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GENERAL NEWS
Total Articles:
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General news covering all aspects of just about everything. Could be world news, could be local - any news items.
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| | Convicted Mormon Sex Offender Arrested Again
Article Archived: Saturday, Jul 2, 2005, at 06:26 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous |  | |
A convicted sex offender has been arrested for re-offending. Police say he is suspected of raping several young boys he met at a local church.
Acting on a tip from one of his alleged victims, Mountlake Terrace Police entered his home Friday morning and arrested 62-year-old David Harvey Herget on suspicion of several counts of child rape.
Authorities believe his male victims range in age from 10 to 15, and he made contact with all of them at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Mountlake Terrace.
Investigators say some of the crimes may have taken place in his home, completely unknown to his wife and two grown children.
Herget now faces six counts of rape of a child, six counts of child molestation, three counts of communication with a minor for immoral purposes, and three counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Police is expecting more victims to come forward.
In 1993, he was convicted of child rape and child molestation. He served time in jail for these offenses and was excommunicated from his church.
He registered with the Mountlake Terrace Police Department as a sex offender in 1997 and they checked on him frequently, but they say if he was able to keep it a secret from his immediate family, they are not surprised he was able to fool them for so long.
Herget will be arraigned on Tuesday.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | Utah's Mormon Influence Creates First Amendment Challenges
Article Archived: Saturday, Jul 23, 2005, at 09:23 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
Public schools in Provo, Utah, barred events on Monday nights in 2002 after Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints President Gordon B. Hinckley asked school officials to respect the Mormon practice of Monday “family home evenings” — a move that typically would prompt a religious-liberty lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union or Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
But in Utah County (which includes Provo), where 19th century Mormon leader Brigham Young’s influence permeates all aspects of life, and the ACLU of Utah often finds itself understaffed and overworked against the wealthy powerhouse that is the Mormon church, the school district’s informal policy went relatively unchallenged.
“We have to prioritize what we take on,” said Dani Eyer, executive director of the ACLU of Utah. “No one from the community came forward and complained in this case. We need a plaintiff to have a case. We pretty much need someone to care.”
Mormons are encouraged to stay home with their families on Monday evenings for “family home evening,” which often involves games, bonding and spiritual lessons.
Randall J. Merrill, superintendent of the Provo School District, said barring events on Monday nights was never a formal policy, just a suggestion by former superintendent Patti Harrington. Merrill said that when he took over as superintendent he convinced the school board that it was neither necessary nor wise to have a formal Monday night policy.
“I suggested that having such a policy was marginal with the First Amendment,” Merrill said.
Besides, Merrill said, the issue became one of practicality. It is almost impossible to schedule events on Monday nights, Merrill said, because people simply won’t attend.
Assistant superintendent Ray Morgan said the Monday-night debate highlighted the need for the school district to work with the community, which overwhelmingly supported barring events on Monday nights. “We try to use common sense and work with people, not against them,” Morgan said.
That raises an issue Eyer said the ACLU of Utah faces all the time — although there is strength in numbers, there is not always correctness. The majority often supports unconstitutional policies, she said, and the ACLU picks from these to challenge what it deems most egregious and of greatest impact.
The majority the Utah ACLU regularly faces is huge. According to recent surveys from the American Religion Data Archive and the Glenmary Research Center, Utah has the highest percentage (74%) nationwide of religiously affiliated individuals, most of them Mormons. Provo, home to Brigham Young University, has the highest percentage (90%) of religiously affiliated individuals of any metro area in the United States. In Provo, 88% of the total population and 98% of religiously affiliated individuals are Mormons. Ninety percent of the state Legislature is Mormon, according to the Columbia Journalism Review.
With a large and loyal base and an emphasis on tithing, the Mormon church is also a financial titan that wields significant influence. Although the LDS (Latter-day Saints) church does not reveal its finances, even to members, Time magazine put the church’s assets at $30 billion in 1997. “If it were a corporation,” Time reported, “its estimated $5.9 billion in annual gross income would place it midway through the FORTUNE 500, a little below Union Carbide and the Paine Webber Group but bigger than Nike and the Gap.”
It’s no surprise, then, that the ACLU of Utah, with its two full-time and four part-time employees, often feels like David battling the Mormon Goliath. Although it enlists the aid of “cooperating attorneys” frequently, the ACLU of Utah must choose its battles — something it has had moderate success with in the last few years.
The biggest showdown between the Utah ACLU and the Mormons in recent years has been a free-speech case in Salt Lake City’s Main Street Plaza. The conflict arose in 1999 when Salt Lake City sold part of Main Street Plaza to the Mormon church, which then imposed speech restrictions for the area.
Two cases emerged from this situation. The first (First Unitarian Church v. Salt Lake City) reached the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the area was a public forum and that, accordingly, the church must allow free speech.
The second case (Utah Gospel Mission v. Salt Lake City Corporation) cropped up in 2003 when the Salt Lake City Council approved another deal with the church, which traded the Main Street area for church land in another area of town and for financial contributions. The ACLU again filed suit, only to have it dismissed by the Utah federal district court. The case is currently at the 10th Circuit.
Other lawsuits have included religiously motivated labor disputes. In 1999, the ACLU of Utah filed a suit on behalf of Provo schoolteacher Charles Larson, who claimed he was fired because he wrote a book (By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus) that was critical of the Book of Abraham, a text revered by Mormons. Larson, a former correctional officer, settled out of court.
The Utah ACLU got one of its biggest victories, though not in a religious-liberty case, in 1998 when U.S. District Judge Bruce Jenkins ruled that a high school in the Nebo district (contiguous to Provo) had violated a teacher’s First Amendment rights by forcing her to sign a gag order not to discuss her sexuality anywhere and by removing her as girls’ volleyball coach, all because she was a lesbian. The case, Weaver v. Nebo School District, has been cited in sexuality-based discrimination cases nationwide.
But the teacher, Wendy Weaver, was not out of the woods yet. In 2001, a group of Utah citizens asked the Utah Supreme Court to reverse the district court’s decision. The state’s high court, however, ruled that the citizens had no control over removing a teacher, nor did the court have any right to fire Weaver or demand that the school board do so.
“The decision is an important reminder that individuals cannot look to the courts to enforce their prejudicial views about lesbian and gay teachers,” the Utah ACLU said on its Web site.
Although the ACLU of Utah often is involved in litigation, its most effective tools can be the news media and negotiations, Eyer said. One non-lawsuit victory came in April when the first same-sex couple attended the Provo High School prom after the ACLU wrote and publicized a letter to Provo High School Principal Sam Ray demanding that the two male students be allowed to attend. The school allegedly had asked a same-sex couple to leave a previous year’s prom, and the letter said some students were concerned that school officials would not allow the gay couple to attend the prom. In the letter, the Utah ACLU pointed out Utah education regulations prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. The school acquiesced, and the two students were presented alongside co-ed couples at the April 23 event.
Traditionally, Mormons oppose gay marriage but do not believe homosexuality is inherently sinful unless it is acted upon.
Other ongoing battles have not been so simple, or so easy for the Utah ACLU. Superintendent Merrill acknowledged that Provo high schools have what has been called “released time” — a class period tucked into the school day during which students can do as they please. For most students (Merrill estimates 80%) this means walking to a Mormon seminary, which is often across the street from the school. Students who aren’t Mormon often use this time for extra classes, such as in art, Morgan said.
The ACLU of Utah may have some concerns about this practice, Eyer said, but it is not necessarily an issue it would want to attack. And even if it did, it would have a difficult time. In 1948, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in McCollum v. Board of Education, School District 71 that having “released time” for religious instruction inside public schools was unconstitutional. There could be religious functions off campus, though, as long as they didn’t use school funds or have the school’s encouragement.
And Provo schools do not encourage students to participate in religious activities during “released time,” Merrill said.
The Utah ACLU assailed what it called a prime example of religious discrimination in 2001. It sent letters to the State Attorney General’s Office and the Utah Restaurants Association saying the practice of giving a 15% “missionary discount” to Mormon missionaries violated Utah non-discrimination laws. The law mandates “full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, goods and services in all business establishments” without discrimination based on a number of characteristics, including religion. A Utah Restaurants Association official said “missionary discounts” were left up to individual restaurants. Eyer said she thought some restaurants had backed off the policy, but it could still exist.
The ACLU of Utah is not always fighting the Mormon church, though. Eyer recalled instances when the ACLU defended Mormons who were discriminated against for their religious beliefs, noting one in which the ACLU chastised a restaurant for discriminating against Mormon customers.
The Utah ACLU also took on the U.S. Army in 2004 after a student at Murray High School near Provo complained about Army recruiting practices on campus. According to the ACLU, a recruiter had a sign that said the Army would pay for an LDS mission. The ACLU of Utah wrote a letter in December 2004 charging the Army with a violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which prevents government from sponsoring religious activities. The Army conceded that the sign was inappropriate and agreed to prohibit such recruiting practices, Eyer said. Army officials could not confirm this claim.
No matter who the opponent is, it is clear the ACLU of Utah has its hands full. Asked if she ever felt like she lived in a theocracy, Eyer responded, “Absolutely. Every day.”
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| | | Court Affirms Damages Awarded In Mower Accident
Article Archived: Tuesday, Aug 9, 2005, at 09:49 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. An appeals court has affirmed a verdict awarding $1.18 million in damages from the Mormon church for a mowing accident 20 years ago in which a boy lost part of his foot.
Lamoni Riordan, who was 5 at the time, was injured in April 1985. A riding mower driven by his father, Ken Riordan who worked for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints backed over his foot. The accident happened at a church in Kansas City.
The younger Riordan filed suit against the Mormon church in 2002, claiming that as his father's employer it was liable. He also accused the church of negligence in maintaining the mower and in training and supervising its employees.
The church contended that the father's parental immunity from the lawsuit by his son also shielded it from liability. Parental immunity has since been eliminated by the Missouri Supreme Court, but it continues to apply to events taking place before Dec. 19, 1991.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
Editor Note: Whatever happend to the Mormon teaching of "Doing what is right, because IT IS RIGHT"? And second thought, who names their kid Lamoni?
| | | Selling Vintage Book Of Mormon Page By Page Stirs Controversy
Article Archived: Wednesday, Aug 10, 2005, at 07:26 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
Helen Schlie said she hopes hundreds of Mormons are eager to snap up a piece of church history by buying a page from an 1830 first-edition Book of Mormon.
But church leaders and historians aren't nearly as enthusiastic about the dismantling of the church's sacred writings.
The landmark book, one of the revered writings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has been on the block for up to $4,500 per page for about a year. Schlie, who lives in Gold Canyon, would only say that "quite a few" pages have sold.
The book was on display for 35 years in a now-closed LDS bookstore she owned in Mesa and has been exhibited at gatherings where the public could "read, touch and feel the spirit of it," she said.
Schlie's efforts to take apart the book, frame the pages and sell them have generated mixed responses from the Mormon community.
Curt Bench, owner of Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City, said he believes dismantling such a complete, revered book "is ethically indefensible."
"But I'm not passing judgment on her," said Bench. "Personally, I wouldn't take it apart."
LDS spokeswoman Kim Farrah in Utah said the church doesn't comment on commercial ventures.
Click Here For Original Link Or Thread.
| | | State Alleges Mismanagement In Polygamist Town's School District
Article Archived: Friday, Aug 12, 2005, at 08:13 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
PHOENIX -- State officials' receivership petition against a school district serving a northern Arizona polygamist community alleges "systematic and egregious mismanagement," including a nearly $200,000 airplane purchase, a six-figure landscaping contract and the forfeiture of prepaid rent for a school.
The petition drafted for filing with the state Board of Education also says Colorado City Unified School District officials took family members on business trips without reimbursing the district and that the district paid for satellite television at an administrator's home.
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/11965...
| | | Saints Vs. Science - Latter-Day Inquisitions And How To End Them
Article Archived: Friday, Aug 12, 2005, at 08:48 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
What I have to say is going to come as a disappointment to law enforcement personnel, most notably in areas of Southern Idaho and Utah, but from now on, devout followers of the LDS faith must not be allowed to use DNA as evidence in legal trials, or to establish paternity or anything else DNA science is good for. Nope, good Mormons are just gonna have to solve their crimes some other way.
But before I explain why, I am obliged to go through the motions of assuring you I have nothing against any one religion in particular. It should be clear by now that I don't much like any of 'em, and I have stated so several times. So how can anyone say I have a special bitch against the Mormons because I might use some dumbass thing the Mormon leadership is doing to illustrate a point?
Yet we all know that any time I use "Mormon" and "dumbass" in the same sentence, a lot of people are going to have fits unless I go that extra mile and offend everyone else, too. So here goes: Catholics, ugh! Two millennia later, and there still hasn't been a woman priest? If you ask me, that puts them in the same Dark Age as those Taliban goons-which should clue you in that I don't have much use for Islam, either.
http://www.boiseweekly.com/gyrobase/C...
Interesting sub-comment, as pointed out by Natalie R. Collins:
But the most troubling questions to come out of this episode-at least, in the mind of this impartial scorner of all things faith-based-has to do with the judgment of those pious individuals and august bodies who appoint themselves (usually with little or no input from the groveling congregation) as the wellspring of all wisdom. Where, exactly, do they draw their line between what is useful information and what is heresy? If they are so adamant about denying any science that contradicts whatever bilge they've been preaching, how the heck can they use that same science in the day-to-day, nonsectarian applications of it?
| | | Mormon Political Group Promotes Families - As Long As Your Family Conforms To The Ideas Of Mormonism
Article Archived: Friday, Aug 19, 2005, at 10:43 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
LDS political group promotes families.
It could be tough to build a political coalition around a theological statement, but that's exactly what a group of Latter-day Saints is trying to do.
During Provo's July Fourth Freedom Festival, Legacy Law Foundation launched its effort to get 1 million signatures in support of the LDS Church's 1995 statement, "The Family: A Proclamation to the World." The Proclamation, as it is known, lays out the church's views on the eternal roles of men, women and traditional marriage. It has become a kind of Mormon creed that hangs on the walls of many LDS homes.
Using notions spelled out in the Proclamation, Legacy is calling upon "responsible citizens and officers of government everywhere to promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society," says Elizabeth Harmer-Dionne, Legacy's executive director.
Legacy is looking for Mormons who want to be politically active but aren't sure how, as well as LDS lawyers willing to work on a pro bono basis, says Harmer-Dionne, who lives in Boston but is in Utah this month to help get the movement off the ground. "We also hope to set up student chapters at universities across the country."
http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_293960...
| "Guides at the cove should not be telling visitors that certain parts are off-limits because they're sacred. Sacredness and public land don't mix very well; on this we can agree with the ACLU."
The LDS Church is again embroiled in a lawsuit over public access. This time, it isn't the Main Street Plaza in downtown Salt Lake City but an empty piece of land lined by granite cliffs on the Mormon Trail in Wyoming.
In June, the church joined a lawsuit on the side of the Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management against the American Civil Liberties Union,
which has challenged the church's lease on Martin's Cove.
The ACLU filed the suit on behalf of the Western Land Exchange Project and four Wyoming residents who claim the church's lease allows it to promote a religious message on public land.
One of the plaintiffs, Susan Wozny of Laramie, claimed that LDS guides at the cove repeatedly asked her about her religion and forbade her from going into certain parts of the cove because it was "sacred" ground.
The cove is where members of the ill-fated 1856 Martin handcart company sought refuge from winter storms while awaiting rescue parties from Salt Lake City. Many of the handcart emigrants, suffering from exposure and starvation, died and were buried in the cove.
The church attempted to purchase the cove from the BLM, but because of a lack of support in Congress, it settled for a lease at $17,000 a year. The church owns a visitors center on private property, which serves as a gateway to the area.
http://www.newutah.com/modules.php?op... (Obviously this story was written by a Mormon)
| | | Information Overload Called Harmful - LDS Psychologist Warns Today's Children Lack Social Skills, Morality - Warns LDS Children Against The Internet
Article Archived: Monday, Aug 22, 2005, at 07:25 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
PROVO — As the ease and comfort of the information age plays out in the developmental lives of American children, at least one local psychologist worries their drive to face challenges, make good choices and achieve great things is on the decline.
Dr. Lynn Scoresby told hundreds of people attending Education Week at Brigham Young University on Wednesday that one manifestation of a righteous life is the desire to create, achieve and build on the successes of the past.
Yet he sees a growing number of young people who have yet to face any serious challenges in life or learn to work hard. Many are so engrossed in video games, movies and entertainment that they have failed to develop the social skills and moral character necessary for successful marriage and family life, he said.
Scoresby said recent studies show that 87 percent of American children ages 8-12 have access to the Internet, and the average age of their first exposure to pornography online is age 11. While porn has serious negative effects on children, he said, what is more troublesome is the information overload many children are exposed to online and with other types of media.
When continually bombard- ed with high quantities of information, the human brain at some point "can't tell the difference between (gospel) knowledge and mere information, and from there, between information and what is true. At that point, gospel truth is perceived on the same level of reality as a video game."
As an example, while serving as a bishop in his local ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Scoresby said he interviewed a 16-year-old girl who ended up having sex with a boy she had dated only once.
When asked why she had done so — in light of gospel teaching at home and church to avoid premarital sex — the girl responded, "Honestly, I didn't even think about it." Scoresby said the girl had no concept of what it meant to say "no" and could only understand the consequences of her actions in hindsight.
"The Book of Mormon (and its teachings) are at risk of being put on par with the information in someone's Internet blog, and kids are treating them the same" in terms of seriousness, he said. "When you see kids being casual about what we believe are the most significant truths of all time," he said, that's when church leaders come to know that many youth don't understand moral choices or the consequences involved.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249...
Editor Note: Once again Mormon authority figures are preaching that the Internet is a bad thing. It can and will show you the truth that Joseph Smith was a con artist, and blogs such as The Mormon Curtain are here to help you understand that. Good luck Dr. Lynn Scoresby, we are here to stay.
| | | New Websites To Help Katrina Victims Brings Out The Best In Mormons
Article Archived: Wednesday, Sep 7, 2005, at 08:07 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
http://www.hurricanehousing.org/resul... contains a listing of individuals offering housing to the victims of the hurricane. Among the many entries is the following:
We are a LDS family that are looking for another Lds family. We have room for a medium size family that has children. Please do not call if you are not LDS and do
not have children. Our hearts and prayers are with you all. Pets OK: no Smoking OK: no Handicapped accessible: no Near public transit: no
And:
I have one bedroom and a huge mostly unfurnished family room. I am looking for a single mother of 3 to 4 children within the ages of 5 - 10 years. Must be a non-smoker, non-drinker, and if at all possible LDS.
Here's another good one, posted on the New Orleans craigslist http://neworleans.craigslist.org/roo/...:
Reply to: chrisc@vmunix.com
Date: 2005-09-02, 11:14AM CDT
We have a full basement available to one LDS/Mormon family, near Nauvoo Temple.
Temple Recommend Required. Katrina Survivors Only.
801-404-6191
Temple recommend, indeed.
You know, occasionally that introspective question pops up about whether leaving the fold was the correct thing to do. All it takes is seeing something from someone like chrisc of area code 801 to slap me back into reality and make me realize that I made the correct decision to distance myself.
http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.c...
Editor Note: As of 8:16 AM MST it appears that most of these entries have been revised.
| | | Utah Vally Sept 18th Post Mormon Support/Social Group
Article Archived: Wednesday, Sep 14, 2005, at 08:16 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
Our group meets the 3rd Sunday of every month at 4 pm, Potluck/Picnic syle. Bring something to eat off of and something to eat… and maybe to share!
Next regular meeting will be this Sunday, Septemeber 18th, at 4 PM. We will meet again at the Discovery Park in Pleasant Grove. I think it will be a little closer for more people than it will be farther from. Discovery Park is off of 100 East in PG between 1500 North and 1800 North. If you are on 100 East you can’t miss it. It has a great play structure for the kids, and 2 Pavilions. It is close to my house, so if both pavilions are filled, I will set up a shade canopy on the grass. You may want to bring lawn chairs or a blanket just in case. Email me if you need detailed directions.
Hope to see lots of people out this week. We love new faces, and I promise we aren’t too scary! We had a great turn off last month. Julianna
enlightenedmolly@yahoo.com 785-3722
Look for my car, a green Honda CRV with handicap plates. As usual, I will update the board in case of inclimate weather.
http://www.exmormon.org/boards/w-agor... and http://www.aimoo.com/forum/postview.c...
| | | Rabbi Shmuley's Radio Show Under Threat For Trying To Permanently Relocate African-American Refugees From Hurricane Katrina To Utah
Article Archived: Thursday, Sep 15, 2005, at 07:18 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
On Friday, 9 September, in hour 2 of his daily radio show, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach hosted Zachary Smith, an African-American evacuee from New Orleans, whose home had been decimated by Hurricane Katrina, and who had lived on the I-10 freeway for four days, with his family, before being evacuated with approximately 1000 other mostly African-American refugees, to Camp Williams, in Bluffdale, Utah. Zachary indicated that although he and the other evacuees had been treated with great warmth by the Utah authorities, he was aggravated by the 10:30pm curfew, and said that the curfew made the evacuees feel like they were ‘in prison.’ Could it be that the curfew had something to do with the overwhelmingly white population of Utah feeling uncomfortable with African-American faces, roaming their streets at night, Zachary wondered? Were they truly welcome?
Rabbi Shmuley assured Zachary that the mostly Mormon families of Utah were warm and charitable people, without a prejudiced bone in their bodies. Pursuant to that point, and in an effort to find permanent accommodation for the many homeless families, Rabbi Shmuley asked Zachary whether some of the African-American families might wish to stay permanently in Utah rather than return to the decimation of New Orleans, Zachary indicated that many of the families would love to exercise that option, should they be welcomed into the state.
Rabbi Shmuley’s response was to immediately appeal to his listeners sense of humanity and show that, far from the people of Utah harboring any bigotry, they would rise to the occasion and welcome these needy African-American families to Utah to remain permanently as their neighbors, if the evacuees so chose.
Rabbi Shmuley had been scheduled to be in Utah this week for programming meetings with Bonneville executives and, while on the air, quickly organized and invited his listeners to an event at the Salt Lake City Marriot where refugee families from Camp Williams could meet his mostly white, Mormon and Christian listeners, who could welcome the evacuees into their communities and help them find homes.
Rabbi Shmuley asked listeners to attend the event, and to call in and invite the evacuees to their own homes, and volunteer their time to show the families Utah neighborhoods so that the evacuees could make a decision for themselves as to whether they would like to permanently relocate to Utah. The response was overwhelmingly positive and the phones rang off the hook. Although one listener called in and said that he did not want poor black families moving into his neighborhood because they were dirty and kept their own neighborhoods slovenly, every other caller condemned this bigotry and offered to help the families find permanent residence in Utah. One woman invited Zachary and his family to her home for a BBQ. Another Mormon woman offered to take Zachary and his family to a BYU football game the next day, and made good on her promise. Most importantly, a real estate agent, who said she was an expert at getting through the red tape necessary to be domiciled in Utah, said she would volunteer her time to assist the families in the housing process.
The show generated more phone calls than any in the program’s history, and many people said they would be attending Rabbi Shmuley’s event on Wednesday night, at which the evacuee families of Fort Williams would meet the mostly Mormon families of Utah.
What followed next is reprehensible and shameful. Although Rabbi Shmuley’s show was, by far, the most listened to and the most successful on KUTR, with a cult following, Rod Arquette, Bonneville’s vice president for programming, sent Rabbi Shmuley a message ordering him not to come to Utah, and on Saturday night, after Rabbi Shmuley’s Sabbath concluded, told him by phone that the radio show too was being permanently cancelled. He offered, as an explanation, Rabbi Shmuley’s having organized the event for the refugee families on Wednesday without the station’s prior approval. Rabbi Shmuley was dumbstruck. How, in this time of national tragedy, could a station cancel its most popular show simply because the host tried to use the airwaves to help poor black families, who had lost everything in Hurricane Katrina, to find a permanent home in Utah? Is that not what all Americans should be doing at this time? And how could a Church-owned broadcaster like Bonneville take this decision on the day before September 11th?
Continue Reading - http://shmuley.com/articles.php?id=20...
| | | Court Rejects U.S. Mormon Couple’s Request to Adopt 4 Russian Sisters
Article Archived: Friday, Sep 16, 2005, at 08:10 AM
Stored Under Topic: GENERAL NEWS
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Original Author Of Article: Anonymous | | |
A Russian court has denied permission for a Mormon couple from the U.S. that has 17 children — eight of them adopted — to adopt four Russian girls, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday.
Karl and Martha Chapman applied to a Voronezh court asking to adopt sisters Anastasia, 17, Olga, 14, Kristina, 11 and Galina, 9. The couple adopted eight other in the period 2002-2004, Itar Tass reported.
However, the couple failed to provide the necessary adoption documents — U.S. state permission to adopt another four children and the embassy permit for entry to the United States for the children, the National News Agency added.
Considering that neither the girls nor the institutions responsible for them supported the U.S. adoption idea, the court decided in favor of the girls and refused the Chapmans’ request.
The court also pointed out that the Chapmans, as well as their 17 children, were Mormons, while the Russian sisters were Orthodox Christians.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/09/1...
| LaMar Petersen has died at age 94 in Salt Lake City. For those of you who don't know him, LaMar was excommunicated years ago for challenging some historical claims of the church. His book, The Creation of the Book of Mormon: A Historical Inquiry, addressed many of the same issues that later writers (i.e. Grant Palmer) discussed. While he was an amazing historian, his first love was music, and he directed the Mozart School of Music for thirty years. He was a professional organist. His wife and six children survive him.
http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune...
| "You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.
The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings.
This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the "servant of servants;" and they will be, until that curse is removed."
Brigham Young-President and second 'Prophet' of the Mormon Church, 1844-1877- Extract from Journal of Discourses.
My telephone call two weeks ago to the local arm of the church was quite specific in its request. Backed up by an e-mail to the organisation, I wanted to know the date of arrival in Jamaica, the membership and details of any outreach programme in force. Most importantly, I wanted to know why an organisation grounded in white supremacy would want Jamaica as one of its permanent postings considering that 95 per cent of Jamaicans are black-skinned.
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