Cheers and Jeers

Crookston Times
November 21, 2013

http://www.crookstontimes.com/article/20131121/OPINION/131129891/1001/NEWS

[Doe 19 Summons and Complaint]

[Fitzgerald Timeline]

[Doe 19 Statement]

[2010 S.D. Complaint]

[J. Vincent Fitzgerald Photo]

A savvy new digital sign greets motorists as they drive down Fisher Avenue past Crookston High School.

Now fully-operating and in color, the CHS sign informs passerbys of the latest and greatest upcoming events as well as general school information. Vibrant colors grab the attention of both students and community members to affectively prime them on communal information.

The original digital sign hadn’t been running for many years.

Upon CHS?Principal Jason Vold's arrival as the new Pirate principal, it was decided by the Crookston School?Board, after Vold made the request, that the sign should be turned back on and returned to a new glory.

After the school board approved a $32,500 expense with assurances by Vold to raise the money through private fundraising, the sign was recently restored and is now up, running and fully functioning.

A great and vibrant gem to the Crookston community, the restored sign effectively does a great job of relaying information, and showing that CHS?is alive and well.

– Torrie Greer, student staff writer

Jeers to..... more news of abuse through the Diocese

There will be a press conference Thursday in Crookston in regards to another civil suit to be filed under the Child Victims Act, this time involving sexual abuse on a reservation.

The announcement involves the White Earth Indian Reservation in Naytahwaush on behalf of a man who attended St. Ann's Parish. This lawsuit, again, names the Diocese of Crookston, alleging negligence in placing the accused Father J. Vincent Fitzgerald in parishes and communities where he had access to children even after learning that he was a child molester.

This is the first time that Fitzgerald's name has been publicly released in Minnesota.

He allegedly abused children on three reservations, including orphaned children on the Lake Traverse Reservation, as part of the Sisseton, South Dakota Indian Mission. Fitzgerald is deceased and held positions in the Diocese of Duluth, Diocese of Crookston, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and others in Illinois, Oregon, Missouri, and South Dakota.

News of more abuse is never a fun thing to read about. However, the victims will finally be able to tell their stories and hopefully get some sort of closure thanks to the Child Victims Act.