CRAIG R.

DISCLAIMER!!! PLEASE READ FIRST!!!

Before reading this entry, please be advised that my descriptions and accounts of Craig are from the 1980's. They are NOT a reflection on Craig R. the adult, or Craig R. the high school teacher. Yes, it is the same person. But people grow and change over time. By all accounts, Craig is an excellent teacher who cares for his students a great deal. As some of his students have come across this blog, I now feel it is necessary to include this disclaimer. The Craig I knew as an adolescent is not the same type of person today. I now return you to the original post.
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One word - bully.

I moved to Two Rivers in 4th grade. I became fast friends with Chris Lohr (a.k.a. Chris Sauer, a.k.a. Chris Storlie, a.k.a. Ringo Storlie, a.k.a. Mortimer Ichabod Marker...) Chris and I had a knack for annoying people. And one of the things we did was to call everyone "weasels." That was our insult of choice. Well, one day, I say a kid walking down the hall, and I called this kid a weasel. Chris looked at me as if I'd lost my mind. The insultee grabbed me and shoved me against the locker, and threatened to beat me up or something, if I did it again. Burt... meet Craig R.

I had a lot of contact with Craig over those years. Craig was a bully in every sense of the word. And he had an ego that was out of control. The funny thing is, he wasn't worthy of that ego. Try as he did, Craig simply wasn't the all-popular God he thought he was. He did not have a lot of respect from his peers. He was just accepted because no one ever challeneged him. By the time we got into high school, Craig was "in." Although a lot of his peers didn't think too highly of him.

Craig and I almost came to blows in 7th grade. We shared Mrs. Westburg's chorus class. (A LOT more to come about that class later on...) Craig and I had a general dislike for one another. And insults were common between us. Of course Craig liked to respond to insults with a punch on the arm. One particular day I'd had enough of his shit and I told him to go fuck himself. As was his usual response, he tried to punch me in the arm, then challenge me to a fight. I always ignored his threats. And inevitably, a few more punches came my way. Finally I took him up on his challenge. And a "fight" was planned for that day, after school - near the buses. Now, I had no intention of fighting him or anyone. ButI knew that it would get Craig off my back. After school, I calmly went home. The next day, Craig came up to me and said "Where were you?" I shouted back, "I was there. Where were you?" He walked away mumbling something about me being a liar. And from that day on, he never touched me again. I won.

This next event happened in 6th grade. This is the ultimate Craig story. It was the most disgusting display of unsportsmanlike conduct I have ever witnessed. It revolved around a track meet that the entire 6th grade participated in. It was mandatory. My last image of the event was that of Craig, prancing by Mrs. Casey's room, showing off the two blue ribbons he'd won. He was making faces and rubbing it into the noses of anyone who cared to glance in his direction. But let me tell you how he "earned" those ribbons.

The gym teachers had devised a system in which all the kids could compete with one another. And in theory, it's a great system. Instead of pitting everyone against everyone, they had people compete against people who were in equal in ability. In other words, they wouldn't set up the track star to run against the fat kid. What they did was have various time trials in gym class, in the weeks leading up to the track meet. They logged everyone's times, in various events. When it was all said and done, the teachers got together the times from all the kids from all the sixth grade classes. And they set it up so that the fastest person would go against the second-fastest person. Then #3 would run against #4 - and son on down the line, for the 150 or so students we had in 6th grade. Blue ribbons would be handed out to those students who beat their opponents by the widest margin. What a great idea! It was all fair and balanced. The only problem is that they told us about it ahead of time.

On the day of the track meet, the athletic Craig ran in what was probably a 100-meter dash. His opponent... Mark Schreiber. Everyone was laughing their ass off. And a crowd circled around to watch. As expected, Craig shot away from Mark, completely blowing him out of the water. Mark was a rather small kid, and not the athletic type. There was no way in hell he had any chance against Craig. Craig beat Mark by a mile. And he easily won one of the blue ribbons.

So what happened here? There's no way on God's green Earth that Craig should have been pitted against Mark. Obviously I could be wrong. But the way I viewed it is one of two things occurred. 1 - during our time trials in gym class, Mark Schreiber equipped himself with some high-tech, James Bond sonic boots, which enabled him to have an unbelievable time. Or 2 - during those same time trials, Craig tanked it on purpose, knowing he would be placed against someone he could easily whip, and thus "earn" a blue ribbon.

So congratulations Craig! You got yourself some hard-earned blue ribbons. I'm sure you're proud. But realize that although you did earn them, you earned them through deception, and NOT athletic prowess. Disgusting. (In my opinion)

I had Craig in gym class, freshman year. Two singing memories stand out. I recall him singing the "Super Bowl Shuffle" quite often, but not bleeping the word "ass" like they did in the video. I also recall him singing Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages." If you remember the song, at the very beginning, there's some unintelligible lyrics which sound something like, "Oonda, gleeben, glownton, globen." In honor of me, Craig morphed it into "Burton, Beerton, Barton, Borten." Strange, very strange. But in retrospect, very funny.

As a freshman and (possibly) sophomore, Craig was the quarterback on the football team - not the main team, but the team for the younger kids. Apparently Mr. Bonino was an absolute screamer when it came to Craig. And Craig got sick of being yelled at, deciding not to go out for football as a junior and senior. From what Richard told me, Craig's father was furious with Mr. Bonino, as the equally aggressive elder wanted his son to be the "star" of the varsity team. It wasn't to be.

In our junior year, during gym class, we were playing tennis. Craig tried to show off by jumping over the net. His feet became tangled and he fell flat on his face. It was funny as hell. He stayed down for several seconds, while a crowd gathered around him. He was no doubt trying to come up with something witty to say. When he did pop up, all he could say was "Oh shit."

One day I took my micro cassette recorder to school. Craig was known for belting out the occasional tune in the lockeroom after gym class. True to form he started belting out some vile rap which featured the lyrics "You and Pinocchio are probably related. You be illin'...... yeeeeaaaah." Hilarious. I still have the tape.

In our senior year, in Mr. Schwantes' class, he bragged about eating hash brownies at a recent party he had attended.

Craig dated a class of 1988 girl, Nancee LeClair. They eventually married. I ran into Craig a few times at the video store. He was generally nice and seemed happy to see me. I believe he has two kids.

Craig once referred to Richard and I as "satan dickheads." We ran with that nickname quite a bit, and mocked him for dubbing us with that title. In time, he found humor in it.

In our junior year, Richard and I shared a Pathology class with Craig. The class was actually taught by Richard's father. Richard and I kept a running tally on every question Mr. Wheeler asked, and which students answered them. We gave everyone a nickname. Craig's nickname was "pussy." Craig eventually found out about it. And surprisingly, he accepted it. Maybe being dubbed "pussy" is ok when it comes from a couple of "satan dickheads."

In gym class, during volleyball, a fellow graduate named Mark Henrickson actually bounced the ball off his head (on purpose) and had it sail perfectly over the net to the other side. I was never one for showing off. But that was impressive for a spur of the moment decision. Well, Craig was also in that class. And he saw the cool thing that Mark had done. You don't have to guess what he tried to do next.

The always aggressive Craig tried in vain to repeat Mark's deed. But he failed and failed. Everytime he tried, the ball would sail off in the other direction, hit the floor, and cost his team a point. He tried this five or six times before the teacher noticed and told him to knock it off. Ah Craig... always good for a laugh.

In our junior year, in swimming class (gym) Craig sliced his foot open in the pool. Somehow he managed to cut his foot on the smooth tile of the pool, as he pushed off. How in the hell did that happen?

In our junior year pathology class Craig said he'd eat a worm if someone gave him a dollar. Richard and I agreed to give him 50 cents each. I know worms are edible and full of protein. But still... Anyway, he ate it. I paid him the 50 cents. Richard never did. I can recall in our senior year in Mr. Hensel's class, Craig still asking Richard for the money. He probably never got it. Apparently in grade school, Craig ate a lot of vile things - bugs, fish heads, you name it. I for one appreciate the shock value associated with that sort of activity.

Today, Craig has followed in his father's footsteps. He is now a teacher at our old school. It somewhat disturbs me to know that this guy is now in a position to shape young minds.

UPDATE - 6/30/06 - I found this picture of Craig. One of the girls is wearing an "06" jacket. So this picture is probably pretty recent. Craig is on the far right.



UPDATE - 7/20/06 - It's been pointed out to me that Craig isn't exactly pleased about my entry on him. What can I do? I merely wrote about things that happened. I'm sorry he's taken it so personally. One specific is that he's now denying ever eating any hash brownies. For all I know, he didn't. I wasn't present at the party. I don't know. But there is no denying that in Mr. Schwantes' class that day, he DID say that he had. He even got animated about it, pretending to eat one as he spoke, and saying how good they were. So the bottom line is that Craig never ate any, and lied about it then. Or he did eat some, and is lying about it now. Only Craig knows which lie is the truth.

UPDATE - 9/19/06 - Since the beginning of this blog, I have been told a lot of second and thirdhand information about Craig - in reference to his reaction to my entry on him. What I heard mostly is that Craig was really pissed off about it. However, in time I also heard that Craig had gotten over it. And although he may not have been thrilled with what I wrote, he didn't let it bother him. In fact, one person told me that Craig was not so much angry about what I wrote. He was just angry that I aired it out publically. After recently rereading his entry, I can see why. I was pretty harsh.

Sometime last February or March, I was given Craig's E-mail address, and was encouraged to write to him. So I did. I never heard from him. I tried again several weeks later. Again, I never got a response. At that point I simply assumed that Craig was indeed incredibly angry, and wanted nothing at all to do with me.

Then on August 3rd, out of the blue, I got an E-mail from Craig. As it turned out, he never received my prior E-mails. So Craig and I exchanged a few pleasentries.

Despite what I wrote about him, I honestly had nothing against him. There was no lingering hatred or anything. It was just the way I remembered Craig from long ago. Based on what Craig said, I think it's clear that he thought I was still holding a grudge after all these years. That simply wasn't the case. I believe I was able to convey that to him. As I surmised, Craig was more concerned about how his students might react if they were to stumble upon this blog.

With Craig's permission, I'm going to post our E-mail exchanges. You can see them below. You'll notice that neither one of us got into specifics about what I wrote in this blog. Craig also didn't deny or ask me to remove anything either.

The reason I never mentioned this before is because I was planning on going to Craig's house when Kevin and I hit the town again. We tried. But Craig wasn't home that day. Craig's house was going to be somewhat of a surprise.

Anyway, the E-mails are below, starting with Craig's letter to me. The last two are from yesterday. In the first letter, Craig is referencing the first trip that Kevin and I took to Two Rivers. We had stopped by Nick Novachek's house - which is a few houses away from Craig's.

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Hey Burt,

I heard you and Kevin were in my neighbor last week and didn't even stop by to say hi. I am not the guy I believe you portray me as. I am an educator that feels for the weak and works to stop bullying at all costs. I am not upset with your blog of me and no I'm not looking at sueing you (what a waste of time and money that would be). My sister and her husband just made the comment that I should go after you for defamation of character. She was much more pissed than I was after reading the blog because she said that she knew me better than anyone and alot of things written were false or inaccurrate.

Jeff Gordon also told me that you think I am a blog hater. I can't say I truley enjoy what you have written, but I haven't had the time this summer to sit behind my computer and read or type anything. The only reason I didn't care for your blog is because of all my students. Here I am trying to positively influence students and their in the computer lab reading what a bully I am. Remember you and Rich said and did alot of things to try and piss me off, and you didn't explain that real well in my blog.

No hard feelings hear and I don't want to pound you. I would have looked forward to talking to you and Kevin. Believe it or not, I am well liked and respected by my students and peers, and would never intentionally hurt anyone. Students that don't fit in or don't care for high school come to my room for guidance on my one free period.

I hope this can break a little bit of the ice or hostility you may feel toward me.

Take care,

Craig

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Hey Craig,

Let me say first of all that I in no way have any hostility towards you - none. Whatever negative feelings I may have had towards you have been long gone for 20 years. Please understand that I never set out to smear your name or embarrass you or anthing like that. I simply wrote about what I remembered. I didn't treat you any differently than I did anyone else.

When Blog_hater first came around, I simply assumed it was Clint Mattrisch' sister. But then a bunch of people told me it was you. How they knew that, I don't know. But I didn't question it. Perhaps I should have. Jeff knows you better than any of them anyway. And he said it wasn't you. So I chose to believe him.

Jeff gave me your E-mail address several months ago. I wrote you back in April or May. Did you ever get them?

For the record, I was never worried about a lawsuit. Nick had mentioned that your brother-in-law floated the idea by you of a potential lawsuit. But I should also point out that Nick made it perfectly clear that you never had any intention of doing so.

I've heard nothing but positive things about you and your life today. I have no doubt that you are well-respected by your students and peers. It's clear that the Craig I remember from Clarke is much different than the Craig of today. If any of your students were to happen to stumble upon what I wrote, I would hope that they'd understand that I wasn't writing about Craig R. their high school teacher. I was writing about Craig R. the youth - someone who doesn't exist anymore - someone they never knew. You wrote, "I am not the guy I believe you portray me as." I wasn't portraying the Craig of 2006. I was portraying the Craig (that I remember) from the 1980's.

If you feel I've said something inaccurate, then by all means, log in and say so. You're more than welcome to do so.

As for Richard, I don't think we ever did anything to try and piss you off. Although I'm sure we did things that annoyed you. But that was just us being ourselves. We no doubt annoyed lots of people. I can assure you, we weren't singling you out.

The reason we didn't stop over by you is simple. Everyone (with the exception of Jeff) said you were extremely pissed off. I wasn't about to ambush you and create a potentially ugly situation. I was never worried about a pounding. We're both adults. That wouldn't happen.

No hard feelings Craig - and never has been. Jeff told me that you would have welcomed us had we stopped by. Based on that, Kevin and I added you to the list for
trip #2. We decided this last week. Unless you say otherwise, you can expect a visit from us in the near future.

Thanks for writing. Please write me back.

Take care,


BURT

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I know you were just writing what you remember and I know that I was an asshole to some of you guys. I have been using that example for years with my students on how you shouldn't say hurtful things that you will regret later, and you showed me why. I tell them that you might not remember the mean or cruel things that you've said or done, but the people you say them to will never forget them. Thanks for proving me right!!!

In regards to the e-mails, I never received any. Did you use this e-mail address? The reason I didn't blog in is because I didn't want to come across as a whiner about some of the things you had written, and I honestly haven't had much time to be on my computer. I'm trying to use my boat as much as I can before school starts.

I welcome your visit in the future, but if it's on the weekend I can't guarantee I'll be around. Sunday afternoon is usually the best time if any on the weekend. Thanks for your response and for trusting in Jeff that I wasn't the one responding to your blogs in hatred.

Craig

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Hey Craig,

I plan to update my blog with details regarding our communications from last month. Do you have any problem with me copying our E-mails? If you do, I still plan to give all the details of our "coming to peace" with one another. But it'd, save me some time if I could just simply copy and paste what's already here.

Anyway, if you could let me know, that'd be cool.

Later,


BW

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Of course I have no problem with you pasting my e-mails. I just never realized that we were so far from peace in the first place. I know you didn't really care for me in high school, but I never realized how much you despised me. I'm sure it's with good reason because with the amount of material you have written, your memory must be far better than mine (And I have a great memory). I apologize for all of those memories, but I can assure that I was not a bully!! I was an asshole!!! There is a big difference. A bully beats people up and takes their lunch money. An asshole just gives crap to people that don't care for him or that he doesn't care for. See the difference?

I want you to know that my whole outlook of people has changed since I have become an educator. Not that I ever intended to have you hate me before I was an educator, but I truly do protect and help those that have difficulty fitting into the so-called norm of everyday life. I wish I didn't leave such a sour taste of me in your mind because I feel like a hypocrite when I talk to kids about picking on others. How can I tell kids that nobody is better than anyone else when I apparently acted as thou I was?

Take care,

Craig

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UPDATE - 11/13/06 - On Saturday, August 12th, 2006, Kevin Dehne and I took our second trip to Two Rivers. We stopped by the home of Craig R. His boat was there. But there was no answer at the door. Kevin took a picture of me writing a note. I stuck it on his mailbox.



UPDATE - 10/4/07 - Kevin and I stopped by Craig's home once again, back in June. Unfortunately, he was once again not home. However, I did find this recent picture of Craig from the Two Rivers Public School website.