tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post7449432376403925539..comments2023-08-17T06:45:58.317-07:00Comments on "Yeshiva" of Brooklyn also Guilty of Child Abuse: Haaretz: Interpol suspects Brazilian Jewish community hid rabbi wanted for child abuseexposemolestershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02097300261898413798noreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-89628061425704358052008-06-12T14:57:00.000-07:002008-06-12T14:57:00.000-07:00A Yid,Thanks my friend!A Yid,<BR/><BR/>Thanks my friend!exposemolestershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02097300261898413798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-42131191456781354062008-06-12T14:56:00.000-07:002008-06-12T14:56:00.000-07:00You have done a lot of good. May Hashem give you b...You have done a lot of good. May Hashem give you bracha and hatzlacha in all your endeavors. I'll miss you EM. You deserve a vacation!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-37825933496297673692008-06-12T14:51:00.000-07:002008-06-12T14:51:00.000-07:00We are taking a much needed summer break. The comm...We are taking a much needed summer break. The comments section will remain open, and we will publish some periodically. <BR/><BR/>If you need to contact exposemolesters - please do so at:<BR/><BR/>Matzil_Nefoshos@yahoo.com<BR/><BR/>Be safe!<BR/><BR/>EMexposemolestershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02097300261898413798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-72485762200174364882008-06-12T12:07:00.000-07:002008-06-12T12:07:00.000-07:00Protecting your child from sexual predators Thur...Protecting your child from sexual predators <BR/>Thursday, 12 June 2008<BR/><BR/>By D. Linsey Wisdom<BR/>News Editor<BR/><BR/>District Attorney Michael Bonfoey successfully convicted three individuals for sex crimes against children. A fourth man, a Macon County Sheriff’s deputy was arrested for similar offenses.<BR/><BR/>Joshua Wade Adams, a registered sex offender, was convicted and sentenced to a minimum of 28 years after improper sexual touching a six-year-old child.<BR/><BR/>James Lee Clapsaddle was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years for statutory rape of a minor.<BR/><BR/>Christopher Lee Giddens was sentenced to a minimum of 24 years for two counts of first degree sexual offense, first degree rape and taking indecent liberties with a minor on two children, ages 8 and 11.<BR/><BR/>Christopher David Hoover was arrested and charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a minor, a three-year old child.<BR/><BR/>Twenty-six registered sex offenders live in Macon County, not including those currently serving time. And, although three convictions and one arrest in one week may seem like a high number, Sheriff Robbie Holland said the numbers really reflect the concerted collaborative efforts of a variety of agencies working together. He said at least one offender is convicted almost every time Superior Court is in session.<BR/><BR/>“We’ve got law enforcement, medical professionals, Department of Social Services, KIDS Place – all of these organizations working together for children, for the protection of children,” Holland said.<BR/><BR/>Numbers on the sex offender registry have been as high as 35 in the past. But, Holland said, the registry sometimes gives people a false sense of security.<BR/><BR/>“There’s a myth that children are safe because [parents] can see those faces on the sex offender registry, but there is no one face of a child molester,” he said.<BR/><BR/>Alisa Ashe and Elizabeth Adams both agreed. Ashe is the executive director and Adams the case manager for KIDS Place, Macon County’s child advocacy center.<BR/><BR/>“It is rarely ‘stranger danger’ that you need to worry about. Your child is more likely to be hit by lightning than to be molested by a stranger,” Adams said.<BR/><BR/>Molesters don’t have fangs, or horns – they’re not covered from head to toe in hair.<BR/><BR/>“They don’t have the face of a monster,” said Holland.<BR/><BR/>They are most likely a friend, a neighbor, a family member. They come in all professions – doctors, teachers, ministers. It does not mean that all family members you have are molesters or that all professionals that work with children should be suspect.<BR/><BR/>Statistics from abuse prevention organization Darkness to Light, indicate that in more than 90 percent of sexual abuse cases, the child and the child’s family know and trust the abuser. Thirty to 40 percent of those are abused by a family member and nearly 40 percent of children molested are victims at the hand of older or larger children.<BR/><BR/>For the number of cases that are reported, Adams said, it has been estimated that another 90 percent are not ever reported.<BR/><BR/>“In Macon County last year, we offered services to 154 families. Not all of those were victims of sexual abuse, but if you think of the number of children we saw, and how many cases go unreported, then that number becomes astonishing,” Ashe said. “It really is the tip of the iceberg.”<BR/><BR/>It is hard to think, she said, that in the quiet, rural streets of Macon County where everyone knows their neighbor, abuse is going on here.<BR/><BR/>But it is.<BR/><BR/>Darkness To Light also reports that it is estimated one in four females have been molested and one out of every six males.<BR/><BR/>“We don’t know if boys are actually victims less often, or if they are just even that much more reluctant to report it,” Ashe said.<BR/><BR/>When children do report abuse, she said, it is vital to believe them.<BR/><BR/>“It can have as much long term effect if not more for a child to report they have been abused and not be believed,” she said.<BR/><BR/>Holland said one of the most important things you can do for your children is to listen to them, be aware of what they are doing and who they are with and don’t shrug off the little things.<BR/><BR/>Professionals that work with children are required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse.<BR/><BR/>“And by suspicion, we don’t mean you have an uneasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. We mean that you have a good reason to believe that a child has been abused,” said Adams.<BR/><BR/>KIDS Place works with professionals across Macon County to help them attain specialized training to recognize the signs of abuse. But this does not mean that social services or law enforcement is working to inflate cases of abused children.<BR/><BR/>“When we get a case and can find that abuse has not taken place, that marks or evidence can be explained by some other means – well, that is a good day,” Ashe said.<BR/><BR/>The move towards collaboration of agencies is something Adams said has worked in the best interest of the child. Before KIDS Place was established in 1991, a victim of abuse may have to go to Social Services, rather than speak with a law enforcement officer. Later, the child would be examined by a medical professional and then have to tell their story again to a prosecutor.<BR/><BR/>“Everything revolved around the needs of the professional instead of the needs of the child,” Adams said.<BR/><BR/>KIDS Place offers one central location, where trained professionals can come to the child in an atmosphere that is comfortable for the child. Counseling is available and physicians trained in working with abuse cases can conduct medical services. They also work to make dealing with victims of abuse more kid-friendly.<BR/><BR/>And, they offer education resources to other organizations that are interested in learning more.<BR/><BR/>“We shouldn’t put prevention on the backs of children. It used to be the child’s responsibility to say ‘no’ and to set boundaries, but it should be up to adults really to help prevent the abuse in the first place,” she said.<BR/><BR/>Education is one of the best tools for parents to rely on. Sexual abuse of children is a subject many people do not want to discuss and would rather not know about in detail. But Adams said molesters use that fact to their advantage.<BR/><BR/>Shame often keeps a child quiet and often can create the same reaction in the parent of a child who has been victimized.<BR/><BR/>Molesters are almost sociopathic in their efforts to position themselves in places near children and to gain trusts of entire families. Adams referred to them as “groomers.” At times, societies tendencies to keep things “in-house,” remain nonconfrontational and simple denial can keep people, businesses and communities from talking about abusers, allowing them the freedom to move into another community or circle without detection.<BR/><BR/>“Most importantly, listen to your children. Listen with your ears, your eyes and your hearts,” Adams said.<BR/><BR/>If you suspect a child is in a victim of abuse, contact the Department of Social Services at 828-349-2124.<BR/><BR/>Seven Steps to Protecting Children<BR/><BR/>Step 1: Learn the facts. Understand the risks.<BR/>Step 2: Minimize opportunity.<BR/>Step 3: Talk about it.<BR/>Step 4: Stay alert.<BR/>Step 5: Make a plan.<BR/>Step 6: Act on suspicion.<BR/>Step 7: Get involved.<BR/><BR/>From Darkness to Light<BR/><BR/>Suggested reading for parents:<BR/><BR/> * www.Darkness2Light.org<BR/> * www.Preventchildabuse.org<BR/> * www.kidsplacecac.org<BR/> * The Socially Skilled Child Molester, by Carla van Dam<BR/> * Predators, by Anna SalterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-82480914498241656732008-06-12T12:03:00.000-07:002008-06-12T12:03:00.000-07:00Stop running your mouth, and start addressing the ...Stop running your mouth, and start addressing the Haredi abuse epidemic you so blatantly ignore. Coward!<BR/>--------------------------------<BR/><BR/>Egalitarianism has landed<BR/>May. 20, 2008<BR/>Avi Shafran , THE JERUSALEM POST<BR/><BR/>My computer cautions me against fooling with certain manufacturer-determined system settings. Doing so, it warns, could create serious problems.<BR/><BR/>Riskier still is messing around with Judaism's system-settings, determined by the ultimate Manufacturer.<BR/><BR/>That lesson might be the one being learned the hard way by contemporary Jewish religious movements which, unconstrained by the Jewish religious tradition, chose years ago to remove the slash that Jewish tradition places diagonally through the equal sign flanked by "men" and "women."<BR/><BR/>Both genders, of course, are equally important to God. Women should be paid equal amounts for equal work on a par with men, and they should be respected no less than males. But pretending that men and women are identical and interchangeable in their life-roles - the much-cherished "egalitarian" approach - not only offends Jewish tradition, it may bode demographic disaster.<BR/><BR/>A soon-to-be-released report entitled The Growing Gender Imbalance in American Jewish Life, by Brandeis University sociologist Sylvia Barack Fishman, will present statistical evidence to confirm what has been widely suspected in recent years: males in non-Orthodox communities are opting out of religious activities. Professor Fishman fears that as non-Orthodox Jewish men become increasingly estranged from religious and communal life they are more likely to intermarry and become "ambivalent at best, if not downright hostile to Jewish tradition."<BR/><BR/>Could the exodus of non-Orthodox men from communal religious participation have some relationship to "progressive" Jewish groups' efforts to erase the idea of gender roles in Judaism?<BR/><BR/>I don't mean that non-Orthodox men feel insulted, having been displaced by their female counterparts in practices and positions that were once their lot. No, I mean something more subtle: that messing up the system settings, well, messes up the system.<BR/><BR/>Full article: <BR/><BR/>http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1211288129643&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinterAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-38991610566976587372008-06-12T11:57:00.000-07:002008-06-12T11:57:00.000-07:00Developer takes mid-rise plans off the tableBy Lau...Developer takes mid-rise plans off the table<BR/><BR/>By Laura Elder<BR/>The Daily News<BR/><BR/>Published May 26, 2008<BR/>He’ll be back: Those rumors that developer Omri Shafran is walking away from controversial plans to build an eight-story condominium project, 20 townhomes and possibly a hotel on 6.4 acres between 41st and 45th streets on the island, aren’t true, he said. What is true, is that Shafran, a principal in development firm Houstate, pulled his condominium project from Galveston Planning Commission’s June 3 agenda.<BR/><BR/>Shafran declined Friday to divulge reasons, except to say that he would return with different plans for the former site of U.S. Coast Guard officers housing at Fort Crockett. The site is partly along the seawall.<BR/><BR/>For months, Shafran has been negotiating with neighbors of the proposed condominium project. Those neighbors, concerned about traffic, blocked views and loss of privacy, talked him down from 12 stories to eight.<BR/><BR/>Shafran, along with Houstate principal Avi Rozenman, began more than a year ago with a plan to build the 280-unit condominium called The Presidio, along with 20 single-family townhomes and a hotel. But the project presented two political hot potatoes — preservation and building heights.<BR/><BR/>The Coast Guard housing is one of the few remnants of a massive military installation dating back to a time when coastal gun emplacements were important to national security.<BR/><BR/>Houstate’s original plans called for the demolition of six duplexes built between 1918 and 1939, while preserving three on the west side of the project behind Hometown Bank.<BR/><BR/>Late last month and after more than year of studying the issue, the Galveston City Council passed new rules limiting building heights to eight stories. If developers wanted to go higher, they would have to offer gifts that benefit the public, such as building affordable housing elsewhere on the island. Stay tuned.<BR/><BR/>Progress report: Looks like the sale of 287 acres of waterfront property in Texas City is still in play. Kemah-based investment group American International Industries Inc. said last week that Westfield Forest, which is in contract to buy the parcel from the holding company, has offered a progress report for the engineering study related to the “wetlands issue.” Because some wetlands, which are considered essential ecosystems, will be affected, Westfield will have to mitigate. The progress report is among prerequisites of the sale. Westfield Forest, a subsidiary of Houston-based Todd Land Co., is expected to pay $16 million in cash for the land at state Highway 146 near Dickinson Bayou.<BR/><BR/>Westfield Forest has said it intends to build a marina, boardwalk restaurants, hotel and amphitheater on the property. But officials a year ago cautioned there would be much due diligence before consummating the deal.<BR/><BR/>In the past several years, the land has been under contract to several development firms.<BR/><BR/>American International Industries, has been carrying the property on its books for $225,000.<BR/><BR/>The long goodbye: A longtime island business that has been telling customers it intends to shut its doors isn’t ready to go public with an official announcement. Stay tuned.<BR/><BR/>Chicken scratch: Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A on Friday plucked away hope that it might open an island store anytime soon. Spokeswoman Brenda Green said there were no immediate plans for an island spot.<BR/><BR/>The wishful rumor is rooted in reports a few years ago that the chain, known for those self-preserving cows pushing us to “Eat More Chicken,” was pecking around for island sites. There was talk that Chick-fil-A would roost in the Galvez Shopping Center, 6202 Broadway.<BR/><BR/>North county residents are in luck, however. Chick-fil-A, with more than 1,380 locations, plans a free-standing eatery at League City Towne Center, southeast quadrant of Interstate 45 and FM 646. No word on an opening date. Want to cluck about it? Go to Buzz Blog, galvnews.com.<BR/><BR/>Mailbag: A reader e-mailed to ask: “What is the latest on TJ Maxx going into the shopping center around the Victory Lakes area?”<BR/><BR/>Answer: Officials at the clothing retailer’s Framingham, Mass.-based corporate office could not be reached for comment last week. But city officials say it appears the retailer of name brand clothing at a discount has poured the slab for its League City store, in Victory Lakes Town Center, northeast corner of I-45 and FM 646. Stay tuned.<BR/><BR/>Biz Buzz appears Mondays and Thursdays. We welcome your tips and suggestions. Call 409-683-5248 or e-mail laura.elder@galvnews.com.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-2632295535099096572008-06-12T11:55:00.000-07:002008-06-12T11:55:00.000-07:00A black-and-white issueRabbi Avi Shafran’s comment...A black-and-white issue<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Avi Shafran’s commentary (“What we’re hearing isn’t the Wright stuff,” CJN, May 9) discusses the “black church” and the undercurrent of anti-Israel sentiment, which is today’s “respectable” proxy for anti-Semitism...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-43076298328539679052008-06-12T11:51:00.000-07:002008-06-12T11:51:00.000-07:00I'm real quick to open up my big mouth about super...I'm real quick to open up my big mouth about superficial stuff, but if you asked me about child molesters I would tell you I have no comment on that. <BR/>--------------------------------<BR/><BR/><BR/>Political Tidbits: McCain pursues the Jews, Willie Horton admaker plays Muslim card<BR/><BR/>By Ami Eden on Jun 11, 2008 in Barack Obama, John McCain, Presidential Race, Uncategorized | ShareThis<BR/><BR/> * Republican Jews say they’ve nabbed big Jewish Dem donor from South Florida. (Some liberal bloggers claim he’s given to GOPers before, but his FEC records show he generally helps Democrats.)<BR/> * Congress Daily reports on John McCain’s efforts to make inroads with Jewish voters.<BR/> * Rabbi Avi Shafran of Agudath Israel of America defends Pastor John Hagee. Michael Felsen of the Workmen’s Circle says Israel and the pro-Israel lobby might be better off without friends like him.<BR/> * The creator of the Willie Horton ad presses Obama-is-a-Muslim campaign.<BR/> * L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa heads to Israel as his re-election campaign gears up.<BR/> * Michael C. Desch, the Robert M. Gates Chair in Intelligence and National Security Decision-Making at Texas A&M University, says a presidential candidate who wants to be a true friend of Israel would sound more like Kissinger, Carter and Baker.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-51961294867891067022008-06-11T22:27:00.000-07:002008-06-11T22:27:00.000-07:00http://www.imakenews.com/jewishwomeninternational/...http://www.imakenews.com/jewishwomeninternational/e_article000311950.cfm?x=b11,0,w<BR/><BR/> October 6, 2004<BR/>Judaism and Child Abuse: If You Beat Him He Will Not Die<BR/>A personal and theological meditation on child abuse<BR/>by Richard Silverstein<BR/><BR/>As spiritual communities, it is enormously important that we provide grief work as part of the process of healing [from the effects of abuse]. At the same time, we have to take that lesson of choosing to make justice, of choosing to make meaning out of our experience, and say, 'There wasn't a reason I suffered, but I will make a purpose out of that suffering. I will make sure that suffering doesn't happen to others. I will make sure that suffering is known, so that justice can happen.'[2]<BR/><BR/>I was a victim of child abuse. I should say I am a victim of child abuse, since my early abuse continues to afflict me to this day. Strangely enough, while this trauma has had negative repercussions it has also had positive ones too. On the one hand, it has inhibited my ability to form strong and lasting friendships, especially with women. I suffered from crippling shyness as a child. I have always mistrusted authority figures which in turn impaired my work performance. But on the other hand, I have developed great empathy for the plight of the oppressed. Because I was inhibited from developing relationships with peers, I resorted to the world of books. While this was an isolating behavior, it enabled me to fall in love with the world of ideas and writing. So there is good with the bad. But I would have much preferred not to suffer; and so given up whatever I have gained positively from this experience.<BR/><BR/>Rabbi Drorah Setel writes on this subject: "The experience of suffering or injustice [felt by abuse victims] opens at least two possibilities. One is that it makes us very aware of injustice. As a people, Jews have a history arising out of our own oppression and we have the capacity to respond to that history by being outraged and angry and sensitive to injustice done to ourselves and others. But the flip side of our history of oppression, a side we don't like to talk about is that the experience of suffering also teaches us how to inflict suffering. The experience of injustice teaches us how to be unjust."[3]<BR/><BR/>Many of us are angry towards ourselves for allowing the abuse (as if we could control it!) and at our abusers for perpetrating it. Our friends, family and rabbis who do not know what abuse is, accept a societal norm that suspects and rejects such anger. In dismissing the abuser and his or her anger, we do a great disservice to the victim and foreclose the ability to empathize with his/her suffering. We also misunderstand the role of anger in relationship to justice. Those of us who have been victims should never lose the anger at the injustice done to us. I do not mean that we should constantly live with anger, or let it rule our lives.[4] But rather, anger, like the proverbial Jewish guilt can be a powerful motivating force for good in the world. In a more humorous vein, Rabbi Leonard Beerman delivered a High Holiday sermon in which he memorably said: "Guilt is good and Jewish guilt is the best guilt of all!"<BR/><BR/>Abuse victims often look for a purpose in their suffering. Why did it happen? What can I do about it now to make something more positive out of the experience? In a sense, this is why I am writing this article--so that a rabbi or a victim reading this might find some guidance or comfort in these words; so that another does not have to suffer as I did. But really what can be the purpose of such suffering? We hope that God does not cause suffering in order to make a point or teach a purpose; for this would make God terrible.<BR/><BR/>Judaism always allows for the sinner to turn from his sin in tshuva (return). But the sad fact is that most abusers don't even acknowledge what theyve done, let alone turn away from it. So sufferers like me will never have the opportunity to accept an abusers entreaty to forgive. For many years, I believed that my mother would change; that she would see how loving and caring I was and that this would make her turn; that she would realize how wrong she'd been and say how sorry she was. Alas, this put me into a hopeless situation of always expecting an imminent return, but never seeing it. This has led to many bitter, disappointed tears.<BR/><BR/>My siblings and I feared we would be cursed with the mark of abuser as were our parents. We knew that abuse was a learned behavior whose lessons are passed on from parent to child. But I've learned subsequently that children who become abusers usually see their father abuse their mother or themselves and this is how the poison is passed on from one generation to the next. In our family's case, the primary abuser was my mother. My father (who sometimes abused us, but not as often as my mother) never abused my mother. And while our abuse was severe, it was not sexual and it was not life-threatening. This possibly explains why none of my siblings have carried the curse into this generation.<BR/><BR/>There are many forms and gradations of child abuse. For the purposes of this article, I will focus mainly on psychological and emotional abuse because that is what I suffered. To understand the psychology of the child abuser, Rabbi Elliot Dorff provides a good clinical prescription: "Hitting the child is not responsive to the child's behavior or needs, but rather acting out the parent's frustration. This occurs especially when the parent either does not understand the needs of the developing child or has expectations of behavior that do not match the childs capabilities. Parents abuse children when they do not know alternative, effective methods of discipline."[5] I couldn't describe my own abusive parents better than this.<BR/><BR/>Why Victims Do Not Recognize Their Victimhood?<BR/><BR/>Most of my life I did not consider myself abused. For the life of me, I can't figure out why. I've had thirty years of therapy on and off, in which my parental relationships were a major topic of conversation. I discussed all the symptoms of my own child abuse with therapists; but it was, for all intents and purposes, the horror "that dare not speak its name." Only in the last ten years have I begun to discuss with my siblings their own abuse (which in some cases was worse than my own). Hearing how my parents repeated these patterns of abuse on each of us enabled me to cross over the threshold and call myself an abuse victim.<BR/><BR/>This article is a personal and communal meditation on child abuse: how its affected me and how our Jewish communal leaders and institutions respond to the problem.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Did the Jewish Community Fail Me?<BR/><BR/>I was raised in an east coast Conservative synagogue, then attended Camp Ramah and the Joint Program (Jewish Theological Seminary and Columbia University). Because of my deep childhood involvement with the synagogue, I'd like to focus the communal portion of this article on synagogues, rabbis and rabbinical seminaries. How does my rabbi's response 40 years ago to my predicament compare with how a rabbi today might respond? Have things changed for the better?<BR/><BR/>My congregation rabbi is a mensch. He was the founding rabbi of a small suburban congregation-----Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-77808566162836460452008-06-11T22:18:00.000-07:002008-06-11T22:18:00.000-07:00My days of being a bus driver are over. You must n...My days of being a bus driver are over. You must now call me Rosh Yeshiva. <BR/>--------------------------------<BR/><BR/>Recording’s use in abuse case upheld<BR/>School bus driver berated 9-year-old<BR/>By MARIE ROHDE<BR/>mrohde@journalsentinel.com<BR/>Posted: June 10, 2008<BR/><BR/>Tape-recorded evidence was appropriately used in the trial of a school bus driver convicted in 2004 of child abuse for berating and slapping a 9-year-old boy with Down syndrome, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said in a decision released Tuesday.<BR/><BR/>The decision affirmed a ruling by Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, who conducted the bus driver’s trial, and reversed a split decision by the 1st District Court of Appeals panel that said the statements should not have been used in the trial.<BR/><BR/>The driver, Brian Duchow, 33, of Milwaukee, was sentenced by Brennan to six months in the House of Correction and three years of probation but has not yet served the sentence.<BR/><BR/>Although he entered a guilty plea, he appealed a decision that denied his request to suppress the tape-recorded evidence. The appeals court decision said the tape recording should not have been admitted as evidence; the high court reversed that ruling.<BR/><BR/>Rosemary and Vince Mutulo had placed a voice-activated tape recorder in the backpack of their son, Jacob, on April 29, 2003, after they became concerned because of changes in the boy’s behavior and a report by the boy’s teacher that he cried when it was time to board the bus to go home. The child, according to court records, had begun punching his toys, tried to kick the family dog and resisted boarding the bus for school.<BR/><BR/>According to court records, the tape recorded Duchow saying, “Stop before I beat the living hell out of you,” and several other remarks indicated violence; there was also a sound that indicated that the boy had been slapped.<BR/><BR/>The high court, in a decision written by Justice Patience Drake Roggensack, found that the taping did not violate the electronic surveillance control law, because Duchow had no reasonable right to the expectation of privacy on the school bus. The decision also said threats to harm a person are not protected by a right to privacy.<BR/><BR/>The parents of the child and those of another child filed a civil lawsuit against Duchow, the bus company, Milwaukee Public Schools and several insurers. An out-of-court settlement was reached in 2006.<BR/><BR/>Rosemary Mutulo, the boy’s mother, said Tuesday that prosecutors had initially been reluctant to pursue the case but a newspaper article in the Journal Sentinel drew national media attention.<BR/><BR/>“Another mom had witnessed him (Duchow) pick up my son and throw him into a seat,” Mutulo said. “She reported it to seven school officials, and none of them did anything.”<BR/><BR/>She said state law on the mandatory reporting of abuse “has no teeth” in that it must be proven that those required to report abuse — such as teachers — intentionally did not report it.<BR/><BR/>Mutulo said she and other parents have been working for legislative changes and have met with some success, including “Jacob’s law,” a list of 65 offenses that would prevent someone from being able to drive a school bus. Parents also now have the right to obtain the name of the driver of their child’s school bus, she said. More needs to be done, she said.<BR/><BR/>“It’s taken years for Jacob not to be afraid when we would leave home,” said Mutulo, who is a nurse. “He still sees a therapist.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-35226990701220895072008-06-11T22:10:00.000-07:002008-06-11T22:10:00.000-07:00http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/16561959/detail...http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/16561959/detail.html<BR/><BR/>June 10, 2008<BR/>ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A 21-year-old Ypsilanti mother was charged Tuesday with attempted murder after she was caught trying to smother her 2-month-old daughter in a hospital bed, prosecutors said.<BR/><BR/>April Palmer was arraigned on attempted murder and child abuse charges and remains at the Washtenaw County Jail on $50,000 bond.<BR/><BR/>The infant remains hospitalized and is listed in good condition.<BR/><BR/>Police said Palmer's baby was brought to the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital about 10 days ago for life-threatening injuries. Doctor's determined the injuries were suspicious in nature and placed the baby under round-the-clock observation.<BR/><BR/>Around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, hospital staff reported seeing Palmer in the baby's hospital room and said she placed a pillow over the infant's face.<BR/><BR/>Hospital police arrested Palmer immediately after the incident.<BR/><BR/>Court records show Palmer will be back in court on June 18 for a preliminary hearing.<BR/><BR/>If convicted, Palmer faces up to life in prison for the attempted murder charge and another two years on the child abuse charges.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-11300234926599069212008-06-11T22:07:00.000-07:002008-06-11T22:07:00.000-07:00Force anxious to track down missing 40-year-old ma...Force anxious to track down missing 40-year-old man<BR/>Police issue alert over child abuse suspect<BR/><BR/>Published: 11/06/2008<BR/><BR/>Police in England have warned that a man suspected of sexually abusing children could be in Scotland.<BR/><BR/>Warwickshire Police have contacted forces throughout the country, including Northern Constabulary, appealing for help in tracing Brian Hughes from Rugby.<BR/><BR/>He is suspected of abusing children over a 40-year period, and raping a young girl who he had groomed over a seven-year period.<BR/><BR/>Hughes went missing from his family home in Overslade last July. Despite an extensive search he remains missing, and police believe he may be living elsewhere in the country, within a family environment and grooming other children. A spokeswoman for the Warwickshire force said they had no reason to believe Hughes was in the north.<BR/><BR/>“He could be anywhere,” she said.<BR/><BR/>Police investigator Peter Herring said: “This man is a danger to the community and needs to be found. We are aware of four victims, girls and boys, one of whom was four, but we fear there may be others who haven't come forward. It is essential to trace him and I would ask anyone who believes they know where Hughes is, to call police immediately.<BR/><BR/>“Even if the description of him doesn't exactly match the person suspected of being Hughes – he could have changed his appearance – anyone suspicious of someone should call police.<BR/><BR/>“It is very easy to eliminate someone if it isn't Hughes.”<BR/><BR/>Hughes was born on March 5, 1945. He is slim, with blue eyes and was last seen with short dark-brown hair. He tends to wear casual clothes and is a qualified bricklayer. His last job was working as a block paver. He was taking tablets for high blood pressure. He smokes roll-up cigarettes, is a regular reader of the Sun newspaper and often enjoys drinking alcohol at home. He has enjoyed coarse fishing in the past. It is believed he used internet dating sites to meet women.<BR/><BR/>Mr Herring added: “If any of this description rings a bell with someone please call us on 01926 415 000. It is essential we find him.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-66223056312096295162008-06-11T15:16:00.000-07:002008-06-11T15:16:00.000-07:00Child abuse never killed anyone.---Child abuse det...Child abuse never killed anyone.<BR/>---<BR/><BR/>Child abuse detectives work to protect the innocent<BR/>Police unit's job can be traumatic.<BR/><BR/>By Joshunda Sanders<BR/>AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF<BR/>Wednesday, June 11, 2008<BR/><BR/>Each week, the Austin Police Department's child abuse unit is investigating hundreds of reports of physical or sexual abuse of children and teenagers. In the words of former child abuse Detective Cliff Rogers, they talk too often to children "not about the monster under the bed, but the monster in the house."<BR/><BR/>Or monsters elsewhere.<BR/><BR/>The men and women of the unit are a special group of 14 detectives who have to be mentally prepared to tackle graphic and chilling material day after day as they investigate child exploitation, neglect and Internet crimes.<BR/><BR/>They work with children who are sometimes so traumatized they cannot even talk about what happened to them. Then, detectives talk to suspects, who come up with rationalizations for their behavior and sometimes tell investigators that their child victims were being seductive.<BR/><BR/>In recent weeks, child abuse detectives have been mired in the case of Billy Dan Carroll, an entrepreneur and former court-appointed child advocate who police say made videotapes in which he appeared to have sexually assaulted children, ranging in age from 3 to 15, and two adult women who appeared to have been unconscious. Carroll is being held at the Travis County Jail with bail set at $2 million.<BR/><BR/>Sgt. Brian Loyd, a 22-year veteran of the department, said it is the worst case of sexual abuse he's seen.<BR/><BR/>"It's very hard to keep the emotions under control," he said. "There's a lot of hurt because we know the children are going to suffer for a long time after this."<BR/><BR/>Loyd said the victim services counselors, the assistant district attorney and all of the detectives who have been working 14-hour days as the case unfolds will likely need to be debriefed by a clinical psychologist when the case is closed.<BR/><BR/>"Of all the things that officers can be exposed to," said police psychologist Carol Logan, who has been with the department for five years, "the abuse or death of a child is the worst."<BR/><BR/>Images from cases can get burned into officers' memories, she said, and those images can haunt them for weeks or, in some cases, years, Logan said.<BR/><BR/>Death and blood are hard to handle, but she said that the innocence of children is what makes investigating child abuse hardest.<BR/><BR/>It is not work for the faint of heart, Rogers said: "Say you get called in the middle of the night because you're on call and there's a baby with burns all over his legs up to where the socks cover the skin. That stays with you."<BR/><BR/>Although Logan said it's rare for officers to break down emotionally, the long-term effects of being exposed to the abuse of children can manifest into physical ailments such as heartburn or headaches.<BR/><BR/>"The body takes on what the mind can't handle," she said.<BR/><BR/>Detective Greg White, who has been with the child abuse unit for four months and has been working on the Carroll case, said he reluctantly transferred to the group after working in the K-9 unit.<BR/><BR/>"It wasn't my first choice," he said, noting that he has two young children. It's hard to have children and talk to pedophiles for a living, he said.<BR/><BR/>"A grandfather who had been molesting his 4-year-old granddaughter came in and confessed, and it really got under my skin," White said. "I mean, it creeped me out. He was talking about this girl and how she really got to him, you know, and how soft she was. It made my skin crawl."<BR/><BR/>The man's son had called to say he'd witnessed the molestation. After the grandfather's confession, White said he stayed late, "just so I could serve him with a warrant the next day."<BR/><BR/>The day starts out with detectives sifting through voice mails left by Child Protective Services investigators or family members reporting abuse. Each detective works about 15 cases a week.<BR/><BR/>When school's out, things are steadily busy, Loyd said. But caseloads more than double in September, when kids go back to school and tell their teachers about what happened during summer vacation. Sgt. Pat Cochran of the child abuse unit said that if children are abused when school's out, "there's no one to tell."<BR/><BR/>William Petty, manager of victim services at the Austin Police Department, said that individual resilience as well as the support of peers within and outside the department helps detectives stay effective in their positions. The department also offers investigators a chance to talk to a chaplain if they need help processing something particularly heinous.<BR/><BR/>Another antidote to bitterness is laughter, Rogers said. Someone might strike up a debate about something lighthearted.<BR/><BR/>"Something like, should Jessica Simpson be outlawed from Dallas Cowboys games for eternity," he said with a slight smirk. "Something to just get your mind off of what you just saw."<BR/><BR/>If the images are too haunting, if investigators are kept up at night by the monstrous details, at least at the end of the day they can say they made a difference, Cochran said: "We had something to do with protecting a child."<BR/><BR/>joshundasanders@statesman.com;445-3630Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-17213489897896249342008-06-11T15:09:00.000-07:002008-06-11T15:09:00.000-07:00The meshiguneh lawyers are driving me crazy. How m...The meshiguneh lawyers are driving me crazy. How much money do they think ytt has already? I'm not giving a dime to kolko's victims.<BR/><BR/>Settlement hearings for Mormons, Boy Scouts sex abuse suit<BR/><BR/>04:53 PM MDT on Tuesday, June 10, 2008<BR/><BR/>Associated Press<BR/><BR/>PORTLAND, Ore. -- Settlement hearings are planned this week for a $25 million lawsuit that claims the Mormon Church and the Boy Scouts failed to protect six boys from a man who was eventually convicted of sex abuse.<BR/><BR/>U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan and retired Lane County Circuit Judge Lyle Velure plan hearings Wednesday through Friday.<BR/><BR/>They presided over the settlement of a similar lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland last year.<BR/><BR/>The hearings this week are on a suit that alleges abuse in the 1980s and early '90s by a former Sunday school teacher who was also a Scout leader. He was convicted of sexually abusing children and sent to prison.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-20315596374507919522008-06-11T14:52:00.000-07:002008-06-11T14:52:00.000-07:00http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/2008/06/04/444/aaro...http://blogs.jta.org/telegraph/2008/06/04/444/aaron-and-me/<BR/><BR/>To hear Aaron tell it, he is the victim of all this — not the Mexican workers who claim they were abused by Jewish supervisors; not the town of Postville, whose economic in future is very much in peril since the federal government arrested 20 percent of its population; not the kosher consumers who may face very real shortages and price increases if Agriprocessors can’t get back on its feet, and soon (more on this later in the week).<BR/><BR/>No, as Rubashkin sees it, he is the victim of workers who make baseless allegations and a news media that gobbles them up, more interested in selling newspapers than the truth. Several times he compared the press to the Soviet, state-run media (”a lynching press, a one-sided press”) and seemed resigned to being at a fundamental disadvantage in making his case to the public.<BR/><BR/>“I am the one who’s at fault?” he asked. “I will never accept that.”<BR/><BR/>Rubashkin seemed particularly offended by the notion, implied by the criticism from Jewish social activists, that he is somehow opposed to justice. He carried on at length about “tzedek,” using the Hebrew word for justice, as if to say that destroying a man’s livelihood based on hearsay couldn’t possibly be just. “If there is a group about tzedek,” he said to me, “I want to be part of it.”<BR/><BR/>One of the most interesting facets of this story is how divergent are the reactions between the ultra-Orthodox communities who are Rubashkin’s major customers and the liberal religious communities who are his foremost critics. On Friday, a steady stream of Orthodox customers filed in and out of the store, and none seemed particularly bothered by the allegations against their local butcher. Invariably, they said they didn’t believe the charges, and even if they were true, it wouldn’t make much difference. “The meat’s nice, the meats good,” said one. I’m going to continue to buy it.”<BR/><BR/>My full story on the interview is here.<BR/><BR/>Selected audio from the Rubashkin interview is here:Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-66797329341913230002008-06-11T14:46:00.000-07:002008-06-11T14:46:00.000-07:00http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a1222...http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c36_a12222/News/New_York.html<BR/><BR/>Kosher Meat Now Seen In Short Supply<BR/>Weeks after raid of Agriprocessors, retailers feeling the pinch, scrambling to fill order<BR/><BR/>by Sue Fishkoff<BR/>JTA<BR/>Jacqueline Lankry doesn’t know how she’s going to fill her orders.<BR/>Owner of her own kosher catering firm in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Lankry orders a box a week of meat and poultry from Agriprocessors, which runs the nation’s largest kosher slaughterhouse, where production has slowed to a crawl since a federal immigration raid last month at the Postville, Iowa plant.<BR/>Lankry learned last Wednesday that this week’s box isn’t coming. “They told me they have no merchandise,” she told JTA. “I’m closed for business today. I’m going from store to store, looking for meat to fill my orders.”<BR/>Instead of buying wholesale chopped meat for $2.19 a pound, she’s dishing out $6.99 to buy it retail. That’s going to hurt her bottom line in a<BR/><BR/>big way. But she’s stuck, she said. There are no other kosher meat suppliers in town—everything comes from Agriprocessors, which she and other caterers refer to as “Rubashkin’s,” after the family that owns it.<BR/>She doesn’t know about the raid, she said. She doesn’t know about problems with the workers, or PETA’s allegations of inhumane slaughter methods. She just knows that if Agriprocessors shuts down, she and a lot of other people will be out of business.<BR/>“We don’t have a choice,” she explained.<BR/>The 400 undocumented workers arrested in the May 12 raid, and their families, are living in limbo, out of work and facing deportation. But now the fall-out is beginning to extend beyond those most directly impacted. This week, the production slow-down at the Postville plant finally hit the nation’s kosher markets and, by extension, kosher consumers. Retailers from coast to coast report trouble getting orders filled, and many report price hikes, although they’re generally vague about whether those increases are coming from Agriprocessors or competing suppliers.<BR/>Bottom line is, there is less kosher meat, and it’s costing more.<BR/>Some retailers aren’t even bothering to try ordering from Agriprocessors, which has scrambled in recent weeks to bolster its depleted workforce.<BR/>Klara Gottesman, manager of the meat department at Kosher Marketplace in Manhattan, stopped ordering a week ago. “I know they don’t have stuff, so I can’t rely on him,” she explained. “I can’t close the business and wait until Rubashkin brings it to me.”<BR/>She’s looking for other meat sources now.<BR/>Mordechai Yitzhaky, owner of Kosher Mart in Rockville, Md., said his meat supply is down 80 percent. He hasn’t seen any price hike yet, but he expects it if production doesn’t get back to normal soon. He won’t pass on the increase to his customers, however.<BR/>“Kosher meat is already more expensive,” he said. “We don’t want people to stop keeping kosher.”<BR/>Albert Zadeh, owner of Pico Glatt in Los Angeles, buys all his meat and poultry from Agriprocessors, which sells its products under various labels that include Aaron’s Best, Rubashkin’s, Shor Habor, Iowa’s Best Beef and Supreme Kosher. He’s seen a sharp decline in supply. “If you order ten boxes of beef shank, you only get four,” he said.<BR/>There’s also less poultry, and it arrives more haphazardly. “They used to send chicken legs, cut up. Now they give you whole chickens, all sizes, whatever they have,” he said.?<BR/>His customers “understand the situation,” Zadeh says, and are making due with less. Prices have gone up “a few cents,” he said, but for now, he’s absorbing the difference and charging his customers the same.<BR/>Dov Bauman, owner of Glatt Mart in Brooklyn, said his fresh poultry supply from Agriprocessors is down, and he, too, is getting whole chickens instead of ready-to-sell parts. “I don’t have the manpower to break it down,” he said. Prices have gone up from 3 to 15 percent, he said, depending on the item.<BR/>But Bauman, like other kosher retailers, doesn’t blame it all on Agriprocessors. Fuel hikes, which increase shipping costs, are affecting meat prices as well, he said.<BR/>And in a way, the tighter supply means more people are eager to stock up on kosher meat and poultry now, in case things get worse. “I’m getting more business,” he admits.<BR/>Agriprocessors has taken several steps in an effort to boost its image and reassure customers, starting with the removal of the manager of the Postville plant, Sholom Rubashkin, son of the company’s owner and founder. The company also issued a statement Thursday announcing that it had retained Jim Martin, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, to serve as its outside corporate compliance officer. Martin will begin his efforts immediately.<BR/>Martin was quoted as saying that the company would be able to meet the needs of consumers.<BR/>“Agriprocessors’ 800 jobs are important to Postville and northern Iowa, along with the observant Jewish community across the country that relies on them for their kosher meat and poultry,” he said. “Agriprocessors can meet the needs of those who depend on the company and operate in compliance with all laws, and I intend to see that happen.”<BR/>Marketing consultant Menachem Lubinsky, who represents Agriprocessors, admits there are “shortages in many markets,” particularly outside New York. “Last week there was enough inventory, but it became depleted and people are buying more than usual,” he said.<BR/>Prices have gone up “sporadically” he reported. And other kosher suppliers, like Empire Kosher, have stepped up production to try and fill the supply gap.<BR/>Part of the problem, he said, is that Agriprocessors dominates the market so heavily, supplying 60 percent of the country’s kosher meat and 40 percent of its chicken. Any slowdown in its production affects the entire system, “and this comes at a time when demand for kosher meat is up,” Lubinsky added. “They tell me they’re stepping up production, but from what I see, it hasn’t happened yet.”<BR/>Meanwhile, more than 1,000 kosher consumers, including several leading rabbis, have signed a petition being circulated by Uri L’Tzedek, an Orthodox social justice group in New York.<BR/>The petition calls upon Agriprocessors to treat its workers fairly and abide by all laws pertaining to workers’ rights and safety. The petition also asks the company to create a transparent monitoring system, open to third-party inspection, “so consumers can have faith that the meat is coming to them in an ethical manner,” said Ari Hart, a rabbinical student at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah and one of the four founders of Uri L’Tzedek.<BR/>The petition states that if these conditions are not met by June 15, those who signed the petition will no longer patronize the company.<BR/>Hart says that the petition is not aimed at challenging the kosher system, or hurting any particular supplier.<BR/>“We have no interest in hurting the Rubashkin company or in promoting any other company,” Hart explained. “We are simply consumers of this meat, and our interest is in having an available supply of kosher meat we are comfortable purchasing.”exposemolestershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02097300261898413798noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-42391851412035314222008-06-11T14:42:00.000-07:002008-06-11T14:42:00.000-07:00http://southshore2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/09/3-y...http://southshore2.tbo.com/content/2008/jun/09/3-year-old-makes-cut-during-orthodox-jewish-tradit/<BR/><BR/>D'Ann Lawrence White, Tribune photo<BR/><BR/>Three-year-old Schmuli Rubashkin looks suspiciously at the scissors used to cut the locks he’s been growing all his life.<BR/><BR/>By D'ANN WHITE | The Brandon News & Tribune<BR/><BR/>Published: June 9, 2008<BR/><BR/>Updated: 06/09/2008 05:46 pm<BR/><BR/>LITHIA - Running her fingers through her middle child's long, curly locks for the last time, Tzippy Rubashkin said she had mixed feelings about her 3-year-old's first haircut.<BR/><BR/>Called the upsherinish ceremony, the first haircut represents a milestone in the Orthodox Jewish faith. Rubashkin admitted she'll miss the long brown locks she used to capture in a bun and attempt to hold in place beneath a cap, though a few errant curls usually managed to escape.<BR/><BR/>"But I definitely won't miss people mistaking my son for a girl," she said, chuckling.<BR/><BR/>As part of his Jewish tradition, Schmuli Rubashkin, the son of Tzippy and Rabbi Mendel Rubashkin, founder of the Chabad of Brandon Jewish fellowship in Valrico, did not have his hair cut before his third birthday.<BR/><BR/>Mendel Rubashkin explained that age 3 marks a significant turning point in the life of an Orthodox Jewish boy.<BR/><BR/>"Although a child's character is being molded from birth, he doesn't really form an identity of his own and isn't ready for a formal education until the age of 3," Mendel Rubashkin said.<BR/><BR/>He said a boy is compared to a tree, and, according to the Torah, fruit should not be harvested from a tree for the first three years so the roots have time to nourish the fruit.<BR/><BR/>Although novel to Brandon, the upsherinish ceremony is a long-standing custom in the Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewish communities in Portugal, Spain and Germany and is cause for major celebration, Rubashkin said. The milestone goes hand in hand with another custom that takes place on a child's third birthday: areinfirinish, the beginning of formal education.<BR/><BR/>Family and friends from as far away as New York attended Schmuli's upsherinish ceremony May 22 at the Palmetto Club in FishHawk Ranch, where guests were invited to trim a lock of Schmuli's hair during a ritual that dates to the 16th century.<BR/><BR/>For his part, Schmuli had been preparing for months. He memorized the Hebrew alphabet, practiced wearing his yarmulke and recited morning blessings, grace after meals and the Shema, a daily prayer, before going to bed.<BR/><BR/>As is customary, the upsherinish began as Schmuli's father carried him to the service wrapped entirely in a tallit, or prayer shawl.<BR/><BR/>"I think this is too big for me," the good-humored boy said in a muffled voice from beneath the shawl.<BR/>Freed from the shawl and standing on a chair in front of the crowd, Schmuli then recited the Hebrew alphabet.<BR/><BR/>"Aleph, bet, gimel," he said confidently, swinging his arm with each letter.<BR/><BR/>That was followed by a ceremony in which other children tossed candy at Schmuli and he, in turn, distributed bags of candy to them in a custom meant to "show them that learning is sweet and rewarding," Rubashkin said.<BR/><BR/>Finally, Schmuli received a blessing from his father's cousin Rabbi Mendy Rosenfeld of Lake Worth, who was given the honor of cutting the first lock of hair. Other family members did the same, including Schmuli's grandmothers, Chanie Deitsch and Bella Rubashkin, and his sister Mirel, 5.<BR/><BR/>Then Schmuli, occupying himself with a bag of candy, waited patiently while everyone at the party took a turn cutting his hair. Each time a lock was snipped, Schmuli placed coins his family had been collecting at home in a charity box beside him. He hadn't yet specified a charity to receive the coins.<BR/><BR/>Tzippy Rubashkin admitted that Schmuli's new look was a bit choppy but assured the boy they would have it taken care of at a hair salon the next day.<BR/>Schmuli didn't mind.<BR/><BR/>After the hourlong ceremony, he was eager to be out of the limelight and get back to playing with his friends.<BR/><BR/>"Can I get off now?" he asked from his perch on top of the chair.<BR/><BR/>Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-27030526898905951332008-06-11T14:38:00.000-07:002008-06-11T14:38:00.000-07:00"How any Jew could vote for Obama defies logic. Ob..."How any Jew could vote for Obama defies logic. Obama is wildly insensitive to Jews as is evidenced by his church and his associations and he's rabidly Pro Arab when it comes to Middle East policy. Please spread the word because Obama knows he has a Jewish problem and his handlers and enablers are trying to rewrite and fudge his record. They are lying and deceiving people in the process."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-65447077691632878182008-06-11T14:35:00.000-07:002008-06-11T14:35:00.000-07:00New York (PRWEB) June 10, 2008 -- A spokesman for ...New York (PRWEB) June 10, 2008 -- A spokesman for Rabbi Mordecai Tendler stated today that the allegations made in the Marmelstein complaint are without any basis in fact, fabrications and have always been vehemently denied both in court filings and in the public forum. (http://www.ereleases.com/pr/20060118009.html)<BR/><BR/>The statements made before the Court of Appeals by counsel for both parties are in the context of a motion to dismiss the complaint. Procedurally the court must entertain such allegations as true solely for the purposes of determining the legal sufficiency of the Marmelstein allegations as set forth in her complaint. The unfortunate press reports which imply any concession by Rabbi Tendler's attorney are recklessly taken out of context and a distortion of the record.<BR/><BR/>###<BR/><BR/><BR/>Contact Information<BR/>Hillel Tendler<BR/>845-354-4948Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-88050588267325599502008-06-11T14:33:00.000-07:002008-06-11T14:33:00.000-07:00http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659...http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659707573&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull<BR/><BR/>Religious Zionism is under siege today. If it fails to confront and overcome its adversaries, it will become marginalized from Israeli society and Jewish life.<BR/><BR/>To this day the knitted kippot represent the badge of pride of those committed to their homeland and Jewish values, those who promote volunteerism and good citizenship in a society which has become increasingly consumed by hedonism and materialism. It is no coincidence that a highly disproportionate number of national religious serve as officers in IDF combat units.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-87888266241738248362008-06-10T23:28:00.000-07:002008-06-10T23:28:00.000-07:00Southern Baptists reject sex-abuse databaseBy ERIC...Southern Baptists reject sex-abuse database<BR/><BR/>By ERIC GORSKI – 7 hours ago<BR/><BR/>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Under pressure to fight child sex abuse, the Southern Baptist Convention's executive committee said Tuesday that the denomination should not create its own database to help churches identity predators or establish an office to field abuse claims.<BR/><BR/>The report decried sexual abuse as reprehensible and a sin. But the Southern Baptist principle of local church autonomy means it's up to individual churches — and not the convention — to screen employees and take action against offenders, the committee said.<BR/><BR/>Opening its two-day annual meeting, the nation's largest Protestant body also elected a new president, Georgia megachurch pastor Johnny Hunt, a theological conservative. He is of Native American descent, a biographical detail that might help the convention reach out to minorities.<BR/><BR/>Hunt, 55, prevailed in a crowded field of six — winning 53 percent of the vote on the first ballot — and will seek to reverse troubling trends, including a decline in membership.<BR/><BR/>The clergy sexual abuse scandal that struck the U.S. Roman Catholic Church starting in 2002 has also touched the Southern Baptist Convention, although to a much lesser degree. The past two years have seen a few high-profile allegations against Baptist clergy, and a key victims' advocate in the Catholic crisis, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, began lobbying the Baptists.<BR/><BR/>In 2006, an executive committee panel began studying how to address the issue. Then, last year, Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson proposed that the convention develop a database to track clergy and staff who are "credibly accused of, personally confessed to, or legally been convicted of sexual harassment or abuse." The database would then be available to all churches.<BR/><BR/>The executive committee report, "Responding to the Evil of Sexual Abuse," urges churches to conduct background checks using a U.S. Department of Justice database of sexual offenders.<BR/><BR/>But it rejected establishing a new Southern Baptist database, arguing it would be impossible to build a comprehensive list. Referring churches to a more exhaustive federal database is better than a limited "Baptist only" system that predators could slip through, it said.<BR/><BR/>The database idea also is undermined by the fact that the convention cannot require churches to report instances of sexual abuse to local, state or national conventions, the report said...<BR/><BR/>http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5htrzfk-dur8TqNhrVkbqIVRFxuoQD917G9K00Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-64708719655450347112008-06-10T23:22:00.000-07:002008-06-10T23:22:00.000-07:00Blind rabbi wins N.J. primaryPublished: Tuesday, J...Blind rabbi wins N.J. primary<BR/><BR/><BR/>Published: Tuesday, June 10, 2008 4:16 PM EDT<BR/>NEW JERSEY (JTA) -- A blind rabbi and psychologist won a Democratic congressional primary in New Jersey. Dennis Shulman won a decisive victory Tuesday over two rivals with 60 percent of the vote in the northern New Jersey 5th District. He will face incumbent Republican Scott Garrett in November. After his victory, Shulman promised to mitigate what he described as the corrupt, special-interest politics in Washington and address the economic crisis. Shulman maintains that Garrett is more conservative than his constituents on the Iraq war, abortion and health care.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-25384398337312588672008-06-10T23:19:00.000-07:002008-06-10T23:19:00.000-07:00We disagree with the conservative "rabbi." All wor...We disagree with the conservative "rabbi." All workers (under aged or not) are treated fairly and equally rough. <BR/>********************************<BR/><BR/>"But there are two sides to every issue, he adds. Downtown there’s a new community center that the Rubashkins help build. And a local minister told him none of his parishioners wants AgriProcessors to close. They depend on it for their livelihood. “He said, we certainly want to see the workers treated differently, but the success of the plant is beneficial for all of us in Postville,” Allen reports."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-68077332063410599292008-06-10T23:04:00.000-07:002008-06-10T23:04:00.000-07:00Shavuot is over! How many people stayed up the the...Shavuot is over! How many people stayed up the the whole night and learned some Torah? How many of you stayed up the whole night and then went to the mikvah? <BR/><BR/>Just remember that if you are involved in the protection of a child molester - that your Shavuot righteousness is nothing but a farce.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28305689.post-35817282949775554812008-06-08T14:41:00.000-07:002008-06-08T14:41:00.000-07:00Prosectors to seek long prison term for child mole...Prosectors to seek long prison term for child molester DA to seek long term for molester<BR/>By Leslie Griffy<BR/>Mercury News<BR/>Article Launched: 06/07/2008 <BR/><BR/>A 41-year-old man could face up to 45 years to life in prison for molesting his 7-year-old stepdaughter, prosecutors said.<BR/><BR/>Jose Maria Gomez was convicted May 30 of three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and three counts assault by fear.<BR/><BR/>The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office accused Gomez of molesting his stepdaughter from 2000 to 2001, when she was 7.<BR/><BR/>He attempted to keep the girl quiet by threatening to hurt her mother if she told anyone about the abuse, according to authorities. When she did tell what happened, she and her mother then reported the abuse to San Jose police.<BR/><BR/>Contact Leslie Griffy at lgriffy@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5945.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com