Teacher abuse claims divide Missouri college town

WARRENSBURG, Mo. (AP) -- Like many high school athletes, the Warrensburg High Lady Tigers were admired throughout their small town. Then they accused the school's softball and women's basketball coach of sexual misconduct.

Now the six female athletes who sued the school district and coach Russell Hough -- after an internal investigation cleared the coach -- are pariahs.

The bad feeling has gone well beyond a spirited defense of Hough, who insists he's innocent.

The teens have been called liars, bullies and even white trash (three of the players who have sued the white coach also are white, three are black).

They've been hit with insults to their faces and on Facebook and MySpace pages. Their parents' jobs have been threatened. And the involvement of their attorney, who also happens to be the wife of the University Central Missouri's president, has sparked a backlash that includes efforts to oust the college leader.

"They tell us we're tearing apart the community. They've told us to leave town, (that) we don't love this place," said the parent of one of the girls, a police officer and lifelong resident of the town, a one hour drive east of Kansas City.

The case dates back to 2004, when a softball player accused Hough of inappropriate physical contact. More complaints were lodged with school officials in 2006, and with the Warrensburg school board last summer.

The school system placed Hough on administrative leave with pay in September but reinstated him two months later after concluding the accusations lacked merit. The six players -- all of whom were on the basketball team -- said that during the internal investigation, they were never interviewed by school officials. They filed the lawsuit the day after Hough's return.

The lawsuit accuses Hough of inappropriately touching female athletes during practices and weightlifting sessions; repeatedly pressing his body against five of the girls; putting his hands inside players' shirts and jerseys, and forcing players to undress and change into their team uniforms on a moving school bus while traveling to a road game.

Supporters cite the school system's internal inquiry, and a more narrow investigation by the state Department of Social Services, as proof that Hough is innocent.

They say the former players' real motivation is vengeance against a demanding coach, fueled by parents who were unhappy over their daughters' lack of playing time -- even though four of the players started last year for the team and two were key subs off the bench.

"I think they're very unfair," said Donna Warden, whose daughter is not among the accusers and continues to play for the Lady Tigers basketball team. "It ended up being a collaboration because they want a different coach."

The lawsuit also names the Warrensburg R-VI district, Superintendent Deborah Orr and Scott Patrick, assistant superintendent for student services, as defendants. Hough, who also teaches physical education at a Warrensburg elementary school, did not respond to several requests for comment.

Patrick, whose daughter is on the Warrensburg basketball team, defended the school system's decision to not interview the girls before Hough was reinstated, noting that some were questioned when they voiced their concerns initially.

"At that point it was contentious enough ... we didn't feel it would be productive," he said.

The girls are identified individually only as Jane Doe in the suit. The Associated Press generally does not identify victims of sexual assaults or those who make such accusations in court. Their parents are also not being identified, to avoid revealing the youths' identities.

In Warrensburg, a bedroom community for Whiteman Air Force Base, the dispute has divided loyalties and torn apart lifelong friendships, said Penny Callahan. Her daughter remained on the basketball team when Hough was reinstated, even as her best friend joined the other five accusers in quitting the team.

"It's torn us up," she said. "I went into this with an open mind. I didn't want my daughter to be hurt, either."

The police officer whose daughter is part of the suit said that an opposing parent tried to get him fired. Another plaintiff's parent, who runs a store in town, said that some customers have stopped shopping at his place.

"I've lived here all my life," he said. "I can't believe how many people turned on my family."

The girls' attorney, Podolefsky, has been a particular target in a town long--accustomed to cordial relations with the Central Missouri campus.

"She's the first lady of education," said Greg Hassler, a local radio station owner and sportscaster whose on--air broadsides against Podolefsky have fueled the criticism. "She's supposed to be a community leader."

By the estimation of Hough's supporters, the president's wife is out of line. They want her to stop. And if that means firing Aaron Podolefsky as leader of the 137-year-old university, then so be it.

A letter-writing campaign asks the university's eight-member Board of Governors to "rectify this unjust situation immediately," noting that Hough's allies "are beginning to have no choice but to turn our backs" on the university.

Some Warrensburg High parents are going one step further, circulating a petition asking the board of governors to fire Aaron Podolefsky, an anthropologist by training who became the school's president in July 2005 after 15 years at Northern Iowa, the last eight as provost.

"People have really drawn a line in the sand," said Tammy Long, who heads the chamber of commerce in the town of roughly 17,000 residents.

Long said she was asked to sign the petition but declined.

"I was just flabbergasted," she said.

Ronnie Podolefsky, 57, calls the criticism of her involvement a thinly veiled effort to attack the six girls by hammering their legal advocate.

"It's nothing new when the disgruntled resort to the old stereotype of an uppity wife who doesn't know her place," she said. "My career is independent and separate from the university."

Aaron Podolefsky concurs. He declined an Associated Press interview request but said in a brief statement, "For dual-career couples, the potential confusion of roles happens all the time. Ronnie and I really do work to keep our professional lives separate."

The rancor in Warrensburg is not uncommon when trusted teachers are accused of sexual abuse, said Robert Shoop, a professor of educational administration at Kansas State University who has testified in over 50 court cases involving accusations of sexual misconduct.

"It's much easier to deny than to investigate," he said. "Many times community members have invested themselves very deeply in the individual."