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	Victims No Longer Cowed by Diocese By Frank Mickadeit The Orange County Register October 11, 2007 http://www.ocregister.com/column/gray-callahan-one-1886486-brown-slowdown The best part of the post-settlement press conference with Bishop Tod Brown and his attorneys was that two of the victims, Sarah Gray and Christina Ruiz, stood alongside the reporters and demanded answers. Gray (a Mater Dei valedictorian, Notre Dame graduate and current Ph.D. student, by the way) asked about the discrepancy between what church lawyer Peter Callahan had asserted earlier in the day about law enforcement authorities being properly contacted about the four abuse cases and what Gray's actual experience was. She says she and her parents found no record of a report to police. Callahan, rather than answer the question, archly replied: "You had your press conference yesterday." Classy. Reporters, including me, didn't let it drop, however, wanting to know what evidence the church had that it had ever followed up on Gray's complaint with the proper authorities. Finally, in-house diocesan attorney Maria Schinderle whispered to Callahan that Child Protective Services had been contacted in Gray's case. Ruiz wanted to know where the diocese got the $100,000 to pay her abuser, Jeff Andrade, when he sued the church for publicly identifying him. The figure, which was to be secret, only came out when Callahan mentioned it in Brown's recent deposition. The notion that the church paid him – rather than going after him for the millions he's cost it – is outrage enough. But did it come out of parishioners' pockets? No, Brown said, an insurance company paid. How will you pay the $6.7 million? I asked. Brown said the money will come from the insurance company and potentially from the four abusers. Good luck with that. He said the diocese "will not be diminishing the services" to O.C. Catholics as a result of the settlement. Ruiz will get several million dollars from the diocese but not the Mater Dei diploma she also requested. "She did not complete the academic requirements necessary," Callahan told the court. True. Hard to concentrate when one of the school's basketball coaches won't leave you alone. Last Friday's proceedings in the Jennifer Deleon Henderson sentencing were to begin at 9 a.m. But because of the Sheriff's deputies' work slowdown hauling inmates between jails and courthouses, she was not there. So Judge Frank F. Fasel postponed sentencing to 1:30 p.m. It's one thing to inconvenience judges, lawyers, the press and defendants/convicts. We're in play. But to mess with the families of the victims? None of Tom and Jackie Hawks' extended family live in O.C. Some were staying at hotels they had checked out of and making travel arrangements that called for them to be out of the courthouse by noon at the latest. The deputies owe me nothing. And I respect what they do, as I've written many times. But this slowdown is not only hurting the people whom they want to take notice and are in position to influence their compensation issues (judges, lawyers, press). It is at least occasionally hurting the average citizens they've sworn to protect. Also, when court goes long because of the slowdown, who gets paid O. T.? Among others, the deputies who serve as bailiffs. At least one courtroom in Newport was running until 7:45 p.m. on Friday night. So two questions for my union friends: 1) Is the indiscriminate nature of the slowdown really helping you? 2) Is it the right thing to do? One somewhat informedtheory about why Jennifer didn't take the plea bargain that would have let her off with no prison time if she squealed on Skylar: She was actually the mastermind behind the murders. One kid already and another on the way, she put pressure on Skylar to make a big score. The extensive phone records between the two could be read that way in terms who initiated calls at what juncture. Had she started talking without complete immunity, she might have implicated herself. Better to take her chances with a jury, which might see her as the innocent mother. Update: I sat with Ronni Hughes at last weekend's annual awards dinner for the Regional Center of Orange County, the umbrella organization that assists people with developmental disabilities. Hughes is still trying to find jobs for the eight people who lost theirs cleaning OCTA buses over the summer. The Regional Center's Lifetime Achievement Award went to Dr. Margaret Ann Inman, who 40 years ago began treatment for speech and hearing disorders at St. Joseph's Hospital. Contact the writer: Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com
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