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Councilor Brian Bigelow during his arraignment after being arrested in a prostitution sting.
Arrests made in Operation John
By Michael Holtzman
Herald News Staff Reporter
Posted Aug 09, 2010 @ 11:21 AM
Last update Aug 10, 2010 @ 12:32 AM
FALL RIVER — City Councilor Brian Bigelow pleaded not guilty Monday in Fall River District Court to a charge of offering to engage in sex for a fee following his weekend arrest in a prostitution sting that snared 23 people in total.
Bigelow, 49, of 1367 Robeson St., was one of the first to be arraigned around 10:15 a.m.
His case was continued to Oct. 22 for a pre-trial conference. He is represented by city attorney Michael Sousa, who entered the plea.
Dressed in a dark suit, blue shirt and gold print tie, Bigelow, who serves on the Diman School Committee in addition to the City Council, reiterated an early statement that he has no intention of resigning.
“I have no plans to resign,” Bigelow told a swarm of media gathered outside the Fall River Justice Center.
“He is emphatically denying the charges.” Sousa said.
He declined to state anything about his client’s actions the night he was arrested. “We’re here today to get the process started,” Sousa said.
“I find it’s a personal matter, a family matter. My family’s coming first,” Bigelow told The Herald News.
He paused and said, “yes” when asked if the married father of four had received their support.
“Not good,” he said, when asked how he felt. “Anyone wouldn’t feel good about it.”
Bigelow said he planned to attend Tuesday night’s City Council meeting and said he would talk to his colleagues personally.
He finished fifth in the race for nine council seats in 2009. He had been appointed to the council a year earlier, after finishing 10th in the race , when Thomas Kozak resigned his council seat in February 2008.
Bigelow said he took a vacation day from his job with Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson and planned to return to his job on Tuesday. Later Monday, about 4:30 p.m., he received notification from Hodgson that he had been suspended from his job pending an internal investigation.
After speaking briefly outside the courthouse following his morning arraignment, Bigelow and Sousa headed up Borden Street with three cameramen following close behind.
Among the others arrested in the prostitution sting organized by Mayor Will Flanagan and police Chief Daniel Racine, four admitted to sufficient facts and had their cases continued for six months until Feb. 11.
They were assessed $300 in court costs and fees and assigned to participate in AIDS awareness programs.
The penalty for soliciting sex, a misdemeanor, can be up to one year in jail, a fine up to $500 or both.
Those pleading sufficient facts to the charges were identified as Ronald D. Coulombe, 55, 501 Riverside Ave., Somerset; Peter Feijo, 33, 22 Arthur St.; Juvenil L. DaSilva, 42, 120 Diman St.; and Paul R. Mendonca, 63, 132 French St.
While Bigelow is scheduled to return to court on Oct. 22 at his lawyer’s request, Judge Beverly Cannone scheduled the remaining 18 pre-trial hearings between Sept. 3 and Oct. 6.
Those hearings will be held for:
E-mail Michael Holtzman at mholtzman@heraldnews.com.
It happens to every one of us at some time during our lives. It's not a function of wealth or station. Every person who has ever walked on the face of this earth comes to what is popularly called these days "a come to Jesus moment", a line in the sand that has been crossed and has caused you great pain, and often , shame. It hurts and can be devastating to yourself and your loved ones.
The self destructive urges that seem to part of the human fabric at times never ceases to amaze me. But once an incident occurs, there are ramifications that we are blind to before a poor decision has been made. In the present case the amount of pain and anguish caused to Mr. Bigelow and his family, a wife and four children, is already being played out in the comments section of the Herald News (HN). The casual statements and rumors erupting, some going back several years, can be nothing but painful to the Bigelow family and the public ordeal has just begun.
I have faced challenges based on my own bad decisions in the past. I hurt my own loved ones. I suffered publicly for my personal foibles and have seen the world and so called friends turn a blind and cold eye my way. It is a deep and terrible , and definitely lonely, place to be. And it takes years to recover peace of mind, both you, your loved ones, and between you all, together.. And there are permanent scars that serve as visible reminders of what your bad decisions have delivered.
I cannot fully understand what Mr. Bigelow is going through, both he and his family, at this moment. Every personal tragedy, and that is what this is, has a uniqueness all it's own. But I do know that to get beyond these moments requires patience and understanding and energy devoted to healing all the wounds that arise from such a debacle. And I know from personal experience that it cannot be done by trying to act as if nothing is wrong. Sometimes you are the only one who cannot see the depth and breadth of what your poor decisions have caused. Maybe it is a simple human defense mechanism to protect the mind from having to absorb so much maladjusted behavior that grievously hurt both yourself and your loved one, and let down those who depended on you. But in order to live a full and happy life once again, you have to start the lengthy process of healing. And unfortunately, most times you can only heal yourself.
So my best advice to Mr. Bigelow is to resign and end the public spectacle for your sake and your family as well. You cannot think only of yourself and how you will appear to others. You've lost that war, so surrender to the reality of what has happened. No one believes you, and you have to be wary of those who are supporting you and what their motives are. Most of all, whatever you were doing , your work life, your political life, your responsibilities as a public servant, have been a dangerous thing to your health. I mean, driving around in a known drug and prostitution area at 1:15 in the morning and soliciting sex from an undercover police officer is not the actions of a happy man. And I find it hard to believe that this was your first time, or that you' have no other pressures on you that caused this terrible act outside of societal norms. You deal with criminals in your line of work, you are aware of the STD rates in the area for drug addled streetwalkers in Fall River. No, Mr. Bigelow, you have already been tried and convicted by your peers, all 90,000 of them. Whatever the formal disposition of your case, it matters little in the actual scheme of things.
End this mess for right now by resigning and taking care of yourself and your loved ones before WORSE things happen. You need help. Get it. And resign your public offices. It's time to face the truth. Be responsible to yourself, your family and the City.
That's an exceptionally poignant post, Laz. Good advice, to be sure.
ReplyDeleteA quiet thank you goes your way!
ReplyDeleteSome council members and/or Flanagan will force Poulin's resignation before they ever demand or force one from Bigelow. Mark my words.
ReplyDeleteUnforutnately I have to agree with you. BTW, I cannot understand the sudden anger at Mr. Poulin....He's the only one who really understands, from a practical/experienc4e basis and seemingly intuitive basis how the City works, and more importantly, how it SHOULD work. (I think he scares the hell out of the old crew because it's like he will reveal the secrets to govenment, or more likely, THEIR secrets in government. The Fall River establishment reacts to him like an immune system attacks a germ. I think that's why I like him so much...lmao....Our collection of Profiles in Discourage really sicken me...
ReplyDeleteLol, good points Laz.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm watching this meeting on the boob tube last night and part-time City Councilor Pat Casey is criticizing part-time Attorney Bruce Assad for taking bennies like health care when I'm pretty sure Pat takes the health care bennies for her gig. Oh the smell of hypocrisy in that room. The huge raise for Assad was absolutely wrong but the lecture from Casey didn't seem to be working considering the source.
Just when I thought all the talk of part-timers would die down, Poulin jumps into the fray and says he has been looking for support for even before he became a councilor to get an ordinance passed revoking the option of health care for employees considered part time but he hasn't had any takers or been able to get enough votes and support for it. He called them out and I had to laugh. This is why he's not popular, they probably wanted to kill him after that, lol. I still remember watching a meeting where he was lecturing Chapdelaine on the city's health care costs and trying to get him to at least talk to unions about other options like the GIC to see if they would go for it. I bet if you were in the room you could've seen a lot of eye rolls, lol. The way I look at it is he is treated like an outcast like the guy that doesn't get it when the sad part is a lot of times he seems to be the only one that gets it. If the city wants to bring down its costs it needs to look at things like health care. It's almost like in Fall River we reward the dumb politicians and punish the smart ones so yeah I have to agree with the previous comments that I don't see Mr. Poulin lasting too long. His career in Fall River politics may be very short.
I think we don't reward at all...it see it differently...this voting poulation is so terrified of taking chances that they stay with the neighborhood thieves they feel comfortable with and eschew any new or different people, except for the last clown, Sylvanagan, and CLEARLY, he based his entire campaign on telling the gullable, uneducated, and yes, ethnic population he made clear to let know he was part of, lies, distortions and promises on subjects he didn't have an understanding of, at best, and even knew he could not deliver on, at worst. Just the worst kind of cruel fraud. That is what's up with the entire elected officaldom. Make it warm, fuzzy and comfortable, even if it's crooked as hell, just as long as no one rocks the boat and makes them think. Terrified, beat down voters is precisely what they are. They EXPECT to be robbed by their elected officials. And the educated young who know better, leave because all that's left is a rathole of a city. Then you have the idiot Cheerleaders shouting on cue, "oh, stop being negative" like they are robot droids sent out to wipe out anyone with an original thought they cannot control. Sylvanagan and CO (including the FROED Board of Directors, who are actually the GRAND SECRET COMMITTEE running rathole Fall River,nd controlling Bag-Boy Sylvanagan!) are absolutely hilarious, unless you are a middle income property owner tied into a long term mortgage during the worst recession in the nations history save the Depression era. Oh yeah, to them they are a laugh riot. KEEP ON VOTING FOR THIS DIRTBAG LIAR AND HIS ILK, AND YOU KNOW WHAT'S COMIN'!
ReplyDeleteEric needs to fight the good fight...he's got a backing in Fall River...that's how was he elected in the first place...and yes, because he's actually bright and not crooked, they will go after him at every turn...he's got his own mind, and folks like Justice Joe, or the opposite team members, Sylvanagans boys and girls on the Council, will gun for him. But that's a goosd sign...because I think he can take it...and all blame will fall on Choiurice chompin' Justice Joe.
Who will save this city?
ReplyDeleteNo one in their right mind wants to represent Fall River.
Looks like he's going to stay put, unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThe state will be forced to save Fall River because both the voters and the powers that be refuse to make the hard and required decisions to make the fundamental changes in both the form and direction of governemnt. In my opinion, they have a gravy train going and like raking in the do-re-mi way too much to do the right thing. Only a profgessional manager with a guarenteed, long term contract could solve qall of this City's problems. The current political leadership in Fall River, if you call it that, should simply go away. But unfortunately, they are like the roaches who will survive a nuclear war. There is NO hope for Fall River, the City too stupid to get out of it's own way! :-)
ReplyDelete