Monday night, the Common Council’s Ordinance Committee starts an investigation into how the city handled the incident through the summer of 2005. Galen Wells and Alex Knopp, predictably think the investigation is all about them. Ah well, if you think the world revolves around you, I suppose that makes sense.
But the incident was never really about Wells, or Knopp ,but rather what “Todd” did to the boy, and how the city failed to protect its more vulnerable citizens. You see, its pretty reprehensible to be thinking about how, as Wells said to Max Breslow of the Norwalk Advocate, that her family will be embarrassed. Doesn’t Wells think that maybe its the boy who might have been embarrassed?
As for Alex Knopp, who says that he barred Pagano’s from being assigned to Pagano’s after this incident, Knopp thinks he made no mistakes. People who think they don’t make mistakes can’t learn from them and thus make better decisions in the future. And this belief, in learning from mistakes, is at the heart of the investigation.
In 2005, the way in which the summer youth programs was handled was riddled with questionable decisions. Darlene Young, who Wells now thinks is a capable manager of the summer youth jobs program, was removed from that position in 2005. The program was run out of the mayor’s office by David Watts.
For the 2006 Summer Youth Program, Darlene Young was returned to the position, and apparently made a phone call to Pagano’s to check if they were still participating in the program. Now Alex Knopp just said to the Advocate that that couldn’t have happened because “he barred” Pagano’s from the program. Strangely, Wells also has come up with the statement to the Advocate that Young was told about the incident.
And why would Knopp have “barred” Pagano’s unless he conducted some investigation himself, that concluded that Pagano’s fostered a negative environment for youth? The incident was not about Pagano’s operation, it was about one guy, “Todd”, who had a peculiar interest in porn and showing it to children.
Chief Rilling is still clinging to his “the mother didn’t want a complaint filed” excuse. Somehow he missed the training class that says when children are involved, a reporting agency is enough to send out the investigators. And the investigators that should have been sent out should have gone after “Todd.” From the Advocate:
Knopp said he ensured police were notified about the 2005 incident as soon as he found out about it.
Chief Harry Rilling last week said police could not complete an investigation because the boy’s mother did not want to file a complaint.
Coffey, a Democrat who is at odds with Knopp and Wells, said he placed the Ordinance Committee investigation on the panel’s agenda for the meeting at 8 p.m. tomorrow at City Hall. The probe is not a political stunt, Coffey said.
He said the city also likely needs an internal guideline stating that if anything similar to the 2005 incident occurs, it must be reported to the state Department of Children and Families. He said he believes Knopp’s office was required by law, as a “mandatory reporter,” to inform the DCF of the incident.
I continue to find it strange that the Police never bothered to interview “Todd” to at least get a statement from him of whether he denied or admitted to the incident. Apparently Pagano’s determined that he must have done something, because according to Wells, “Todd” was fired.
For all we know, “Todd” is now gainfully employed at some other Norwalk business, that may be participating in the Summer Youth Program. And this is the predicament that we all should be a little more mindful of.
“It appears that an incident report was never filed with . . . the state DCF within 48 hours, as required by state statute,” Coffey said.
In addition to ensuring that the incident was reported to police, Knopp said he barred job program participants from being assigned to Pagano’s. The police report about the incident proves no one tried to hide anything, Knopp said.
“This is a transparent, political, phony investigation to discredit the Democratic Town Committee chairwoman and has no conceivable link to any attempt to fashion an ordinance, two years after the events,” Knopp said, also calling the probe an effort “to try to injure me as collateral damage.”
Wells called the Ordinance Committee investigation needless. She said it appears to be an attempt to embarrass her family, and she expressed concern the probe could hurt participation in the summer job program.
So it will be interesting to see which versions of Galen Wells and Alex Knopp show up to the hearing on Monday night. Will they provide enough details so that the committee can understand what happened that week in July of 2005, or will they continue to stonewall and deny that any mistakes were made?
I hope that they stop thinking like rube lawyers, and start thinking like concerned parents. Improving how incidents such as this one are handled is paramount. Determining if “Todd” is a sexual predator is still just as relevant today as it was in 2005. It’s just a shame that a series of steps were taken that did not lead to answering that question about Todd in 2005.
source: Norwalk Advocate, Councilman wants probe into ‘05 incident, , April 29 2007
