Throughout the following quotes from various news media will be presented in Bold.
Commentary of the Editor of Bubbaworld will appear in Italic.

On 9/6/00 the Tulsa World in a report titled, "Skiatook family sues school, Red Eagles over videotapes", revealed the first of multiple law suits that would eventually be filed as a result of the scandal.

In their Tulsa County District Court law suit, Woodrow and Phyllis Lockhart named as defendants Harry "Noonie" Red Eagle Jr.; Skiatook Superintendent Harry Red Eagle Sr.; the school district; and the school board. The Lockharts also asked the court to insure the school was currently free of hidden cameras and to insure it remains free of such devices in the future.

In their suit the Lockharts contended that their three daughters privacy rights very violated by Red Eagle Jr. and asked for gross negligence and punitive damages in excess of $10,000, as well as injunctive and declaratory relief.

Less than two weeks following the filing of the Lockhart's law suit, on 9/27/00 the Tulsa World published a report titled, "Two face firing on videotape handling". The report revealed that the Skiatook School Board would conduct a emergency noon hour vote on the fate of Assistant Principal Garry Ferguson and science teacher Dennis Curtis, the men that had broke the scandal wide open by sending the tape(s) to the local television station.

This report revealed that Assistant Superintendent Steve Williamson and high school principal Ernie Martin had two days earlier demand that Mr. Ferguson and Mr. Curtis resign. Both men had refused and promised to fight any attempt to fire them.

Quoting from the referenced report:

Ferguson said he was given until 8 a.m. Tuesday to resign or be fired. "I told them right then I'm not resigning," he said.

"They gave me a list of policy and rules I supposedly disregarded or ignored," he said.

In the meantime, Ferguson, an educator for 19 years, said: "I'm pretty much devastated about it. I know I did the right thing."

The main complaint, he said, was not going through the chain of command when turning in the tapes. School officials said he should have given the video to either the high school principal, who is new this year, the superintendent or the school board, he said.

"If it had been a different employee other than the superintendent's son, I would have, but being it was, I couldn't take it to the superintendent or the board."

He feared that if he had, the allegations would have been covered up, Ferguson said.

Mr. Curtis indicated that he received no answer when he asked upon what grounds he was being dismissed. Mr. Curtis was within 3 and a half years of retiring. The report indicated that the only answer he received in response to his query was that a certified letter would be mailed to him.

The Tulsa World report went on to state:

But Curtis said "this is all about the fact that we turned in the videotape of Red Eagle."

The whole investigation, he said, was "nothing but a witch hunt. . . . It's nothing but a way to get back at those who turned in the tapes and exposed the superintendent's son. It doesn't matter how else you try and color it, and everybody knows it."

Two days later, on 9/29/00 a Tulsa world report titled, "Students pray to soothe pain of Skiatook scandal", it was revealed that:

Holding hands, an estimated 150 to 200 students quietly circled the Skiatook High School flagpole Thursday and prayed for healing, guidance and unity in their school and community.

In addition to providing coverage of the student rally/protest/prayer meeting the report also indicated that:

Subsequent to an internal investigation, Superintendent Red Eagle recommended to the school board Wednesday that Ferguson and Curtis be fired.

Can we get a show of hands to indicate how many people are surprised to read of this development? Can we say "vested interest", "revenge" and "payback time"?

The next major development in the scandal was reported on 10/7/00 when the Tulsa World published a report titled, "Group to seek Red Eagle's ouster". This report revealed that Skiatook Superintendent Harry Red Eagle would announce his retirement effective December 29th. The report went on to indicate:

But that's not soon enough for a group of Skiatook residents.

Skiatook parent Carol Hacker said she'll be part of a large crowd expected at the meeting, set for 7 p.m. in the administration building, to demand Red Eagle's immediate ouster.

Hacker is part of a group putting together a petition demanding the resignations of Red Eagle and the five- member school board: President Gary Butler, Donetta Gambill, Shirley Lett, Eugene Jones and Larry Jolley. Hacker expects the petition to begin circulating next week.

Their chief concern with Red Eagle isn't the scandal involving his son. It's the punishment of those who turned him in.

The report went on to quote Hacker as saying:

people are concerned that Red Eagle will still be in charge when the Nov. 9 due process hearing is held to consider his recommendation that Curtis be fired.

He should step aside until this matter is all resolved. For the integrity of the school, he should have excused himself at the time all this came about.

In a report titled, "School exec to step down", the Tulsa World reported in its 10/10/00 edition that the Skiatook School Board had voted 3-2 to accept the resignation of Harry Red Eagle Sr with Red Eagle's resignation to be effective 12/29/00.

Quoting from that Tulsa World report:

As the board entered the room to begin Monday's 7 p.m. meeting, several people, who were later identified as teachers, yelled "We want Red Eagle gone now!"

Butler told the crowd an orderly meeting would be held, and if there was any more "whooping or hollering, I'll ask the police to escort you out."

The report indicated that following the meeting Red Eagle Sr. stated:

"I've been in this business 35-1/2 years. It's time to go."

When asked why a December effective date for his resignation as opposed to immediately, Red Eagle was quoted as saying:

"Without trying to sound braggy, there are some things that need to be done in the next couple of months and I'm the only one that knows how to do them."

Of course by offering up a resignation which would be effective at the end of December Red Eagle would insure he remained the Superintendent of Skiatook Schools during the termination hearings for the individuals which exposed his son's crimes. As to whether this was a motivation for Red Eagle's "time frame" for resigning is certainly open to speculation.

Oh 10/19/00, the Tulsa World in a report titled "Fund To Aid Two Suspended In Skiatook" announced that The Skiatook Teachers Defense Fund had been set up at a local bank for the benefit of the two school employees then under suspension for turning the Red Eagle tapes over to local news media.

In that same edition of the Tulsa World, there was a report titled, "Superintendent resigns, effective immediately". The report revealed that Harry Red Eagle Sr. had resigned again as Superintendent of Skiatook Schools but that this resignation would be effective immediately.

This same report revealed that Harry Red Eagle Sr. would stay on as an administrative assistant in charge of finance through Dec. 29, his original resignation date.

The report quoted Gary Butler, Skiatook School Board President as saying:

The superintendent has been under a lot of pressure and that Butler talked with him recently about the possibility of his moving to the finance job.

The report also indicated that Assistant Superintendent Steve Williams would be interim superintendent through Dec. 31.

The next news report regarding the unfolding scandal was published in the Tulsa World on 11/10/00. The report was titled, "Fire Skiatook teacher, boss says".

The following are direct quotes from that report:

Interim Superintendent Steve Williams stood by a recommendation Thursday night that science teacher Dennis Curtis be fired for failing to immediately report the sexual exploitation of students. The recommendation also calls for his dismissal for moral turpitude and willful neglect of duty.

Officials also say Curtis violated school policy and state law by not reporting the videotape, which they consider evidence of child abuse, to proper school authorities and to the Department of Human Services.

The report went on to state that "The school also alleges that Curtis willfully neglected his duties because he had the tapes for eight months before giving them to the station.

The referenced report quoted Mr. Curtis as follows:

he received three tapes in October 1999 and that he gave them to his wife for safekeeping after one or two weeks.

During the couple's divorce later, he asked for the tapes several times, but she did not return them until June. He then took them to Ferguson.

They viewed the tapes. One was blank and another showed innocuous school scenes. They didn't watch the third tape, which was in a different format, until a week later because they needed an adaptor. That tape showed the locker room images.

The following day in a Tulsa World report titled, "Skiatook board fires teacher in locker room tape issue" the news many expected arrived.

The following direct quotes from that report tell the story far better than this writer ever could.

A teacher who feared being fired for exposing the superintendent's son for allegedly videotaping female basketball players in their locker room was fired Friday for failing to report what he knew.

In an impassioned opening statement Thursday night, school attorney John Priddy made much of the fact that Curtis received the three tapes in October 1999, yet "he sat back and did nothing."

Priddy pounded away at the fact that Curtis had the tapes for eight months, leaving the children unprotected while the person allegedly responsible for their creation continued to work at the school.

Curtis said that after getting the tapes, he gave them to his now ex-wife for safekeeping. The couple at the time were separated and in the process of getting a divorce.

Curtis said communication between them broke down over property issues. Despite numerous requests for the tapes, she did not return the tapes until June 2000.

Curtis' ex-wife, Donna Hahn, voluntarily testified on Curtis' behalf. She confirmed that she used the tapes as a "bargaining tool" and for leverage over her ex-husband.

Hahn also said she viewed the tapes and replaced the worst of them with a blank tape when she returned them to Curtis.

Subsequently, Hahn turned in the most damaging tape to the Skiatook police a few days after one tape was shown on KOTV, channel 6, in Tulsa.

Mr. Curtis explained that after getting the tapes back from Hahn and still not having seen them he took them to Mr. Ferguson, his superior in the chain of command at the school.

Mr. Curtis and Ferguson then viewed two of the tapes finding that one was blank and one had innocent locker room scenes with the girls kidding around. It was a week later than the men obtained an adapter to permit viewing the third tape. This was the tape that showed girls changing clothes and Red Eagle looking into the camera.

The referenced report quoted Mr. Curtis as saying:

"Guys, I just did it to protect those kids. It may not have been the best way or the smartest thing to do, but I did it honestly and without malice."

This Tulsa World report revealed previously unreported information:

Teresa Moyer, wife of former high school Principal Steve Moyer, said she overheard Douthitt and another coach talking about Red Eagle Jr. taping the girls in the locker room.

Moyer said she told them "that was absurd."

According to her, Douthitt responded: "No, it isn't. You don't know him like we do."

Moyer told police what she had heard, but nothing was done, she said.

Steve Moyer also testified on Curtis' behalf, saying he "thought it would be a fruitless effort" if the tapes had been turned in to Red Eagle Sr.

Moyer said that based on his past experience with Red Eagle Sr., nothing would have come of the tapes if they had been turned in to the administration.

In reviewing the above reports, considering the implications of not only the statements Mr. Curtis, Mr. Ferguson but of various others with knowledge of the events that took place we simply can not escape the conclusion that Mr. Curtis was fired as punishment for "turning in the boss's son"...

We here at Bubbaworld can only imagine the shock, fear and confusion that must have gone through the minds of Mr. Curtis and Mr. Ferguson upon viewing that third tape, realizing that they must report what they have seen and feeling that they could not turn to their boss for help, as it was his son that committed the crimes.

Likewise it is our opinion that Interim Superintendent Steve Williams was influenced unduly by his association with Red Eagle Sr.. It is our belief that Mr. Williamson should have refrained from making any recommendation in this case as he was a part of the administration under which the scandal occurred.

With Mr. Curtis out of the way, the Skiatook School Board turned its attention to Mr. Ferguson. He didn't have long to wait, as the Tulsa World report titled, "Administrator in tape case fights for job" and dated 11/15/00 indicated.

Quoting from that report:

An assistant high school principal who was suspended after exposing the superintendent's son for allegedly videotaping female basketball players as they changed clothes in a locker room was fighting for his job well into the night Tuesday.

At a due-process hearing before the Skiatook school board, Garry Ferguson faced allegations that he had failed to report suspected child abuse, as set out by state law; failed to follow the school's sexual harassment and child abuse policies; and was an unfit role model for children.

The report went on to indicate that Mr. Ferguson's attorney had requested as the 7:00 pm hearing got underway that school board President Gary Butler and board member Gene Jones disqualify themselves owing to allegations of the two having made negative statements about Ferguson to community members. The board members declined and according to the referenced news report said "they could be unbiased".

Further quoting from the referenced report:

Ferguson said he received the tapes from Curtis in July and discussed with Curtis and Janet Vermillion, a school counselor, what to do with them. He said he feared for his job if he went to the administration and was concerned, based on past experience, that the matter would be "swept under the rug."

Vermillion volunteered to turn in the tapes because she had a second job and would be least affected by losing her job at the school, Ferguson said.

She has not been suspended.

The following day, a Tulsa World report titled, Assistant principal dismissed" told the tale.

Since exposing the school superintendent's son in August for allegedly videotaping girls high school basketball players in their locker room, Garry Ferguson predicted he would lose his job. He was right.

In a unanimous vote taken just after midnight Tuesday, the board voted to dismiss Ferguson as the high school's assistant principal and as a member of the football coaching staff, effective immediately.

The vote came after a nearly 5-1/2- hour due process hearing and a 30- minute executive session.

To the Skiatook School Board, we can only say that in our opinion, "Shooting the messenger because you didn't like the message" was a pathetic response to a problem that you should have addressed much earlier with openness, honesty and a sense of morality rather than engaging in a round of "paybacks" against men of courage that did the right thing, albeit admittedly late. Too bad you missed your opportunity to do the right thing and instead willingly chose to do the wrong thing. The children of your community suffered a great loss of confidence in their educational system and their community owing to your lack of backbone and desire to "hush up" a scandal at least partially of your own making.

Continue with Part #3 of Coach Noonie and his Hidden Camcorder