I take great exception to Lindsey's letters to Mr. Dauben. Truth is not defamation. Holding public employees accountable for their actions is not slander. Lindsey "misinforms" Mr. Dauben when he states I've been shut down by media outlets for "a reason". Untrue! My family has been on NBC 5 with this story, the Waxahachie Daily Light ran a story about our daughter's bullying experience, there is a major magazine looking at the corruption side to all of this, and ironically Mr. Dauben himself is media, as the News Editor for the Ellis County Press. In fact as I write this (April 18, 2008) in the current issue of the Red Oak Record there's an article about this disaster.

We don't care what Scott Lindsey thinks of us, or says in private conversations. When Lindsey speaks to a reporter, he isn't speaking as Scott Lindsey, he is speaking as Red Oak Independent School District Police Chief Scott Lindsey. Lindsey is a public official as ROISD Police Chief, and also sits on the Red Oak city council. I filed a level 1, and level 2 complaint against Lindsey to the District over this. Assistant Superintendent Russ Schupmann seems to condone a ROISD employee defaming, slandering and speaking an untruth about a tax paying citizen of the district to the media. In a letter dated to me on April 2, 2008 he states he does not find any "reasonable basis for recommending any reprimand against Chief Lindsey."

I could appeal Schupmann's decision to the school board, but recognize the futility of that. I'd be talking to the same board that sat passively as we explained our daughter's situation to them and did nothing. I'll notify the board via email that this is on the site, and if they want to address this they can contact us and we'll give them our full cooperation, although I'm not gonna sit by the phone waiting for a call from them that I'm sure will never come.

04-02-2008 - No Action Taken

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ROISD Police Chief Scott Lindsey collects an annual salary of $67,000, on a 226 day contract.

Lindsey also enjoys the benefit of a take home car. Lindsey, even though he does not hold a college degree is teaching Introduction to Criminal Justice and Fundamentals of Criminal Law. I have no doubt that Lindsey is making much more than the average teacher at ROISD, who is required to have at minimum a Bachelor's Degree. According to ROISD, with Lindsey's job description comes the major responsibility of investigating and making recommendations on all complaints and accusations made against district employees. I've documented elsewhere on this site Lindsey's "investigation" about a potentially criminal incident. Anyone who's watched the first 10 minutes of CSI knows that calling a DA investigator, having that investigator run whatever he was told by Lindsey to an assistant prosecutor then that DA investigator getting back with Lindsey with the decision no offense was committed is not an investigation. If all police department's investigations in this country consisted of playing phone tag and killing investigations over the phone, crime would run rampant and defense attorneys would be out of work.

There's another tone to these two emails that I find disturbing, and that is Lindsey casting himself as the "victim" in all of this.

01-19-2008 - Letter to Joey Daubin from Scott Lindsey

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In the January 19, 2008 correspondence with Mr. Dauben Lindsey writes "..however I have chosen to put this behind me." Lindsey goes on to state "I have spoken to many in this community who have given me their support and words of encouragement and have commended me to taking the high road and just praying over the situation and leaving the rest to God." In the final sentence of this missive, Lindsey distorts the media exposure this situation has had while praying that Mr. Dauben has a great weekend.

In the January 19 email, Lindsey says "I will not continue to discuss this issue" yet corresponds with Mr. Dauben over this matter in an email dated January 22, 2008.

01-22-2008 - Another Letter to Joey Daubin from Scott Lindsey

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In the January 22 2008 letter, Lindsey again casts himself in the role of "victim" when he states "I am sorry Mr. Johnson feels that way, and I am sorry he cannot move forward months later, but I have." I let this issue bother me and my family long enough." "... I have done nothing wrong, but I can assure you I have had enough of his slander and can file a suit just as easy as he can. I gave this concern to God and moved on to take care of the duties I have so proudly served for over 20 years." Time and again, it seems, when someone in public life gets caught up in something controversial that person starts invoking the Lord and states they want to move on.

A disturbing, yet telling quote in this letter "I hope anyone who looks into this will look to it's true merit and understand the continued stirring of this pot has helped no one, but has caused a great deal of undo grief to those who have done nothing wrong." Obviously Lindsey feels that there was no wrongdoing in this whole fiasco that no one at ROISD did anything wrong, and we're just causing trouble. Is Lindsey's job to be the Top Cop of the ROISD for $67,000 a year, or is his real job description to protect the district's image?

No one employed by this district is the victim. My daughter is. A school board member's wife was saying some very denigrating things about me to a friend of ours at a March 8, 2008 volleyball game. The school board is not the victim, Scott Lindsey is not the victim, no one on the ROISD payroll is the victim here. The only victim in all of this is a 13 year girl that left her home town school district because of a situation that no one in position of authority in that district wanted to address. Kids make mistakes. This situation isn't even about kids, it's about parents failing to hold their kids responsible for their actions, it's about school faculty that included a principal and coach/teacher refusing to do the right thing, it's about a "police chief" failing to do the job he's expected to do, and it's about an aloof school board more interested in style and image than substance.

We're sometimes asked why we don't let this go, why we don't let bygones be bygones. Eventually there will be closure for our family, we're working on our timetable not the districts or the culpable employees that allowed, enabled or attempted to cover up this situation. I find it nauseating that a 40 something "police chief" would whine about his victimhood to a local news editor, it's disgusting that we would get reports that the coach/teacher was talking about our family to a student on school property, an accusation that the coach according to her boss "does not recall" but "could not deny." These adults made choices. Burrow chose to change a constitution in the midst of a grievance. Lindsey chose to make a phone call instead of doing an investigation. The school board chose to renew Burrow's contract after they had been apprised of her constitution "revision".