St. Louis Archdiocese Upset with Minnesota Media Coverage

By Brian Lambert
MinnPost
June 6, 2014

http://www.minnpost.com/glean/2014/06/st-louis-archdiocese-upset-minnesota-media-coverage

The St. Louis Archdiocese is upset with the way .. the media here … have portrayed its archbishop. The one who wasn’t certain priests having sex with boys was against the law. Jim Salter of the AP writes: “The St. Louis Archdiocese on Wednesday condemned some media portrayals of Archbishop Robert Carlson's deposition in a Minnesota lawsuit over alleged abuse by priests, saying ‘inaccurate and misleading’ reporting has prompted unfair criticism of him. … The archdiocese said that when Carlson said, ‘I'm not sure whether I knew it was a crime or not,’ he was referring to the fact that he did not know exactly when clergy were bound by law to report child abuse.”

Very much related … Matt Sepic of MPR reports: "A former member of a central Minnesota boys' choir says a priest at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville abused him while on a trip to Europe more than two decades ago. The alleged victim and his family say they decided to go public with their allegations against the Rev. Timothy Backous after learning Backous was still in public ministry and had recently been working with minors."

Heh. A parody of the NFL’s ridiculous Super Bowl demands from Rochelle Eastman of Savage. In a Strib commentary, she writes: “We are planning a family reunion and are considering holding the event in your fair city. We will have many guests spending money in hotels, bars, restaurants and entertainment venues like the Guthrie and Sex World. Since the city will be making a fair sum of money off our event, we request that you provide a few extra services at no charge:

• Private access to Lake Harriet for the weekend, with uniformed police restricting access to invited guests.

• Waiver of all rental fees, parking fees, and restrictions on alcohol, bonfires, firearms, noise, smoking and nudity.”

In the Wisconsin State Journal, columnist Andy Baggot gets in the act, telling Cheeseheads to forget about the Super Bowl ever coming to … Green Bay. “In short, the idea that storied Lambeau Field might someday stage an NFL championship game has gone from fanciful to ‘forget about it.’ … Somewhere in all of this is a punch line about how Green Bay and the Fox Valley couldn’t possibly fulfill the need for presidential suites, 35,000 parking places and 450 courtesy cars and buses.”

He’s a giver … Corey Mitchell of the Strib says: “The leadership PAC of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who lost to a Tea Party challenger on Tuesday in a stunning Republican primary upset, has donated $169,500 to Minnesota candidates over the past decade, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. … During that time period, Cantor’s Every Republican is Crucial PAC has donated $40,000 to Rep. Erik Paulsen, $35,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann and $34,500 to Rep. John Kline.” Not that you can buy loyalty, you understand.

The Orchestra cuts a deal … . Stribber Graydon Royce reports: “Kevin Puts, the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, has signed a three-year contract as director of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, which has its next session in January 2015. The institute is a professional composer-training program that was developed in the 1995-1996 season. It now includes tutorials, rehearsals and seminars for emerging composers and a public performance of their work.”

St. Paul’s streets are a problem for the mayor. Curtis Gilbert of MPR says: “A veto-proof majority of the St. Paul City Council is pushing Mayor Chris Coleman to pump more money into street repair. Six of seven council members have have signed onto a plan to borrow more than $20 million dollars to address the problem. That money would allow the city to reconstruct about 10 miles of major arterial streets. … the proposal stands in contrast to the mayor's current approach, which has been to repave rather than fully rebuild many main thoroughfares.”

Sort of a “Keep your gummint hands off my Social Security check” moment … Says Marino Eccher of the PiPress: “A man disgruntled with the wait time at the Social Security office in St. Paul triggered an evacuation Monday when he threatened to blow up the building, prosecutors say. Kevin Albert Olson, 55, was charged Wednesday with felony terroristic threats. According to the charging documents: Olson entered the office on the eighth floor of 190 Fifth St. E. in downtown St. Paul, late Monday morning. He asked how long the wait was. … Olson, unhappy, replied, ‘I'll blow this f---er up,’ the complaint said.” That’s tellin' 'em, pal.

To paraphrase the great Latrell Sprewell, “They can still feed their families.” Watching the Target shareholders’ meeting, Kavita Kumar of the Strib says: “Target Corp. shareholders re-elected the company’s 10-member board of directors Wednesday despite an influential proxy adviser campaigning for most of the board to be rejected. … the company has accelerated its plan to enhance its Redcards with chip-and-pin technology and is undergoing a total re-examination of its risk management structure.”