Cross Country
Resistance for a Rebuilding Plan
'Garbage," "audacious,"and "rotten" are just some of the ways New Orleans residents are describing calls for a four-month moratorium on building in most of the city and a plan that allows an authority to seize homes in neighborhoods that won't be rebuilt. The plan, which if approved would take effect January 20, envisions a place far smaller than the pre-Katrina Crescent City of roughly half a million people. A hearing last week inflamed fears that commissioners would abandon the city's largely black neighborhoods because it would stop issuing building permits in areas hardest hit by Katrina's floods. Under the plan, the burden falls on residents to show enough support for rebuilding to justify investments in schools and infrastructure. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency may make that decision for them: New flood-plain maps could lead to higher insurance rates, effectively preventing development.
A Cleric's Authority, a Victim's View
When a Detroit bishop called for an end to statutes of limitation on clergy abuse lawsuits, he spoke not just as a Roman Catholic Church official but, it turns out, as a victim himself. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 75, lent poignant and powerful support to a bill in the Ohio legislature that would remove the time limits that can prevent victims from suing the church for alleged sexual abuse.
In lobbying for the bill, which the Senate has passed unanimously, Gumbleton revealed that he was touched inappropriately by a Detroit priest when he was a 15-year-old seminary student. He said that the priest, long dead, took him and other boys to a cabin outside the city and put his hand down the back of Gumbleton's pants, at which point the incident ended. "I was able to escape a terrible trauma," he said.
Gumbleton said some abusive priests have not yet been exposed, and he insisted that lawsuits were the only way they would be. Ohio bishops agree to extending time limits for future cases but oppose a measure that gives past victims one year to sue over abuse that happened up to 35 years ago.
"I regret that we need this kind of legislation," said Gumbleton. "But I insist we do need it. For many [abuse victims], probably almost all of them, it would be very difficult to come forward and speak."
One Time Too Many for a Stubborn Pol
There are second chances, and then there is enough. Even some of the most loyal supporters of former Washington, D.C., Mayor Marion Barry have lost patience over revelations last week that their favorite politician, now a D.C. City Council member, tested positive for cocaine in November. Disgusted observers are calling for Barry to step down; others say that Barry, who has suffered from prostate cancer and diabetes, needs their sympathy and help. Barry, 69, flunked the court-ordered drug test following his guilty plea on misdemeanor tax charges. In 1991, Barry famously served six months in jail after he was caught on FBI videotape smoking crack in a Washington hotel room. His troubles continued after his release from jail and election to the City Council. He pleaded guilty to failing to file and document his 2000 tax return. Earlier this month, Barry reported that he was robbed at gunpoint in his apartment, but, oddly, declined to press charges. As to his own case, only a felony conviction would require him to resign from the council.
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