LINDA HECKER is professor emerita at Landmark College, where she spent 32 years of her 50-year teaching career.
GUILFORD-It's been three years since a Voices essay in this paper turned my life upside down and made me an outcast in our community. Follow-up articles in the local press amplified my disgrace by quoting false allegations about me without attempting to verify them.
I hoped that those who knew me would rise to my defense, but the few who spoke out have been similarly tarred and ostracized as "friends of...."
It has fallen on me to repair my reputation.
We are told to "believe the woman." I am a woman, and this is my story.
* * *
Imagine you're a 4'11", 77-year-old grandmother who worked in local schools for half a century as a respected teacher and mentor.
Imagine that you played in community orchestras, devoting time, leadership, and financial support. Imagine that you also volunteered with organizations for protecting the environment and supporting refugee families, and that you actively worked to support candidates whose values you respect.
Then imagine having all this demolished.
You are removed from orchestras and limited in your volunteer activities despite years of dedication and readiness to serve the community. Your reputation is shredded in local news media.
Imagine that all this is happening because of false claims made against you, even though your integrity has been confirmed by countless background checks and investigations.
It began with the actions of an individual but spread through the community via social media and an obliging local press.
* * *
For the last 15 years I've been relentlessly stalked, harassed, and threatened. This behavior has also been inflicted on organizations I worked and volunteered for, as well as friends, neighbors, and colleagues.
I've received multiple anonymous death threats on my answering machine - recordings of automatic weapons fire. I've documented this long-term harassment in a log that runs over 60 pages.
My accuser has made and continues to make defamatory claims about my behavior with minors, then multiplies them by repeatedly asserting that "allegations have been made."
Because of these allegations, I've been investigated and background-checked by organizations, including schools, volunteer groups, and selectboards, at considerable cost of time, effort, and legal fees to those groups.
None of the investigations found a history of inappropriate behavior or any claims of abuse.
The reason is simple: I have always acted professionally with my students and with minors everywhere. I will swear this under oath.
* * *
Nevertheless, I've been removed from several orchestras simply because they could no longer tolerate my accuser's threats and harassment.
One letter of dismissal, dated April 19, 2019, states:
"We have completed our investigation of the allegations brought to our attention by [accuser]. We determined that you are not a risk to [the organization's] participants and that you could continue your participation with the [named] orchestra. We had sincerely hoped that the matter would conclude there."
The letter goes on to say that this individual mounted an escalating campaign of harassment and concludes that, having already expended "precious resources to respond to the allegations," they would need to discontinue my participation with all activities.
"Given your long tenure as a respected and valued leader," the letter concludes, "we deeply regret that this separation is necessary."
I'd been a member of that orchestra for 48 years. This scenario was repeated with other groups.
* * *
My accuser now claims in letters to organizations that I was removed because of concerns about my behavior, despite explicit written statements to the contrary. These groups have made it clear that they're not afraid of me - they note that I don't pose a risk to anyone.
It's you, the public, that they're afraid of. They're worried that because of negative publicity you will stop attending their events and withdraw your support.
And they are right to be scared. These allegations do not need to be true to ruin your life.
The campaign of public shaming intensified tenfold with the publication of Mindy Haskins Rogers' essay "No More Secrecy" [Voices, Aug. 11, 2021]. I appear in only one paragraph, but I'm portrayed in a sinister and sensationalized way.
This paragraph was repeated in subsequent articles in local and regional papers without anyone attempting to verify it. Before publication, the author and publisher asked my husband to comment.
No one has ever asked me.
* * *
When this essay was published, friends and colleagues of 50 years abandoned me. An orchestra that had elected me president denounced me publicly, stripping me of my position. A politician I'd supported disinvited me from her fundraiser. I was asked not to attend religious services and community events, told that my very presence "would bring harm."
I no longer feel safe going to shops or events in Brattleboro or even spending time in public with my grandchildren. I've had to seek counseling for my emotional distress as well as legal advice.
I have trouble sleeping and often wake in the night, overwhelmed by dread. Every time my integrity is publicly disparaged it feels like a kick in the stomach. This happens with sickening regularity.
* * *
I believe that all of us, including myself, want to do the right thing to protect children and to help heal those who have been the victims of sexual abuse.
Like many of you, I hoped the investigation report would provide a factual accounting of the past as well as reforms to prevent future abuses. I would gladly support community healing through restorative justice.
What I don't believe is that the path to healing and justice involves banning a 77-year-old grandmother from playing in community orchestras or volunteering with local organizations.
I would like my accuser to stop harassing me and the groups I belong to, but I doubt that will happen.
Nevertheless, I ask the local press, fortified with the truth, to stop amplifying the false accusations leveled against me. I hope the people and groups who have repudiated me will reconsider. I would like to go to my grandkids' recitals and hockey games, and I want to play violin in orchestras.
I don't think that's asking too much.
This Voices Viewpoint was submitted to The Commons.
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