WantToBeHealthy:
It saddens me to hear your story when even your own neighbors who must know you are good and taking care of your children would spread such lies and even hurt your children. You can shield them from some of it but best to explain to them that sometimes there are people who are mis-informed and are believing some lies and it will soon calm down.
I too got no help from the police--he showed up at my house, had been drinking and demanded the cops make me turn over 3 guns (unregistered mind you) to him that he said I had (which I did not). Next time he showed up, I turned the burner on the gas stove for a short time, shut it off and called the fire department instead and said I smelled gas. When fire trucks pulled in, he pulled out. Problem solved. They of course found no leak but told me to followup with gas company. I learned this trick from my next door neighbor married to a cop who continuously abused her & she could obviously get no help from the police department so she started calling the fire department and it worked like a charm every time. And if anyone questions you did smell gas.