After Latest Revelation, Archdiocese Promises to Release Names ... with Conditions

By Brian Lambert
MinnPost
November 11, 2013

http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2013/11/after-latest-revelation-archdiocese-promises-release-names-conditions

MPR’s case for award consideration is strengthened anew by today’s report on the archdiocese’s handling of one Father Clarence Vavra. Madeleine Baran, Tom Scheck and Sasha Aslanian report: “One night on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota nearly four decades ago, a 36-year-old Roman Catholic priest asked a young boy to share his bed. The boy was about 9 or 10 years old. As he climbed into bed, he asked the priest a question: Are you going to molest me, like my relative does when he asks me to spend the night? The answer was yes. What happened that night remained secret. The priest, the Rev. Clarence Vavra, stayed in ministry and served in 16 parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis before retiring in 2003. He's never been publicly identified as an abuser. There are no records of any police reports or lawsuits. No victims have come forward. Vavra admitted in a May 1995 psychological evaluation that he had attempted to anally rape the South Dakota boy. The report was stored in the vicar general's filing cabinet at the chancery.”

Very quickly, Tony Kennedy of the Strib has a story up with Archbishop John Nienstedt promising to release names of abusive priests. Except, as Kennedy writes: “Nienstedt said the Archdiocese will disclose ‘the names, locations and status of priests who are currently living in the Archdiocese, and who we know have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors’. … the statement said the disclosures will be restricted to priests living in the archdiocese who have substantiated claims against them of committing sexual abuse against minors — and then only with permission of the ‘relevant court.’ [Attorney Jeff] Anderson said those limitations will protect the archdiocese from having to reveal the names of dead priests who committed sex crimes against children in recent decades, past offenders who are now living outside the archdiocese, sexual offenders who have been removed from the priesthood and any priest who has been accused of sexual manipulation of adults, including vulnerable adults.”

Meanwhile, some immigration reform news, paired with Veterans Day. Jim Adams of the Strib says: “On the eve of Veterans Day, Klobuchar pushed for passage of an immigration bill, including the so-called DREAM Act, short for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors. … Klobuchar said the immigration reform bill ‘would bring 11 million people out of the shadows so they can get an education and serve.’ She said after the news conference that the continuing budget debate talks in the wake of the government shutdown last month could encourage passage of the bill that she said the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated would save $158 million in the next 10 years.”

Looking for government work? Consider Rochester. Edie Grossfield of the Post-Bulletin says: “Rochester and Olmsted County government staff are among the highest paid local government employees in Minnesota, according to annual public salary notices that cities and counties with more than 15,000 people are required to make. Within the 126 cities and counties mandated by state law to report their three highest paid employees, City Administrator Steve Kvenvold and Rochester Public Utilities General Manager Larry Koshire are the two highest paid city employees. They each have base annual salaries of $165,780. The next highest paid city employee is St. Louis Park's city manager, who makes $160,639, followed by Rochester Director of Public Works Richard Freese, who makes $158,452.”

The GleanDirectly related … Brian Bakst of the AP writes: “Salaries of the top-paid employees in Minnesota city and county government have risen sharply since the state peeled back a restriction that made it rare for local personnel to earn more than the governor. An analysis of salary data by The Associated Press found scores of local officials — city managers, police chiefs, parks directors, county health agents among them — now drawing bigger paychecks than the governor. In some cases, pay for the same position shot up more than $40,000 in about eight years. The trend could factor into upcoming state salary decisions. A study of competitiveness of state executive branch pay is underway and could result in raises as soon as next year.”

At Midwest Energy News, Dan Haugen follows the squabbles over “solar gardens”: “As customers begin putting money down to join one of Minnesota’s first community solar gardens, new comments to state regulators reveal significant disagreements about how the program should work. … Xcel unveiled its plan for the program on Sept. 30, and last week solar developers responded with several objections over proposed fees, rates and restrictions the utility would place on the projects. MN Community Solar started accepting deposits a few weeks ago for a 40-kilowatt solar garden to be built on the roof of a south Minneapolis warehouse. But it expects it will have to refund that money if major changes aren’t made to Xcel’s proposal. … Others criticizing parts of the utility’s plan include SunEdison, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), the Minnesota Solar Energy Industry Association (MnSEIA), and Fresh Energy (where Midwest Energy News is based).”

WCCO-TV’s Esme Murphy was not impressed with Ranked Choice Voting: “One: It was confusing. Two: It took far longer to count the ballots than supporters said it would. Three: It was a fix for a system that wasn’t broken. ... What will be the final cost of the overtime and the special Florida consultants who were brought in to oversee the extravaganza? … Ranked-choice supporters say their system eliminates negative campaigning. And it does. Candidates can not afford to alienate another candidates’ backers because they need those second place votes. But I would argue the result is a false positive, the impression that the candidates are all on the same or similar pages. Candidates withheld drawing sharp contrasts or critiques of one another that would have been helpful to voters. It was Minnesota Nice at its worst — a frozen veneer of civility, when in a ‘normal’ election the gloves would have been off.”

The Josmil Pinto era begins … Joe Mauer is now a first baseman. Phil Miller of the Strib says: “The eight-time All-Star will become a full-time first baseman in 2014, after a foul tip ended his 2013 season six weeks early. ‘After consultation with doctors from Mayo Clinic and team doctors, and given the inherent risks of future injury at the catcher position,’ the team said in a statement, ‘the organization and Joe determined that it would be in the best interest of both him and the Twins for a position change.’ … It also likely opens a spot in the lineup for Josmil Pinto, a 24-year-old Venezuelan who batted .342 in 21 games in September.”

City Pages' Aaron Rupar reports: “Seema Desai claims the Minneapolis department tasked with making sure employers treat workers fairly fails on that very score when it comes to its own employees. Desai, a 33-year-old former complaint investigation officer for the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights, recently filed a complaint against the city alleging that the way her bosses treated her violated the Minnesota Whistleblowers Act. She says she was forced to work overtime without pay, discouraged from raising concerns about her treatment with her union, and was singled out for harassment after she ignored bosses' admonitions and reported her concerns to the city's human resources department. … Things came to a head this summer after Desai reported her alleged mistreatment to the city's human resources department. The complaint details what happened from there." If accurate … very classy.