I had heard about Zeke Hecker and him being accused of some very “shady” things, but I had no idea how terrible this man was or about the web of Guilford individuals surrounding Zeke. 

Just after I entered the Democrat Primary against Zon Eastes, I was introduced to a woman who has asked me not to disclose her name for the time being. She is referenced here as “Jane Doe” and she set me on a path that I felt necessary to share.

Jane Doe led me first to read an article in the Commons. No More Secrecy is about the sexual abuse of children at our Brattleboro Union High School. I use much of that article to show the trail which leaves traces of Zeke throughout Guilford’s municipality.

Everything written here was either qouted from a newspaper article or was given to me by Jane Doe. My word's only link the quotes and articles together and focus the issue on Guilford. 

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ZEKE and LINDA HECKER

 

Zeke Hecker taught in numerous area schools between 1974 and 2008.

The author of “No More Secrecy,” Mindy Haskins Rogers, recounted a day in 1984 when the teacher allegedly took her to several Boston museums and then to his house, where his wife, Linda Hecker, “walked into the room, naked.”

Police uncovered a letter from 1982 addressed to one of the alleged victims in which the longtime teacher, playwright and musician unrepentantly acknowledges statutory rape and violations of professional ethics.

“If you wish to avenge your injustice and save your younger sisters from my imminent threat,” the letter said, in part, “a word to the right person would take care of it nicely. According to the law, I committed statutory rape. … I also, as [you] point out, violated professional ethics. Within 24 hours, I would be suspended, and shortly I would be not only an ex-teacher but a convicted felon.”

The social consequences would be more far reaching than the criminal. People really [hate] us child molesters[...].”

The report continues with more quotes from the letter Hecker sent. “Then there's the subject of my next student lover, and the next and the next,” and “I still have abstract fantasies about women, including schoolgirls (most of the women I see are, after all, schoolgirls) [...].”

Despite being aware of the claims beginning in 2009, when Hecker was banned from WSESU schools, Brattleboro Music Center continued to include Hecker in Windham Orchestra until 2018.

According to Juno Orchestra, Guilford’s selectboard Chairman, Zon Eastes “led the Windham Orchestra, Brattleboro’s community orchestra, for over 20 years.” However, Eastes left Brattleboro for a time and was not the head of the orchestra for the entirety of Zeke's tenure there.

 

During Zon's tenure at the BMC he also hired a freelance bookkeper named Robert Tucker who Zon later Appointed Town Auditor when one of Guilford's Elected Auditor's suddenly resigned.

 

“Educating local school children” was number three on the orchestra's list of its “four important roles in the musical community.”

One community member repeatedly sent BMC notification of the allegations against Hecker and requested that they remove him from programming involving minors. BMC refused to do so.

BMC finally removed Hecker from the orchestra in 2018, after the community member informed the WSESU school board of his ongoing involvement.

That was nine years after BMC was officially notified of the claims against him.

 

In April of 2020, the Windham Orchestra severed ties with BMC and renamed itself Windham Philharmonic. However, Linda Hecker continued her board membership throughout and was the board President of the newly named Philharmonic.

In August of 2021 Linda was finally removed when the Philharmonic Announced their first step in taking responsibility for the systems, culture and the harm revealed in Mindy Haskins Rogers' article.

The Philharmonic announcement also stated that "Zeke (Robert) Hecker has never been a member of Windham Philharmonic, is not welcome to play with the orchestra, and will not participate in any future open-to-the-public rehearsals."

In response to Haskins Rogers inquiry, the board informed her that Zeke Hecker is not a member of Windham Philharmonic. Nevertheless, he was seated in the woodwind section for their first in-person rehearsal in July of 2021.
 

Guilford Selectboard

Linda Hecker is still the Chairwoman of Guilford’s Conservation Commission, a role appointed by the Guilford Selectboard. When a woman (Jane Doe) made a written complaint to the board about Linda Hecker and the potential contact with children, Jane Doe was subsequently bullied and harassed by selectboard member Verandah Porche. 

Jane Doe later accused selectboard member Zon Eastes of doing nothing to protect kids. Zon told her that Linda Hecker agreed not to participate in activities with children in her official capacity. 

There is nothing on the public record about this. I have not seen the written complaint that was filed but I have seen the response from the selectboard's lawyer which the selectboard addressed behind closed doors.

 

Regardless, Linda Hecker continues to serve as the Chairwoman of Guilford’s Conservation Commission to this day due to the appointment from Zon and Verandah.

Jane Doe claimed she first met selectboard chairman, Zon Eastes, at a party at Zeke and Linda Hecker’s house in Guilford where she was abused by both Zeke and Linda for many years beginning when she was a minor.

Jane is not sure what can be done about this since she is not a resident in Guilford. Her lawyer has sent a Cease-and-Desist letter to selectboard member Porche because of her ongoing behavior designed to disparage her and protect Linda Hecker.

Jane is particularly upset because Verandah knew about the behavior of these child abusers which was ongoing and done openly for years. Jane met Verandah “out there” when she was a minor, at the farm, as well as Don McClean, (Guilford’s Chairman to the Board of Civil Authority) and his wife Evelyn, (Verandah’s sister) among others.

The Guilford Selectboard refused to let Jane speak, even in executive session, and instead employed the town attorney, Pat Beau, using town money, to silence and intimidate her.

No one is sure what contact Linda Hecker currently has with children. Per Janes conversation with Zon, she has agreed not to participate in Conservation Commission activities that involve children. No one has proof of this agreement.

Linda is not allowed to participate in activities with the Brattleboro Music Center and was kicked out of the Pioneer Valley Symphony as well as the Windham Orchestra, which is now Windham Philharmonic, where she was also removed as board President.

Survivors have been trying to report and get her on a list with DCF so that she cannot volunteer with children, but most reported to the WSESD, which has not released the Sexual Abuse report to the public. This is hampering efforts to achieve this.
 

Guilford School Board Rep Singles out Survivors, September 29, 2021

Diana Whitney, a sexual abuse survivor, read a letter into the record at the September 14 School Board Meeting which can be explained in this Article quoted from the Commons.

Following Whitney's reading of the letter, Guilford Representative to the School Board, Shaun Murphy, singled Diana out and sent two separate emails to her refuting the charge that there are “systemic issues” at BUHS, his children's alma mater.

He noted several “dedicated” teachers and disputed the statement that “norms are more powerful than policies when influencing behavior.” That statement, he wrote, “is simply not true of the many dedicated teachers now at BUHS.”

Murphy wrote that he agrees what happened in the past “is a crime” and “an awful, frightening event to contemplate,” but said it is “not fair to ignore or discount” dedicated teachers past and present.

He ended his letter saying it is “interesting” to note that his daughter took two advanced placement English classes with Hecker and “slammed” the AP test.

“I am not sure how to deal with that history and at the same time deal with what has come to light,” Murphy wrote. He then sent a second email when Whitney did not respond to the first.

Following receipt of Murphy's emails, concerned community members wrote to the WSESD and WSESU school boards, thanking them for “beginning to address the harm and correct conditions described by Haskins Rogers,” then writing, “unfortunately, one of your directors, Shaun Murphy, has been less supportive.”

They went on to address Murphy's email, saying his singling out Whitney and making his objections in a personal way rather than raising them during the public meeting is “unacceptable.” The letter continues to say that Murphy's action “exercised extreme insensitivity” and that “at worst, and in effect, he perpetuated Diana's experience of abuse by the district.”

They noted, too, that Murphy is a lister for the town of Guilford and that his wife, Karen Murphy, serves on Guilford's Conservation Commission with Linda Hecker. 

“We believe this further highlights the challenges to achieving a fair, unbiased investigation into Hecker's abuse,” signatories wrote. “It is a reiteration of exactly the kind of complicity described in Haskins Rogers' piece.”

Haskins Rogers noted that she has heard of complaints from a few of Hecker's friends, “but none have made them directly to me.”

 

“I'm relieved to know his defenders are in the minority now,” she said.