Hooven Regrets Handling of Incident

A week after resigning as Burbank school board president, Joe Hooven said Wednesday he should have informed authorities after learning of an alleged sexual liaison between a 50-year-old school fund-raiser and a 17-year-old Burbank High football player.

“If I had to do it over again, I would report it,” Hooven said in an interview at his Burbank home. “I did nothing wrong, but ethically and morally, yeah, I should have reported it. I’ve learned from this.”

Hooven’s resignation came in the wake of allegations that he tried to cover up the sex scandal.

John Hazelton, former Burbank football coach, testified under oath before a school board subcommittee that he reported the incident to Hooven months before police were notified but that Hooven told him to keep the information “under wraps.”

Hooven, 52, denied he was part of a cover-up, saying his skepticism kept him from reporting the alleged incident involving Salle Dumm, president of the Burbank Educational Foundation, and the teenager. Hazelton testified he called Hooven within days after the July 14 encounter allegedly took place.

“I didn’t believe it when I heard it,” Hooven said. “It was what I would call unsubstantiated hearsay from a third party. I have a moral and ethical obligation to report incidents, but also I have a moral and ethical obligation not to get involved in unsubstantiated hearsay, rumor and innuendo. So it’s a very fine line.”

Dumm is scheduled to appear today at a preliminary hearing on a felony charge of having intercourse with a minor, and a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police, who were not notified until November, allege Dumm coerced the boy into having sex with promises of money for his football team.

Hooven, a longtime friend of Dumm, said the controversy surrounding his resignation from the school board would not deter him from seeking elected office in the future.

“If I decide to run, it would be for the City Council,” he said.

Appearing upbeat and confident, Hooven said he would remain involved in community issues and plans to start a political movement called Citizens for a Better Burbank, made up of business people, homeowners and senior citizens. Hooven owns a small business in Burbank.

He also said he wants to work to bring an art museum and a performing arts center to the city.

“I just have to work hard again in the community and restore my reputation, which I don’t think has been tarnished that much,” he said. “People know that I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Hooven said his family has held up well under a constant barrage of negative publicity in recent weeks. He said he is considering taking his two daughters out of Burbank schools--one attends Burroughs High and the other attends Jordan Middle School--and enrolling them in private schools. He didn’t give a reason.

“It’s unfortunate about the publicity, but the family and myself are fine,” Hooven said. “We’ve gotten a lot of phone calls from people who have given us love and support and understanding.”

Hooven dismissed Hazelton as having “no credibility.” Hazelton charged in his testimony last month that Hooven had lured him away from his previous job at Montclair Prep to the Burbank coaching job by also promising a $42,000-a-year position as activities director for the school district.

“That’s absolutely false,” Hooven said. “I never made John Hazelton any promises, and no one has come forward and said that. He’s the only one making that charge.”

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The subcommittee, made up of school board members Michael McDonald and Denise Lioy Wilcox and an attorney representing the district, was formed following a California Interscholastic Federation investigation into allegations that Hooven and Hazelton violated rules governing the recruitment of high school football players. Both deny they ever recruited players, despite a CIF report stating that they may have exerted undue influence on students to transfer to Burbank High.

Hooven said he refused to testify before the subcommittee because it would not have allowed him to cross-examine his accusers.

“People could come in and say whatever they wanted against me, and I had no opportunity or no chance to cross-examine, which is an inherent American right,” he said. “That’s why my attorney advised me to forget it. He accurately called it a witch hunt, which is what it was. A witch hunt to get me.”