BOCES superintendent alleges libel

A school administrator has filed a $1 million libel and defamation lawsuit against a weekly newspaper and one of its columnists, claiming the paper published "wild and malicious" accusations that he lies.

Jack J. "Jay" Boak, district superintendent of the Jefferson-Lewis Board of Cooperative Educational Services, filed a state Supreme Court suit Wednesday at the Jefferson County clerk's office against Pamela R. and Karl A. Fowler, publishers of the Jefferson County Journal, Adams, and unpaid column contributor Linda Stoddard-Leonard, Henderson.

Mr. Boak claims a column published March 19 contained falsehoods that have exposed him to "public contempt, aversion and disgrace." He contends Mrs. Stoddard-Leonard displayed "reckless disregard" for whether statements she made in her column, allegedly about him, were true.

At issue is an item published under the heading "Henderson News" and titled "How Does the Easter Bunny Eat His Jelly Beans (a tale of character.)" The article includes a list of "hypothetical missteps" by public school officials, who are identified only by letters A through H, with the unknown person designated as "A" singled out as having committed the "number one worst offense."

The disputed paragraph reads: "A. The head district superintendent of all areas schools will do everything to protect the school employees. Even when he is aware of blatant wrong doing, he will deny knowledge of the event(s) and lie to keep the parents and the community in the dark."

Mr. Boak claims he is "A," as the person is "clearly identified" as the "head district superintendent," a job title that is exclusive to him within the Journal's coverage area. He claims the allegations are "patently false" and that Mrs. Stoddard-Leonard never contacted him or tried to substantiate the information.

He contends the Fowlers, both personally and in their capacity as publishers of the Journal, also are to blame for Mrs. Stoddard-Leonard's actions, as they knew or should have known the information in her column was false.

Mr. Boak, who declined comment on the lawsuit Thursday, claims in court documents that the article exposed him "to public disgrace and has induced feelings of ill will and contempt in the minds of right-thinking citizens of Jefferson and Lewis counties" by calling into question his truthfulness.

Mr. Fowler said Thursday that he knew Mr. Boak was upset by the column, but he was not aware a lawsuit had been filed in the matter. He said Mr. Boak's attorney, Dennis G. O'Hara, Fayetteville, had sent a letter a few months ago threatening legal action, but he thought the matter was resolved after his own attorney responded with a letter, stating the publishers did not believe Mrs. Stoddard-Leonard was referring to anyone in particular in her column.

"I personally don't know who she was referring to," Mr. Fowler said. "I believe she was speaking hypothetically and was not referring to any specific person. There was nothing in the column that had anything to do with the BOCES superintendent. He was never mentioned by name, or in any other way, shape or form."

He said, typically, if his readers feel someone has been treated unfairly by something printed in the paper, "you hear about it." He said he received no such complaints about Mrs. Stoddard-Leonard's column in regard to Mr. Boak.

"I don't know why anyone would have drawn any particular parallel to him," he said.

Mrs. Stoddard-Leonard, who similarly had not seen the lawsuit as of Thursday, referred questions to her attorney, David P. Antonucci, Watertown, who was unavailable for comment.