BOOK 'EM

Since Trost left Graland, he has received several letters of support and condolence from Graland students.

Ninth-grader Jennifer Person wrote: "It must have taken much courage to pull through everything that has happened to you in the past months. You have touched so many people's lives while you were here. I know you have given me a new confidence in singing that I had never gotten from any of my other music teachers...You have been my favorite by far. You will be deeply missed by myself and the rest in the 9th grade."

"I was, as were many of my classmates, very sorry to hear that you were leaving Graland. I must say that I am ashamed and very sorry for the student who accused you wrongly," wrote ninth-grader Ali Waggner. "You should know, however, that you are an exceptional music teacher...the best Graland ever had. I want to say thanks...I hope someday that you can teach again."

But Trost says he never will. He worries that his name remains on the state registry; he has formally requested that it be removed. The letters from students who appreciated his help temper some of the anger. And when he is on the stage, he can forget--at least for a few hours.

Yet so many little things remind him. When he sees a car with a bumper sticker that reads, "Believe the children," he has to fight the urge to turn his car into a battering ram.

Children do lie, and he knows it. They lie to get what they want. And when they are caught, they face no consequences.

"I don't think these kids were ever made to realize the seriousness of what they accused me of, of how badly I was hurt," he says. "The kids were ten feet tall, and I counted for absolutely nothing. Seventeen years of teaching...all that I had ever put into it...all the good memories...poof, gone."

But one particularly chilling memory of his tenure at Graland still haunts him. To Trost, it speaks volumes about who is in charge at that school.

On his last day, he was standing in the hallway when the little girl who told him Graland wasn't a penitentiary came skipping down the hall. She pulled up short when she spotted Trost.

In her pretty dress, she looked like every parent's version of the old nursery rhyme--all sugar and spice and everything nice.

"Well, HELLO, Mr. Trost," she said, smiling sweetly. Then she cocked her head to one side and a sly grin emerged as she emphatically said, "GOODBYE, Mr. Trost," and skipped past where he stood and out the door of the school.

end of part 2