KHQ Right Now - News and Weather for Spokane and North Idaho | Bar feels heat after scheduling Mary Kay Letourneau 'Hot for Teacher' night

Bar feels heat after scheduling Mary Kay Letourneau 'Hot for Teacher' night

SEATTLE, Wash. - Bars and clubs often promote wild or suggestive theme nights, but one is sparking public debate over their "Hot for Teacher" night because of the host and DJ.

Mary K. Letourneau, a former teacher who pled guilty to raping then-elementary student Vili Fualaau, is hosting the event Saturday at the Fuel Sports Bar in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood.

Letourneau, now 47, served 7 1/2 years in prison after she was convicted of raping Vili Fualaau, now 26.

They were married four years ago this week.

Fualaau, now Letourneau's husband, will be DJ that night.

"I realize a lot of people take it in the wrong way," said bar owner Mike Morris. "But at the same time, I feel like, since she has served her time and they are married by the state of Washington, that it's all in good fun."

Letourneau served six-and-a-half years in prison for child rape, but maintained contact with Fualaau, who also fathered two of her children.

"In their adulthood they've fallen in love and they're trying to live their life," said Morris.

Some parents say that should mean leaving things in the past rather than making light of the crime.

"So let it be, move on, go on with your life," said Ally Buckley, who was playing with her children at a Seattle park. "You don't need to be promoting it. I mean it sounds like promoting it to me."

"Certainly people like Mary K. Letourneau deserve another chance," said Joshua Moore, a teacher who once taught in the same district as LaTourneau. "But at the same time I think this brings up issues related to the student teacher interactions that are serious problems."

"While I think I understand that something like this is in jest, I also don't think it's appropriate," he added.

Morris does say he'd never consider something like this if the case was still active, and adds they plan to continue having Letourneau and Fualaau around for more "Hot For Teacher" nights.

The couple first met when Fualaau was in the second grade. Their relationship became sexual when he was 12 and she was a 34-year-old married mother of four.