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Burt: Audit 'exonerates' Children's Theatre staff
New report shows flaws, suggests bias in police investigation of theater

by Gennady Sheyner
Palo Alto Online Staff

Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 11:32 am

Why aren't there already 10,000 comments on this story?

Just imagine if this was a criminal case in which the penalty for being found guilty was the death penalty.

Mix the same initial bungling investigation with a faulty audit, add two parts of a prosecutor with a political advancement agenda based on a high arrest/conviction rate, laws passed to ban appeals, a Governor afraid to commute based on a fear of being perceived as "soft on crime".....Inject him Danno!

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 11:47 am

Not sure which report Burt read or weather he was wearing the glasses that our council members wear when they want to ignore reality but the story clearly states:

"The report states that the review "found no heroes" in the investigation,"

"the litany of mistakes committed during the investigation can be attributed largely to an outdated accounting system at the theater, which made it nearly impossible to carefully track reimbursements for expenses"

"it also notes that the investigation was hindered as much by ambiguous city policies. The tangled relationship among city leaders, the theater staff and the Friends group made it difficult for police to track financial data and ensure that all proper protocols were followed."

""In addition, the poor recordkeeping, laxity of control, intermixing between public and private entities, poor and outdated financial practices for reimbursement of (theater) employees, and the toleration of these arrangements by city officials that went outside the bounds of appropriate checks and balances presented a perplexing fact set that was left for PAPD authorities to attempt to sort out.""

The fact that charges were never brought against the theater staff seems to suggest that there was no criminal wrongdoing, so I am not sure what Burt is trying to say. Unless he has been chosen as the council spokesperson in charge of reinforcing the council stand that the poor PACT staff was subjected to unwarranted indignities by the police. The report clearly states that there are no heroes in this matter--the theater staff were guilty of poor practices and the large share of the blame should fall on Pat Brigg's head since she was the person in charge.

Considering Burt's comments now and the past actions of council members, I expect a council resolution promoting Briggs for sainthood

Posted by Annoymus, a resident of Stanford, on May 29, 2009 at 12:50 pm

Excuse me comment above but if you had read the report you would have realized that the children's theatre made no mistakes and the police was the ones who did the wrong doings.

There was proof that the children's theatre was innocent that the police decided not to provide. Burt has been paying attention throughout the whole investigation and is not wearing any 'glasses' that prevent him from reading 'reality'

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on May 29, 2009 at 12:54 pm

Marvin, here are a few quotes you chose to omit:

"During this analysis, the IPA was able to gain the cooperation of each of these important sources of information save one. Unfortunately, the former and now retired Detective Supervisor assigned to lead the criminal investigation for P APD declined to speak with the IPA regarding his mindset and investigative decision making." Seems to me that the only party in this whole sordid affair who felt the need to protect himself was Sgt. Gore who invoked his right to remain silent.

"Many in Palo Alto would agree that there are heroes with regard to the years of good work of the CT. Once the investigation became overt, CT supporter have been concerned that the financial irregularities uncovered that ended up not being prosecutable not detract from the positive experiences the CT provided youngsters in Palo Alto. In fact, because the energies of the CT managers were almost exclusively focused on providing this service, the

financial issues of keeping track of money and operating according to Hoyle unfortunately took a back seat. The positive aspect of the attention drawn to this affair is that state of the art financial systems will replace the anachronistic ones and appropriate controls will ensure that the CT's financial recordkeeping will not jump the rails in the future." This concluding statement, alone, strongly suggests that Pat Briggs and the CT staff are heroes to the community and that there only error (an administrative one not a criminal one)was due to their attention to their primary responsibility - to provide theatre to the children of Palo Alto. And for that they are, indeed, heroes.

This

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 12:58 pm

Anonymous--you are free to have your own take on the report--for me it is pretty clear, the staff of the PACT engaged in dubious practices--that is clearly laid out in the report. They were not criminal, but they do not reflect well on the staff or their gone-but-not-forgotten leader Briggs.

The council, in the face of vocal public criticism, felt it was in their own best interests to protect PACT (including the fact that a few members had conflicts of interest with regard to PACT). Burt has been chosen as the current council cheerleader for the PACT.

The question is will the council do anything to address the issues regarding the report and will we still have to continue to subsidize the PACT given our serious financial difficulties.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 1:01 pm

anti-narnia:

"This concluding statement, alone, strongly suggests that Pat Briggs and the CT staff are heroes to the community and that there only error (an administrative one not a criminal one)was due to their attention to their primary responsibility - to provide theatre to the children of Palo Alto."

Except for the fact that the report clearly states that there were no heroes.

Claiming that the primary responsibility was to provide theatre is a joke--maybe it was the primary responsibility for some of the staff, but clearly the person in charge was responsible for the day to day running of the theater--this includes financial responsibility. And IMHO, it appears that was seriously lacking in the case of Briggs.

There were no heroes.

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

If the cops came for us for sloppy bookkeeping, we would need more jails. Apparently Sgt Yoyo was absent the day they taught intent.

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on May 29, 2009 at 1:18 pm

Marvin

This is also a direct quote from the report: "Many in Palo Alto would agree that there are heroes with regard to the years of good work of the CT."

Posted by Garvey, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 1:27 pm

Jim Keene is a breath of fresh air. In the Frank Benest/Emily Harrsion years, there was one scandal after another, each followed by an expensive investigation. In the case of the Children's Theatre, there was an investegion of the investigation! Instead of letting things get way out of hand unil they reached the scandal stage like Benest did, Keene is on top of things. He reins in those under him, unlike Benest who let Emily Harrision, Carl Yeats, Glenn Roberts, Lynn Johnson, Russ Carlsen, John Ulrich and other subordinates run completely amok. That being said, City County should rein in Gary Baum since he does not report to Keene. He has been running amok for years.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 1:38 pm

anti-Narnia--then clearly the report is contradicting itself. Or on the other hand you are comparing the comments that there were no heroes during the investigation with the overall impact that PACT has made over the years.

Anyway, Id id not make up the "there are no heroes" comment. It is in the report

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on May 29, 2009 at 2:13 pm

Marvin, the point that should be gleaned from a carefully reading of the report is that the degree of the original investigation went way beyond what was necessary, and in the process hurt some good people.

The report says "However, it would be remiss to not indicate that there was no evidence from this review that indicated malice on behalf of anyone affiliated with the investigation, either from the

Police Department or the City." We can all agree that mistakes were made by theatre staff, by city officials, and by the police department. But it is not o.k. to sully decent people with innuendo, misleading "facts" and "sinister interpretations" of human error.

I agree with Burt. The report exonerates Pat Briggs and the right thing to do at this point would be for the City Manager and City Council to issue a formal apology to Pat any embarrassement to her that was caused by the inadequately trained lead investigator and his multiple missteps.

Posted by JustMe, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 2:18 pm

And what has become of the theater since Briggs was forced out?

We suddenly got plays featuring profanity and gore, from children. Please excuse me, but if you propose to teach MY children to use profanity, I will gently bang your head against a hard surface until you see sense.

We also see a new policy where parents drop their kids off for rehersals and are then barred from the area, not allowed to sit through rehersals. Please excuse me, but if you propose to take my children out of my view and tech them, not only profamity, but who-knows-what-else your reduced level of judgement comes up with, I am calling the cops. I will then encourage them to conduct a fair investigation and take DNA samples.

Rehersals are now also much more rigorous and demanding. They have increased to 6 days a week and children are not allowed to miss ANY of them.

Kids who have been in the theater from early ages and now expect to get better roles due to experience and dependability now find that their past performance has no bearing on casting, and many of them are very understandably upset by this. they paid their dues, and they are not reaping the rewards. What are we teaching the kids?

I miss Pat Briggs, she would NEVER have allowed this. I know some people are bailing on the theater due to these policy shifts, and I don't blame them.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 2:25 pm

Since as you state, the report says:"However, it would be remiss to not indicate that there was no evidence from this review that indicated malice on behalf of anyone affiliated with the investigation, either from the Police Department or the City."

Since there was no malice, I see no reason for the manager and council to apologize to Briggs. She has been given a very adequate severance package and sent on her way.

The report also clearly shows a lack of proper recordkeeping and a lack of control. This boils down to the fact that the person in charge was not doing a very good job. Despite the fact that city officials turned a blind eye to these practices, this does not mean that Briggs was absolved of any responsibilities as head of PACT.

Finally, I find it amusing that you blame everything on "the inadequately trained lead investigator and his multiple missteps" and fail to see any role of Briggs in this entire fiasco. As i have pointed out before, the report states there were no heroes in this matter and that includes Briggs.

Given the rhetoric at the time of this incident and the actions of the council members, I am not surprised by the continued chorus of people singing the "Pat Briggs is a wronged saint" song and the actions of Councilman Burt.

Posted by JustMe, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 2:31 pm

Pat Briggs and her crew are not heros as a result of this investigation, they were heros long before it ever started.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 2:37 pm

Just Me

Which of the theatre staff are you unhappy with?

Web Link

Which of the upcoming shows feature profanity and gore?

Web Link

Which past shows (obviously done in the last year) contain profanity and gore?

"Kids who have been in the theater from early ages and now expect to get better roles due to experience and dependability now find that their past performance has no bearing on casting, and many of them are very understandably upset by this. they paid their dues, and they are not reaping the rewards. What are we teaching the kids?"

Wasn't that one of the complaints about Briggs' rule as head of PACT--certain children got picked while others were frozen out--maybe this is a new fair way for more children to take part.

Anyway, JustMe,PACT is voluntary no one is forced to take part. There are other city activities for children (of course none are subsidized as heavily by the city as PACT, but that is another story).

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on May 29, 2009 at 2:40 pm

Marvin, you are a very harsh person. One does not have to be malicious to cause hurt to someone else. But it does seem to me that when a hurt is inflicted upon someone then a simple apology is in order. Should not be a big deal. And for the record I have never failed to see the role that the CT staff played in all of this; its just that I understand the role and have knowledge that Pat performed her administrative duties faithfully. Her office environment may have been a mess; but her adherence to City policy was meticulous.

Posted by JustMe, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 2:58 pm

We attended a performance of A Christmas Carol last Christmas, and there was cursing on stage and there was a severed head that had some children in the audience climbing into their mothers laps. I have since stopped attending those plays, not suitable for my children, thank you.

I have a friend who's son is in the Hot Dog Theater, and she is VERY upset that she is not allowed into rehersals. She has to sit outside and try to peek in to see what is happening. She is very put-out by the experience.

I am not unhappy with any one staffer in particular, I am unhappy with the whole crew. Pat Briggs used to come down very hard on kids who used profanity in the dressing rooms and stuff, she would NEVER have allowed it onstage. It seems that when they railroaded Pat out, they also tossed many of her policies that had mane the theater such a success. I hear the staff wants to be a little more avante gard, a little more bite to the edge so-to-speak. These are children, not professional actors. I want my children treated as children, and however you treat them, you will do it with me or my wife there or you won't treat them at all.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 3:02 pm

Anti-Narnia--maybe I am harsh. However the city reached a settlement with Briggs--no need for any further action from the city and that includes anything resembling an apology (though I am sure she will receive an apology given the fact that at least 3 council members are Briggs cheerleaders)

"Pat performed her administrative duties faithfully."

Well, not according to the report, unless you suggest that as director of the PACT she was not responsible for things going on

"but her adherence to City policy was meticulous."

Once again a creative interpretation of the facts. Had the above statements been true, then the report would not have concluded that there were no heroes in this matter.

Posted by pat, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 29, 2009 at 4:07 pm

Briggs is not a saint, but is probably the least culpable of anyone involved in this sorry mess.

Under Benest, we had no management and no accountability. Briggs and her management chain all the way to Richard James, was community services director.

James, who retired in July 2008, defended Briggs in his retirement speech, saying, “The fault lies in the traditions and processes set in place more than three decades ago and continued through institutional momentum."

Web Link

James ignored the fact that he had 29 years to fix these “traditions and processes,” but obviously didn’t see the need.

Former Chief Lynne Johnson wasn’t managing Sgt. Yore. Benest wasn’t managing Johnson. And the city council sat on its hands while all this nonsense went on for 11 months.

The police audit cost about $50K. Does anyone know if the administrative audit has been completed?

Posted by Walter_E_Wallis, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 30, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Walter_E_Wallis is a member (registered user) of Palo Alto Online

"No heroes" is an inappropriate coda to purports to be an objective audit. I had a child associated with the theater mumble mumble years ago. I doubt I would have allowed that association under the circumstances described above.

This is just one more indication that my original estimate of Palo Alto governance formed 40 years ago, that it should be disincorporated and reformed as a municipal service district with enumerated responsibility and authority was right on.

Posted by q, a resident of another community, on May 30, 2009 at 11:43 pm

it is obvious that "JustMe" has not been involved in, or around the PACT very long. if he had been, he would have been outraged in the past when Pat Briggs directed such gems as "Hair" where there is a song titled "Sodomy, " among others.(please Google the lyrics, if you choose.) the play he refers to, "A Christmas Carol" used such inflammatory swear words as "damn" and "hell."

being a 30 year member of the PACT community, including performing in over 30 productions myself, i also know that Pat Briggs did not overly police the participants, and was not hanging around the dressing room waiting to punish someone who swore. if "JustMe" is interested in the kind of activity for their children where their behavior is policed at every moment, i suggest some alternate Orwelian community. the PACT has never been, or claimed to be, a place to mold the specific social behaviors of each parents personal philosophy. it is a place to learn about the arts, engage in dynamic relationships, and learn real world skills (of many sorts.)

i applaud the ways in which the staff is taking new directions at the PACT, including offering more opportunity for kids to stretch their creative wings with activities such as the playwriting contest. what an inspiring and incredible asset for this community.

all of our lives are enriched when creative forces such as PACT and it's hardworking staff and participants are in our community.

stop being such a cranky dude. Fabulous!

Posted by Kari, a resident of the Crescent Park neighborhood, on May 31, 2009 at 3:28 am

OK, where's the Weekly's apology? They were the force behind the scenes that caused the police investigation and the release of the police report, which damaged the reputation of the staff of the Children's Theater. Turns out the Weekly was completely wrong. Where's the apology? Where do these people go to get their reputations back?

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on May 31, 2009 at 5:24 am

Kari, I agree that apologies are in order, but not from the Weekly. If anything they reported the story accurately and in doing so brought it to the light of day. In fact, the Weekly was extraordinarily critical of many aspects of the peculiar investigation including the release of the report which was accompanied by a press release that continued to unfairly and inexplicably vilify the innocent staff.

I do think a public apology should come from the City Council on behalf of the Police Department and not because an investigation was unwarranted – it was. But because the investigator ignored the most basic rule of our system of justice that one is innocent into proven guilty. In the matter of the Children’s Theatre the Police Department spent their precious resources doing just the opposite, trying (but failing) to prove guilt where there was none and in the process hurt some very good hearted people and sullied the reputation of a woman who selflessly devoted nearly fifty years of her life to the children of Palo Alto.

Posted by Please apologize to Ms. B, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 31, 2009 at 6:48 am

I agree. A public apology is in order.

From the beginnning, it looked like a kindly couple of older people who had devoted many, many years to simply providing Theater experiences to thousands and thousands of students with little pay and many volunteers.

It smelled like sloppy bookkeeping from people who aren't doing theater for bookkeeping purposes. Sloppy, as Walter put it.

This online, and papers, hung the leaders out to dry, humiliated 2 and one died under the cloud of investigative humiliation..

Thankfully all of their supporters an years of loyal work surrounded them, but still, the cloud hung over them always.

Please give a public apology.

Posted by Bud, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 31, 2009 at 7:32 am

The whole Children's Theatre affair degenerated into an hysterical witch hunt, an expensive fiasco overseen by Lynne Johnson, Gary Baum, Emily Harrison, and Russ Carlsen. Carl Yeats was slovenly in not managing accounting pracitices properly in the first place. And Frank Benest was sleeping at the switch during the unfolding of the entire mess.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on May 31, 2009 at 12:22 pm

The City Council should not and cannot issue an apology.

The City Council vilified the police during the investigation even before the results were out. Let's remember that this organization gets a substantial amount of money from the city--something that other organizations in the city do not. The City Council had a clear conflict of interest in this matter and were running interference for PACT during the investigation.

If anyone deserves an apology--it is the citizens of Palo Alto. An apology from the city council for supporting one organization over another, an apology for not providing oversight on PACT for years and an apology for denigrating the entire Palo Alto Police Department. It would not hurt if Briggs also chimed in with an apology as well.

Posted by Bud, a resident of the Midtown neighborhood, on May 31, 2009 at 1:17 pm

Looking forward, the new City Manager and City County need to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again. Some of those responsible for this whole farce, from slopping accounting practices to lack of any management oversight all the way to hysterical over-reaction, have left City employ.

Those remaining who had a significant part in the Children's Theatre fiasco and it's aftermath, including City Attorney Baum and Human Resources Director Carlsen, should be held accountable for their actions.

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on May 31, 2009 at 1:18 pm

Marvin, I acknowledge that your opinion is different from mine but the City Council can, indeed, and should issue an apology.

The Council never vilified any one during the investigation. In response to public pressure they urged the police to come to a more rapid conclusion, which they did not. The Children's Theatre, as an organization, is a program of the City and as such is funded in the same exact way as is the Police Department (who receives a significantly greater amount of funding than does the Theatre.) And since both Police Department and the Children's Theatre are City organizations the Council's interest in the performance of both is entirely within Council's purview and cannot be considered in anyway to be a conflict of interest.

I think I can agree with you that an apology to the citizens might also be considered, because the incident did traumatize and divide the residents. In any case it is interesting to note that the coming Monday night's Council meeting will, ironically, pay tribute to the Friends of the Children's Theatre by presenting them with a Community Star award and, of course later that evening discuss the results and recommendations of the Independant Police Auditor's report. A perfect time to issue an apology.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 7:11 am

Anti-Narnia--two of the council were very vocal in attacking the police before the investigation was completed. These two council members were perceived by many to also have conflicts of interest regarding the PACT.

Here is one example--you can go through the weekly archives and find more quotes:

Web Link

"Morton -- an outspoken critic of the investigation, whose name appears several times in the police reports as accountant for the non-profit Friends group -- began Monday night's debate by expressing his support for an audit of "this whole sordid affair.""

The council cannot not and should not issue any apologies to Briggs or anyone connected with the PACT.

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on Jun 1, 2009 at 9:45 am

Marvin, there is not one iota of evidence that any member of the City Council attacked the police department. Some were critical of the specific investigation of the Children's Theatre, but that is a real different thing than attacking the police department. As it turned out the Gennaco report outlines some very good reasons why the investigation deserved to be criticized.

Speaking of the report the link that you provided in the above post quotes the reporter as saying "Morton said he was open to whatever conclusions the auditor reaches. "The answer might be there was no problem, everything is as it should be. That's what the community will have to hear," Morton said.

Doesn't sound like a bias to me.

The Council should do the right thing and issue a public apology at tonights Council meeting.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 11:03 am

At one point, before the report was released by the police, Morton called the whole episode a witch hunt. Klein was also very vocal in his condemnation of the police.

Let us also not forget that Briggs agreed to return $15,000 to the city. The auditor's report stated clearly there were no heroes.

Therefore an apology to Briggs from the city council is uneeded, unwarrented and unethical.

However apologies from the council to citizens for lax oversight and preferential treatment of PACT will be welcome,as will an apology from Briggs to the city for apparently taking more money than she was entitled to.

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on Jun 1, 2009 at 12:29 pm

Marvin, the victims of the "witch hunt" will endure whether or not they receive a deserved apology. My take on it is that the Council will consider two things only in coming to that decision: 1) What does it mean to my ability to attract votes in the next election; and 2)Will an apology put the City in some kind of legal jeopardy. With respect to the former it is a wash. Councilmembers will attract votes if they support the idea of an apology, and they will lose votes if they do not. In other words their are people on both sides of the issue (as evidenced by our difference in opinion. As for the latter, that issue has already been decided. As part of the settlement the City sought and received a signed agreement from at least one party that there would be no further legal action (I read into that the City felt somewhat vulnerable at that point given the shoddy investigative work and was looking to protect its interests early on.)

In the final analysis all that is left to do is simply the right thing which is to apologize to the Theatre staff for the unnecessary and mean spirited insults to their reputation.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 12:37 pm

Will the council apologize to the police for "the unnecessary and mean spirited insults to their reputation."

Will Briggs et al apologize for their acts of malfeasance, which may have not been criminal, but still led to a repayment to the city for money that apparently was not hers to take.

Will the PACT staff apologize for running a shoddy operation?

I have a feeling, knowing our city council and how it operates, that they will apologize. This will be another disgraceful chapter in their actions regarding the PACT.

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on Jun 1, 2009 at 1:27 pm

I also have a feeling that the Council will apologize. But it will be an act of nobility and kindness and an excellent example to be demonstrated by our elected officials. To me this is true leadership.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 1:41 pm

I noticed this in the original article:

"Burt chaired the subcommittee assigned to oversee the council-initiated "investigation of the investigation" by the city's independent police auditor, Michael Gennaco. "

What part of the audit had to be overseen? In other words was the audit directed by the city council? Were the "results" of the audit determined beforehand by the subcommittee? I thought that this was to be an "independent" audit?

Considering the actions of certain council members, I would have thought that they would have had nothing to do with the audit.

Really makes you wonder what really went on at PACT and what the staff really got away with. Considering that Briggs had to repay the city $15,000 and the report said that there were no heroes, no apology by the city council should be offered at this time.

Posted by anti-Narnia, a resident of another community, on Jun 1, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Marvin, it is true that Ms. Briggs reimbursed the City for $15,000 with the clear understanding that the reimbursement was not to be misconstrued as an admission of guilt. She simply was unable to find the records that might have indicated that her request for payments in the amount of $15,000 were for legitimate expenditures. The report by the independent police auditor clearly states that had such records been found that it might well have been the City who owed money to Ms. Briggs. Again, an apology is absolutely in order since the original investigation was severely flawed and since those same flaws resulted in unnecessary harm to the Theatre staff's reputation.

Posted by Marvin, a resident of the Charleston Gardens neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 3:06 pm

"Marvin, it is true that Ms. Briggs reimbursed the City for $15,000 with the clear understanding that the reimbursement was not to be misconstrued as an admission of guilt."

This is standard language in these kind of agreements

"She simply was unable to find the records that might have indicated that her request for payments in the amount of $15,000 were for legitimate expenditures."

How convenient for Ms Briggs.

"The report by the independent police auditor clearly states that had such records been found that it might well have been the City who owed money to Ms. Briggs."

But they were not found and had they been found they also may have indicated that Ms Briggs owed the city even more money. We can speculate all we want about those records.

The only apology I can see that is deserved is one from Ms Briggs to the citizens of PA. Considering she will be getting 80K+ a year from the taxpayers, I think that is not too much to ask.

Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 3:29 pm

I think it's kind of pathetic that whoever wrote the report took it upon themselves to insert an inane comment like "there are no heroes".

If the Children's Theatre Group was at most "guilty" of sloppy book keeping, if in fact a deranged investigation was then spun out of all proportion, if such original mistakes where then attempted to be covered by a circling of the wagons" (belated now with "there are no heroes), if the "law and order" pro-police vs. liberal city council faction sees this as tied to Chief Johnson's demise issues........gawd it's like Rumpelstiltskin about to stomp his feet so hard the floor will cave in.

To get back to my original premise.....imagine that the same type of sloppy investigation was done for a capital crime leading to an actual execution. Imagine further that the executed criminal wasn't exactly a model citizen in every facet involved. Would some report then detailing how an innocent person was executed also include such a statement as "there are no heroes"?

This wasn't an execution. But it was a public lynching of sorts for those accused.

Perhaps there are no heroes indeed. But there were victims and there were perpetrators. And some still seem determined to cover that up.

Posted by neighbor, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 3:41 pm

Marvin,

It doesn't seem that you read the report and for some reason have a vendetta against Ms. Briggs.

The report says that there were many pieces of evidence to look at that the investigator found that the police chose to ignore. Instead, the police picked out documents that seemed to show guilt and neglected to look at the ones that showed innocence.

From the report:

"The failure of the investigation to fully explore the authorization provided CT

managers to conduct the activities that were the focus of the investigation, the decision not to interview Friends witnesses and another witness because of scheduling issues, and the failure to fully assess documents that supported an "authorization" defense all point to the investigation's tendency to ignore facts that suggested a crime may not have been

committed. This failure to evaluate exculpatory information is apparent throughout this

criminal investigation."

The report also clearly states that there was no criminal activity.

From the report:

"And it is

inaccurate to assert that the subjects committed the alleged criminal activity but that

prosecution was not available because of the technical defense of the statute of limitations.

In this case, the real defense of authorization meant that no criminal actions had been

committed by the subject."

Hopefully, a new accounting system for the CT is now in place.

Posted by A Noun Ea Mus, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 4:15 pm

They didn't commit an offense. So they aren't heroes! There are no heroes. Let he who lives in a glass house cast the first stone. If you can't say anything nice about someone don't say anything at all. Two wrongs don't make a right---even if one wrong is an out of control and unprofessional hit job and the other crime is not being a "hero".

Spin at it's best.

Posted by Ted, a resident of the Professorville neighborhood, on Jun 1, 2009 at 5:34 pm

This kind of witch hunt would not have happened in the first place if level-headed professionals were running Palo Alto city government.

Posted by Anna, a resident of the College Terrace neighborhood, on Jun 10, 2009 at 3:43 am

I'm glad to see that our family is not the only one to have noticed the degraded atmosphere at PACT since Pat Briggs has left. Children who worked very very hard to improve and develop real acting and singing skills through the bit parts they received at age 8 are now vastly improved but suddenly unable to get any parts at all. Parents are being told not to come to rehearsals, transforming what was once a lovely sense of community into a weird, tightly closed world that even the kids find baffling. Children who used to enjoy Pat's raucous and very fun 2-day audition process are now subjected to one-day auditions, sitting in a dark, silent theater waiting for their number to be called. My children at first thought it was an interesting experience, but since then have found it creepy and miss Pat's old style very very much. They are longing to see some of their old friends from PACT but many seem to have left.

Do you suppose we ex-pats could recruit Pat to start a new/old theater somewhere in good old Palo Alto? I'd be happy to get together with any other parents who are interested in finding a way to bring back the bubbly sense of love & community this theater once generated.