"Fire destroys southwest Missouri mosque" Associated Press, August 07, 2012
JOPLIN, Mo. — A mosque in southwest Missouri burned to the ground early Monday in the second fire to hit the Islamic center in little more than a month, officials said.
Officials said the building was a total loss. No injuries were reported and no charges have been filed.
Investigators said it would take several days to determine whether the fire was set.
Michael Kaste, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Kansas City office, said the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms together have about 30 investigators working to determine the cause.
Imam Lahmuddin, who leads the mosque and was in the building until late Sunday, said he was ‘‘sad and shocked’’ about the fire.
‘‘I’m still in front of the building looking at the damage and nothing can be saved,’’ Lahmuddin said Monday.
Authorities sifted through the black debris Monday. Only remnants indicated a building had been there, including some stone pillars and a few pieces of charred plywood loosely held up by a frame.
A blaze at the same building July 4 caused minor damage and was determined arson. No arrests were made and the FBI has offered a $15,000 reward for information leading to charges in that fire.
About 50 families attend the Islamic Society of Joplin, which opened in 2007 as a mosque and community center.
Related: The Guard Dogs of Missouri
Haven't those people suffered enough?
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What is interesting is the reaction and portrayal is much different if it some Muslim burning down a church somewhere else in the world. Burn a mosque down in AmeriKa and there is a big shrug.
No shrugging this off:
"Bishop guilty of shielding pedophile priest; Failed to report lewd pictures in Missouri" by John Eligon and Laurie Goodstein |
New York Times, September 07, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bishop Robert W. Finn was found guilty Thursday on
one count of failing to report suspected child abuse, becoming the
first Roman Catholic bishop in the United States in the decades-long
sexual abuse scandals to be convicted of shielding a pedophile priest.
In an abruptly announced bench trial that lasted a little over an
hour, Judge John M. Torrence of Jackson County Circuit Court found Finn
guilty of one misdemeanor charge and not guilty on a second. The charges
each carried a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $1,000 fine,
but Finn received a sentence of two years of court-supervised probation.
It was a sudden ending to a case that has consumed the church in
Kansas City and threatened to turn into a sensational, first-ever trial
of a sitting prelate. The case had been scheduled for a jury trial later
this month, but Wednesday the prosecution announced that it would be
decided in one afternoon before a judge....
The church managed to avoid a lengthy, highly public jury trial like
the one that occurred this year in Philadelphia, where a high-ranking
assistant to the archbishop was convicted of child endangerment and
sentenced to prison for three to six years.
See: Pennsylvania Pokers
The trial before the judge
in Kansas City also spared the young victims or their parents from
having to testify....
The case arose when Finn failed to report the Rev. Shawn Ratigan to
the police in December 2010, after the bishop learned that his employees
had discovered hundreds of photographs of young girls’ genitals, naked
and clothed, on a laptop computer that Ratigan had brought in for
repairs.
Isn't it sad that Catholics like me breathe a sigh of relief when it isn't some altar boy being violated?
After Ratigan survived a suicide attempt, the bishop reassigned him
to live in a convent and stay away from children.
God didn't want him, and why would he? That means we all know where Ratigan is going.
But Ratigan continued
to attend church events and take lewd pictures of girls for another five
months....
In May 2010, the principal of the Catholic elementary school where
Ratigan was working sent a letter to the diocese raising alarm about
him. The letter said he had put a girl on his lap on a bus ride,
encouraged children to reach into his pockets for candy and parents
discovered girls’ underwear in a planter outside his house. Finn has
said he did not read the letter until a year later.
A computer technician discovered the photographs on Ratigan’s laptop
in December 2010, and immediately reported it to the diocese. The
prosecutor said they were ‘‘alarming photos,’’ among them a series taken
on a playground in which the photographer moves in closer until the
final shots show girls’ genitalia through their clothing. Confronted
with the photographs, Ratigan tried to commit suicide by leaving his
motorcycle running in an enclosed garage. He left a note apologizing to
the children and their families, but survived and was briefly
hospitalized.
Sorry, but that is not winning you any sympathy. Now lift up that robe.
Finn sent Ratigan for a psychological examination, then assigned him
to live in a convent and told him not to have contact with children. But
despite the restrictions, Ratigan presided at a girl’s First Communion,
and attended an Easter egg hunt and a child’s birthday party. Diocesan
officials reported him to the police in May 2011....
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"Calls for Mo. bishop to quit grow louder; Found guilty of failing to report suspected abuse" by Bill Draper |
Associated Press, September 08, 2012
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Calls for Bishop Robert Finn’s resignation
intensified a day after he became the highest-ranking US church official
to be convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal.
Soon after a Missouri judge found Finn guilty Thursday of one
misdemeanor count of failing to report suspected child sexual abuse to
the state, unhappy Roman Catholics began discussing ways to get the
bishop out of office on a Facebook page titled ‘‘Bishop Finn Must Go.’’
He leads the Diocese of Kansas City-Saint Joseph....
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"Mo. mother, 3 girls dead; murder-suicide suspected" September 07, 2012
DE SOTO, Mo. — A Missouri woman sent a goodbye e-mail to her former
boyfriend, then apparently shot and killed her three daughters before
turning the gun on herself, authorities said Thursday.
The bodies of 22-month-old Faith Ehlen, Autumn Cochran, 10, and
Alyssa Cochran, 11, were found in a vehicle parked outside the home of
the former boyfriend, about 45 miles south of St. Louis.
Their mother, 32-year-old Lisa Cochran, was found dead on the front porch steps.
Jefferson County Sheriff Glenn Boyer said a shotgun purchased by
Cochran at a Walmart was found beside her. “The purchase of the shotgun,
and compiling everything we have so far, leads us to believe we’re
dealing with a murder-suicide and not a homicide,’’ he said.
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Also see: Five killed in crash of small plane
