Section A · Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, October 11, 2000
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Church settles sex abuse case
The Associated Press
"This settlement ends half a century of fear, secrecy, silence and shame that protected Father Grammond," said David Slader, lawyer for the plaintiffs.
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Roman Catholic Church apologized yesterday for one of the nation's largest cases of sexual abuse by a priest and agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to 22 men who said they had been molested as far back as 50 years ago.
The men charged that the Rev. Maurice Grammond enticed them to engage in sexual acts between 1950 and 1974.
The amount of the settlement was kept confidential by both sides. The men had sued for $44 million.
No criminal charges against Grammond are possible. The statute of limitations has run out,
and the 80-year-old priest is in the Alzheimer's unit at a retirement home.
In addition to the apology, the church agreed to head a task force to recommend policies to avoid abuse. And it will review files of active priests who have been subjects of child abuse complaints and offer counseling to other victims. The apology is to be read in every church in the archdiocese
"To any person who has suffered from abuse by any personnel of the Archdiocese of Portland and to their families, I express my deep regret and ask for pardon and forgiveness," he said.
In Oregon, Grammond served at a home for troubled and abused boys in Portland and in parishes in the coastal town of Seaside and the logging community of Oakridge. Most of the plaintiffs had been altar boys in Seaside, where Grammond spent 20 years before his retirement in 1985.
The plaintiffs, who had kept quiet about the sexual abuse for decades, mostly live in Oregon and range in age from 39 to 61.
The lawsuits accused the archdiocese of failure to notify parishioners of Grammond's past molestations of boys, failure to monitor his activities and advise authorities and failure to have other adults accompany Grammond on camping trips and other youth activities.
The first lawsuit was filed last year by Joe Elliott, who grew up in Seaside. After that, more plaintiffs came forward.
The nation's biggest known priest abuse case involved the Rev. James Porter of Massachusetts, who was accused by 99 people of molesting them while they were children in the 1950s and 1960s. He pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting 28 children and was sentenced to 18 to 20 years in prison.
Matriarch's death mars violent Sri Lankan vote
The Associated Press
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — As Sri Lankans waited for the results of an election that could stop the 17-year civil war, they also grieved for Sirimavo Bandaranake, or "Mrs. B," the matriarch of the nation's politics.
Bandaranaike, 84, died yesterday after casting her vote.
Shelling by rebels, election-eve killings and the death of Bandaranake, the world's first female prime minister and the mother of the current president, overcast the parliamentary elections. The government imposed a curfew in Colombo between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
A bomb exploded minutes after voting ended, wounding 32 supporters of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance party.
National Party comes into power, it would immediately de-escalate the fighting in the northern Jaffa Peninsula and then negotiate with the rebels.
Police blamed the attack on political rivalry between Kumaratunga's party and that of her chief rival, the United National Party of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Wickremesinghe has said that if his United
Kumaratunga's People's Alliance took an early lead in postal ballots, which came from people living in areas where they were not registered to vote, the Election Commission said.
The commission said it counted 46,500 postal ballots. People's Alliance got 21,500 votes against 15,907 by the main opposition United National Party.
Just after the polls closed, the two leading parties leveled accusations of vote-rigging.
The independent Center for Monitoring Election Violence urged the Elections Commissioner not to count the votes in at least 210 of the country's 9,500 polling centers.
Two attacks left three people dead on the night before the voting, police said.
sixty-six people have been killed in election violence since campaigning started five weeks ago.
Space shuttle liftoff delayed a third time
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With the weather forecast improving, astronauts boarded space shuttle Discovery yesterday for an evening liftoff on a flight to the interplanetary space station.
However, a problem cropped up in the final hours that could force another delay for NASA's 100th space shuttle flight.
Workers conducting a routine inspection of Discovery noticed a metal pin on the liquid-oxygen line between the shuttle and its external fuel tank.
Engineers were trying to determine whether the pin might be blown into the shuttle during liftoff and, if it did, whether it would cause any damage.
At the late stage of the countdown, no one could get to the pin.
Meanwhile, meteorologists were growing more optimistic that the weather would cooperate. Strong winds and low clouds remained the main concerns.
The attempt was NASA's third in less than a week to send Discovery and seven astronauts on the critical space station construction mission. Mechanical problems scuttled last Thursday's launch attempt, and gusty wind prevented the shuttle from lifting off on Monday.
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HOURS Sun.11-6pm Mon.-Sat. 9:30-9:00pm
2000 JCPenney Company, Inc.
34th Street Center·3311 Iowa·Lawrence,KS·785-331-0101