The Segarra campaign launched an advertisement tonight slamming Luke Bronin. Right now the ad is only available on social media, and since Segarra's campaign is essentially broke, I am not sure where they intend to air it. Hopefully anyone that does air it will get the cash up front to make sure they get paid Segarra recently had to loan his own campaign $19,000 to stay afloat. By looking at his filings and what he has been paying for campaign consultants, media consultants and high priced campaign staffers, that loan won't last long and new fundraising contributions seem to be few and far between accordong to the reports. The ad also seems to be less than factual.
Segarra seems to take Bronin for task for not doing enough for Hartford during his tenure in the Governor's Office. Bronin was a staffer at Governor Malloy's Office, and while no one can deny that Bronin was well respected by Malloy, he was a staffer, not a policy maker. I think that is why we elect a Mayor as well as State Reps to advocate for us at the Capitol. If Segarra needs to point a finger, maybe he should consider pointing the finger at himself if his relationships at the Capitol were and are nonexistent and he couldn't even get the State to buy into his baseball stadium.
Maybe instead of being so busy handing out jobs at City Hall to family members of a couple State Reps to gain their endorsements for his campaign, he might have considered lobbying them for things he claims Hartford needs. That is the Mayor's job, not the job of the Governor's Legal Counsel. And just as a side note, for anyone that knows Governor Malloy, he is a very demanding tough boss. If Bronin as not extremely competent in his position, he would have never lasted in the Malloy Administration. I very seriously doubt Segarra could ever say the same thing.
The ad also makes claims about one donor to Bronin''s campaign but gives no specifics except a quick flash of some text on the screen It also claims Bronin lied to voters about magnet schools causing the Hartford Federation of Teachers to rescind their endorsement of Bronin. I think the real facts were that Bronin accepted donations from two people who were openly supportive of Magnet Schools. The HFT demanded Bronin return the donations, which he didn't, so they withdrew their support. It sounds a little shady of the HFT to attempt to blackmail a candidate through their endorsement. I think it also says something abut a candidate who won't buckle to Union pressure, but instead sticks by what he believes in. Isn't that a novel idea, a politician with a backbone who can stand on his own.
The ad also makes the claim that Bronin cut aid for youth and prevention services while in the Governor's Office and he denied humanitarian aid to thousands of immigrant children. Ir sounds atrocious, but I also understand for Segarra to understand how Government works is tough, As a failed bankrupt attorney the laws and how they work probably aren't Pedro's strong point, probably even weaker than his Mayoral skills. A quick review if the Connecticut Constitution and applicable statutes seem to give very little, if any, power to the Governor's Legal Counsel to pass laws or appropriate money as Segarra's false ad seems to imply Bronin neglected to do.
We got rid of a conman in the Mayor's Office five years ago, it's time again to send this one packing also.
In the end, the announcer says to tell Bronin the people of Hartford are "smarter than that?. Yes Mr. Segarra, we are, we recognize a baseless ad when we see it and I hope you find out this week how smart the people of Hartford really are, We are not falling for your crap anymore, five years is enough.
Here is the far less than factual advertisement..
Saturday, September 12, 2015
PEDRO SEGARRA AND THE ADMITTED PEDOPHILE PRIEST
Admitted Pedophile, former priest Lou Paturzo supports Pedro Segarra
As the old saying goes, we are judged by the company we keep. Imagine my surprise a couple weeks ago when I saw Pedro Segarra proudly tweeting out a picture of one of his supporters. I recognized the person in the picture as Lou Paturzo, a former Catholic priest who was accused of molesting young boys while he was a Catholic priest. Paturzo was apparently removed from the priesthood by the Archdiocese of Hartford after he admitted to his deviant acts and to molesting the boys while he was assigned to a parish in Waterbury and acting as a basketball coach for boys.
Paturzo, who admitted to the claims made by the two men, was stripped of his priestly faculties by the archdiocese,
News articles related to the molestation and Paturzo's removal as a priest are below from at least 3 different newspaper articles at the time. Paturzo's actions , as well as those of other priests sexually molesting boys resulted in a Civil judgement against the Archdiocese of Hartford in excess of $22 million dollars.
In campaign filings released this week, he Segarra campaign also lists Paturzo as a consultant that they have paid at least $2400.00 . Is this the best we can do ? What's next? A Segarra appointment to the City's Youth Services Department?
According to the filing, Segarra paid Paturzo at least 4 payments of $600.00 each during the filing period.
The full campaign filing reports for Segarra can be viewed here, http://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2015/09/hartford-mayoral-campaign-filings-for-9.html the Paturzo listing is on page 98
From the Hartford Courant
An Arizona
man is suing the Hartford archdiocese for sexual abuse he says was
committed in the 1970s by the Rev. Louis Paturzo, a well-known activist
priest who worked with the city's troubled youth until the first
accusations against him surfaced in 2002.Edward Cerninka was a seventh-grade student at The Reverend Daniel Barry Junior High School
in Hamden when he met Paturzo in 1976.
According
to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New Haven Superior Court, Paturzo was
assigned to the Blessed Sacrament Church in Hamden, which was next door
to the school, and helped coach the basketball team, which is how he met Cerninka.
In late 1976, Paturzo befriended Cerninka's parents and then asked Cerninka to play on the travel team.
According the lawsuit, Paturzo first molested Cerninka in late 1976 and the abuse continued through August 1978. Cerninka's attorney, Thomas McNamara, declined to describe the alleged abuse.
Two men who accused Paturzo in 2002 said he fondled them in the early 1970s, when he was working as a deacon but had not yet been ordained
.
Paturzo, who admitted to the claims made by the two men, was stripped of his priestly faculties by the archdiocese, and he resigned from his part-time job
as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School in Hartford. The
archdiocese paid out $22 million in 2005 to settle claims against 14 of
its priests, including Paturzo.
Most recently, Paturzo was known to be working as the director of the New Day transitional program for criminal offenders in Hartford. Attempts to reach Paturzo Wednesday were unsuccessful.
The lawsuit claims that church officials failed to report complaints about Paturzo's sexually abusing at least one other minor to the proper authorities. According to McNamara, the church knew Paturzo was molesting boys before he befriended Cerninka.
McNamara said he interviewed the parents
of one of Paturzo's earlier victims, who told him they reported the
priest's behavior to his superior at Blessed Sacrament Church in the
fall of 1976. The priest then promised the boy's parents it would not
happen again, McNamara said.
The Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the Hartford archdiocese, said Wednesday that the archdiocese has a policy of not commenting publicly on ongoing litigation. He also said Paturzo, while not officially defrocked by the Vatican, can no longer present himself or function as a priest.
"He cannot claim to be a priest, and he cannot dress like a priest," Gatzak said.
Paturzo, who was ordained in 1973, was sent for evaluation and treatment at two psychiatric institutions in the 1990s after the archdiocese received an anonymous complaint by a mother
who accused him of fondling her son while he was serving as a deacon in
Hamden. Although that complaint was investigated by state police, it
was not proven.
The second allegation against Paturzo was filed in February of 2002 by a man who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972.
When that complaint became public, so did the other, and Paturzo was removed from active ministry.
Contact Elizabeth Hamilton at ehamilton@courant.com.
The suit, filed in Superior Court in New Haven by attorney Thomas M. McNamara of the New Haven firm of McNamara & Goodman, claims that the former priest, Louis Paturzo, sexually abused the plaintiff from 1976 to 1978 when he was a student at the former Rev. Daniel J. Barry Junior High School in Hamden.
The suit says that Paturzo, who was a priest at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Hamden, befriended the plaintiff's parents and in late 1976 asked the boy -- then in seventh grade -- to play on a traveling basketball team that he coached.
The New Haven Register is withholding the plaintiff's name because it does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
The suit claims Paturzo "had the proclivity to sexually abuse, sexually exploit and sexually assault minor children," and that the archdiocese and its employees failed to supervise his interaction with minors, failed to investigate and report his suspicious conduct, and failed to inform or warn others of his conduct, among other allegations.
Paturzo has been accused of sexual abuse before and is no longer working as a priest, according to the Rev. John P. Gatzak, spokesman for the archdiocese. Gatzak on Wednesday didn't have any information about where Paturzo is now.
McNamara said the abuse had a "deleterious effect" on the plaintiff's life and that now, at 43, he has "finally realized it was time to stand up for himself and take back what was taken from him."
The fact that the incidents went unreported to authorities at the time was another example of the "we protect our own" mentality, McNamara said. "I've been doing these cases since 1992, and I've never had knowledge of any priest or bishop complying with the mandate of reporting" to police.
But Gatzak said things have changed since the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops passed the charter for the protection of children and young people in 2002. The penalty for being accused of sexual abuse is that one can no longer function as a priest, he said. Priests are mandated to immediately report alleged sexual abuse on the part of other priests to the authorities and the archbishop, he said.
"The church has made remarkable progress" in the protection of young people against such crimes, and is committed to making sure history doesn't repeat itself, Gatzak said.
The archdiocese several years ago paid $22 million to settle sexual abuse claim
Priest's Past Overtakes Him
By Matt Burgard and Maurice Timothy Reidy
Hartford Courant [Connecticut]
May 18, 2002
For almost 30 years, the Rev. Louis Paturzo's secret stayed hidden from the world, driving him, he said, to find redemption in his work in Hartford's poorest neighborhoods.
On Friday, Paturzo resigned from his job at a Hartford middle school after acknowledging two complaints that he fondled adolescent boys in the early 1970s.
Paturzo, best known for his work with troubled youths in the city — a ministry that included mediating between violent street gangs during the lethal drug wars of the early 1990s — said he could not discuss specifics of the allegations.
But he said he has carried with him the guilt and embarrassment of the acts of a sexually confused young man, and the hope that 21 years of working with the city's poor residents will lead to forgiveness.
"When people tell me what a great person I am, I can't help but recoil and shake my head," Paturzo, 54, said in an interview with The Courant. "In many ways, I do these things to seek atonement."
In two separate but similar complaints, Paturzo is accused of groping two adolescent boys in the 1970s when he was serving as a deacon, before his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest.
One complaint was filed anonymously in 1993 by a mother who accused Paturzo of fondling her son in Hamden 17 years earlier. Although the complaint was investigated by state police, it was not proven. However, the Hartford archdiocese sent Paturzo to two institutions for psychiatric evaluation and therapy.
The second allegation was filed in February by a man, now in his 40s, who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972. The complainant, a Washington state businessman, has requested a $208,000 settlement from the archdiocese.
Paturzo and a lawyer for the archdiocese both said Friday that the psychiatrists who evaluated Paturzo concluded that he did not pose a threat to young people or the rest of the community.
Paturzo resigned from his part-time job as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School Friday after two interviews with The Courant about the complaints. The school system accepted his resignation and the Hartford archdiocese is investigating the latest complaint.
John W. Sitarz, an archdiocese lawyer, defended the achdiocese's actions in the mid-1990s."I think it's fair to say that responsible action was taken in response to that anonymous complaint. I can't get into details, but in my experience, it was a very appropriate response," he said.
Sitarz said the archdiocese was not aware from the outset that Paturzo was working at Quirk. When officials learned about it, they were assured he was primarily working with adult interns and was supervised when talking to children.
"The only thing that I heard is that in a given case that might be particularly complex, he will sit down with the intern and the student. It's uncommon, but it does happen," Sitarz said.
Paturzo did not deny the allegations made in the complaints, including the most recent one made by a former choirboy in a Waterbury parish. Instead, he spoke of an "immature" 24-year-old deacon whose "stunted" sexual development led to inappropriate acts.
Paturzo's background focuses attention on yet another long-concealed issue within the Catholic church — namely, how to handle priests whose sexual and emotional immaturity makes them a potential threat to young people.
In the most recent complaint, Paturzo is accused of sneaking the victim, who was then 13 or 14, into his room at the rectory at Sacred Heart Church in Waterbury. Paturzo threw the boy onto his bed and licked and nuzzled his face while reaching for his groin, according to the victim's complaint sent to the archdiocese.
When the victim, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Robert, resisted, Paturzo seemed confused and told the boy to relax, saying they could have fun wrestling and playing, according to the victim's complaint.
In several letters to the Hartford archdiocese, Robert said he felt ashamed for waiting almost 30 years to bring the allegations to light, but felt compelled to act in the midst of the ongoing national church sexual abuse scandal.
Robert has also asked the church to consider offering the monetary settlement for the damages allegedly caused by Paturzo. He said he has managed to live a productive life despite the trauma of his alleged encounter with "Deacon Louie," as he calls Paturzo in his letters.
"The way I was raised as an Irish Catholic, this was a priest. You never said anything against a priest," Robert said. "I feel if I had done something, maybe I could have saved some [other] kids."
Sitarz said Hartford Archbishop Daniel Cronin, who earlier this week agreed to notify state authorities of all sexual abuse allegations against priests, has not decided what action to take if the allegations against Paturzo are confirmed.
"The sad fact is that he's been doing great work," Sitarz said, echoing comments by other city officials and community activists. "But if our policy says ABC has to happen, it will happen."
Robert's complaint came nine years after a similar complaint was lodged against Paturzo, this one in the form of an anonymous letter sent by a woman who saw the priest on the TV news. The woman, who did not identify herself, was alarmed to see that state police were donating a van to support Paturzo's Hartford youth initiatives. She accused the priest of fondling her son in the 1970s while he was assigned to a church in Hamden, according to three law enforcement sources.
State police made inquiries about the letter to Paturzo and the archdiocese, but no further action was taken because the victim could not be identified, sources said.
But the archdiocese took action anyway, sending Paturzo to the Institute of Living in Hartford for short outpatient treatment and an out-of-state institution for five months of inpatient treatment. Stan Wasilewski, a retired Hartford police officer who served on the department's gang task force, said he called the archdiocese after learning of the state police investigation. Wasilewski, who like many of his colleagues on the task force were suspicious of Paturzo's relationships with gang members, said he asked them to remove Paturzo from Hartford.
"This is a guy who should not be working with teenagers, period. The archdiocese and the school district should never have let him take this position. It's outrageous."
In the same time period, Paturzo was transferred to a new church. When Wasilewski learned Paturzo was back in Hartford about a year later, Wasilewski said he called the archdiocese to complain again but was told Paturzo was fit to remain in the city ministry.
Jacqueline Hardy, a Hartford public school spokeswoman, said the district reluctantly accepted Paturzo's resignation Friday.
"It's really a tragedy because of all the tremendous things he has accomplished and contributed to the young people of this city," she said, adding that counselors will be on hand to talk about the priest's resignation when students return to school Monday. "Everyone is really upset. These allegations are really a surprise."
Hardy said the district conducted a thorough background check on Paturzo when he was hired to work at Quirk three years ago. The priest was asked to take the job by school officials who thought he would be ideal for addressing issues of violence and anger management under a federal grant, working out of Quirk's Student and Family Assistance Center. He was brought in to deal with those issues after the school shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.
Paturzo also works part time as a prison chaplain at three correctional centers for adults in Connecticut while participating in many Hartford community improvement agencies such as the city drug and alcohol commission.
In separate interviews, the downcast, unassuming Paturzo confessed that much of the good work he has done in his 21 years in Hartford has been done with an impulse to right the wrongs of his past.
In the dead of night, "Father Lou," as the Hartford kids call him, was known to leave his apartment to go to the home of a poor Hartford family whose son has been killed in a gang fight. Many times, Paturzo has presided over funerals of young men cut down in the city's relentless and merciless turf wars.
And throughout, whenever Paturzo won yet another accolade for his commitment to the city's youth, he said he often thought of the boys whose lives were damaged by the "boundaries" he crossed all those years ago.
At times, he said, he felt confident that his hard work and devotion to the community had earned him redemption.
"I can say with a clear conscience that in 21 years in Hartford there has never been a kid who could say I behaved immorally or inappropriately toward them," he said. "I'm not the same priest who came to Hartford 21 years ago. I've grown up."
But in recent weeks, he said he has observed with dread the black cloud that now hangs over his church. He has seen the televised images of priests such as John Geoghan of Boston being dragged into court on charges of sexually abusing young boys.
Now Paturzo said he fears the revelations of his past will destroy not only his prospects for continuing to work in the city, but also the fragile relationships he has forged with many vulnerable young people and their families.
"If this was just about me, I'd have no problem letting the secrets out because they've been with me so long, it would be like a relief," he said. "But there are a lot of kids out there who rely on me and trust me. I worry about the damage this will cause."
, which is how he met Cerninka.In late 1976, Paturzo befriended Cerninka's parents and then asked Cerninka to play on the travel
team.According the lawsuit, Paturzo first molested Cerninka in late 1976 and the abuse continued through August 1978. Cerninka's attorney, Thomas McNamara, declined to describe the alleged abuse.
Two men who accused Paturzo in 2002 said he fondled them in the early 1970s, when he was working as a deacon but had not yet been ordained
.
Paturzo, who admitted to the claims made by the two men, was stripped of his priestly faculties by the archdiocese, and he resigned from his part-time job
as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School in Hartford. The
archdiocese paid out $22 million in 2005 to settle claims against 14 of
its priests, including Paturzo.Most recently, Paturzo was known to be working as the director
of the New Day transitional program for criminal offenders in Hartford. Attempts to reach Paturzo Wednesday were unsuccessful.The lawsuit claims that church officials failed to report complaints about Paturzo's sexually abusing at least one other minor to the proper authorities. According to McNamara, the church knew Paturzo was molesting boys before he befriended Cerninka.
McNamara said he interviewed the parents
of one of Paturzo's earlier victims, who told him they reported the
priest's behavior to his superior at Blessed Sacrament Church in the
fall of 1976. The priest then promised the boy's parents it would not
happen again, McNamara said.The Rev. John Gatzak, spokesman for the Hartford archdiocese, said Wednesday that the archdiocese has a policy of not commenting publicly on ongoing litigation. He also said Paturzo, while not officially defrocked by the Vatican, can no longer present himself or function as a priest.
"He cannot claim to be a priest, and he cannot dress
like a priest," Gatzak said.Paturzo, who was ordained in 1973, was sent for evaluation and treatment at two psychiatric institutions in the 1990s after the archdiocese received an anonymous complaint by a mother
who accused him of fondling her son while he was serving as a deacon in
Hamden. Although that complaint was investigated by state police, it
was not proven.The second allegation against Paturzo was filed in February of 2002 by a man who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972.
When that complaint became public, so did the other, and Paturzo was removed from active ministry.
Contact Elizabeth Hamilton at ehamilton@courant.com.
Former Hamden priest named in abuse suit
(New Haven Register (New Haven, CT) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Feb. 7--A former Hamden man now living in Arizona has filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Hartford, claiming he was sexually abused by a priest 30 years ago.The suit, filed in Superior Court in New Haven by attorney Thomas M. McNamara of the New Haven firm of McNamara & Goodman, claims that the former priest, Louis Paturzo, sexually abused the plaintiff from 1976 to 1978 when he was a student at the former Rev. Daniel J. Barry Junior High School in Hamden.
The suit says that Paturzo, who was a priest at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Hamden, befriended the plaintiff's parents and in late 1976 asked the boy -- then in seventh grade -- to play on a traveling basketball team that he coached.
The New Haven Register is withholding the plaintiff's name because it does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
The suit claims Paturzo "had the proclivity to sexually abuse, sexually exploit and sexually assault minor children," and that the archdiocese and its employees failed to supervise his interaction with minors, failed to investigate and report his suspicious conduct, and failed to inform or warn others of his conduct, among other allegations.
Paturzo has been accused of sexual abuse before and is no longer working as a priest, according to the Rev. John P. Gatzak, spokesman for the archdiocese. Gatzak on Wednesday didn't have any information about where Paturzo is now.
McNamara said the abuse had a "deleterious effect" on the plaintiff's life and that now, at 43, he has "finally realized it was time to stand up for himself and take back what was taken from him."
The fact that the incidents went unreported to authorities at the time was another example of the "we protect our own" mentality, McNamara said. "I've been doing these cases since 1992, and I've never had knowledge of any priest or bishop complying with the mandate of reporting" to police.
But Gatzak said things have changed since the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops passed the charter for the protection of children and young people in 2002. The penalty for being accused of sexual abuse is that one can no longer function as a priest, he said. Priests are mandated to immediately report alleged sexual abuse on the part of other priests to the authorities and the archbishop, he said.
"The church has made remarkable progress" in the protection of young people against such crimes, and is committed to making sure history doesn't repeat itself, Gatzak said.
The archdiocese several years ago paid $22 million to settle sexual abuse claim
Priest's Past Overtakes Him
By Matt Burgard and Maurice Timothy Reidy
Hartford Courant [Connecticut]
May 18, 2002
For almost 30 years, the Rev. Louis Paturzo's secret stayed hidden from the world, driving him, he said, to find redemption in his work in Hartford's poorest neighborhoods.
On Friday, Paturzo resigned from his job at a Hartford middle school after acknowledging two complaints that he fondled adolescent boys in the early 1970s.
Paturzo, best known for his work with troubled youths in the city — a ministry that included mediating between violent street gangs during the lethal drug wars of the early 1990s — said he could not discuss specifics of the allegations.
But he said he has carried with him the guilt and embarrassment of the acts of a sexually confused young man, and the hope that 21 years of working with the city's poor residents will lead to forgiveness.
"When people tell me what a great person I am, I can't help but recoil and shake my head," Paturzo, 54, said in an interview with The Courant. "In many ways, I do these things to seek atonement."
In two separate but similar complaints, Paturzo is accused of groping two adolescent boys in the 1970s when he was serving as a deacon, before his ordination as a Roman Catholic priest.
One complaint was filed anonymously in 1993 by a mother who accused Paturzo of fondling her son in Hamden 17 years earlier. Although the complaint was investigated by state police, it was not proven. However, the Hartford archdiocese sent Paturzo to two institutions for psychiatric evaluation and therapy.
The second allegation was filed in February by a man, now in his 40s, who said he was groped by Paturzo in a Waterbury rectory in 1972. The complainant, a Washington state businessman, has requested a $208,000 settlement from the archdiocese.
Paturzo and a lawyer for the archdiocese both said Friday that the psychiatrists who evaluated Paturzo concluded that he did not pose a threat to young people or the rest of the community.
Paturzo resigned from his part-time job as a peer mediator consultant at Quirk Middle School Friday after two interviews with The Courant about the complaints. The school system accepted his resignation and the Hartford archdiocese is investigating the latest complaint.
John W. Sitarz, an archdiocese lawyer, defended the achdiocese's actions in the mid-1990s."I think it's fair to say that responsible action was taken in response to that anonymous complaint. I can't get into details, but in my experience, it was a very appropriate response," he said.
Sitarz said the archdiocese was not aware from the outset that Paturzo was working at Quirk. When officials learned about it, they were assured he was primarily working with adult interns and was supervised when talking to children.
"The only thing that I heard is that in a given case that might be particularly complex, he will sit down with the intern and the student. It's uncommon, but it does happen," Sitarz said.
Paturzo did not deny the allegations made in the complaints, including the most recent one made by a former choirboy in a Waterbury parish. Instead, he spoke of an "immature" 24-year-old deacon whose "stunted" sexual development led to inappropriate acts.
Paturzo's background focuses attention on yet another long-concealed issue within the Catholic church — namely, how to handle priests whose sexual and emotional immaturity makes them a potential threat to young people.
In the most recent complaint, Paturzo is accused of sneaking the victim, who was then 13 or 14, into his room at the rectory at Sacred Heart Church in Waterbury. Paturzo threw the boy onto his bed and licked and nuzzled his face while reaching for his groin, according to the victim's complaint sent to the archdiocese.
When the victim, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Robert, resisted, Paturzo seemed confused and told the boy to relax, saying they could have fun wrestling and playing, according to the victim's complaint.
In several letters to the Hartford archdiocese, Robert said he felt ashamed for waiting almost 30 years to bring the allegations to light, but felt compelled to act in the midst of the ongoing national church sexual abuse scandal.
Robert has also asked the church to consider offering the monetary settlement for the damages allegedly caused by Paturzo. He said he has managed to live a productive life despite the trauma of his alleged encounter with "Deacon Louie," as he calls Paturzo in his letters.
"The way I was raised as an Irish Catholic, this was a priest. You never said anything against a priest," Robert said. "I feel if I had done something, maybe I could have saved some [other] kids."
Sitarz said Hartford Archbishop Daniel Cronin, who earlier this week agreed to notify state authorities of all sexual abuse allegations against priests, has not decided what action to take if the allegations against Paturzo are confirmed.
"The sad fact is that he's been doing great work," Sitarz said, echoing comments by other city officials and community activists. "But if our policy says ABC has to happen, it will happen."
Robert's complaint came nine years after a similar complaint was lodged against Paturzo, this one in the form of an anonymous letter sent by a woman who saw the priest on the TV news. The woman, who did not identify herself, was alarmed to see that state police were donating a van to support Paturzo's Hartford youth initiatives. She accused the priest of fondling her son in the 1970s while he was assigned to a church in Hamden, according to three law enforcement sources.
State police made inquiries about the letter to Paturzo and the archdiocese, but no further action was taken because the victim could not be identified, sources said.
But the archdiocese took action anyway, sending Paturzo to the Institute of Living in Hartford for short outpatient treatment and an out-of-state institution for five months of inpatient treatment. Stan Wasilewski, a retired Hartford police officer who served on the department's gang task force, said he called the archdiocese after learning of the state police investigation. Wasilewski, who like many of his colleagues on the task force were suspicious of Paturzo's relationships with gang members, said he asked them to remove Paturzo from Hartford.
"This is a guy who should not be working with teenagers, period. The archdiocese and the school district should never have let him take this position. It's outrageous."
In the same time period, Paturzo was transferred to a new church. When Wasilewski learned Paturzo was back in Hartford about a year later, Wasilewski said he called the archdiocese to complain again but was told Paturzo was fit to remain in the city ministry.
Jacqueline Hardy, a Hartford public school spokeswoman, said the district reluctantly accepted Paturzo's resignation Friday.
"It's really a tragedy because of all the tremendous things he has accomplished and contributed to the young people of this city," she said, adding that counselors will be on hand to talk about the priest's resignation when students return to school Monday. "Everyone is really upset. These allegations are really a surprise."
Hardy said the district conducted a thorough background check on Paturzo when he was hired to work at Quirk three years ago. The priest was asked to take the job by school officials who thought he would be ideal for addressing issues of violence and anger management under a federal grant, working out of Quirk's Student and Family Assistance Center. He was brought in to deal with those issues after the school shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado.
Paturzo also works part time as a prison chaplain at three correctional centers for adults in Connecticut while participating in many Hartford community improvement agencies such as the city drug and alcohol commission.
In separate interviews, the downcast, unassuming Paturzo confessed that much of the good work he has done in his 21 years in Hartford has been done with an impulse to right the wrongs of his past.
In the dead of night, "Father Lou," as the Hartford kids call him, was known to leave his apartment to go to the home of a poor Hartford family whose son has been killed in a gang fight. Many times, Paturzo has presided over funerals of young men cut down in the city's relentless and merciless turf wars.
And throughout, whenever Paturzo won yet another accolade for his commitment to the city's youth, he said he often thought of the boys whose lives were damaged by the "boundaries" he crossed all those years ago.
At times, he said, he felt confident that his hard work and devotion to the community had earned him redemption.
"I can say with a clear conscience that in 21 years in Hartford there has never been a kid who could say I behaved immorally or inappropriately toward them," he said. "I'm not the same priest who came to Hartford 21 years ago. I've grown up."
But in recent weeks, he said he has observed with dread the black cloud that now hangs over his church. He has seen the televised images of priests such as John Geoghan of Boston being dragged into court on charges of sexually abusing young boys.
Now Paturzo said he fears the revelations of his past will destroy not only his prospects for continuing to work in the city, but also the fragile relationships he has forged with many vulnerable young people and their families.
"If this was just about me, I'd have no problem letting the secrets out because they've been with me so long, it would be like a relief," he said. "But there are a lot of kids out there who rely on me and trust me. I worry about the damage this will cause."
HELP WITH THE FINAL PUSH
This is primary week in Hartford (be sure to get out and vote this Wednesday) In the meantime, don't leave a Bronin victory to chance.it looks good, but it is not over yet. Talk to your neighbors and friends, remind them to get out and vote Wednesday, every vote counts.
Don't let dirty politics and corrupt politicians set the direction of Hartford. Make this primary a landslide of support for change. Make this primary a landslide of support for real progress for the course of Hartford , with realistic goals that make sense for our City. Not more deals that plunge us into unbearable debt for another few decades.
There is not a lot of time left, if you can, take a minute to call the Bronin campaign and see how you can help at 860-598-5853, phone calls, door knocking, poll standing can all make a difference.
Most importantly, get out and vote Wednesday, don't leave it to someone else. And more importantly VOTE LUKE, Vote row A. Remember "A" for advancing Hartford forward.
Friday, September 11, 2015
HARTFORD MAYORAL CAMPAIGN FILINGS FOR 9-2-15
Campaign filings were due this week for the Hartford Mayoral Primary taking place next Wednesday. Endorsed Democratic candidate Luke Bronin was very busy, both in campaigning and fundraising. Lukes campaign submitted over 260 pages of activity, documenting almost $260,000 in donations
The Segarra campaign submitted paperwork for the same period documenting a little over $50,000 . Segarra also showed that apparently he is running his campaign the same way he is running City Hall...at a deficit. Segarra apparently had to loan his campaign $19,000 to cover his fundraising shortfalls.
And to those who will start grabbing these documents to post elsewhere, please remember to credit where you took them from .
And a special thanks and recognition to the Office of Hartford's City Clerk, specifically City Clerk John Bazzano and Eric Lusa for your assistance. Transparency and openness for public documents is alive and well there.
Luke (1)
LUKE (2)
The Segarra campaign submitted paperwork for the same period documenting a little over $50,000 . Segarra also showed that apparently he is running his campaign the same way he is running City Hall...at a deficit. Segarra apparently had to loan his campaign $19,000 to cover his fundraising shortfalls.
And to those who will start grabbing these documents to post elsewhere, please remember to credit where you took them from .
And a special thanks and recognition to the Office of Hartford's City Clerk, specifically City Clerk John Bazzano and Eric Lusa for your assistance. Transparency and openness for public documents is alive and well there.
Luke (1)
LUKE (3)
SEGARRA (1)
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
ANOTHER GUN OFF THE STREETS BY HPD
On
September 4, 2015, at 6:50 P.m., Hartford Police Department
Officers of the Central Conditions Unit and Central Community
Service Officers observed a 2002 Infinity I35 traveling
northbound on Beacon Street from Capital Avenue. During the
investigation, HPD Officers observed several motor vehicle
violations with the vehicle and conducted a motor vehicle stop
in the area of 156 Beacon Street.
While
approaching the vehicle, HPD Officers observed the operator
reach into the backseat with his right hand. When officers
requested the operator’s credentials, they observed a black
handgun holster tucked into the front waistband of the
operator. Officers also observed at that time, in plain view,
the handle of a firearm protruding from beneath the front
passenger seat. The firearm, a Dan Wesson .357 caliber
revolver (with an obliterated serial number) and six live
rounds were recovered. The HPD Shooting Task Force was
notified. Additionally, the operator had two outstanding
warrants and was arrested and transported to the Hartford
Police Booking Facility for processing.
Recovered:
One Dan
Wesson .357 Caliber Revolver (obliterated serial number) and
six live rounds
Arrested: Brandan Alston,
27, of Hartford, CT
Charges:
1.
No front plate
2.
Operating with a suspended
license
3.
Misuse of
plates
4.
Unregistered motor
vehicle
5.
Insufficient
insurance
6.
Possession of a firearm
without a permit
7.
Weapons in motor
vehicle
8.
Possession of a firearm with
an obliterated serial number
Monday, September 7, 2015
IS ANYONE AT CITY HALL PAYING ATTENTION TO HPD STAFFING, OR IS IT JUST TALK ?
THIS WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED EARLIER THIS YEAR. AS CRIME CONTINUES TO SPIRAL OUT OF CONTROL, I THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE AN OPPORTUNE TIME TO REVISIT THE CONSULTANTS REPORT.
Here is a report commissioned by the Hartford Police Department. Hopefully the report will answer some of the staffing questions for HPD such as what are the proper number of Officers that should be at HPD. It is very dry reading, but it is informative
Hartford Police Department Staffing and Deployment Analysis 3-02-201 (2)
Here is a report commissioned by the Hartford Police Department. Hopefully the report will answer some of the staffing questions for HPD such as what are the proper number of Officers that should be at HPD. It is very dry reading, but it is informative
Hartford Police Department Staffing and Deployment Analysis 3-02-201 (2)
GREAT WORK BY HPD PATROL AND EXCELLENT COMMUNITY HELP
GUN FOUND BY CHILDREN AFTER THROWN BY SUSPECT
On Saturday, September 5th, 2015, Officer Johnny Suarez was assigned to Unit #31, and was patrolling the King Street area. As Officer Suarez drove west on King Street, he observed what he recognized as a street level narcotics transaction taking place in front of 41 King Street. Officer Suarez stopped and exited his patrol car, at which point Accused Soto immediately fled on foot, losing both sneakers. As Soto fled, Officer Suarez observed Soto reaching for his waistband. Officer Suarez pursued Soto on foot at which point he observed Soto remove a black firearm from his waistband. Officer Suarez clearly transmitted via police radio that the suspect was running with a black firearm in his hand
Officer Suarez lost sight of Soto in the area of 9 Crown Street. Patrol and STF units conducted a canvass for Soto. Soto was found hiding on the rear porch of 31-33 Crown Street, with no shoes.
A search incidental to arrest of Soto's clothing yielded a knotted plastic bag containing a white rock like substance, suspected Crack Cocaine. A canvass for the firearm was met with negative results.
On Monday, September 7th, 2015, at 1456 hours, residents at called the Hartford Police
Dispatch Center and advised a child had found a firearm under their front porch. Patrol and STF
Units responded and seized a fully loaded .45 caliber firearm with a chambered round.
Accused Soto, who was still being held at 101 Lafayette Street for arraignment, was de-briefed by Detective Rostkowski and Officer Morande. During the de-brief in a written statement, Soto admitted that the firearm located was the firearm he had been in possession of, and that he had thrown it under the porch as he fled
Per GA14, the additional firearm related charges were added to the arrest.
Great work by Officer Johnny Suarez, assisting Patrol Units and STF.
Firearm Seized;
One .45 Caliber Taurus Pistol color black, containing magazine w/ 9 live rounds and one chambered round,
S/N NXH162
Sunday, September 6, 2015
BRONIN THE RIGHT CHOICE FOR HARTFORD, COURANT ENDORSES BRONIN FOR MAYOR
Was there any other choice?
You can read the Courant's endorsement here.http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-courant-endorsement-in-hartford-democratic-mayor-race-20150906-story.html
You can watch the editorial interviews herehttp://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2015/09/courant-editorial-board-mayoral.html
You can read the Courant's endorsement here.http://www.courant.com/opinion/editorials/hc-ed-courant-endorsement-in-hartford-democratic-mayor-race-20150906-story.html
You can watch the editorial interviews herehttp://wethepeoplehartford.blogspot.com/2015/09/courant-editorial-board-mayoral.html