Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Another Editor ways in on changing Toth Park name

Here is another Editor for the Easton Courier Newspaper seeing the obvious reality of Toth Park name being changed to set a good example for future generations



Bid to rename Toth Park continues

LARISSA LYTWYN, Editor
August 03, 2006
Plagued with severe health problems, Michael Powel still is fighting to convince town leaders to change the name of Toth Park.
"Leaving the name the way it is gives credence to what [Stephen] 'Skipper' Toth was: a pedophile," Powel told the Courier Monday.
Powel, 48, a Florida resident, is one of at least five men who allege Toth, now deceased, molested them in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Two years ago, after hearing from Powel and the other men, the Board of Selectmen and Parks and Recreation Department officials agreed at a joint meeting to leave the name as it is."The first time Powel came to us [in 2001], we didn't think he had enough evidence to support his case," said First Selectman William Kupinse earlier this week. "When he came to us again, he had more information to provide."Kupinse said the selectmen also heard testimony from the four other alleged victims.One of those alleged victims is retired Easton Police Lt. Les Eckert, who also resides in Florida and has continued to speak against the park name. He said Toth tried to tie him down after luring him home.In addition, a Vermont man wrote to Powel's attorney, Helen McGonigle, in 2004 that Toth molested him while driving him home from scout meetings. McGonigle also received testimony from an attorney in Louisiana who grew up in Easton. That man recounted an incident involving him and a friend in the late 1960s at Toth's home, during which Toth allegedly tried to grab them and stuck his hand down the friend's pants. A Florida woman wrote McGonigle that she worked for Toth in his office when she was 15 and 16 years old. She said Toth threatened to tickle her and tie her up.However, Kupinse said town officials also heard positive things about Toth from his supporters, "who were friends who had known him while he was active in the community."Originally known as Easton Park, the site was renamed after Toth died in 1985 to honor his volunteer work in town with the Boy Scouts, Little League, Notre Dame Catholic Church and the Parks and Recreation Department. Toth owned a bus company, Toth Transportation, and never married."Toth Park was named for somebody who did a lot of good for the community," Kupinse said. "[Toth] wasn't there to defend himself against [Powel's] allegations."Powel, who has a brain tumor, first reported the alleged sexual molestation in 2000.A former truck driver, Powel said a trip through Connecticut in early 2000 sparked a number of disturbing flashbacks. "I had repressed those memories for years," Powel said."What [Powel] has been through is unconscionable," said McGonigle.Powel grew up in a large Irish-Catholic household in Bridgeport. His father left the family when Powel was three. "It was a difficult time," McGonigle said. "These [pedophiles] sense the vulnerability."After Powel's memories resurfaced, his first marriage suffered. Powel has since remarried and has two daughters from his first marriage."This experience has taken a major toll on my life, and my health," Powel said. "I don't care about money. I just don't think it's right to have a park kids play in named after a sexual predator."Powel said there was at least one incident in which Toth molested him in what is now Toth Park.Lawsuits underwayPowel said Toth was not the only man who molested him when he was a child and young teen.He won a $10.9 million judgment last July against Carlo Fabbozzi, 78, a former business partner of Toth's. Though the Bridgeport Superior Court jury awarded Powel $5 million, a judge later increased that amount. Fabbozzi did not return calls seeking comment.McGonigle said Fabbozzi doesn't have the full amount the judge approved. No matter, said Powel."It's never been about the money," he said. "It's about what's right."On June 15, Powel filed a lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport."Fabbozzi was a gardener who had a lot of clients, including St. Theresa's Church in Trumbull," McGonigle said. "Fabbozzi was an usher in that church. He was very involved with that parish." Diocese lawyer James Stapleton did not return calls for comment by deadline.At the time Fabbozzi worked at the church, he hired many young employees, including Powel, who was 9 at the time. "[Powel] was injured on the job once while handling lawn equipment," McGonigle said. "We believe the church had fiduciary responsibility. It did not protect [Powel]."In addition, Fabbozzi allegedly introduced a then-12-year-old Powel to the Rev. Joseph Gorecki. Powel said Gorecki sexually assaulted him once in the boy's bathroom at St. Theresa's school in the winter of 1971.In 2003 the diocese agreed to pay settlements to six people who claimed Gorecki abused them in the 1960s and 1970s. Gorecki died in 1988. The Bridgeport Diocese fired Fabbozzi as janitor at St. Theresa's in 2002, after Powel's allegations became public.Diocese attorney James Stapleton did not return calls for comments by deadline.McGonigle said Powel also has a case going to trial involving Brother John Woulfe and the Rev. William Christiansen. Woulfe and Christiansen were instructors at the Chaminade College Prepatory School in Missouri. Powel said both men abused him while he attended the school from 1973 to 1975. Powel is suing Chaminade, Woulfe, Christiansen and Marianist Province, a Catholic religious order that sponsors the school."We anticipate going to trial in the fall," McGonigle said. In the meantime, Powel said he hopes Easton's Board of Selectmen and Parks and Recreation Department will reassess their earlier ruling."I'll be fighting this till I die," he said.
©Easton Courier 2008

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