1974
Fairhaven - a small church begun with simple meetings at the Sand Piper Restaurant in Oct 1970. They had only recently celebrated their 4th Anniversary.
In 1972, Fairhaven Christian Academy opened. This was the original ad in the Vidette Messenger describing the new school.
ORIGINAL AD - FAIRHAVEN CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
When the 5th Anniversary came, it was going to be a year of Jubilation as it would seem a long time from anniversary 4 to anniversary 5.
When the book, 'It Takes a Village' by Hillary Clinton came out most had no idea it also connected to Fairhaven, but it really does. If you have ever heard Dr. Voegtlin's sermon about 'How to Raise Godly Children', then in it you will note that he states: "Our court case was about a pilot program of the federal government. We found out later that the person behind it, among others, was Hillary Rodham, our friend." Hillary Rodham went to Yale Law School, where she met William Jefferson Clinton, a fellow student. However, Ms. Hillary was born and raised in CHICAGO, IL. During her law school studies, she served as a state attorney for the Children's Defense Fund. Later, she would move to Washington D.C. to be on the congressional Impeachment Inquiry for Richard Nixon started in 1974, at the tail end of Richard Nixon's Watergate scandal. She was appointed Chair of the Board of the Children’s Defense Fund, a national advocacy group for the interests of children, from 1986-1991.
Another central figure to the storyline of Dec 3/4, 1974 and Fairhaven was Sgt. Ed Lloyd, the appointed head of the Porter County Child Advocacy Program. Sgt. Lloyd was a 20 year veteran with the Portage Police Department who was honored by the governor of Indiana in 2002 for his distinguished service. Sgt. Lloyd - the man we were all taught to fear and loathe - (the devil with the 800 number for disobedient children) is currently Chief Ed Lloyd of the Valparaiso University Police Department where he has served faithfully since taking the post in 1987. When he was honored, Lloyd was cited for his leadership to that organization and to the state. "You have distinguished yourself by your humanity in living, your loyalty in friendship, your wisdom in council and your inspiration in leadership," the governor wrote in a citation. "Indiana is better off today because of your dedication to it and your fellow Hoosiers."
And now, let us gather to hear the facts. All the facts.
There was a 16 year old Portage High school student named Kenneth Chrisman. Kenneth's mother was a widow and member of the new Fairhaven Church. Kenneth had a younger sister, Sue and a younger brother, Darryl. Mrs. Dorothy Chrisman was a teacher at the Academy (although some accounts say she was the Academy Nurse). Dr. Voegtlin was 31. Mr. Yingling was 40. Mrs. Chrisman enrolled her children in the new Academy high school, but Kenny - being a sophomore - did not wish to leave his friends at Portage High School with whom he'd traversed through time. Kenny further insisted that he would not attend the church, either, and that she was unable to make him.
At school (PHS) the next day, he counseled with some in administration which led him to Mrs. Phoebe Leeds, a Child Welfare worker with Porter County Social Services. Mrs. Chrisman, also sought council and took her concerns to her pastor (since she was a widow) and he agreed to accompany her to the Portage Police Department. The intent upon arrival was to report Kenny as a runaway, seeking their assistance in order to return him to her custody. At the time, the state of Indiana had no emancipation status for minors, but the age of majority in the state was 18. Therefore, Kenny should have been forced to return to his mother. Instead, Sgt. Ed Lloyd and Mrs. Phoebe Leeds informed the young pastor and Mrs. Chrisman that Kenny did not have to return to her home. In fact, if Kenny DID return to her home, she was not to bring up the subject of Fairhaven, religion or God. Further, Kenny had taken off in Mrs. Chrisman's station wagon as an uninsured driver, but Pastor Voegtlin was told that the boy could actually press charges against him for attempting to keep him from driving the car. This happened in October 1974, but Pastor Voegtlin desired that the good citizens of Porter County required a notice of what had happened so he (Roger Voegtlin) published ads in the Chesterton Tribune and the Vidette-Messenger accusing the Welfare Department (Sgt. Lloyd and Ms. Leeds) of kidnapping Kenneth Chrisman.
This was just after [Col. Jack Mohr] had come to hold his Christian School Rally and preach on how secular humanism was changing schools into seminaries of a false religion. Col. Jack Mohr was a career army colonel who had served in World War II and Korea. He was captured in 1948 by communists in South Korea and forced to appear before a People's Court, was tortured and faced a Red Firing Squad. He escaped with the help of a sympathetic Korean sergeant. He was a well known fundamental Baptist evangelist,and for twelve years, he was in the American opinion speaker's Bureau of the John Birch Society. This particular rally led to many local parents enrolling their children in the Fairhaven school.
And one of those children was Jeremy Klein. Jeremy was a 3 year old student in Mrs. Chrisman's class. After stealing another lad's lollipop, he was administered a paddling by Mr. Yingling. The parents, upon examining their child, then had him examined by physicians and declared he had been beaten with excessive force (3 swats across the buttocks by Mr. Yingling). As a result of the newspaper ads, the district attorney's office became interested in what was going on at the school and church. Since the church was growing at previously unprecedented local church rates, it was drawing attention. Dr. Voegtlin was talking to any press that would listen and it wasn't complimentary towards state officials.
A grand jury investigation was opened. December 3, 1974 the Grand Jury handed down its indictments. They were as follows:
Pastor Voegtlin 2 counts of criminal libel 1 count of conspiring to commit a felony BOND - $7500
Eugene Yingling 1 count aggravated assault and battery 1 count conspiracy to commit a felony BOND - $5000
To understand these further, here is what they were charged with:
Criminal liability is holding someone criminally libel for defamatory communication in writing. A conspiracy is an agreement of two or more people to commit a crime, or to accomplish a legal end through illegal actions. May have been utilized as one important feature of a conspiracy charge is because it relieves prosecutors of the need to prove the particular roles of conspirators.
Assault is a crime of violence against another person. Assault is often de ned to include not only violence, but any physical contact with another person without their consent. American common law has traditionally de ned assault as an attempt to commit a battery. The crime of battery involves an injury or other contact upon the person of another in a manner likely to cause bodily harm. The conspiracy charges were brought stating that the men had conspired to commit the paddling.
Arrest warrants were issued and the men were picked up. Mr. Yingling was arrested at home and Pastor Voegtlin was arrested at Church. While the men could have posted bond and never spent a night in jail, they chose to remain jailed until their arraignment.
In Dr. Voegtlin's own words:
Most of you know that in December of 1974 I was picked up in the night by a Porter County squad car and taken to the station in Valparaiso. They fingerprinted me, took mug shots, took my tie and my belt (because they were afraid I might hang myself), and took my Bible. They handed me a blanket full of vomit; and when I went into the cell, it had human waste in the sink. It was a very eerie feeling for the door to slide behind me. To my knowledge, I was the first pastor of a church to be put in jail in my lifetime for doing the right thing. You ask, “What were you charged with?” Well, one of the things I was charged with was conspiracy to commit a felony and aggravated assault and battery. You say, “Wow, you’re a bad guy!” No, I just wrote the handbook that said we spanked. That was the conspiracy; the aggravated assault and battery was the spanking. The reason I went to jail was that I believed promises like Proverbs 22:6 that tells us, “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” That is not a mere principle. That’s a promise. If you raise your child according to the Bible, then when he is old he will not depart from it.
