BishopAccountability.org
	Independent Opinion Gallup Independent August 5, 2007 http://www.gallupindependent.com/2007/august/080407io.html Gallup (NM) — On or about July 23, the bishop of the Gallup Diocese, the Most Rev. Donald E. Pelotte, fell down eight or nine carpeted stairs at his Gallup home, sustaining massive injuries that are expected to keep him in the hospital for weeks or months. At least that is what some in the diocese, including the Rev. James Walker, want the people here to believe. Walker, the vicar general of the Gallup Diocese, soon after taking over Pelotte's administrative duties, decided that the best course of action was to present his version to the public and to members of the faith and go along with the bishop's version of what happened at his home, despite the evidence that indicates Pelotte was seriously assaulted. "I fell down the stairs," says Pelotte from his hospital bed, and the diocese is going along with this despite the many questions that have come up since Pelotte's injuries were made public. According to police and diocese statements, that night Pelotte suffered massive wounds to almost every part of his body. This includes heavy bruising across his face, arms, knuckles, elbows, legs and his feet. The police report also stated that his right eye was swollen shut. And the official version from the diocese is that Pelotte fell and sustained these wounds during the fall down eight or nine carpeted stairs. "There were no signs of a struggle," Walker said in a statement released on Tuesday. The first chancery official at the scene, Deacon Timothy Lujan, who went to the house said that it looked like the bishop had been beaten up, but Walker has chosen to ignore that, just like Catholic officials ignored reports of child sexual abuse within the Gallup Diocese in the past. There were no signs of another person in the house, he adds. The fact that Pelotte was discovered with bruises all over his body and blood along the stairway would probably lead some to believe that there was someone else in the house at the time. So how did this happen? Did Pelotte have a fight with the stairs as he was tumbling? Did the stairs have a nice left hook that resulted in a shot to his right eye? Everything that has been made public seems to indicate that Pelotte was involved in a violent fight that night. With whom, and why, should be questions that not only officials of the diocese should be asking, but police as well. But despite the official police report listing the incident as an assault, and the ER doctors at the hospital calling police when they classified the bishop's injuries as caused by an assault, the city police, now under the leadership of acting Police Chief Robert Cron, has decided to sweep it under Walker's carpet and accept Pelotte's word that it was just a trivial accident because of a stated policy that they don't investigate these kinds of incidents if the victim claims it is an accident. Cron should know better from his years with the New Mexico State Police and coming across witnesses who, for one reason or another, don't want the truth to be revealed. But it's obvious that a crime has been committed, and it's the sworn duty of the police to investigate and, if a crime has been committed, to bring the person responsible to justice. It's obvious the police department wants to drop the ball on this. First, they decided to take Pelotte's initial statement at face value, despite the fact that he had severe head injuries which brings into question his ability to accurately recall what happened. Shortly after Pelotte was discovered, the chancellor of the diocese offered to allow police to inspect Pelotte's home, which would have probably resolved the question of what happened that night and prevented the questions and rumors that have since sprung up. The police, however, turned the offer down. Pelotte is a public figure who, in the past several years, has had at least one public death threat. He is also the local head of a religion that has followed a path of secrecy and lies when it comes to the personal lives of its priests and leaders. Despite this, both the diocese and the police have decided that the facts surrounding this case don't warrant any further action. The fact that there has been a documented death threat alone should have sparked some police interest in this case and concern that the victim may be lying because he's afraid of further injury if he tells police what actually happened. This web of lies and false truths is not good for us, and Walker and others need to come forward and answer the questions that this community has about what happened, even if it proves embarrassing to Pelotte and the Church. We have a deep respect for what Pelotte has been able to accomplish here in Gallup but the events surrounding his injuries demand that everyone involved in this be forthcoming. The truth needs to be told. We are calling upon officials in the diocese to demand a police investigation and we are calling upon the police to take the investigation seriously, regardless of what the diocese wishes. The days when the Church can sweep something like this under the carpet and hope it will just go away are gone, just like the billions of dollars the Church has spent in recent years to settle accusations of child molestation by priests. The Church can no longer spoon feed the news media with its version of false truth. But apparently the Church believes it can still spoon-feed the Gallup Police Department and they will just go along. Justice has to be done and the person responsible for the assault on Pelotte needs to be punished. The leaders of the Church need to stop lying and covering up and be honest with us.
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