Moms Talk: Will You Still Attend Padonia Park Club?

Members at the Padonia Park Club woke up to some last Friday morning: The owner of the family-friendly complex featuring several pools and a day care center has been charged with possession and distribution of child pornography.

Cockeysville resident on Thursday after posting bail, and was back home on Friday. But where he won’t be going anytime soon is the club on Jenifer Road: A court order says he must stay away from the park, even though he is still the owner. WBAL-TV also reported that Rigger’s lawyer David Irwin said, “After 44 years, Ira 'Fred' Rigger is no longer affiliated with the Padonia Park Club ... We are proud of the work he has done involving the club and assure everyone that it will continue to be a safe and positive environment for all."

Proud? Not the word I would have chosen for a statement relating to a situation like this one, where Rigger has been charged with using a laptop computer on club grounds to view graphic images and videos of children in compromising sexual situations. Anyone who hears that and then thinks of their children splashing in the kiddie pool is anything but proud, despite the club’s legacy as a beloved community institution. (Remember the outcry from members a few years ago when the owners were close to selling the property to a local church?)

But the fact that Rigger has been removed from the club comes as good news to members like me. This is the second year my family has had a membership and while we have nothing but happy memories at the pool, this incident draws a cloud over our good times there. Even so, I will continue to bring my family to the club.

I feel confident that nothing untoward happened to my two young children at the pool. For one thing, they are both so young that they are never out of my sight. Perhaps if they were older and allowed to hang out around the park with their friends, running around and playing beyond my watchful eye, I’d be nervous now. Still, there is nothing in the charging documents that say that Rigger is accused of having any contact with children, which is reassuring.

If nothing else, the fact that the accused is someone directly involved with the day-to-day operations of a place that so many children and their families cherish is unsettling. The club seems like a place where nothing bad could possibly happen, and now that illusion has been shattered. The thing I think we all have to remember is that Padonia Park Club employs many good people who don’t deserve to be tarred with the same brush as Rigger.

As a parent and a member of the club, the news took me by surprise. I would guess that like me, the rest of the club’s members never would have associated Padonia Park with this kind of charges. It’s the kind of place where you pack up the kids, the car and the cooler and just relax for a few hours on a weekend day. It’s not the kind of place where people have their guard up, but I’m wondering now if that carefree vibe will change.