Joe Ballmann- Teacher and Kid Toucher
Another local teacher was busted trying to get his man-boy love on. Sick bastard was supposed to be teaching English, but from everything I’ve read, he was doing everything except for teaching. He had foosball tournaments in his classroom.
Ballmann let kids play a playstation in his classroom. He built obstacle courses out of filing cabinets. As far as reading went, it was comic books and Simpsons cartoons. And of course, there was the project where students made funny videos and watched Saturday Night Live skits.
He also got nominated for teacher of the year- somehow. Maybe it was for giving great massages to his boy students, ’cause it certainly wasn’t for teaching. Yet one more reason to homeschool, folks.
From Gazette.net here:
An English teacher at a Rockville middle school who had chloroform and torn pictures of children in his home has been arrested for sexually abusing a student on numerous occasions.
Joseph Robert Ballmann, 47, of the 11100 block of Cedarwood Drive, is being held on $150,000 bond on charges of sexual abuse of a minor, third-degree sexual offense and sexual solicitation of a minor.
A now 15-year-old boy told police that Ballmann engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with him beginning when the boy was a seventh-grader at Robert Frost Middle School and continuing into the next school year. (That’s 12 years old, folks!)
The incidents occurred at Ballmann’s home between spring 2004 and May 2005.
Ballmann has been employed by Montgomery County Public Schools for about 18 years. He was placed on administrative leave from Robert Frost on Wednesday.
A search of Ballmann’s home turned up a pipe that appeared to be a bomb, explosives, handcuffs, chloroform, mace, pepper spray, torn pictures of children in the garbage and a handgun.
From NBC4 here:
The victim told police that he would visit Ballman’s house because the two had developed a close relationship. The teen said that on several occasions Ballmann showed him pornographic video, on five occasions he was given massages and on two occasions he was naked and Ballmann touched him inappropriately.
When I was a kid, my english teachers made me conjugate verbs and taught me sentence structure. And what is the deal with the chloroform and the torn up pictures of kids?
The reason why students are responding to you so negatively is because you write as if it was obvious that ballmann was a criminal. Sex predators don’t walk around with sign labeling them. By joking about ballman being considered a good teacher prior to his arrests you are in effect insulting every student or coworker who had previously respected the guy. If you had been a student in Ballmann’s class you wouldn’t have been able to tell he was a sex predator. so stop writing as if you are some genius who knew ballmann was a bad guy all along. Ballmann taught english to his classes and it is wrong for you to assume that no education went on in his classroom. As an educator Ballmann was superb. Obviously its easy to say now that he’s an awful guy after this information has come out about him. Many sex predators can act as model citizens is other aspects of their lives.
For people who respected Ballmann as a teacher before knowing that he was molesting children on the side it seems natural that the first instinct is to be in disbelief and denial. There are many intelligent teachers and students at frost and it is wrong of you treat them all like idiots.
There were many red flags that should have been obvious to the principal of the school and to a few other adult teachers. The guy drove around in a black firebird or a camaro and referred to it as the “batmobile.” He gave other kids rides in it to make sure they knew he was cool.
This activity was unsafe, unnecessary and uncalled for. Why the principal let this go on despite the legal risks is anyone’s guess.
He kept video game consoles and a foosball game in his class to also entice children to want to hang out in his classroom after school, before school or during free time. This was also unnecessary, inapropriate, and had nothing to do with teaching students anything. All these extra-curricular activities did was allow Joe Ballmann to pick his next victim.
You are wrong and only fooling yourself if you think it served any other purpose.
My best English teachers taught me how to write at a college level when I was a freshman in High School. He didn’t have a cool car, a cool video game, he didn’t stage confidence building games in the classroom and he certainly did not touch any of the boy’s penises in my classroom, Chester.
As I remember it, he was strict with the students and demanded the best from everyone. Those that didn’t give their best either failed or barely passed.
Because he used the trust of parents, teachers and students to pursue his perversions, it made him a bad teacher. Period. Anyone who throws away their career on their own personal bad behavior was lousy at their career.
It may not have been obvious before he was busted, but it seems pretty crystal clear to me, a non-educator, that he was a criminal after he was busted. Other educators should have recognized his frivolous fraternization with the students and done something to stop it.
As an educator, I am angry to see posts that defend this criminal. Every parent of every single child in Ballmann’s class or on his former bus route needs to sit down w/ their child and have a long talk. Did this predator touch your child? Did he say anything that made your child uncomfortable? What red flags did you notice (besides the toys in the classroom and the bat mobile?) . Ballmann had a preoccupation w/ finding ways for children to be near him. One of his tricks was to “be a good, hip teacher.” No decent teacher alive would ever harm a child. We have a vocation to teach because we love children and care about their well- being and their future. This louse needs to be jailed for life.
I’ve just read the entries on this page and appreciate the simple fact that both sides, right or wrong, feel passionate enough to want to be heard. What puzzles me is that despite the fact that all are employing their constitutional right to their Freedom of Speech, many of the entries don’t reflect having the knowledge that while we can say anything we’d like, it doesn’t neccesarilly mean the writer is immune to being sued.
To my knowledge, Mr. Ballmann has only been presented with allegations. There have been no convictions so he can therefore not legally be defined as anything but a citizen unless proven otherwise. Defamation of character is an ugly lawsuit to face and this website has more than enough written in it to give consideration for formal charges. If ‘Pat’ is willing to accept the consequences of carrying on such a crusade despite the possibility of litigation then he should be allowed to express himself freely just as others such as Abbey Hoffmann did in the 1960’s and worry about the repurcussions later, but his bravery may prove to be both foolhardy and costly.
As for the students who have added their two cents worth, I understand that as a collective whole they do not condone inappropriate conduct as it is defined by the law, however they have the ability to separate one situation from another and only seem to be argueing in defense of the fact they were able to absorb much needed scholastic knowledge in Mr. Ballmann’s classes. DaVinci was a homosexual, something that was considered unacceptable until recent decades but that facet of his personality doesn’t diminish the fact that he was one of the greatest geniuses in all history. I find the student comments in here both healthy and refreshing.
The bottom line is that there has been no conviction and it’s un-American to pre-label a person who has not had his day in court. This would hold true even if a person could claim to have witnessed a crime. Pat’s comments are largely spoken in past tense form as though this is all over and done with or that he has some secret knowledge that no one else seems to have. He has apparently appointed himself judge, jury and executioner without even knowing the particulars of this case other than the more sensational news he has read on the Internet.
If there is a quality component of education which can be gleaned here it should be pointed out that all of these students can now greatly benefit from observing what a vigilante mindset is like. This is the type of thinking process that has put many unjustly accused people at the end of a rope before they were allowed their inaliable right to a fair and unbiased trial.
Finally, there is the issue of ‘One country, Under God’, a phrase that describes how our laws were formed. Our forefathers structured our judicial system under the premise that it is not our rights as individuals to judge others. One does not have to be a Christian to understand this fact and hundreds of thousands of Americans have fought and died to sustain this quality of life for us so that no one person ever has the power to remove the rights of another person. It insults our country and minimizes their sacrifice.
I suppose the one unifying factor on this page is that 100% of the writers agree that a convicted sexual predator is something our society does not and never will tolerate. This is where we all seem to meet eye to eye, but let’s remember one extremely important factor: Mr. Ballmann has not been convicted of anything. Based on testimonies and legally entered evidence a jury of his peers will decide if he is or is not guilty and until that day comes it would be wise to adhere to the strict disciplines of the law rather than flaunt opinions as though they had real legal substance.
DCLawmaker@hotmail.com ,
You sure are long winded and wrong.
The constitution was not founded on any such principles of not judging anyone. And christianity does not teach that it is a sin to judge either. Such a fallacy about judging is the only thing that Liberals will quote from the Bible. Only liberals refuse to open their eyes and protect themselves from dangerous people.
Ballmann is a kid toucher. You want to get someone to sue me for that? Go right ahead and try stupid. You know less about internet publishing laws than you do constitutional issues.
I publish commentary on current events. Nothing I have said above is personally defamatory to Ballmann. In fact, I have provided links to each piece of my opinion of his crappy teaching style.
You seem to be more interested in lashing out at me for pointing out Ballmann’s twisted homosexual lusts for little boys than anything else- otherwise why bring DaVinci into this? That was a complete non-sequitor. And if you think this substitute school-bus driver who lucked into a teaching gig was one of the greatest teachers ever, well, maybe we should wait until that opinion can be tried in court.
More from the Washington Post right here- http://tinyurl.com/39vl46
Ballmann abused one child in 1995 and 1997
From
http://teachertrash.blogspot.com/2007/05/rockville-maryland.html
One of the commenters said:
I have known this man for over 30 years. I’m several years younger then him and he always wanted to hang out with younger guys.
I do agree with the kids, he is a lot of fun to be with.
We would drink and do drugs together and go driving around like some kind of lunatic, it was a lot of fun at the time.
He is very intelligent and can easily manipulate people of all ages into getting what he wants.
He has never tried anything with me, but I never gave him a chance.
I can believe the thing that he is accused of just from knowing him for so long.
Never seen him with a woman are lust for them.
It is a shame that he hurt young kids mentally and physically.
It has taking a long time for his demons to come to the surface and I hope he gets help.
We have known him for 30 years +.We were all younger than him. He said he was trying to be an inspiration in our lives but really it was the same crap he is still doing. We are not surprised. He has a problem with anyone that might have more power than himself. That’s why he hangs out with and teaches people younger than him. He would say “I’m going to be the f***in president of the United States. Then sit and talk about assassinating President Regan. The truth is that he was and is full of crap. He would tell all the guys that we should not hang out with girls because they will just slow down everything in our lives and make our lives a miserable wreck. To use his own words, “you are a cunning hag”. My mother, God rest her sole, told me he was pecker hunting when she first met him. She was quite right huh?. When ever you would see him he was staring at your skin flute, no bull crap, looking for a tune to play. He never tried it on me or some of the other boys he hung around, but to tell the truth, we were all dangerous kids and carried knives and stuck together everywhere we went. We would have kicked the shi* out of him. When we started taking different paths of adulthood, he criticized everything we did. He obviously hasn’t changed or the cops would not have found torn up pictures of students who were most likely stating to have their own opinions and changing into the life they wanted to have……he hated not having control of them anymore. Joe stopped hanging around us once we figured out we were on to his bull crap. The same way the boys charging him with these crimes probably did. He must have spent alot of time working out a way to isolate these boys. He told me in August of 2004 that he was better than me because he was a Teacher and I was just an Engineer. Then he told me that he was seeing one of his students and was going to take him to a concert. He was acting like the world revolved around him. Tell me I am full of crap and I will tell you to grow up and wait and see what the world can bring to you. Don’t doubt that this guy did this crime unless the facts prove that he did not. But he has already been indicted by a grand jury and was burned in a phone call sting. Most girls aren’t going to say much about him because for the most part he ignored them in the same manner he always did. Did he show you the pot pipe bowl burn on his right hand? K-town gave him that, but he wanted it. I’m sure we wont every forget that day. The smell of his hand burning was nasty as hell. Hot washer my ass.
How many others will be brave enough to tell the truth about Ballman. He has violated the most important thing in the human race, trust and love.
Lets go to the Drug Log and sing Beattles songs and get naked and talk crap off the Cry Baby Bridge.
The K-town Kids still rule and our sprit will never die.
ok…. He is a terrible person, Im not disagreeing. He is a terrible person. but he was like the best teacher ever, not just making us laugh , but he like took us on trips to learn things and stuff, but this is freaking me out so… I cant really talk about it. they took away all his stuff and the room looks so empty without posters and the fuseball table
AFter reading every1s reply, I guess he was kinda creeoy outside of class. In the hallway he would stare at everyone . He also covered up all the windows in his classsroom too.
TO any othe frost students, I swear, Mr powers is next He is sooooooooo creppy, looks down girls shirts and up their skirts
I’ve known him for several years and like many others on this board, I am disturbed but cannot say I am entirely surprised by the allegations. Although I was not close with the guy (he hung out with one of my close friends), every now and then we would hang out as a group for lunch or a movie. Although he never gave any indication to me that he was having innapropriate contact with minors, let alone molesting them, I always thought he was a bit stange. He genuinely loved being a teacher and was enthusiatic about his work. However, he also had a certain intensity about him that I always found to be unnerving. It did seem like he devoted a lot of time to being a popular teacher rather than being focused on the academics.
Anyhow, I have not seen the evidence against him and while what I have read in the papers seems pretty damning, I have not seen the indictment itself or any of the other evidence that the state has presented against him. Also, it is a fair question to look into how credible the accusers are – while they shouldn’t be put on trial themselves for coming forward, their stories should still be verified by independent evidence as much as possible. Mistakes have been made before in these types of cases – the notorious “Little Acorns” case in the 1980s is an example of how several innocent people were wrongly convicted of child molestation based on flimsy evidence, including coached testimony, brought by an overzealous prosecutor.
While there are a lot of people on this board calling for his head, we should respect the fact that this is a matter for a jury to decide based on what is presented by both sides at trial.
Don’t get me wrong – if he is guilty, he has to face the consequences for his actions – which in my mind means a very long prison term. People who get abused as minors can carry scars for the rest of their life. People who molest kids, particularly teachers who we entrust with our kids’ future and safety, deserve to be punished to the fullest extent.
There is a possibility, however slim, that he is innocent and at worst guilty of bad judgment in spending time with students outside the classroom.
If anyone has more information about this case, including the indictment, I would be interested in reading it.
Surprised,
Yes, there is a chance that his accusers are lying and making up the allegations. But its a bit of a stretch to compare junior high schoolers, who know what sex abuse is, to pre-schoolers who are clueless, as was the case of the Little Acorns.
And to be honest, I am far more intrigued by the other aspects of this case- the cutup photos, the handcuffs and the bottle of chloroform that he had in his house at the time of his arrest. To me, that is the most bizarre part of this particular story, at least from the standpoint of how incongruous that is given his popularity as a teacher.
That’s a fair point about Little Acorns – they were little kids and therefore more suceptable to having their testimony manipulated. The parents in that case, as much as the prosecutors, were to blame for that one. However, procecutors can and do make mistakes, whether intentional or not, especially in these types of cases. While factually different, the Duke lacrosse player case is another example of a prosecutor being overzealous and not vetting the credibility of the witness. The problem in a sexual assault case is that it is often based on witness testimony, not physical evidence, which makes it a he said/she said matter (or he said/he said in this case) rather than a more easily proven case like a bank robbery where the robber is usually caught on tape. Anyhow, the state’s attorney may well have an airtight case and the accusors may have an unshakable story – like I said before, I do not have all the evidence in front of me. Whatever holes exist in the case, if any, will likely be revealed when his lawyer puts up a defense – provided his lawyer knows what he is doing.
I just have a certain healthy skepticism about prosecutors of any kind given the enoormous power they have to destroy lives. I have known a number and most are decent, hardworking people who are grossly underpaid for what they do. Yet they also are usually overwhelmed and the pressure to convict in this type of high profile case is enormous. Also, like any one else in the profession, many are ambitious and have dreams of political office or a judgeship. Such ambitions can sometimes cloud one’s judgment. Cases like this can make or break careers.
Anyhow, the cuffs and the chloroform are bizzare – I’ll grant you – and circumstantially it only makes him look more guilty. But as I said, he is a bit of an odd guy.
I honestly hope he is innocent of these charges. Despite his strange ways, I found him to be a pretty ok guy in my interactions with him. That said, I did not know him that well and cannot say it is impossible that he did those things. I guess I am reserving judgment until I hear more.
I was at college, so I did not hear many of the details of this case, but I would like to bring up the research done by Elizabeth Loftus, who shows that it does not matter what age you are if someone is trying to coach a witness statement out of you.
I personally was never at his house, but he did drive me home from school when I missed the bus. One of my friends went to his house a lot, sometimes in groups and sometimes alone. Generally I do not agree with inviting kids over to your house, even if you are a teacher, but he has told me he was never molested and it shocks him that Mr. Ballmann would be accused. And while you may say that he could be in denial or does not wish to admit to molestation, he has told me of many more traumatizing and embarassing things, so I do not see how this would be any different. While I am saying that he was a great teacher (he taught me a lot and made me want to go to school, which is amazing), I am not saying that I approve of molesting children. However, it is not certain that he did.
The chloroform I do not know about (it can be used for other purposes than knocking someone out so you can have sex with them, for example, scientific experiments (it is a reagent and a solvent) or protection). Handcuffs can be used for many sexual and non-sexual practices. There is no evidence he used them on children, and from what I understand, the witnesses do not say he used handcuffs. The pictures in the trash are interesting, but I still do not know what they mean. It could be that he was working on a new project for his students. I remember doing an “____: My Anti-Drug” collage and he brought in pictures cut from magazines of all different kinds of things – children included – to help us with our anti-drug posters (the ___ for me was sports, meaning pasting tons of pictures of children playing games together). It is easy to look at these things and think molestation when you have already heard that he is a bad guy, but frankly everyone has some skeletons in their closets. My mother keeps a lot of chemicals in the house (for cleaning and science – she is a biologist, but likes chemistry), but that does not mean she uses them to murder, kidnap, or molest. People are wrongly accused all the time, which makes it hard to distinguish between the real rapists and people looking for attention.
It is easy to jump to conclusions when you have never met the person and all the evidence against him is laid out in front of you, without any defence. And though I am not very religious, I do try to live by the phrase, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”
It amazes me that the only thing liberals can quote from the bible is the stupid phrase about judgement. But when it comes to fornication, homosexuality, adultery, lying, which are all very clear in the bible, liberals gloss over those statements.
You must have spent quite a lot of effort to come up with all of those excuses for a teacher that must have thought you were too ugly to drag down to his rape dungeon.
You say its easy to jump to conclusions? Occams razor says that the easiest explanation for his arrest is that Ballmann is a sick gay pedophile pervert. Coming up with all those excuses and wishing that its not true? That’s hard.
Are you suggesting that I am a liberal?
First of all, I majored in theology, so do not pretend that you know more about the Bible and religion than I do. If you would like to discuss it further, please read the original Hebrew, and I will be able to discuss “liberal” lies with you more. Frankly, the Bible has so many contradictions and misunderstandings stemming from Medieval monks adding/changing the wording and mistranslations. Everyone selectively reads the Bible, but I try to live by the judgement phrase because it is important to me. As far as I know, it does not say anywhere in the Bible that you should judge others.
However, I did not bring up that quote to bring about a discussion of the Bible. It is interesting, though, how you gloss over that “stupid” judgment phrase and focus Bible phrases on homosexuality. I do not think any liberal glosses over lying – I believe it is a general human mistake.
Anyhow, I have not come up with excuses, I have come up with possible reasons for what you say is damning evidence. The fact is, I do not know whether he molested anyone. He may have. All I am saying is that you did not know him, so if I am at fault for trying to understand the situation better (keeping an open mind – you should try it, though I don’t mean the wind whistling through your ears), you are also at fault for judging and keeping your ears covered while still assuming you know the facts.
Back when William of Ockham lived, it was a commonly-held belief that nature itself was simple, so simple explanations are always true, and the justifications presented for it often drew from theology. This is not scientific or relevant, and therefore makes your point moot. The only reason I am following this story is because of the fact that what pedophiles do is not okay, not because I have any feelings one way or the other. I was merely trying to point out a side you have not yet examined.
Why would you major in theology if you are not religious? Just wasting mom and dad’s money?
My argument about Occam is not moot at all. Its very appropriate to this situation in which neither of us know what happened. My explanation makes the least assumptions. Your explanation relies upon lots of wishing and hypotheticals. Occam’s razor is also about probability, so the simplest explanation is the most likely. You wanna take the long odds and think he didn’t do it? Go ahead and bet that way- I’ll take your money.
I am not “at fault” for judging. Again, you make the liberal mistake of assuming that it is either
A) Immoral to judge
B) A Crime to judge
C) A human flaw to judge
None of that is true. You can keep an “open mind” if by doing so means that you ignore your education, your common sense, and the obvious facts at hand. Me, I will rely on what I see and past experiences. I call it as I see it.
Your former teacher is a complete scumbag who wants to put his student’s penises in his mouth and make them promise not to tell anyone. And he wants to pretend that he is the best teacher ever in this world and the next, and he wasn’t. He betrayed his students, the faculty and the city and the state education system.
And for some stupid reason, an assinine theology student gets pissed at me for saying something about it.
BTW, here is wikipedia’s definition of Occam’s razor:
Oh, good, wikipedia’s definition. How smart. Look, you have been presented with many former students on this website who all say that they have not been molested and that they thought he was a good teacher. Yet you remain firm that you are right and they are wrong. I knew Mr. Ballmann and he encouraged me to learn. (I also studied theology, since you brought it up, because it interested me how many different religions there are, the way religions change over the centuries, and how people can blindly follow a text where God says in EZ 20:25 “Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live” – meaning that none of the Bible can be trusted; God gave out wrong statutes, how do we know what is right? But that is besides the point)
According to Occam’s Razor, the simplest solution is actually that the children are lying. Why? Because it involves only them, and including Mr. Ballmann makes it more complicated – it assumes the actions of the children and the teacher, whereas the solution that the children are lying only involves them.
Again, not the point. I would just like to say that you seem rather convinced of his guilt when all you have is second hand information. It does not matter to me if he is guilty or not (beyond the fact that I think there should not be any pedophiles, and those that are guilty should be punished), but you seem really invested in this topic. I just think that you are making assumptions when you do not know what you are talking about, except what the media tells you. Keep an open mind – just because someone says Mr. Ballmann did something wrong does not mean that he did (it does not mean that he did not, either), and it is wrong for you to take your opinion and present it as educated fact.
I really have to think that you are wasting your money on higher education because its just not sinking in.
You think I’m invested in Ballmann’s guilt? Hah!
So to you all the victims of Ballmann are liars.
And I guess the prosecutors in Rockville Maryland are zealots who make false arrests based on non-existent evidence? And the cops are crooked too, right? And the judge that revoked his original bail when Ballmann was caught the second time was hoodwinked by some cabal of lying students?
No, Occam’s razor does not say that the students are lying. Lots of people are “invested in Ballmann’s guilt” such as the state of Maryland, the prosecuting attorney, and the police department. You see stupid, people get sued when they make false arrests. They usually don’t slap cuffs on people unless they are pretty sure they have the right guy. Especially not the so-called “teacher of the year.”
You think I’m invested in his guilt? What about the parents of the school district? You don’t think they are invested in keeping pedophiles out of the schools?
Why are you so hell-bent on sticking up for a pervert who fondled children that he was supposed to be teaching???
All I said was that it is not always black and white – since you do not have all the facts, and frankly, neither do I, you should withhold judgement. He may be guilty, and so far the facts seem to point that way, however it is not certain. I would have to hear both sides before making a decision either way. The police have heard both sides and decided it was worthwhile to arrest him. I am not suggesting they are crooked, but I do not know what they know. I also do not know if the kids are lying, and again, the evidence seems to suggest they are not. But you brought up Occam’s Razor, which states that the simplest explanations are usually true, and since assuming that the children lied is simpler (as it does not assume the actions of the children and of another person, Mr. Ballmann, and only assumes the actions of the children), according to you it should be true. I do not believe Occam’s Razor, but again, you brought it up.
Why do you seem so hellbent on his guilt when it is impossible for you to have all the information, including the testimonies of the witnesses?
To all the folks in here:
I must say, it has been quite a fiasco on this board. I attended Robert Frost Middle School for eighth grade from 1997 to 1998.
It was very shocking to hear of such news. I personally did not have Mr. Ballman as a teacher (as I moved from TX after seventh grade), but what I know about him is what I see and hear. My friends always had good words to say about the fellow, and their words are corroborated when I see Mr. Ballman walking around the halls, interacting amicably with other students.
I know there are plenty of people in here that support him, as well as ones that do not. We are all entitled to our own beliefs and opinions.
I will say this, however. We are all human, and humans are not without flaws. And because of that, I will not pass judgement upon him.
All the best,
-D
Since I last put my two cents into this discussion I read that Joe Ballmann was indicted by a grand jury in late July on charges he molested another student. Apparently he is being held without bond pending an October trial. I wonder if anyone has seen the specific indictment – in that case or the original one – or know where it may be obtained online. I would like to get a better sense of what evidence the state is presenting against him. I imagine it is based mostly on eyewitness testimony because I am sure most physical evendence – such as DNA – would be useless given the passage of time from the alleged acts.
Like I said before, I will reserve judgment until I see the evidence, but I must say it does not look good for him…
Anyhow, I am amused how this turned into a political debate – I don’t think liberals favor child molestation any more than conservatives. My political view is that I am in favor of giving every defendant a fair trial – if he is found guilty based upon convincing evidence, throw the book at him. But if he is innocent and only guilty of bad judgment in socializing with students outside the classroom, he deserves to walk although I am not sure someone with such poor judgment should be a teacher again. As an amusing aside, I believe Mr. Ballmann voted for Bush in the last election. I certainly wouldn’t brand conservatives as child molesterers just because one of them got accused of such acts. Perhaps we can give liberals the same benefit of the doubt….