There appears to be a serious crack in the clerical fraternity … . Madeleine Baran of MPR reports, “[A] longtime official for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis disputed Archbishop John Nienstedt’s sworn testimony on the clergy abuse scandal. Nienstedt had testified April 2 that the Rev. Kevin McDonough told him not to write down sensitive information about abusive priests because the information could become public in a lawsuit. Nienstedt also said McDonough provided vague information on past cases and led him to believe that the archdiocese was safe for children. … ‘He and I would have never been in a position for much casual conversation,’ McDonough said. ‘Archbishop Nienstedt managed largely by memo.’”
Oh, look what I have in this pocket … . The AP says, “Gov. Mark Dayton says he’s willing to devote another $100 million of a budget surplus to … broadband infrastructure expansion, additional prison staffing and court-ordered psychological examinations of sex offenders.”
Just a little beyond deterence … . The latest from the Byron Smith trial, from Pam Louwagie of the Strib: “Photos showed six gunshot wounds to Haile Kifer’s body — the most immediately fatal went into her head from under her left ear, according to testimony from Kelly Mills of the Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s office. Nick Brady’s body contained three gunshot wounds, all of which would have been fatal, Mills testified.”
Advancing … the bill banning on-line lottery action. Says Doug Belden of the PiPress, “A bill that would ban online lottery ticket sales advanced in the House Thursday. The bill got the OK from the House Commerce committee and heads now to Rules. … In addition to banning online lottery ticket sales, the Senate version would eliminate ‘Play at the Pump’ gas-station sales as well as ATM sales.” MinnPost’s Doug Grow saw this coming a couple of weeks ago.
Did you see this couldn’t-be-scripted-better moment from last night’s Twins game? Via FoxSports’ Tyler Mason: “With Minnesota Twins designated hitter Chris Colabello up to bat, FOX Sports North’s Marney Gellner was interviewing Colabello’s parents in the stands. During the live interview, Colabello launched a two-run home run to center field to tie the game at 2.”
Note to those headed that way … . The Strib’s traffic guy, Tim Harlow, reminds readers, “Commuting is about to get more difficult in the southwest metro as a section of Hwy. 169 closes Sunday evening and will be shut down until July. MnDOT will close the southbound lanes of Hwy. 169 between Crosstown Hwy. 62 and Valley View Road in Edina to resurface the road, improve drainage systems, install guard rails and put a new deck on the overpass spanning the Crosstown. Southbound Hwy. 169 traffic will be diverted onto westbound Hwy. 212 to I-494 during the nine-week closure.”
International sex abuse … . The AP reports, “A British private school said Thursday that images of between 50 and 60 of its students were found on the computer drive of an American suspected child predator who killed himself last month. The FBI has asked for international help to find victims of William Vahey, who worked at 10 international schools around the world over four decades. … Vahey, 64, committed suicide March 21 in Luverne, Minnesota, two days after U.S. agents filed for a warrant to search his computer thumb drive.”
Strib business columnist Lee Schafer pooh-poohs the General Mills “immunity” flap: “… now that General Mills has said never mind, we’ve changed the terms back, it’s difficult to see what all the fuss was about. Arbitration clauses in consumer agreements have become more or less business as usual. … It’s certainly true that anyone who thinks district court is efficient or particularly fair to small-claims plaintiffs has probably never seen the inside of a courtroom.” On Twitter, MPR’s Bob Collins took Schafer to the virtual woodshed.
Classic fodder for Angry (and generally Old) White Males … . Jon Collins of MPR reports, “ … the celebration of Columbus Day still rankles Bill Means. ‘We had been edited out of existence in the public school system,’ Means said. ‘To say Columbus discovered America is one of the first lies we’re told in public education.’ That particular struggle may be coming to an end, at least in Minneapolis. On Friday, the City Council will consider a resolution that would re-designate Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day.” Then can we move on to Lake … Calhoun?
Columbus..one of the first lies we’re told in public education.
Well, there was a guy named Columbus whom the Europeans identified as the discoverer of the New World. We now know that there were other visitors as well. And we know that the Europeans, our forefathers, slaughtered untold numbers of native residents who were already here. We also know that native residents of North and South America weren’t one big happy family singing cum-ba-yah around the campfire and sharing hot dogs with each other. There was slaughter between them also.
So the take away is: a) Columbus Day marks the beginning of the invasion of the New World by non-natives, and b) our predecessors lived in a world where human slaughter was common.
I also wish that it were different – but it wasn’t. The best we can do is honestly face our past in the hope that we refrain from repeating it. So far, we have not done well in remembering or in avoiding a repetition. Sorry.
A rose by any other name….
Minnesotans are just re-inventing the wheel…we progressive South Dakotans are ahead of the game…
In 1989 the South Dakota legislature unanimously passed legislation to proclaim 1990 as the “Year of Reconciliation” for Native Americans and to change Columbus Day to Native American Day. Since 1990 the second Monday in October has been celebrated as Native American Day in South Dakota.
Greg Price
Callous disregard
Fr Kevin McDonough’s total callous disregard for protecting vulnerable children and adults in the St Paul-Minneapolis Archdiocese is appalling.
It is extremely sad that these church officials are getting away with these crimes of enabling and empowering child predator priests to sexually abuse innocent children. And to think that if McDonough would just picked up the phone and dial 911 as soon as he had suspicions or knew about a child predator, so many children would have been spared the life long harm of being sexually abused.
It is way past time for law enforcement to take some serious action to hold these church officials accountable for their crimes of cover up.
Sadly the sex abuse and cover up within the church hierarchy throughout the world is still going on to this day. Cardinals and bishops are still not removing accused predator clergy, and they are still not reporting to law enforcement. Their so called “zero tolerance” policy is not being followed by the bishops who created it. They don’t have to, because there is no punishment to force the bishops to change their ways of protecting their power and the institution rather than protecting innocent children.
Once again we urge outside law enforcement to get involved to stop these crimes against humanity.
Judy Jones, SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests