If you read between the lines, here is a openly gay man who is taking advantage of a young 17 year old which is a great reason not to have gay leaders should not be allowed to lead student groups like the Boy Scouts!
Conservative Tom
Orr to strip Pugh of Detroit City Council duties, pay
Separately, council president accused by family's lawyer of 'inappropriate relationship' with teen he mentored
Detroit Council President Charles Pugh (David Guralnick/The Detroit News)
Detroit — City Council President Charles Pugh could soon be out of a paycheck and is facing allegations he “tried to seduce” a teen student he once mentored, according to representatives of the youth’s mother.
On the same day Pugh — who has been missing from City Hall for days — missed a 5 p.m. deadline to show up for work, attorneys of a Detroit mother went public with allegations that Pugh had an “inappropriate relationship” with her son, removing him from class without her permission and showering him with gifts.
The attorney, Ivan Land, accused Pugh of buying a then-17-year-old at Frederick Douglass Academy a $350 cellphone, clothes for the prom and gave him $160 in cash. The two met last fall through a leadership program Pugh led at the school.
“It went way past what a teacher-student relationship consists of,” said Land, at a press conference in his Oak Park office. “(The mother) realized that Charles Pugh was taking her kid out of school (alone). She was very upset.”
When asked repeatedly about the relationship, Land would only say it was an “inappropriate relationship” and the district should have done more to protect the boy.
Family spokesman Skip Mongo told reporters Pugh “was in a position of authority and he tried to seduce this young man.”
A lawsuit could be filed within days, the attorney said. The accusations came the same day Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr began the process of stripping Pugh of his $76,000 salary and duties and title as council president. Pugh has been away from City Hall for about 10 days and sought a four-week medical leave on Tuesday.
Orr rejected the request and set the deadline. When it passed, Orr ordered attorneys to began writing an order to strip Pugh’s salary, said Bill Nowling, a spokesman for the emergency manager.
“He’s still a council member,” Nowling said. “If (the order) is signed he’ll just be a council member without a paycheck.”
Nowling declined to address the allegations involving the student, saying it would be “inappropriate.”
Attempts to reach Pugh, who is openly gay, were unsuccessful Wednesday. Ramona Prater, his chief of staff, said she hadn’t heard from Pugh on Wednesday and didn’t know where he was.
“I don’t know anything,” she said.
Land said he intends to sue Pugh, the City of Detroit and Detroit Public Schools in the next few days for more than $25,000. He wouldn’t disclose the name of the mother or son, who is now 18.
Detroit Public Schools spokesman Steve Wasko confirmed Wednesday the district received a complaint from a parent about Pugh in early June.
“At the time, the school reached out to the parent who stated that she would prefer to handle the matter personally. The school has since contacted the parent again in writing seeking to resolve the concerns, and is awaiting a response,” Wasko said. “The school and the district will fully review the program in question.”
Keith Johnson, president of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, the teacher’s union at DPS, said Pugh has always encouraged young men in Detroit to lead upright lives, be positive and avoid all the trappings of inner city life. Allegations that Pugh provided gifts, including cash, don’t mean he did something improper, Johnson said.
“It would not surprise me if he paid for prom and (a) hotel room especially if the parents can’t pay for it. If that is the case I would say it’s innocuous and I wouldn’t read more into that. We have a number of teachers who pay for kids to attend prom. I’ve paid for kids to get tuxedos,” Johnson said. “A cellphone? That’s a bit much.”
Land said Pugh and the teen talked on the phone and exchanged text messages. Pugh used a city-owned car to pick up the teen from school without his mother’s permission, Land said, adding that doing so is a crime.
“I have text messages to substantiate some of the things I am telling you. ... DPS had a duty to protect my client. He was sent to school to learn,” said Land, who declined to provide the text messages to reporters Wednesday.
The mother never went to police because “Charles Pugh at the time was the second-most powerful person in Detroit,” Mongo said.
Land said the mother learned of the relationship May 31 and complained to school officials on June 3. She also complained to Pugh, who began to harass her and offered her a job, Mongo said. Pugh didn’t specify the nature of the job.
DPS officials contacted the mother on Tuesday, Land said, and asked her to meet with Pugh and the school’s principal. She refused, Land said.
“It started with a inappropriate relationship with the son but it spilled over into harassment of the mother,” said Mongo, a Detroit political consultant. “The telephone calls all through the night, text messages, emails, after she begged this man to stop. He wanted her not to talk to anyone, media or the authorities. She wanted her son left alone.”
Berry Greer, principal at Frederick Douglass Academy for Young Men, said last week he was aware of allegations against Pugh by a student who was a senior at the school and has since graduated. Greer said he could not discuss specifics of the allegation.
“I cannot comment. … We’ve reached out to the parents,” Greer said.
Whether the district would allow Pugh to mentor seniors this fall, Greer said: “We are going to look into that. I would rather not comment now.”
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130626/METRO01/306260112#ixzz2XQCU0vaj
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