Enid Teacher being treated at mental hospital

Tuesday, January 18th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ENID, Okla. (AP) -- A junior high school teacher charged last week with possessing obscene material is being treated at a state mental hospital, authorities say. Dennis E. Addington, 50, had been free on bond after being charged Friday with having a computer disk that contained pornographic pictures of juvenile boys.

Police responding to a call at his house Sunday found Addington sitting at a kitchen table crying when officers arrived, a police report said. He was writing a note to his girlfriend that said he "just wanted to die," the report said. Emergency workers treated Addington for drug overdose at the house before taking him to a local hospital.

He was transferred Sunday night to Western State Hospital at Fort Supply, where he will be kept for observation. A court hearing could be held later this week to determine his mental competency. Addington, a math teacher the past 26 years at Waller Junior High, has been placed on medical leave, Enid Superintendent Garland"Kem" Keithly said Monday. If convicted of the one charge, Addington faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.