WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2006
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 11
CRIME
Mayor admits drug abuse
Mayor of Bridgeport claims he sought professional help for cocaine addiction; some want proof
BY JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — Mayor John M. Fabrizi admitted Tuesday he had abused cocaine while in office and said he wanted to apologize "to all the people of the city" but had no plans to resign.
The admission followed the inadvertent release of an FBI document in which an alleged drug dealer claimed an associate had a videotape of the mayor using cocaine.
In a tearful speech to about 200 city employees and residents in City Council chambers Tuesday, Fabrizi said he had not used drugs in 18 months and had sought help for a drug addiction that he had hoped to handle privately.
"I thought that these were personal, private matters to me and
my family, that I could deal with these issues with my family and myself," Fabrizi said. "I now recognize my actions affected many others, and I want to apologize to my family, my friends, and all of the people of the city of Bridgeport for my actions, my past actions."
Fabrizi, a Democrat who took office after former Mayor Joseph Ganim was convicted of corruption in 2003, said he hopes to move forward and continue running Connecticut's largest city.
"I will do everything, and I mean everything I can, to redeem the respect and the support that you the employees of the city of Bridgeport, and of you my friends, and of you the great people of the city of Bridgeport," Fabrizi said.
Many employees cheered while Fabrizi spoke, though there
were some boos. He also said he stopped drinking alcohol four months ago.
"I have put this personal struggle behind me and it has never,
ever affected my job performance," Fabrizi said. "The tremendous progress Bridgeport has made over the past three years is a testament to that. Folks, my re-
roborated, are typically filed under seal and apologized to Fabrizi for the release.
Fabrizi first admitted he had used cocaine to the editorial board
cord speaks for itself."
"He needs help. If I was busted for something like that, I would lose my job."
Cecil Young Bridgeport, Conn., Sheriff
U. S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said last week that Fabrizi was not a target of the drug investigation, which led to the FBI report being filed in court. He said FBI reports, which summarize statements made by witnesses but are not always cor-
of the Connecticut Post, which reported the admission in Tuesday's editions.
Fab rizi would not tell the Post how he obtained cocaine, but
said he occasionally spent $20 or $40 to purchase it. The mayor offered to take periodic drug tests if anyone doubts he has stopped using cocaine.
Bridgeport, a city of about 140,000 residents on Long Island Sound, has struggled with violent drug dealers who gave the city a reputation as the murder capital of the state in the 1990s before the homicide rate plummeted.
Cecil Young, a city sheriff who listened to Fabrizi's address Tuesday, said the mayor had misled voters for nearly two years and should resign.
"He needs help," Young said, adding that he wants proof that Fabrizi sought treatment from a licensed professional. "If I was busted for something like that, I would lose my job."
Others were more forgiving.
"I think he can continue on in his job as mayor as long as he's sought treatment," said Matthew Krol, a Bridgeport resident who works in a record store. "I think he should be given a second chance."
SAFETY
WILDFIRE RAGES ONWARD
BY AMANDA LEE MYERS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEDONA, Ariz. — A 1,500-acre wildfire threatening northern Arizona's scenic Oak Creek Canyon was only 5 percent contained Tuesday as crews tried to stop it from reaching hundreds of homes clustered among dry manzanita and juniper trees.
At least 11 helicopters and air tankers were available Tuesday to help ground crews, said Joe Reinarz, commander of the team fighting the fire.
The fire started Sunday and forced the evacuation of about 400 homes and businesses in narrow Oak Creek Canyon and about 100 homes in the smaller canyons on the rugged north side of Sedona, a town about 90 miles north of Phoenix surrounded by red-hued cliffs that draw builders of expensive homes and thousands of tourists.
Crews also were battling wildfires in Colorado, New Mexico and California.
By Tuesday morning, officials said the Sedona fire was only about a half-mile from the edge of Slide Rock State Park and flames had crested
Wilson Mountain, edging about 300 feet below the rim of Oak Creek Canyon in spots.
If the fire burns down to the two-lane scenic highway along the canyon bottom, crews hope to make a stand there. Most homes are on the opposite side of the highway, Reinarz said.
"We want to hang it up there as high as we can and let it grow low and slow," Reinarz said Tuesday.
A high temperature of about 100 was forecast Tuesday for Sedona, with very low humidity and wind of 10 to 20 mph.
In neighboring New Mexico, four fires started by lightning had burned more than 30,000 acres in the tinderdry Gila National Forest in the southwestern part of the state. The biggest had charred nearly 12,000 acres and threatened 150 homes in the Lake Roberts area. Residents were being allowed to return Tuesday, said fire information officer Brian Morris.
"I'm a little apprehensive," said Sedona Mayor Pud Colquitt, one of the evacuees from Oak Creek Canyon. "It's a wait-and-see now."
Authorities believe the blaze started in a camp used by transients.
A 7,000-acre fire, northeast of Glenwood, N.M., in Catron County.
prompted evacuations of about 30 cabins and campgrounds, Morris said.
In southern Colorado, crews braced for more dry, windy weather Tuesday as they confronted a wildfire that exploded across 4,500 acres about 10 miles northeast of Fort Garland, triggering the evacuation of 270 homes in two counties. No houses had been destroyed.
"We can't get out in front of this thing, it's moving like a freight train," fire information officer Steve Segin said.
A California brush fire spread over 6,000 acres of hilly terrain in Los Padres National Forest. No houses were threatened but two sheds and three trailers were destroyed, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Joe Pasinato said.
Wildfires have charred more than 3.1 million acres nationwide so far this year, well ahead of the average of about 900,000 acres by this time, the National Interagency Fire Center reported. Huge grass fires that swept Texas and Oklahoma this spring account for a large part of this year's acreage.
Bryan Kelsen/THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN
Wildland firefighters watch as a plume of smoke rises from a wildfire Monday near Fort Garland, Colo. Crews were battling wildfires in Colorado, New Mexico and California.