Corpun file 14565

Associated Press, 9 November 2004

Women Allege Boss Spanked Them for Errors

By Bill Poovey

RED BANK, Tenn. (AP) - Two young women complained to police that they were spanked by their 57-year-old employer for mistakes on the job, and the boss now faces criminal charges.

One of the women told police that on her first day at the Tasty Flavors Sno Biz, before any spanking, owner Paul Eugene Levengood made her sign a statement that said: "I give Gene permission to bust my behind any way he sees fit."

The separate complaints prompted two sexual battery charges against Levengood of Cleveland, who was freed on a $2,000 bond pending a Nov. 16 court hearing.

Levengood could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and his Tasty Flavors Sno Biz shaved ice business in this Chattanooga suburb was closed.

Police Sgt. Jay LaMance said the two 19-year-old women likely accepted the spankings instead of leaving immediately because they were "brought up to respect anybody who is an authority figure."

One of the women told police Nov. 1 that she "was shocked at the incident but could not leave because she had no transportation." The other woman said she continued to work for Levengood more than a year after she was spanked and reported to police that he told her "either she could be spanked or be fired."

The Associated Press is not identifying the women because they may be victims of a sexual crime.

According to police documents, one of the women reported that on Oct. 30, her fourth day on the job, Levengood called her "into the back room of the store" after she forgot to put a banana in a smoothie drink.

She said that as punishment Levengood "bent her over his knee and spanked her behind 20 times."

She said that was one day after he "snapped a photograph of her behind" as she reached for a flavor bottle on a shelf.

LaMance said one of the women showed him photographs that had been kept at the store. The photos of women were shot from behind and in some cases do not show faces but "all you see are their behinds," he said.

"These photos are not sexually explicit," he said. "They are clothed."

At the company headquarters in Minneapolis, sales manager Tom Novetzke described Levengood as a "very Christian person." He said the company's toll-free number is very visible for employees and customers.

"We've never had a complaint," Novetzke said.

He said Levengood opened the store about two years ago and is "an independent operator using our products."

© Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Follow-up: 8 July 2005 - Trial set for man accused of spanking teen workers

Corpun file 14568

Anchorage Daily News, Alaska, 13 November 2004

Principal is whipped to punish two teens

PALMER: Christian school fires educator who says Jesus inspired him

By Zaz Hollander
Anchorage Daily News

WASILLA -- Matanuska Christian School's principal has been fired and a teacher has quit over a disciplinary incident in which the principal had himself whipped in front of two students.

Principal Steve Unfreid, who said he was inspired in his choice of disciplinary tactics by the actions of Jesus, asked teacher Joe Brost to whip him in front of two male students in the school's basement last month after the boys were caught kissing girls in the locker room for the second time in a week.

Unfreid, in an interview Friday at his home, acknowledged he should have called the boys' parents first but expressed no regret for his behavior.

The school's board of directors unanimously decided in a closed door session Sunday to fire Unfreid.

Brost resigned Monday night at a crowded meeting in the school's chapel. He did not want to comment for this story.

Roughly 120 students now attend the Palmer school. About 20 students have left in the incident's aftermath, school officials said. It could not be learned whether the departing youths were motivated to leave by their support of Unfreid.

In a letter sent to the school's board Wednesday, Unfreid said he would not fight his dismissal. He also apologized for "outbursts at the school board meeting" on Monday.

Unfreid violated school policy by not notifying parents before going ahead with discipline, particularly with "anything that unusual," school board president and acting administrator Scott Richardson said Friday.

The decision to take the boys' punishment on himself showed a form of Christianity that was too radical for some members of the school community, Unfreid said, sitting cross-legged on a leather couch in his Wasilla living room Friday afternoon.

Since coming to the school as a teacher several years ago, he said, he pushed for the school to admit a married student, laid on hands in an effort to heal a girl basketball player's injured ankle, and has taken troubled students into his family's home.

"The vision I had is the love of God can change everything," Unfreid said.

When the two seniors, 17 and 18, got caught kissing girls in front of younger students in late October, Unfreid said that while contemplating what discipline to hand out, he woke at 3 a.m. and prayed how to avoid expelling them. He said that was when he remembered years ago he had cured his son of chronic lying by telling his son to hit him with a wooden ladle instead of spanking the youngster.

Later at school, Unfreid walked the boys down to a basement room with Brost. He told them, " 'Guys, this has gotta stop,' " he said. " 'I've let the atmosphere get too lax. I share in this discipline. This is a one-time deal.' "

Then the principal took off his belt, gave it to Brost, and instructed the teacher to "discipline me like you would discipline your own son," he recalled.

He told the teacher to stop only when the students acknowledged their mistake. The whole thing, starting with the trip downstairs, lasted 5 to 10 minutes, he said.

The next day, Unfreid mentioned the lesson in Bible class. A student in class complained, talked to school officials, and word of the incident spread.

By Thursday, Palmer police came to the school to interview the principal and some students, Richardson said. That same day, Unfreid and Brost were put on administrative leave.

The scandal showed up in newspaper, radio and television news reports this week.

School officials are looking for a new principal.

Richardson said the school has a ban on corporal punishment of any kind.

Asked about any religious split in the school, Richardson said the school board voted unanimously to fire the principal. "There's no split at all on the school board," he said. "But there are some parents who expressed support of Mr. Unfreid's actions."

Parent Mitch Rausa, reached by phone Friday night, said the whole thing really surprised him and other parents, though he is trying to remain neutral on the principal's actions.

The situation -- and the public and police attention -- made him uncomfortable, though the police found no wrongdoing, Rausa said.

The school developed its own bylaws to keep government out of its business, he said. That's why it's so important to stick to those bylaws.

"Being a believer, I know that the only one that can take on the sins of anyone is Jesus," he said.

Copyright © 2004 The Anchorage Daily News

Corpun file 14573

New York Post, 16 November 2004

St. John's hazing put pledge in hospital

By Alex Ginsberg

Three fraternity brothers told their St. John's pledges to "assume the position" in a Queens park, then brutally beat one to the point of kidney failure as part of a violent hazing ritual, prosecutors said yesterday.

Matthew Fraser, 24, Anthony Dabreu, 25, and Phillippe Moreau, 32, stand accused of second-degree assault for allegedly paddling Brian Chambers last summer while he was pledging the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

"They have to bend forward at the waist, stick their backsides out with their hands in front protecting their genitals, while the defendants took the paddle and whacked them in the backside, over and over," said prosecutor Kimberley Nielsen in her opening statement in Queens Supreme Court.

According to Nielsen, Chambers, 21, spent two weeks at Beth Israel Medical Center in June and July of 2003 after being paddled in Kissena Park.

She said Moreau often drove the pledges to the park, where they were made to perform calisthenics, recite historical facts and, as the summer went on, endure beatings.

She said hospital records would show Chambers' buttocks were "a mass of bruises" and that his kidneys had given out as a result of blunt force trauma. Fraser's attorney, Frank Hancock, said Chambers' wounds could have been sustained from boxing.

Copyright 2004 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.