The Joe Dowser Story
Believe it or not...

Joe Dowser was elected Treasurer in 1993, only to be impeached a year later following allegations that he stole $2000 from the SAC. Even though only a small group of current Woodlands students were actually attending the school at the time, the Dowser story is still told. In one version, Joe was kicked out of school not for stealing the money but for getting a grade ten girl pregnant. According to the story, he then sued the Peel Board of Education, and was awarded land which he used to start a bee farm.

To hear Joe Dowser himself tell it, though, the story is far different. Even today, more than four years after the fact, he denies that he took the money. Instead he attributes his impeachment to a conspiracy against him by SAC staff sponsor Mr. Hedges. Why would a teacher like Mr. Hedges do something so immoral and risky just to remove a student from an SAC executive position? Even Joe himself doesn't really have an answer to that one, saying only "He didn't like me because I questioned his authority and I was going to have him removed as staff sponsor." How exactly Joe planned to remove Mr. Hedges as staff sponsor is not really made clear, nor how him being impeached would prevent him from doing this.

Overlooking this rather large flaw in Joe's story, perhaps you can suspend your disbelief for just a few minutes and consider Joe's version of the recent history of the SAC. After Joe assumed his position, he says that he "went out and did my duties as a treasurer would do". After the third week of school however, he was called down to the office and accused of stealing money from the office vault. Although Joe insists that he did not steal the money, he was suspended from his duties as treasurer for the first half of the semester. Later Joe says that he found it was Mr. Hedges who had first accused him of stealing the money.

It was at this point that Joe decided to do some research. Checking the SAC constitution, he found it described the staff advisors role as a strictly advisory one, with no decision making power. In Joe's opinion, Mr. Hedges was overstepping the boundaries of his position and trying to take control of the SAC. Joe also began to build up what he calls a "case" against Mr. Hedges. This is what Joe says led Mr. Hedges to "set him up."

As the semester progressed, Joe was returned to power as Treasurer, and was assigned the job of running the Ram Shop as part of his duties. At first Joe was allowed to buy candy using SAC money, but after the first few purchases he made, this responsiblity was given to Mr. Hedges, who had a Price Club Membership. Joe says that he had no problem with this change, but soon afterward he says that he was removed entirely from running the Ram Shop, and replaced by the SAC president. At this point Joe says he realised that " something was up."

The next day Joe was called to the office and told by former principal Mr. Montgomery that $2000 was missing from the SAC's accounts. In what is still held as the official version of the story, Joe was accused not of taking the money, but rather of giving away $2000 worth of candy. "How in God's name did I give that all away in candy. " Joe asked me. "That would be the entire Ramshop two fold, even the value of it at retail was not a thousand dollars." None the less the accusations held, and Joe was offered a choice: resign or be impeached.

Joe chose to resign, but he soon came to regret his decision. After this, he says he went to the superintendent of the Peel Board of Education, who he says told him. as he puts it that he was stupid for resigning without proof that he was guilty. While the superintendent was unable to help Joe, she did call Mr. Montgomery. Joe says that he already had a written agreement with Mr. Montgomery which said that he would be allowed to run in the following year's SAC election, but that he was expecting Mr. Montgomery to hold a bi-election to see if Joe should stay in office for the current year.

When Joe returned to the school, he found that Mr. Montgomerry now refused to hold a by-election because it would polarise the staff and students of the school. After this setback, Joe says that he "took it one level higher" by going to see the Director of Education for the Province of Ontario. Joe says that he had financial records which proved he hadn't stolen the money, and when he showed these to the Director of Education, and the Director " did not like what he had to hear."

In Joe's version of the story, the Director took up his case, calling the internal bureaucracy of the Woodlands "too intense" and saying that something had to be done about it immediately. The Director then phoned the superintendent, and, if you believe Joe Dowser, Mr. Montgomery was removed as principal as a direct result. Mr. Hedges on the other hand was allowed to remain in charge of the SAC, because there was no proof he had done anything wrong.

After this series of events, Joe says that a provincial auditor was sent to the school to look into the SAC's financial records. Joe explains what they discovered "Long story short; it turns out that no money was never missing. It had been conveniently relocated into an unnamed account for 'Locker Reimbursement fund'." Joe says that he was then accused of transferring the money himself, but says that this would have been impossible, since he wasn't in school at the time.

When the next year's Student Council elections came around, Joe says he planned to run for President. However, despite the agreement which apparently existed between Joe and former principal Mr. Montgomery, Mr. Hedges refused to sign Joe's nomination form, on the grounds that he "was a thief." When Joe tried to get the other staff sponsor to sign his form, he was told that Mr. Hedges had instructed him not to do so. Upset by this, Joe says that he started a petition, which eventually came to include " 1,200 signatures from student bodies, and (from) more than 49% of the staff." Joe says that he showed this petition to Mr. Hedges, saying "Look, I have more than enough support of the school. I've already won your bloody election. Sign the form. Don't make me call the superintendent or the director again"

Even in the face of this pretentious threat, Mr. Hedges refused to let Joe run. Joe basically accuses Mr. Hedges of rigging the election, in which only the positions of Treasurer and Social Convenor were contested. On top of this, Joe claims that acclaimed President Kim Pao was ineligible for the office because she had failed Music, and her average was too low. Joe also says that Mr. Hedges introduced new positions such as Communications Officer and Intermediate VP in an attempt to dilute the power of the students within the SAC. Apparently the problems surrounding this election led to large scale student walkout, but none of the grade 12 or OAC students I talked to remember any such walkouts occurring.

Joe has raised some very strong points in his own defence. If he had stolen $2000 from the SAC, why was he never suspended or expelled? Why were the police never involved, and why was Joe never forced to give back the money? Joe Dowser simply does not seem like the sort of person who would be capable of stealing from the SAC. He talks of how he used to be friends with former principal Mr. Montgomery, who Joe says used to drive him home after SAC meetings. While we were conducting our interview, several of Joe's former teachers came by and chatted with him like he was an old friend. Joe seems to be filled with school spirit, to the point where he still cares about the SAC four years after he was removed from office. He talked at some length about plans he had to create a new, more powerful student government which would have had direct control over all student organisations.

Regardless of which side you believe, this story raises some interesting issues about the SAC, and indeed all Student organisations in the school. If a teacher accused you of stealing money, do you think that the administration would believe your claims of innocence? For many people it is unthinkable that a teacher would intentionally abuse his or her power by falsely accusing a student. Was Joe Dowser the victim of such an abuse of power, or he just a liar and a thief? If you accept his story as true, it explains a great deal about the recent history of the school , from the lack of student council elections in 1995, to Mr. Pirk replacing Mr. Montgomery as principal. If you don't believe a word Joe Dowser said, you at least must admire the elaborate details of the story he has made up.

Either way, I'm sure most of you are wondering about that bee farm. Did Joe really win it by suing the Peel Board? The answer is no. "See, I've always owned land. Since long before I came to Woodlands." Joe explained. "I have a honey bee farm on it. It only has two hives. It's just a hobby."