Oregon school board president found guilty of misdemeanor charge for February incident

Oregon school board president P.J. Kapfhammer, left, appears in Maumee Municipal Court with attorney Jon Richardson.

Oregon school board President P.J. Kapfhammer was found guilty today of a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct from a  Feb. 1 incident at Clay High School.

Mr. Kapfhammer entered a no contest plea in Maumee Municipal Court to a disorderly conduct charge, a minor misdemeanor, and was found guilty by Judge Gary Byers. A menacing charge, a fourth degree misdemeanor, was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

He was ordered to pay a $150 fine and to pay $87 in court costs.

The charges were originally filed on Feb. 13 in Oregon Municipal Court against Mr. Kapfhammer after a police inquiry into the incident in the Clay High School exercise room.

Thomas Blachowski, 25, the honorary manager of the high school baseball team who has autism, was working out with players in the exercise room when the board president yelled a profanity and threatened to harm him, according to a police report filed two days after the incident by Terrie Blachowski, the man’s mother.

In a statement during a regular monthly board of education meeting nearly three weeks after the incident, Mr. Kapfhammer choked back tears and said he didn't want the incident to divide the community.

“Everybody who knows me in my heart of hearts knows that I would never hurt anybody with a disability,” he said at the Feb. 19 meeting. “I want to put this behind me and work with groups to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

After today's hearing, Mr. Kapfhammer's attorney Scott Schwab said his client was happy with the disposition of the case.