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	Episcopal Lawyer Slams Armstrong at Hearing By Jean Torkelson Rocky Mountain News July 31, 2007 http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5652841,00.html Colorado — The Rev. Don Armstrong used his pulpit to "throw out a smokescreen to conceal his grave offenses and crimes," a lawyer for the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado told an ecclesiastical court today. Parishioners past and present from Grace Church and St. Stephens in Colorado Springs, "deserve to know the evidence of his wrong doing," attorney Ty Gee told the independent panel which heard nearly three hours of testimony at St. John's Episcopal Cathedral. Armstrong, who has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, ignored the hearing, saying it has no jurisdiction over him. The church court is the latest step in a drawn-out conflict between the diocese — led by Bishop Rob O'Neill — and Armstrong, once among Colorado's most prominent Episcopal priests. The five-member panel, composed of three clergy and two Episcopal lay people, expect to issue their findings soon, but "probably not today," said the Rev. Peter Munson, presiding judge of the panel. Armstrong has 30 days to respond. The findings range from not guilty to recommendations that he be reprimanded, suspended or defrocked. Gee, joined by attorney Hal Haddon, whose firm represents the diocese, recommended that Armstrong be defrocked. "He is unfit for ordained ministry," Gee said. The diocese charges that Armstrong committed tax fraud and theft, most notably by diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a seminary scholarship account to help pay for his children's education and family living expenses. Armstrong has countercharged that O'Neill is pursuing a personal vendetta against him for his conservative views. Armstrong has agitated for years against the Episcopal Church for straying from traditional Christian doctrines involving scriptural authority and sexuality. In March Armstrong broke away from the Episcopal Church with a substantial number in his parish to join a conservative network, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. In a separate lawsuit, the diocese and Armstrong are battling over who should control the venerable parish property that's been a Colorado Springs landmark for more than a century. For an hour Tuesday, Haddon questioned Sheri Betzer, a tax fraud examiner and former IRS agent who examined 10 years of bookkeeping at Armstrong's church. Betzer said her analysis was that Armstrong kept his wrongdoing from parishioners by "burying" the real use of the money — alleged to be for his own purposes — in a "mish-mosh" of bookkeeping. "He wouldn't be showing the truth of the matter so in my opinion it was deception," she said, referring to one series of what appeared to be hastily dashed-off receipts. The second and last witness was 82-year-old Karl Ross, who since the 1970s had overseen the Bowton Trust, which the diocese alleges was the financial vehicle that Armstrong used to pay for his children's education. In a videotaped deposition, Ross said he met with Armstrong after Armstrong first became Grace Church's pastor in the late 1980s, to advise him of the proper use of the Bowton Trust and try to come up with ways to seek out new scholarship applicants. "He seemed pleased to be advised of the presence of the trust," Ross said. However, only one further applicant, in 1991, ever received scholarship money, Ross said. After that, Armstrong never contacted him about applicants. torkelsonj@rockymountainnews.com or 303-954-5055.
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