Like any good father, the senior Thomas Baia contacted the Union-Sun today to defend his son and say he’s innocent of the charges against him in connection with the alleged Wilson assault.
“He’s been taking kids on bus rides for 18 years, and his record is exemplary,” Baia Sr. told reporter April Amadon. “The seven years he’s done the baseball, he’s never had a problem.”
He also defended Atlas, whom he said is married with three young children.
Baia Sr. said the media attention the case has received has been very hard on the Baia family.
“I think it’s kind of gotten out of control,” he said. “It gets personal. … After this is over, where do you go to get your reputation back?”
It’ll be tough for these men and the students to get their reputations back; that’s the unfortunate reality. But it’s not the media’s fault his reputation is tarnished. He’s been charged and that’s what needs to be reported. If he’s found innocent, that too will be reported.
Read more in Thursday’s US&J.
•••
It was nice to get a break from the unfortunate news in Wilson and attend a positive event at Cornell Cooperative Extension.
It was the fourth annual Quality Students dinner, where this year 40 of Lockport’s most well-rounded students are recognized for academics, school and community involvement and just all-around good works. It was the most students recognized in the program’s history.
The US&J is a sponsor, through our work in putting together the insert you may have seen in yesterday’s paper. Working on that I came to realize just how involved and community-minded these young adults are, while still keeping their grades up.
Meeting a few of them in person tonight was pretty inspiring. Rest assured, there really are some quality individuals growing up in Lockport.
Now we just have to keep them here.
