AJC & Patch Report Community Divided Over Garden Name After Allegations Come to Light
Decatur Metro | April 17, 2011The AJC teased this story online Friday afternoon and then followed up with a front of the Metro section feature this morning.
Decatur High School parents are reconsidering a proposal to name a campus garden in honor of a longtime volunteer who killed himself after being indicted for child pornography.
The Decatur High School PTSA has collected more than $6,100 in donations in honor of architect Bruce Fabrick, who helped start the community garden at the school. The PTSA was looking at a way to memorialize Fabrick, who died in December, by possibly naming the garden after him or adding birdhouses with his name.
Patch also reported on the story this morning.
Don’t have inside info but what I’ve heard is that there was never any intention to name the garden after this individual but rather to honor the many, many posthumous contributions made to the garden in his name. No matter what else is true, no matter how bad, this individual evidently started a wonderful garden and had friends and family who wanted to donate to the garden in his name. We need to have compassion and respect for his family, friends, and colleagues who must be suffering on so many levels.
I’m sorry, I find it hard to find any positive in someone who is involved in child pornography no matter what they have done.
Because I know extremely little about what really happened, and no trial, defense, or legal judgment will ever occur, I am not suggesting that anyone honor anything about the individual. All I hope for is some compassion and respect for those left behind and struggling to deal with this. Whatever happened doesn’t take away from the generous contributions given to the garden from family, friends, and colleagues who were unaware of criminal issues.
Ditto that Karass – such a sad turn of events.
I think it’s important to remember the great things that Bruce did. In elementary school he helped us out with so many things, from helping with fundraisers to creating play production sets. I will always remember Bruce fondly as a one of the parents who made Westchester such a great school.
Did not know him but always heard about the great contributions he made and saw his name on so many volunteer lists; in fact, it’s probably still on many a parent volunteer listserv or list of donors. That’s why this is so painful. Folks are not just struggling with the loss of a friend, fellow parent, neighbor, family member, colleague but also with the loss of what they thought they knew about him. It’s not wrong to be struggling with this. And I’m not sure it’s wrong to remember the positive and wish the negative had never happened.
Since the child porn allegations just came out, I wonder how many people would have donated had they known this death was not a car accident. I think child porn, which according to Renee he admitted to cops he was involved with, pretty much negates everything else. I can’t help but think that wishing the negative never happened is how blind eyes get turned
I heard that donors have the option of requesting that their contributions be returned. I cannot confirm that nor would I know whether anyone requested for theirs back. I would never want to turn a blind eye to child pornography. Given that the AJC seems to have gotten at least one fact wrong, I do not feel that I know all the facts. I cannot answer the question of whether we can remember the positive contributions of someone who may have done something else terrible. If we read history, there’s a lot of that around. I like to believe that most human beings, with the exception of the pathologically and organically evil like Hitler, KKK, and Ted Bundy, are redeemable and can atone for their mistakes. In this case, we won’t have a chance to know. I am mostly concerned with compassion and respect for those left struggling behind.
I wonder what the children forced into child porn would want us to do?
I don’t think we can actually name a school garden after this person. The garden will carry this name “forever”, and there will always be a “legend” around it that concerns his alleged involvement with child porn. Frankly, if I was a member of his family, the last thing I would want is for this garden to be named after him because that would guarantee that this incident and the story surrounding his demise would be relived over and over again as long as the garden existed.
As the current head of the garden, I’d like to make a few comments. First, I am not aware of any plans proposed to name the entire garden for Bruce. I think that enhanced the story, but no one I knew had ever proposed renaming the garden for Bruce. I had supported the creation of a small area in the garden in his honor, but after learning of the serious charges, I feel that would not be appropriate. However, I’m not aware that anyone has tried to deny that the accusations against him were false.
I abhor the exploitation of children and do not condone or excuse what Bruce did.But I knew Bruce as a kind, thoughtful man, who worked tirelessly in that garden. He was not a totally evil man, but I do not pretend to know what spurred him to do what he did.
This has been a terrible week for his family and for those of us who worked in the garden.
I did not learn of these allegations until the AJC reporter contacted me. I am terribly saddened by these revelations and have not found any evidence that Bruce had done anything inappropriate with any students locally, and I’ve asked about it.
If anyone who donated to the garden wishes to have their donation returned, the garden will honor that request. If anyone would like to donate to the garden to further the good that we do in the community garden, just send your donation to Decatur High School in care of the community garden.
I hope that anyone else contemplating viewing images of child pornography would understand the enormous damage this has done to Bruce’s family and friends. Bruce’s widow must be the strongest woman on earth to have survived this, and I would be in favor of honoring her in the garden, although I’m certain she would not want that.
I ask for the community’s compassion for the Fabrick family and the the garden community, who have done nothing wrong other than to work to support a community garden.
I didn’t read the AJC article; I read Renee’s patch article. I don’t think you, karass, would ever willfully ignore a wrong. Hell no! But it’s easy to negate the bad when you know someone. Look, to be 100% honest, I just found out recently that a deceased man I adored as small child and thought of as a surrogate father was involved in an horrific hate crime in 1962. It’s horrible when all the good someone does is negated by horrible behavior in their past, but I can’t help but feel that way. And it is those left behind who suffer, but I don’t think things can really change if we gloss it or excuse it; am I making any sense?
Yes, you make sense, and I don’t think anyone is asking to excuse wrongdoing nor should they. My only point is that those left struggling behind deserve compassion and respect and that generous donations to a wonderful garden are a good thing. That’s my whole point in posting and to let folks know that the AJC got it wrong–there were not plans to name the garden after the individual involved in the article.
I wonder if they got it wrong or the reporter just “misunderstood” Diane!
The reporter got that particular fact wrong, I think, but I do not wish to impugn the reporter, who seems to have accurately reported the other information in the story.
I experienced a similar situation where a “third parent” was caught abusing a child and is now in prison. While I certainly acknowledge the “bad,” I believe there is good and bad in all of us and I feel his mistake does not negate all of the good things my “third parent” did for the community, me, and my peers. People are not that simple. Look at all the “bad” things people do in this world in the name of “good” or the “good” things that ultimately have “bad” results. I do not think a person should be put into the “evil” box while ignoring everything else that person tried to do to contribute to the life of his child, schools, neighbors, and community.
Why not name the garden for the amazing girl who came up with the idea and got it rolling in the first place? Would the family and donors mind that?
At this time, the garden is not considering renaming itself in favor of anyone. Anna Rose Gable is now a student at Yale, and is remarkable.
“Anna Rose Gable is now a student at Yale, and is remarkable.”
+1
While an indictment is not a conviction, it means that there is enough evidence that a Grand Jury has decided that the case can go to trial. That, coupled with his admission (and an admission isn’t necessarily made because a perpetrator feels bad; it’s usually made in the hopes of lessening a sentence or out of fear) does not equal guilt in the eyes of the law, but it is enough to cast a shadow over anything this person has done, and in the case of Child Pornography, it puts into question that person’s motives for any work they did involving children–not matter how positive the products of that work may have been. For the sake of the peace of mind of the students and staff of the school, these things are reason enough not to attach this man’s name to anything.
As with any crime, there are victims in Child Pornography. Possession of Child Pornography should not ever be taken lightly, and as far as I’m concerned (and I’ve been called a bleeding heart liberal so many times, I might as well have it tattooed on my forehead), it would take a hell of a lot to atone for it, including making restitution to every victim.
These people contribute to the absolute ruin of the lives of children while supporting the actions of criminals who I believe CAN be categorized with people like Bundy, Hitler, KKK, etc. because history and statistics have shown that child predators cannot be “cured,” even by means as drastic as castration. They are sick and in need of help, but their criminal acts are heinous and merit long prison sentences to keep them away from their potential victims.
I don’t know why it is so hard to make the point that no one wants to name the garden after the individual involved; the statement about naming the garden in his honor was an AJC error. That was half of the reason for my posting. The other half is that the struggling folks left behind deserve compassion and respect.
“These people contribute to the absolute ruin of the lives of children while supporting the actions of criminals who I believe CAN be categorized with people like Bundy, Hitler, KKK, etc.”
This is taking the situation too far. In no way is child pornography right; and in every way it is wrong, illegal, immoral, and sick. But comparing this man to the likes of “Bundy, Hitler, KKK, etc.” is wrong and shameful. The article states that Bruce had no connection or contact with children anywhere near here. It had been shown that he was not a threat to those around him, which is why the bond had no restrictions on contact with children. There is no denying that what Bruce did was wrong. The Decatur community, however, still lost someone they loved. Whether it was his wife, his daughter, or his friends throughout the community, he had a positive and meaningful impact on all of them and on this garden that he worked tirelessly at (even after hours and on weekends when children were gone). Please show some respect, if not for his positive contributions to the community, then to those that loved him that are still grieving.
Aloysius…Thank you. I was reading the comments wondering if anyone was going to “put together” the obvious connection between a man who volunteered so much of himself for the children and the type of charges pending against him. I beg of everyone to please get their head out of the sand when it comes to these types of crimes. There is a reason a person “interested” in children seek jobs and volunteer work that put them around children. Nobody ever wants to believe anyone they know could ever ever be responsible for this type of criminal behavior. I think it makes us second guess our judgement and that’s a hard pill to swallow. But the reality is that people who commit these types of crimes and worse are parents, relatives, neighbors, teachers, church leaders, scout leaders, daycare workers, volunteers, etc. It is not the big bad boogey man from another dimension. They are humans who walk among us and lead what appear to be normal lives until the truth comes out and it all crumbles around them. Just because deep in our hearts we like to think something can’t or won’t happen because it is just too horrible to imagine, does not mean it can’t or won’t happen. Family and friends left behind in this situation must be dealing with things none of us can even imagine. The error regarding the naming of the garden has been cleared up. Let’s let this go before we create more of a story than there is, casting a shadow over the garden.
“Let’s let this go” by implying the posters above that have concern about the man’s family left behind, and who actually knew him, are just simply naive to the huge big bad world, therefore do not adequately understand how to protect children or the seriousness of the issue.
Thanks for clearing that up! Now everyone can let this go
I read the Patch article and, like Karass, my thoughts went immediately to the family left behind. I am sure it would be difficult to write the story without people figuring out who the wife and child were, but I don’t think they needed to be named and I feel for them as all this publicity swirls. It sounds to me like the DHS garden is doing the right thing by allowing donors to get a refund if the circumstances of the death lead them to want that and the rest of it is just not a story any more. Our judgments about the good or bad of a person really can’t change anything and the family deserves to be left in peace to deal with the unthinkable.
The reporter got it wrong and it seemed intentional. I know of at least one person who was asked three times in a phone interview if the naming is being reconsidered. This person reiterated that there was never any intention of naming the garden for him or anyone else. It is the DHS community garden. The garden received donations upon someone’s death. It seems like the reporter thought it would be more engaging to write the story in such a sensational way. She even mentions putting his name on birdhouses. I dont have recordings of everyone she interviewed, but I find it hard to believe someone would say that.
There is a committee that has been created that had planned to discuss how to use the donations. The committee hasnt even met. This whole line of “parents are reconsidering a proposal to name the garden” is made up. That was never discussed until the reporter invented the idea and asked those she interviewed “are they going to reconsider naming the garden in light of this information.”
This is so incredibly sad all the way around. My heart goes out to his wife and daughter, who on top of having to grapple with the sudden loss of their husband and father, have to sort out the complex emotions associated with the shame and stigma of the indictments. I can’t imagine the pain and hurt that goes along with the realization that you didn’t fully know someone that you thought you knew.
This is the same AJC reporter who published that very poorly timed and irrelevant article about trailers at College Heights in which the motivations and concerns of several parents, including me, were misrepresented.
If this woman every contacts you about a story, run the other way!
Yeah, that’s happened to me (not here in Atlanta). Although some reporters won’t accept written interview responses, it’s worth offering to provide quotes by e-mail. In the past, I’ve promised to keep the quotes conversational in tone and vocabulary in exchange for that favor. If that’s not possible, try to confirm verbal responses in writing immediately after the interview. It’s a service to the reporter who is juggling a gazillion facts, and it helps protect people from getting misquoted.
If it appears this reporter has intentionally written falsehoods, her editor should be contacted immediately by all parties aggrieved.
NellieBelle,
Please contact me at and I’ll share my views on your comment.
Absolutely, the family, friends, students, and coworkers deserve compassion and to be allowed to grieve how they will. I can’t even imagine how hard this must be for them. My heart goes out to them all. Losing a loved one is a horrible thing, and the circumstances must make it even harder for these folks.
This whole thread makes me incredibly sad. I hope the garden flourishes and that all the donors realize that the community garden and its continued existence is the focus of their donations, not any one person.
They should name a urinal after him.
Apparently the question of naming the garden after him is moot.
I did not know this fellow. I don’t have the slightest idea whether he did what he is accused of doing or not. I do not believe that any of the persons who made the above comments know whether he did what he he is accused of doing.
What I do know, with certainty, is that just because the government (the police and prosecutors) says a person committed a crime doesn’t make it so. What I do know, with absolute certainty, is that we are all the sum of both good and bad.
The man is dead and in the grave. His wife and kids are suffering. The AJC article surely hurt them. It’s wrong to make definitive statements about this man if one is not privy to the truth.
Considering the fact that metro Atlanta is a major hub in Georgia’s booming child sex trafficking industry, it would be lovely if the donations could be turned to support local sex trafficking survivors, perhaps with the involvement of the garden overall.
Protect your kids! Why is there a huge child sex trafficking and child porn problem? Lots of available customers. What is the difference between a pervert and your next door neighbor? Only what you can’t see and won’t know until it is too late.