From: Gwen Todd Area: Metaphysical To: All 18 May 94 21:24:00 Subject: Churches & Abuse UpdReq Just got this out of today's Denver Post: CHURCHES SHIFT ABUSE DEFENSES Holding Groups Responsible 'violates religious freedom' By Virginia Culver Attorneys for three local church organizations that recently lost court cases involving sexual misconduct by clergyclaim that holding churhces accountable for ministers' conduct robs them of their religious freedom. In "friend of the court" briefs filed this month with the US Supreme Court, attorneys in two Denver United Methodist cases and a third involving Denver's Bear Valley Church of Christ say lower-cour rulings making curches liable for ministers' actions violate the First Amendment by restricting the churches "free exercise of religion". The attorneys said that telling churches how to "select, assign, supervise and discipline clergy, and how religious organizations may conduct their administration and how a clergy person does pastoral counseling" violates the First Amendment. Questioning how churches operate "directly interferes with the institutions' free exercise of religion," the attorneys charge. The legal arguments were filed in defense of the Colorado Episcopal Diocese and its appeal of a sexual misco9nduct case. In that case, the diocese is appealing to the US Court of Appeals a $728,000 udgment to Mary Moses Tenantry. She alleged that a sexual relatinship with her priest, the Rev. Paul Robinson, cause her extreme, psychological and spritual harm. Tenantry and Robinson became involved when he was an assoicate past of St. Philip and St. James Episcopal Church in southwest Denver. A jury awarded her $1.2 million from the diocese in 1991. The diocese appeled that decision to the Colorado Supreme Court, which reduced the judgment to $728,000. The United Methodist cases, both this year, involved Dianne R. Winkler of Aurora and Christa Bohrer of Denver. Winkler was awarded more than $163,000 in January by a Denver District Court jury in her civil suit against the Rev. Glenn Chambers, former pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in southeast Denver. She alleged sexual harassment. Chambers and the church appealed the verdict to the Colorado Court of Appeals this month. Bohrer was awarded more than $700,000 in her civil suit in Denver District against former minister Daniel DeHart and the United Methodist Annual Conference (the equivolent of a diocese). She alleged DeHart seduced her into a sexual relationship when she was 13 and he was youth minister at First Methodist Church in Greeley. In the Church of Chirst suit in 1992, a Dever woman and her son were awarded $450,000 by a Denver Distric Court jury. The woman, who son was a minor at the time, claimed the minister, Homer Wolfe, inappropriately massaged and fondled him during counseling sessions for five years. That case is before the Colorado Court of Appeals. In all three judgements, juries concluded church officials failed to properly screen, hire anbd supervise the ministers. All three juries also ordered the church or conference to pay at least half the damages. Friend of the court briefs are filed by parties who stand to be materially affected by the outcome of a pending decision--in this case, the high court's decision about whether to review the Tenantry case. In their briefs, the church attorneys threaten to appeal their judgments--to the US Court of lAppeals, if necessary. But an expert in constitutional law at the University of Dever said he doubts the First Amendment claims will get anywhere. Stephen Pepper, BU law professor, said for the goverment to say how a relgious chooses it rabbi or priest "gets into the freedom of relgion." Religious groups do have the right to the free exercise of their religion, he said, in all matters of administration, "but if your minister hurts someone, you'll have to pay." said Pepper. He called the First Amendment defense "a live issue" that has been used in other church cases, particularly those involving discrimination. "It's kind of a knee-jerk defense." "But it's pretty hard to defend agaisnst statutory rape and sexual harassment," he said. The attorneys filing the friend of the court briefs are Neil Quigley, who represented the United Methodists in the Bohrer and Winkler cases and the Church of Christ in the third case; and Jim Johnson, attorney for HOmer Wolfe. The attorneys say in the briefs that they have been "involved in many lawsuits in Colorado for almost ten years where religious institutions have had claims against them for sexual improprieties." Devern attorney Joyce Seelen, who represented Tenantry, Winkler, Bohrer and the woman who sued on behalf of her sone, yesterday refused to comment about the recent briefs. Two others briefs supporting the Episcopal diocese and citing the First Amendment argument have been filed with the US Court of Appeals. The American Association of Pastoral Counselors, headquartered in Virginia, said the lower court "did not understand that pastroal counseling and supervision of parish clergy is not the equivolent to employment supervision." The other brief was filed by a coalition of Colorado religious groups, including Catholics and Protestants. ... Whales are mammals. Mammals have hair. SHAVE THE WHALES! 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Gwen Todd Area: Metaphysical To: All 18 May 94 21:33:00 Subject: Stats UpdReq According to an article in the Denver Post earlier this week: "A 1988 survey by the national church's Commission on the Status and Role of Women showed that 77 percent of female clergy reported some kind of sexual harassment or abuse. More than 50 percent of those surveyed said the abuse happened in a church setting. The survey found that 23 percent of lay women reported being victims of misconduct, 48 percent of students in church-related colleges and seminaries siad they been victims and 37 perst of church employees said they had been. But only 5 percent of all those who reported incidents filed formal charges. The rest said they did not report the misconduct to authorities because they feared retribution and loss of privacy." ... Gentlemen prefer blondes, but it takes a real man to handle a redhead. 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718 From: Albertus Magnus Area: Metaphysical To: All 18 May 94 19:15:20 Subject: The Week in Death: April 29 - May 5 UpdReq QUOTE OF THE DAY: ``Thanks to `Red-Banner Burger' by Gary Stix, I am up-to-date on your attempts to restrict me to a `choice of a hamburger well done or just plain burned.' You could not have made it any more clear that your objective is to kill your readers. ``I sincerely hope you and your associates at Scientific American will be among the first and most enthusiastic users of the latest poisonous meat product -- irradiated chickens. I will be delighted to dance at your funerals.'' --Robert G. Huenemann, from ``Letters to the Editors,'' Scientific American; April, 1994. The Week In Death (April 29-May 5) BARBARA SCHOENER (40). While jogging near her home just outside Sacramento on April 23, Schoener became the first person to be killed by a mountain lion in California in this century. THE CAT (2 or 3), a female, was tracked and killed last week. LYNNE FREDERICK (39), actress. Widow of PETER SELLERS. She subsequently married and divorced DAVID FROST and then SOME L.A. SURGEON. Films include ``Vampire Circus,'' ``Schizo,'' ``Voyage of the Damned,'' and a remake of ``Prisoner of Zenda'' with Sellers. She hasn't acted much since he died. RICHARD SCARRY (74), author. Scarry churned out scores of pleasant children's books with illustrations that were engagingly crammed with activity. He was able to speak to children on their own level with a minimum of condescension and almost none of the dorkitude endemic in literature for tots. Died from eating well done hamburgers. AYRTON SENNA (34), ROLAND RATZENBERGER (31), race car drivers. Senna, a three-time Formula One champion, ran his Williams-Renault into a wall at 200 mph at the San Marino Grand Prix. The Brazilian had a talent for extracting speed out of a machine; he'd won 41 Grand Prix events, and had set an all-time mark for earning the pole position (65). He was pulling in over $10 million a year (before endorsements), and was easily the single-most popular figure in his country, which was probably what made him the target of an unsuccessful kidnapping a few years ago. An intense, preternaturally focused competitor, he was suspected of purposefully crashing with ALAIN PROST in the 1990 Japan Grand Prix, which just happened to knock Prost out of contention for that year's championship (Senna won it). Last year, he got in a fistfight with EDDIE IRVINE because he thought Irvine had blocked him while being lapped. A notable playboy, he sued countryman and fellow Grand Prix champion NELSON PIQUET for insinuating that he was gay. Some people say he was a nice guy, just misunderstood. It is true that Formula One racers are scrutinized as intently as the British royal family, and their every move is blown way out of proportion. Ratzenberger, an Austrian, died while trying to qualify for the San Marino. It would have been only his fourth race on the circuit. FRANCIS TOMASIC (NA) and BRIAN BRENTON (NA), journalists. Killed when their vehicle ran over a landmine on a road somewhere between Mostar and Sarajevo. Tomasic, who worked for ``Spin,'' and Brenton, who worked for Seattle's ``Magnolia News,'' were travelling with novelist WILLIAM T. VOLLMAN, who was injured in the explosion. The three had strayed from the main road between the two cities, probably on purpose and against better advice. Vollman, also there on ``Spin's'' dime, is reknowned for plunging into insanely dangerous situations then turning his experiences into some of the most powerful prose currently being produced anywhere. More than 50 journalists have been killed while reporting on the fighting in Bosnia and Croatia. WILLIAM WHITE (88), journalist. Won a Pulitzer in 1955 for his biography of ROBERT A. TAFT. Died from eating irradiated chickens. From the Further Adventures of Dr. Death Department (FADDD): JACK KEVORKIAN was acquitted of violating Michigan's law banning assisted suicide. There's a section of the law that allows the easing of suffering, and jurors said they believed that the good doctor's action was covered by that provision. From the ``Red-rum! Red-rum!'' Department (RRD): The number of murders in the U.S. rose 3 percent last year, to about 24,500. Meanwhile, rape was down 4 percent, robbery down 2, and aggravated assault remained level. Murders in cities of over 1 million people decreased, while those in smaller cities and rural areas increased. That's the good news, according to JACK LEVIN, professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern U. ``This may be the last good report that we see in a long time. This is the lull before the crime storm that we're going to have in this country in the next decade.'' Levin says that homicides by 14- and 15-year-olds is on the rise. Most homicides are committed by 18-24 year-olds, which means these kids are not yet in their killing prime. The assumptions seem to be that they'll continue to kill other people, and they won't decimate their own demographic enough to stem the coming tide of violence. The rising murder rate is, once again, attributed to the increasing availability of guns. Yeah, TWIDman's tired of hearing it too. Say, what if we shot dead everyone who doesn't want a gun, that way we won't have to listen to all the whining about the so-called ``gun problem''? If guns were outlawed, only your in-laws would have guns. From the Par For The Course Department (PFTCD): As if the act of playing golf isn't enough to kill you, it turns out that golf courses themselves are hazardous to your health. Basically, the greens at the 14,648 (a real number) U.S. courses are kept worthy of the name only by being drenched with icky pesticides and artificial fertilizers. As evidence, a recent study notes that golf superintendents have a very high incidence of cancer deaths, although it was noted these guys do tend to be dedicated smokers. GOLF PROMOTERS pooh-poohed the study (they actually said ``pooh-pooh.'' All at once, too). There's no health problems from all those happy chemicals, they said, but they did blanch at the notion of wandering the links in bare feet, and pleaded for GOD's sake don't hold used golf tees in your teeth. Hmmm. Source: The Week in Death appears erratically. Like for instance, it won't be out next week, because we'll be in Japan. We won't be in Japan after next week, however, so odds are there will be a Two Weeks in Death popping up in, oh, say, two weeks, give or take. (The Week in Death is by Brian Santo, [B.SANTO@genie.geis.com].) ... I'm old enough to know the rules and smart enough to break them. 201434369420143436942014343694201434369420143436942014343694718