Hazing victim’s family files suit
January 17, 2009 6:00 AM
FAIRHAVEN — The family of the Fairhaven High School student victimized in the Camp Wishbone hazing incident filed suit Friday in federal court, seeking compensation for the serious physical and emotional injuries caused by the town’s and other individuals’ alleged actions.
“As a direct and proximate result of the defendants’ negligence, the plaintiffs suffered physical injuries, indignities, humiliation, severe emotional distress, mental anguish and invasion of bodily integrity,” stated the complaint, filed on behalf of the Marujo family by their attorneys.
The civil suit stems from a hazing incident during July 2006 in which Matthew Marujo was physically and sexually abused by fellow football teammates who videotaped the abuse.
According to the complaint, the defendants’ actions — and their failures to act — allowed the hazing to happen, thus causing Matthew and his family to suffer emotionally and physically.
Named as defendants in the suit were:
* Robert Baldwin, superintendent of the Fairhaven School District.
* Dana Almeida, the director of Camp Wishbone at the time of the hazing and a former Fairhaven football coach.
* Chris Foster, the head coach of the high school’s football team at the time of the incident. Mr. Foster resigned from that position shortly after the Camp Wishbone incident but returned to coaching this year as Fairhaven’s indoor track coach.
* Scott Francis, the school’s athletic director.
* Jean Cote, the former principal who took a medical leave from his position at the start of the 2007-08 school year and later left the district.
* The Fairhaven School Committee.
* The town of Fairhaven.
* Camp Wishbone, a summer football camp atten
Categories
Not guilty plea — Mepham (update)
Mepham student denies abuse charge
BY MATTHEW CHAYES AND JOHN VALENTI | matthew.chayes@newsday.com; john.valenti@newsday.com
January 17, 2009
A junior at Mepham High School pleaded not guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge that he inappropriately touched a younger student in a locker room as their team was showering, Nassau County police said.
Antoine Saunders, 18, of Bellmore, was arrested Thursday, Nassau police said. The incident occurred Monday at about 5:45 p.m., police said.
Police say the older student touched the boy, 14, after pushing him into a locker “for the purpose of degrading him” during an after-school activity. Authorities have not released the accuser’s identity.
After pleading not guilty Friday at First District Court in Hempstead to a misdemeanor forcible touching charge, Saunders was ordered released without bail on the condition that he have no contact with the accuser. He is due back in court Feb. 19. Citing privacy, authorities would not say what team the boys play for.
Mepham student charged with forcible touching
Incident happened in boys’ locker room during after-school activity, police say
BY MATTHEW CHAYES | matthew.chayes@newsday.com
3:05 PM EST, January 16, 2009
A junior at Mepham High School pleaded not guilty Friday to a misdemeanor charge that he touched an intimate body part of a younger student as the boys’ team showered and changed clothes in the locker room, Nassau County police said Friday.
Police say the older student touched the 14-year-old victim after pushing him into a locker “for the purpose of degrading him” during an after-school activity, police said.
The arrest comes a little more than five years after the Bellmore school was vaulted into the national spotlight for a hazing incident in which varsity football players sexually abused team underclassmen with broomsticks and pine cones.
In the latest incident, police said there was no evidence of organized hazing and that no objects were used against the victim.
“No instruments, just a hand,” said Det. Lt. John Allen, commanding officer of the police special services squad.
Antoine Saunders, 18, of Little Neck Avenue, Bellmore, was arrested Thursday, Nassau police said. The incident occurred Monday at about 5:45 p.m., police said.
After pleading not guilty at First District Court in Hempstead to a forcible touching charge, Saunders was ordered released without bail on the condition that he have no contact with the accuser. He is due back in court Feb. 19.
“You would not be allowed to be back on that team,” Judge Bonnie P. Chaikin told the suspect.
Saunders, who left court with a worker from the group home where he lives, said nothing to reporters and made an obscene gesture to photographers.
His attorney, Matthew Fleischer of Mineola, told Chaikin that Saunders lives in a group home called Hope for Youth “for family reasons.”
Neither police nor school officials specified what team the accused and the victim play for.
A varsity team football roster located on mephamfootball.com lists a player named Antoine Saunders as a defensive end. The site is not affiliated with the school or the Bellmore-Merrick school district.
Superintendent Henry Kiernan said the district “is working closely with local authorities and their investigation.”
“The Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District has a zero-tolerance policy in regards to inappropriate behavior of any kind and expects all students to adhere to our code of conduct,” Kiernan said in a statement.
Kiernan said district administrators were advised Tuesday of “an incident that occurred on the premises of the school district.”
“Upon being notified the district immediately contacted the local law enforcement agency,” he said.
“The district took appropriate disciplinary action,” Kiernan said. The statement did not specify that action.
The victim has not been identified because he is a victim of a sex crime.
Mepham was cast into the national spotlight in 2003 after three varsity football players were arrested and charged in a brutal hazing incident that occurred during training camp in Preston Park, Pa.
During that five-day training camp, prosecutors and police said that four players used broomsticks, pine cones and golf balls to penetrate at least three freshman football players.
Eventually, the four players were arrested in the attacks. Two of those players served time in juvenile facilities in Pennsylvania and two were sentenced to probation. None returned to a Bellmore-Merrick school. Also, the two head coaches who chaperoned the trip were fired from their football jobs and were suspended from their teaching positions.
Staff writer John Valenti contributed to this story.
Knox County sheriff: Do I run my department?
BY WALTER GRIFFIN Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel 01/16/2009
from the Kennebec. ME from the Morning Sentinel
ROCKLAND — Claiming county commissioners have attempted to usurp her authority to run her department, Knox County Sheriff Donna Dennison has filed a lawsuit aimed at clarifying just who is in charge.
Dennison and the Maine Sheriffs’ Association filed the suit in Lincoln County Superior Court last week.
The lawsuit, filed by association attorney Jonathan R. Berry, of Portland, asks the court to determine whether Dennison or the commissioners have oversight over her department.
The commissioners claim the county charter gives them authority through their agent, the county administrator. That includes day-to-day patrol assignments, the conduct of internal investigations and the appointment of deputies.
The commissioners voted last month to assume control of the department when Dennison rebuffed their attempts to discern how she intended to discipline deputies involved in a hazing incident.
The hazing incident involved the use of a stun gun on an off-duty deputy during his bachelor party in 2007. Although she initially withheld the results of her investigation and the subsequent discipline of the six deputies involved, Dennison eventually gave County Administrator Andrew Hart the results of her investigation.
Four of the deputies involved in the stun-gun incident received written letters of reprimand, and one received an oral reprimand.
Action against another deputy is pending arbitration.
The issue of whether Hart or Dennison should mete out discipline to SheriffÃs Department employees was raised during the ongoing contract negotiations with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union representing county employees. The contract expired last month.
Berry said Knox is one of a handful of Maine counties that has adopted a county charter. He said the state law establishing the charter authority specifically omitted giving an administrator authority over the sheriff, district attorney or judge of probate.
“The law could not be more explicit in saying the county commissioners cannot issue orders to a deputy, either on duty or off duty” Berry said Wednesday. “The sheriff is a constitutional office. They are specifically referred to in the state constitution; the county commissioners are not. [The commissioners] were established by the Legislature. Under the constitution, the sheriff reports to the governor.”
County Attorney Peter T. Marchesi said Thursday the issue was ìdistorted and blown well out of proportion.î Marchesi said the commissioners want nothing to do with the day-to-day operation of the department, but simply want to follow the tenets of the charter, which require that the county administrator handle all personnel matters.
Marchesi said the union contract contained ìambiguitiesî that needed to be eliminated. He said the commissioners were attempting to deal with a ìdiscreet area of county governmentî dealing with allegations of misconduct and the imposition of discipline on county employees.
“The simple fact of the matter is that neither the commissioners nor the administrator have any intent or want to have any involvement in the department,” he said.
Berry said the sheriff and the sheriffsà association filed suit to determine whether state laws authorizing county charters also permit the reorganization of county law enforcement administration. He said that while the commissioners have control over the sheriffÃs budget, the sheriff has control over her department, including all decisions effecting its operations.
We acknowledge their power to do what they need to do,î Berry said of the commissioners. ìWeÃre asking the court to rule that we can do our job and make sure that the men and women who serve the public report to one master, if you will.”
Categories
Georgia watch
Douglas Co. Coach, 7 Players Charged in Alleged Hazing Incident
Last Edited: Thursday, 15 Jan 2009, 7:07 PM EST
Created: Thursday, 15 Jan 2009, 6:45 PM EST
A high school basketball coach and seven of his varsity players were arrested Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009 for an alleged hazing incident at Chapel Hill High School in Douglas County. The players are charged with sexual battery and the coach is accused of trying to keep the hazing quiet. Coach Jim Gaylor (shown here) was charged with obstruction, while his players were charged with misdemeanor hazing and sexual battery.
DOUGLAS COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX ATLANTA) – A high school basketball coach and seven of his varsity players were arrested for an alleged hazing incident at Chapel Hill High School in Douglas County. The players are charged with sexual battery and the coach is accused of trying to keep the hazing quiet.
Coach Jim Gaylor was charged with obstruction, while his players were charged with misdemeanor hazing and sexual battery. Three of the players were charged as adults.