On Monday night members of the Central City community stood beside Central City High School vocal music instructor Dane Christensen who has been the topic of conversation for at least one Central City man on Facebook.

Monday night’s meeting ended peacefully without any accusations or discussion but the social media posts have stirred up plenty of support for Mr. Christensen. Support including the Nebraska Legal Action Fund who today issued the following statement.

Today on behalf of Central City teacher Dane Christensen, the Nebraska Legal Action Fund sent a retraction demand to the Central City resident Richard Lagueux requiring that he retract his defamatory statement accusing Mr. Christensen of the serious crime of grooming his students. Given there is no factual basis in this accusation against Mr. Christensen, it is defamatory per se. 

Grooming is defined in Nebraska as the intent to build a relationship with a child with the ultimate goal to have sexual contact or sexual penetration with a child. Maliciously accusing Nebraskans of the crime of grooming with no factual basis only seeks to defame, harass and marginalize them. 

“As a teacher and educator of 13 years I take pride not only in serving students and our community, but also in my reputation which Mr. Lagueux has viciously defamed and maligned with no basis in fact.” stated Dane Christensen. “Today I am taking a stand not only for myself but for all teachers across the state. No longer will we stand by while we are defamed and harassed.” 

Adam Morfeld, the Chairman and Founder of the Nebraska Legal Action Fund stated, “Teachers across the state dedicate their lives and careers to serving their students and our communities. They do not sign up to be baselessly accused of heinous crimes such as sexually assaulting their students. This is a part of a broader trend of this kind of defamatory activity in Nebraska and across the country. The Nebraska Legal Action Fund will vigorously defend the rights of these hardworking and dedicated Nebraskans.”

An update was shared on Friday afternoon stating, “Mr. Lagueux formally apologized to Dane Christensen, retracted his statement, and took down the offending post. We consider this matter closed.”