The Echo

Mazik's first defamation suit. It wasn't Antonio.

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

When news broke last summer that Mount Dora resident Amber Antonio was subject to a defamation suit by Ken Mazik, it rallied a chorus of voices to her support. There is no denying that Mazik appears enjoys the air of infamy and mystery that surround him. Afterall, he really only ever speaks through his attorney and it seems that outside his inner circle of friends, he's rather reclusive.

The Mount Dora Buzz broke the news about the lawsuit in July 2017:

In July, an attorney for Main Street Leasing (MSL) and its owner Ken Mazik, a prominent downtown Mount Dora businessman, sent a missive to a local woman demanding a public apology for critical opinions she expressed. The letter dictated that her apology must include arguably demeaning language about herself in order to avoid a defamation lawsuit. http://www.mountdorabuzz.com/newsworthy/mount-dora-landlord-sues-local-woman

Of course Antonio didn't make a public apology. Who would? Thus the defamation suit was filed. Mazik fulfilled his threat. As of publishing this piece, it's yet to be fully litigated. However, this is not Mazik's first foray into defamation law. A smart fact that was not uncovered by Mazik crusader, Lauren Ritchie, a reporter for the Orlando Sentinel. In his defense Ritchie opined that

It might be best for everyone if the self-described “40-year-old housewife” got off the internet and returned to dusting knick-knacks in her living room... Hopefully, the action will send keyboard cowards scurrying for their lives, leaving real journalists as the last man standing...

While Ritchie cited other instances of such suits in both her news stories and opinion pieces, she missed the one that counts. Everyone missed the one that counts. The FIRST - affectionately headlined by the Delaware Morning News as "Suit is filed by Au Clair School Chief."

The premise behind the legal action was that two former employees of the Au Clair School defamed Mazik and the school when they served as sources for the 1979 News Journal series that laid open the school and its treatment of is residents. Still missing is how this case was resolved. Likely settlement as it doesn't appear to have had a judicial opinion entered into any legal database or print journal. Or perhaps, it was quietly dropped. There is no readily available definitive answer as of now. Happy Reading.

The Morning News

Wilmington, Delaware

Wed, May 6, 1981 – Page 34

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Chasing Ghosts 1983 Racing into Washington

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

Despite Mazik's propensity to avoid directly commenting to the press, he appeared to a have a penchant for leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for journalists to follow. (Yes, by this part in the series, we are mixing fairy tales.)

By February 20, 1983, Mazik was again making headlines. The News Journal actually dedicated an entire page to Mazik and his "ventures." And the name dropping... Stoltzs', DiSabatino, Poppiti, Oh My! Magness, Brooks, and Acierno. OH MY! Mazik had certainly been hobnobbing with some powerful friends and true legacy names in the small state of Delaware.

When his focus should have been Au Clair, Mazik had other perhaps more lucrative plans. He had enlisted Delaware builder Joseph Capano to invest in a new Harness Racing Track in Washington state. Every potential investor had to be vetted by Washington State's Securities Officer. Capano didn't pass the vet and was forced out of the money making deal.

Washington also announced that "Mazik's own personal and financial background" were being investigated. He would eventually pass the vetting and even was hired to sugarfoot the build. But, in the end, the names were just names. He was the only Delawarean to fund the Washington race track.

Meanwhile, during this same period of time - two Mazik trainers came forward with claims that he had failed to pay them. His attorney claimed they were owed nothing. However, Mazik, in turn, was suing his ex-wife Clair for a share of the profits in the Silk Stalkings Syndicate. After their divorce, Mazik had purchased Silk Stalkings' 1980 foal for $145,000 and established his own horse syndicate. In Florida, perhaps?

Then there were the rumors that mired the foal, Temujin. Allegations arose that Joe Capano had been a "silent partner," a violation of the rules set forth by the US Trotting Association. Then it was learned that Temujin had raced twice at Brandywine despite Mazik's failure to register the horse in Delaware - another Trotting Association requirement.

Clair Mazik, through her attorney, responded to the entire debacle with one particularly precise allegation - Mazik was using funds from the school for personal purchases while failing to declare dividends. Claire asked the state to put Au Clair into RECEIVERSHIP!

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Chasing Ghosts 1982 - Original Au Clair Gets a Pass

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

June 22, 1982, it happened. After more than a year of combat between the state and the facility, the Au Clair School received a one year license.

Oz received it reprieve.

July 16, 1982, the appeals court finds on behalf of former program manager Dean Alexander and his wife.

What really happened between December 6, 1980 and July 16, 1982 was a series of legal maneuvers in which Mazik tried at every chance to get himself off the hook for the loan it appears was cajoled from the Alexanders after a long night of negotiating, culminating with a Superior Court Appeal that held the judgement of the lower courts. With that loan document, Mazik had literally written himself into a corner. It was a simple error. Mazik had a form book. He'd selected the form to use for the contract. He completed it and signed as did the Alexanders. Then Mazik defaulted on the loan. Dean Alexander ups and leaves Au Clair after just six month and sues Mazik for repayment. Mazik begs the court for relief; however, it turns out that he waived that right when he chose and signed the contract. Lesson? Form books are tricky little things.

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Palette Cleansors...

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

I love old newspapers! There is nothing more intoxicating than aging newsprint to an old timey journalist. The feel of paper between the fingers, the tattered edges, the cultural currency reflected within those yellowing pages. The truly sad revelation that someday, my own grandchildren, will know nothing of newsprint as the "news" will likely be beamed directly into a chip in the brain. Til then, you'll find me cherishing the society pages of old, of garden parties and library fundraisers, the complete works of the local Knights of Columbus, and those darling scouts selling cookies (while learning the finer skills of a successful Ponzi scheme.)

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Chasing a Ghost 1981, Temujin's Coming Out Party

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

Had Lake County thoroughly vetted the Au Clair/Carlton Palms proposal, it likely would not have been greenlighted. While the benefits of today's social media platforms did not exist in the 1980s, print journalism was thriving. As we previously opined, little was known about the students transferred to Carlton Palms in its opening weeks. However, it's founder did leave a paper trail, a newspaper trail, that attested to his motivations. . Undeniably, founder Mazik kept a low profile from 1981 to 1986. But, there were stories published in a smattering of news papers. Delaware's New Journal published the 1980 Au Clair licensing expose. The Philadelphia Daily News carried stories about the founder and his horse syndicate while Mazik made appearances in the social pages of the Sentinel. It could be argued that Lake County was negligent in failing to research the project and its principals and it succumbed to the propaganda.

In 1981, Jack Kiser of the Philadelphia Daily News, debunked Mazik's Silk Stalking's myth. The amazing little race horse who was featured at least three times on 60 Minutes, who not only lived alongside special needs children but had also saved their home from certain financial insecurity, was little more than contrived folklore. It was, Kiser opined, a lie.

Kiser didn't mince words when it came Mazik and his return to the harness racing syndicate:

This time, however, nobody is fighting to interview him, to put him on television, to break out the sob stories about the autistic children and the horses. The publicity releases don't even mention autistic children, or give him the title of doctor. A win by his pacer tonight could make a lot of people forget about a lot of bad problems. Mazik could be back on top, not to mention $875,000 richer for the win. -

Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)

03 Aug 1981, Mon

Mazik's new pacer was Temujin, formerly known as Silky's Son. A ridgeling, it was predicted he would slide into harness racing obscurity. Nothing about this pacer showed promise. According to Kiser even Mazik's purchase appeared to be a muddled business dealing. Ken Mazik acquired Temujin at the 1980 Kentucky sale, but that purchase actually occurred under different name. Mazik proclaimed that he already had half ownership of Silky's Son. The assertion created a brew-ha-ha on the harness racing circuit. When everything had blown over, Mazik was Silky's Son's owner. He renamed the colt to Temujin, which conincidentally was Ghengas Kahn's birth name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan. Not surprisingly, the Yiddish word "Mazik" has a very special meaning of its own, "mischeivious little devil." http://www.jewish-languages.org/jewish-english-lexicon/words/1653. Fascinating!

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Carlton Palms Opens Its Doors

By Elizabeth Scheinberg

The Orlando Sentinel, https://www.newspapers.com/image/229313538/?terms=Carlton%2BPalms%2C%2BFlorida

Jan 13, 1987

January 13, 1987 - The Sentinel marked the opening of Carlton Palms with little fanfare. The former Carlton Palms Retirement Center had been modified to a residential school for children with autism. Within the first week, six students were relocated from "other facilities" owned by the same company. The Palms opened in phases with the first cohort of kids cared for by live-in caregivers. After three months, owner Ken Mazik, planned to morph the care model to one more similar to a nursing home where students would be cared for and educated by a staff working rotating eight hour shifts. Mazik planned to add two children per month to the mix. He intended to rollout an intensive "language development program," aka speech therapy.

Presumably, those first students came from Au Clair, in Delaware. They were accompanied by their existing caregivers. It was an example of best practices in the slowly emerging treatment field of autism, its care and the education of children affected. These caregivers, already known to the children, would help to reduce the trauma of relocation. This stellar moment begs the question, was it lack of will or lack of care that would plague Carlton Palms in the years to come? Regardless, Mazik was on the cusp, in the right place, at the right time. Soon his services would be in great demand.

Within 30 years, the world would be thrust into an autism pandemic. Approximately 1% of the world's population would be diagnosed with Autism by 2014 (CDC/Autism Society.) This is how it breaks down: In the United States more than 3.5 million Americans are challenged by this disorder in 2014. The CDC would report that 1 in 68 births resulted in a child living with diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. Four of five children diagnosed with autism would be boys, a statistic that has been steady since Autism was first widely recognized. In 2017, the cause for this disorder is still a mystery. With the rise of diagnosis came the advent of new treatment models, the most successful and recognized of which is ABA, Applied Behavior Analysis.

In 2017, Carlton Palms, under a different owner, offers a full battery of interventions and living environments even at the facility itself faces imminent closure.

It's unknown to the public what model or models Carlton Palms first employed. However, as early as 1975 Mazik claimed he was utilizing operant conditioning when interviewed by the Philadelphia Inquire for a Feb. 16, 1975 story about Autism.(https://www.newspapers.com/image/173237319. Feb. 16, 1975. Regardless, the model adopted at the original Au Clair is arguably cruelty. But, in 1987, no one in Florida knows the truth behind each of the first six children to travel to Carlton Palms in its opening week.

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