RyeCity REVIEW THE
July 31, 2020 | Vol. 8, Number 32 | www.ryecityreview.com
Comfort food As residents and visitors look for safe, fun and delicious options to go out in the wake of Covid-19, Westchester County’s Office of Tourism & Film has created two webpages putting a range of outdoor dining and ice cream options at the tip of your fingers. For more, see page 6. Photo/Antonio Sessa
Westchester to host virtual Sept. 11 ceremony Westchester County’s 2020 Sept. 11, Ceremony will be held virtually due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The online ceremony will honor the thousands of lives lost during the Sept. 11 attacks, and all those we have lost in the years following. In an effort to pay tribute to those who have died, Westchester County government is asking family members of those who were killed on 9/11, or those who
have died of 9/11-related illnesses to read the names of those who have passed during the virtual ceremony. Similarly, because of pandemic precautions, the New York City ceremony will not include personal messages spoken by victims’ families. In its place, recorded names from the
National September 11 Memorial & Museum’s “In Memoriam” exhibition will be used. If you would like to participate in the Westchester county ceremony, please send an email to Communications@WestchesterGov.com with your full name and contact information. (Submitted)
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Westchester County will not hold its traditional Sept. 11 ceremony at The Rising memorial in Kensico Dam park this year. Photo/James Grasso
IHM, Archdiocese file cross claims against Gaynor By MIKE SMITH Sports Editor Over the last two weeks, both the Archdiocese of New York and the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Scarsdale have sought to distance themselves from Edwin Gaynor, the former teacher at the center of an ongoing sexual abuse lawsuit. Since July 15, the Archdiocese and IHM have filed cross claims contending that Gaynor alone should bear full responsibility in the current Child Victims Act suit, and that any financial judgment against the Archdiocese or IHM should fall directly on him. All three parties are co-defendants in the case. “If plaintiff recovers herein, it will be by virtue of the intentional, reckless, careless, negligent, grossly negligent, wanton, willful, malicious, or criminal conduct of defendant Edwin Gaynor and not of IHM, for which IHM demands judgment for contribution and indemnification for any judgment,” reads the claim filed by lawyers for the Scarsdale church. Since November of last year, 21 accusers have come forward with allegations of abuse against Gaynor, now 85, who worked in some capacity for at least three different Westchester parishes from 1959 to 1986. The Archdiocese and IHM—along with Holy Rosary in Hawthorne— are named as co-defendants for their negligence pertaining to Gaynor’s continued employment and their failure to protect children from sexual abuse. Claims by both the Archdiocese and IHM say that any finding for the plaintiffs should be interpreted as a result of Gaynor’s misconduct and not as a result of any wrongdoing or inaction by the other two co-defendants. But the recent filings do not address the allegations of several accusers, who claim
in their lawsuits that church and school officials were repeatedly made aware of Gaynor’s behavior. Six of the 21 accusers contend that either they or their parents alerted school officials about the abuse, only to have their claims dismissed by parish leadership. One anonymous plaintiff claimed he told the Holy Rosary Monsignor about the abuse in 1971, only to be forced to perform three hours of prayer and write “God Loves Me” on a chalkboard 100 times as penance. Another plaintiff, David Fox, recalls telling IHM Msgr. John J. Caldwell, only to be called a “liar” and removed from Caldwell’s office. Dan O’Hare, who replaced Gaynor as the IHM basketball coach and gym teacher around 1967, confirmed in a sworn deposition that he was made aware by a parish priest that Gaynor was removed from his position because he had improperly touched a student. Despite this information, O’Hare admitted that Gaynor’s dismissal was never further addressed by anyone at IHM, even as Gaynor would return to the Scarsdale campus at least once per year in his new capacity as the basketball coach at Holy Rosary. Gaynor would also return to coach at IHM at some point in the 1980s. The co-defendants’ new claims follow numerous failed attempts to limit Gaynor’s involvement in the proceedings. Previously, motions had been filed to strike Gaynor’s written testimony—admitting guilt in two of the cases—from the record, and force him to undergo a competency hearing before being deposed. To date, Gaynor has refused legal counsel representation. CLAIMS continued on 4