Fort Worth Star-Telegram
1995-06-23
Section: METRO
Edition: FINAL AM
Page: 25

Masonic Home knew about bed incident early, memo indicates
KEN DILANIAN Star-Telegram Writer

FORT WORTH - An internal memo that has surfaced as part of a lawsuit against the Masonic Home and School of Texas suggests that school officials knew that a former employee had been seen with boys in his bed six months before they confronted him with abuse allegations and he resigned.

The suit, brought by former residents of the facility, accuses Masonic Home officials of failing to properly screen and supervise its employees. Former house parent J.D. Hausler resigned from the school in April 1989, after two 9-year-old boys said he had molested them. He was indicted on the basis of their accusations and later pleaded guilty to a felony. In responding to the suit, Masonic Home officials have said they did nothing wrong, and they have asserted that they always fired house parents at the first hint of misconduct.

But according to a handwritten note bearing the initials of Masonic Home Superintendent Jerry Beck, Hausler was warned not to bring boys into his bed six months before he resigned. The note, dated Oct. 21, 1988, mentions no other action taken.

Asked about the note, Beck said: "You'd have to go through our attorneys on that. Thank you." He then hung up.

Forrest Nelson, the home's lawyer, confirmed that the document was generated by the Masonic Home, but he declined to answer questions about it.

"I'm not going to try this case in the newspaper," Nelson said.

Hausler pleaded guilty Jan. 16, 1990, to indecency with a child at the home and received 10 years' probation with deferred adjudication.

Hausler, who lives in Austin, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

It is a misdemeanor for anyone with "cause to believe" that a child has been abused to fail to report it to authorities, said Tarrant County prosecutor Roseanna Salinas.

"It's kind of a judgment call," she said. "But if it rises to the level where they felt concerned enough to put a note in somebody's file, then maybe it rises to the level where they had cause to believe a child's well-being was endangered."

However, the district attorney's office plans no further action related to the Hausler case, Salinas said.

The Masonic Home in east Fort Worth houses and educates about 130 children from preschool to high school.

The lawsuit, filed in August, accuses six Masonic Home house parents of physical abuse, sexual abuse and medical neglect, and it accuses the home of negligently allowing such conduct.

Masonic Home officials say they have done nothing wrong, and they have for the most part declined to discuss the allegations.

In recent months, one plaintiff, an 18-year-old senior at the home who alleged that he was fondled by a house parent, dropped out of the suit. Another person, a woman who says she was molested by a Mason when he took her from the school on a weekend visit to his home in 1969, joined the legal action. That leaves the number of plaintiffs at nine.

The home has moved to dismiss the latest plaintiff on grounds that the statute of limitations has lapsed on her claims. The motion is scheduled to be argued today in the 17th District Court.