South Valley Middle School’s assistant principal scrambled to
remove traces of his profanity laced online radio show soon after
the program was brought to the attention of the school
district.
South Valley Middle School’s assistant principal scrambled to remove traces of his profanity laced online radio show soon after the program was brought to the attention of the school district.
Assistant Principal Richard Lust is one half of The HumperLust Show, an online radio show he and childhood friend Bryan Humphreys host and broadcast out of Hollister every Friday at 9 p.m., according to the show’s MySpace page. Under the tagline “two guys talking about guy stuff,” the duo discussed “sports, movies, politics, cigars, stand-up comedy, hot chicks, etc.” with “no topic taboo,” according to its Facebook and home pages, which were taken down soon after Hollister resident Matt Bedell alerted South Valley Principal Greg Kapaku to the show early Wednesday morning. Lust and Humphreys operated the show for more than a year, Bedell said. The district was not aware of the show until Wednesday, administrators said.
Bedell, the younger brother of John Patrick Bedell, a Hollister man who was shot and killed after he opened fire on officers at the Pentagon in March, sent the letter to Kapaku after listening to an archived HumperLust Show that had been recorded the day after his older brother’s death.
“I listened to the show about my brother for about a minute or two and got so angry I had to turn it off,” Bedell said.
Lust and Humphreys “laughed and joked about my brother’s suicide less than 24 hours after it happened,” Bedell wrote in his letter to Kapaku.
Lust was not available for comment in person or on the phone Wednesday or Thursday, school staff said.
The Bedell brothers were friends with Lust and Humphreys when they were younger, Bedell said.
Bedell also sent his letter to staff at South Valley. As of Thursday afternoon, the show’s website, Facebook page, Blogspot page, BlogTalkRadio page and Twitter account – some of which had still been active Wednesday – had been taken down. It appeared that Lust and Humphreys also maintained a BlogTalkRadio page under the name The Bryan Humphreys Show, but much of the content had also been removed from that site.
Once aware of the show, which was often peppered with profanity, Kapaku alerted Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Deborah Flores.
“The material I listened to was very objectionable and unacceptable,” Flores said after listening to one of the shows. “I believe this and I have said it to all administrators: We are public officials and even though we have personal lives, we always wear that public official hat. We have to constantly be aware of our role in the community.”
Although Flores said she hoped none of the students had heard the show, “students are better at accessing technology than we are and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they’d seen it.”
Entering a prospective job candidate’s name into online search engines is now standard practice for the school district, Flores said. But when the district hired Lust before last school year, Google didn’t turn up anything on The HumperLust Show, Flores said.
Job “finalists will be Googled,” she said.
“He’s done a good job at South Valley and had a good year so this is very unfortunate,” Flores said. “But in my view, this does affect one’s ability to be a good role model for children. Both the content and the foul language are unacceptable.”
Kapaku said Lust’s blogging and online radio show didn’t affect his work.
“It was a hobby done on his own time,” he said. “In carrying out his duties as (assistant principal), it hasn’t interfered.”
Flores wouldn’t say whether the district would be taking disciplinary action other than “the situation is being addressed as we speak.”
Trustees voted unanimously to release a middle school assistant principal at a Feb. 25 school board meeting. However, Flores would not say if that assistant principal was Lust.
Parents said they were shocked by the news that their assistant principal hosted such an online show, but conceded that the line between a person’s professional and private life was a fine one.
South Valley Parent Club President Chrissy Hebert said she had never heard Lust mention his online radio show.
“Obviously I had no clue about it,” Hebert said. “But what you do in your off time is private. I don’t think it’s a concern. I don’t know if that’s naive.”
Hebert said she doubted her children had listened to any of Lust’s shows or read his blogs because she limits their children’s access to the Internet.
“I think it’s a very fine line that can get crossed if you’re not very careful,” Hebert said.
