all. Say to the troublemakers, 'go elsewhere, for here the doors are closed!'"
Campbell halted abruptly and this time the cheers rose from the teachers in the hall. A number stood to lead the applause and others joined in.
Earl Roebuck caught Troop's eye and winked. Did he catch an answering wink? He wasn't sure but he knew that Troop recognized the secretary's speech for what it was: bombast with little substance, impressive, and unless analyzed, a nice job. Roebuck wondered how the board had taken it. He couldn't tell, except that Miller didn't go for it. Roebuck doubted that Miller went for much of anything anyway.
Waiting for the hubbub of excited voices to still, Sylvester Drum found the eyes of his fellow board members, receiving a nod from each except Charles Miller, who irritably drummed his fingertips on the desk top and refused to meet Sylvester's glance.
The board president tapped his gavel lightly, bringing immediate calm to the room, "The board will now withdraw into executive session to consider the question at hand. Rather than clear the hall, the board will remove itself to a classroom and spectators may remain until conclusions are reached."
Silently the board filed into the adjacent classroom accompanied only by Mrs. Grissan, the board secretary. The door closed and an uneasy silence held sway over the waiting participants and spectators. Roebuck fell into conversation with a number of dissatisfied Ruby men, and Boden, Campbell, and Troop were joined more hesitantly by Mr. Hightower, who introduced himself as the organization's local representative. Their conversation was of education in general and avoided the current problem. At times their conversation touched on amusing incidents and their laughter first startled and then brought annoyance to the Rubys, still clutching and cherishing their anger.
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"I don't like it."
"Don't like what, Mr. Miller?"
"I don't like the way this whole thing is going, Sylvester, and don't pull that Mr. Miller stuff on me!" He shifted angrily in his seat, feeling the weight of the majority against him.
"You're all getting set to whitewash this goddamn Troop and you know it!" He pounded a desk thunderously, shocking the other board members with his ferocity. "And it just isn't right!"
Doctor Shanks took it up. "Ok, Charlie, just what is it you don't like?"
"I don't like you people sitting there nodding every goddamn time Boden says something, as though he was Moses speaking off Mount Sinai! I don't like the way you're accepting Troop's claim that he was just defending himself when he punched the livin' hell out of that boy and I damn sure don't like you forgetting all about that poor kid laying in the hospital scarred for life, while we sit here saying it's all right that a teacher does something like that to a student!"
Shanks broke in, "Now Charles, a lot of goddamns and exaggerations aren't going to impress any of us much. We don't buy everything Boden says simply because he says it. But you know he's usually right and what he says merits serious consideration. Now hold on and let me finish!" He had to interject as Miller sought to interrupt.
"We're meeting back here so that we can have private, serious discussion on this matter without a lot of outside influences, but let's keep it rational and not have a lot of foolishness about being scarred for life or any other emotionalism, Ok?"
Sylvester Drum took charge. "Seems we're reasonably clear on certain facts. For instance, it doesn't appear as though Troop did anything to make Tom Ruby swing at him, at least that bears directly on this matter. Can we agree there?" They agreed, although Miller's nod was heavily reluctant and he muttered, "We don't really know that."
"Next, I don't think there's reason to doubt that Tom took two wild swings at Mr. Troop that missed, and Troop hit him with two punches that broke his nose and jaw. Agreed?"
There was agreement.
"Seems to me then, that our whole problem lies in whether Mr. Troop should have hit the boy that way, and if he could have done anything else. Do we agree on following these points to conclusion?"
There was again unanimous agreement.
"All right then, who wants to start off?" He looked over the group. Each seemed hesitant to put their thoughts forward. Finally Harry Meyers raised a hand. "I'll say a few words o
n it, Sylvester."
Sylvester nodded, content to see things rolling, though surprised that Harry was offering an opinion.
An unpretentious man of small ambition and minimal accomplishment in life, his election to the school board had been a surprise to all, including Harry. He had proven a careful and faithful board member and had held his seat without opposition for two terms. Now he spoke with the same quiet that marked his life.
"Doc, you wouldn't remember back when Sylvester and Charlie and me all went to school out at Evergreen. We had one schoolmaster then, name of Brownfelter. Well, old Brownfelter used to lay it on us with his birch stick about every chance he got. He whipped us around the legs and across the backsides real regular and if things got him growlin', he'd lay a kid alongside the head too.
"Now, you know that wasn't so awful long ago. I'm not fifty myself, and Charlie, you're only a year or so younger, and I'm thinking how far we've come since old Brownfelter's time.
"Now while I don't hold with the kind of lickin's that went on back in those days, I'm recalling some real ornery boys that were around then. You remember 'em, Sylvester? Well, although he was one of the younger ones when I was in school, Eberson Ruby was one of the worst. He hated school like poison and Pap Ruby backed him all the way. I'm remembering the time Eberson and old Brownfelter got to swinging at each other right in the classroom and took it out into the yard. Remember that, Charlie?
"Well, that's really my point, I guess. Times haven't changed, only now it's Eberson's boy that's doing the same thing Eberson did, and as sure as I'm sitting here, Eberson was egging him on until Tom finally bit off a big bite and then couldn't swallow it. So I'm saying Mr. Troop laid it on just like he should of whether he was defending himself or punishing Tom . . . and Tom Ruby got what he asked for."
Charlie Miller's sensibilities were offended. "Now that's just what I'm talking about! Claiming it's all right for a teacher to beat up on a kid under some special conditions. Well, it isn't right. It isn't right that a teacher should hit a boy that way for any reason."
Sylvester said, "Well, Charlie, just for our own information, what would you do if Tom Ruby swung on you? No, don't hedge around with it," As Miller sought to evade the question, "What would you do if Tom Ruby came at you just like he did at Ben Troop?"
"Troop shouldn't have gotten himself in such a spot."
"That isn't exactly answering, is it, Charlie?"
"Well, how do I know what I'd do? It's hard to say until you're there."
"And that," interrupted Doctor Shanks, "is exactly the point! We're sitting here trying to say what a man should do when he has only an instant to decide, and Christ, we can't decide when we've got hours to think about it. Pardon my language, Mrs. Grissan.
"I'd also like to know just what we'd be accomplishing by giving Troop a nit-picky time over all this. Suppose we came out and said, 'Well, we think you should have hit Tom Ruby once and only hard enough to daze him a little.' Now wouldn't that sound intelligent!" Disgust was plain in Shanks' voice.
Miller wasn't giving up. "Any of you ever think of going out and saying that Troop shouldn't have hit the boy even if it meant taking a beating himself and leaving it up to the board to settle?"
"No, it hadn't!" Doctor Shanks was piqued. "And the day I have to request a teacher to take a beating I wouldn't expect a hog to sit still for is the day I turn in my badge! How'd you like to get orders like that, Miller? And answer the question for once, will you?"
Sylvester Drum jumped into the fray calming ruffled feelings. "Ok, now, let's get back to the point. Should we put it to a vote and be done with it?"
"No!" Miller speaking. "Get Boden in here and let him run over this again. I'd like to hear what he's got to say off the record."
"Ok, Sylvester," Shanks stuck in, "get Boden in here, but I thought Miller was complaining about us listening to Boden too much just a minute ago!"
"I'm just trying to get it straight in my own mind, if you don't mind, Doctor!"
"That'll be a day I've long awaited," The Doctor muttered.
Mrs. Grissan hustled Boden into the room and he stood questioningly, waiting the board's request.
"Mr. Boden, Mr. Miller's perturbed that this board seems to be leaning toward clearing Mr. Troop and would like to hear a few words from you. Guess he means sort of off the record, don't you, Charlie?'
"Well, I'd just like to hear what you've got to say when there isn't any audience except the board to tell it to."
Boden heartily desired to step forward and punch the man's face, but he remained calm and let his words speak for him.
"Frankly, Mr. Miller, I am not able to follow your reasoning. Do you complain because a teacher defended himself? Or is it that you find fault in the effectiveness of his defense? Would you be less concerned if the teacher now suffered a broken jaw and the student remained unmarked? I suspect that you would be, for it's not an uncommon occurrence and can be summarily dealt with based on many clear-cut precedents.
"Unfortunately, we have no precedent. We hired a highly skilled teacher, skilled not only in matters academic but in various arts of self-defense. I would point out that Mr. Troop's physical abilities are well known. They were known to Tom Ruby but he chose to ignore them.
"Now Tom Ruby is the type of boy I like to call a line leaner. The board will recall as youths we used to draw a line in the dirt and dare our enemy of the moment to step across it. If he crossed, woe unto him. Tom Ruby is constantly leaning over the line. He pushes and presses to the limit he feels safe. This time, he leaned too far and crossed the line.
"Tom Ruby's injuries are severe but he will recover. In my opinion, if the board supports the teacher, it will not only be just, it will remove some probability of similar incidents. Such support will also ease most of the tensions polarizing this community.
"If the board decides against Mr. Troop, well, not only will an injustice be done but, as has been pointed out, our school system will take its first step down the road to the chaos being experienced in urban schools."
He paused and shrugged his shoulders in resignation. "What more can I tell you? The choices seem plain to me."
Sylvester Drum thanked Mr. Boden and released him.
There was a moment of quiet while Mrs. Grissan caught up on her notes.
Then Sylvester said, "Boden's right of course. We're just fumbling around with it, maybe looking for an easy way out or something.
"I'm calling for a vote on it now. We'll settle it and get out there and tell the people how it went."
"Aren't we going to talk about how silly we're going to look if we back Troop and the courts throw it right back in our faces? The Rubys aren't going to let it die, you know."
"No, Charlie, we aren't going to talk about it because it isn't our problem to worry about the courts. If we handle our end and do what we think is right, we'll have done our jobs. That's what we're here for and that's what we're going to do—right now!"
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Sylvester Drum was a short man. His girth made him appear even less tall, and as he prepared to present the board's findings, David Campbell felt a touch of sympathy for him. It seemed a trifle unfair that a layman should have to carry the burden of such decisions. A man's future lay in the hands of a concerned but untrained group of people. He felt Drum's awareness of responsibility and empathized with the board's agonizing.
"Superintendent Boden, Mr. Roebuck, and interested guests: the board has met in executive session and voted in favor of the statement I will shortly read.
"I wish to mention at this time that board member Charles Miller is not in accord with the majority opinion and intends to file a position statement within the next few days.
"The board's findings in the matter of Tom Ruby attempting to strike Mr. Ben Troop, and himself being severely injured follows:
"We find Mr. Ben Troop's striking of Tom Ruby a valid defense of his person. We base this conclusion in part upon the severity of Tom Ruby's attack and h
is expressed intent to physically harm Mr. Troop. We feel that Mr. Troop had no other reasonable option and are thankful that he was capable of his own defense.
"Tom Ruby is herewith suspended from school, pending his appearance before the superintendent to further explain his actions. The superintendent will then present recommendations to the board for further action in the matter.
"Mr. Troop is cleared of all allegations in this matter and the board regrets the inconvenience caused to those concerned.
"The board does not expect to encounter any further incidents of this nature and requests superintendent Boden to undertake any measures necessary to see that they do not occur.
"This ends the board's statement. We will adjourn and hear no further arguments at this time.
"The board is adjourned."
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Eberson Ruby led the exodus. The Ruby clan rose, and in sullen silence marched from the auditorium.
Outside, the Ruby men gathered while Eberson issued instructions. As Chief Morrison strolled toward them with obvious interest, they broke ranks and entered their respective vehicles amid much slamming of doors.
Then they sat. No engines rumbled to life; no lights flashed to cut through the dimness of the parking lot. The Rubys sat in menacing silence—waiting. For what, Morrison wasn't sure, probably for Ben Troop to emerge. Without showing apparent haste, the policeman re-entered the school and using an office phone, quickly alerted the State Police.
Standing by the probable emergency, a patrol car with two troopers received its radio signal and swung from position on a nearby street for the short run to the high school auditorium.
Knowing help was close. Chief Morrison heaved a sigh of relief and left the building only then to hear a loud disturbance in the parking lot. He saw figures locked and struggling at the far end of the dimly lighted parking area and rushed quickly to separate the fighters. Concentrating on the fight, Morrison failed to see a number of Ruby men standing close to their cars watching the school entrance. He hurried to separate the entangled combatants and became embroiled in the struggling, swearing, writhing pile of figures. He wished the staties would get here. Pulling and hauling, he wrestled with men who exuded the Ruby odor and who clung together with dogged determination.
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