Edinburgh Community High School.
Daily Journal file photo
The superintendent of Edinburgh Community School Corporation is defending his decision to accept a donation and publicly thank a business owned by a registered sex offender.
On Sept. 2, the Edinburgh Community School Corporation Facebook page shared a post thanking several businesses for donating money to the school’s initiative to offer free student admission to high school athletic events. One business thanked in the post is Big Red’s Place.
The Edinburgh diner is listed as the place of employment for Willard E. Hadley, who was convicted of rape in 1999 and of sexual misconduct with a minor in 2004, according to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office’s sex offender registry.
Hadley is the owner of Big Red’s Place, according to documents from Indiana Secretary of State’s Office. On the business registration, he is listed as the president of the limited liability company for the diner, Big Red’s Place LLC.
Christy Kean, the parent of a student at Edinburgh Community High School, said Hadley is the owner of the restaurant and goes by the nickname “Red.” When the Daily Journal contacted Big Red’s Place and asked to speak to the owner, he stated his name was just Red Hadley, but he wouldn’t reveal his legal name.
Edinburgh schools Superintendent Ron Ross said he decided to accept the donation because the money is for a good cause. School officials do not conduct background checks on donors, nor do they plan to in the future, Ross said.
Ross said he was unsure of how much money the diner donated, as a third party collected donations from various Edinburgh businesses.
“We take money all the time and there’s no strings attached to that money,” he said. “We thank anybody who donates money to us. It’s a legitimate business, they’re a diner, they don’t do illegal activity. There’s no reason for us to do background checks. We’re not in a position to decline to accept money from people who can give money for students.”
Kean objected to school officials promoting the name of the business on Facebook.
“If they’re going to thank a registered sex offender after they’ve been notified about it, is it because they don’t care? Do they want the money or do they not care that the guy’s a sex offender?” Kean said. “Imagine being one of Hadley’s victims or the parent of his victim and seeing a school publicly thank the monster that raped you or sexually abused your child. It’s just horrifying to imagine.”
Kean said she talked to Ross and asked him to take away the part of the post thanking Big Red’s Place, and she and another parent voiced their concerns on Facebook, but Ross defended the decision not to take it down.
“Two people asked out of a community of thousands of people. Everyone in this community frequents that business. Most people recognize that just because this person donated money doesn’t give them access to students. It’s illegal for him to be on school property,” Ross said. “We plan to keep the donation and we stand by thanking the business. There’s some misperception about thanking the person versus thanking the business. We don’t know if that person has sole proprietorship. Businesses don’t necessarily have criminal records and when a business gives us money, we accept it. We make sure we do good with that money.”
