Federal judge dismisses teacher's challenge to Missouri Facebook Law

Federal Judge Jean Hamilton today dismissed Ladue teacher Christina Thomas' lawsuit against the social networking portion of Sen. Jane Cunningham's SB 54.

The decision came three days after Ms. Thomas asked for the dismissal, saying that the fix that was put in place by the legislature during its special session made the lawsuit moot.

Ms. Thomas, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, has challenged the law, noting that it prevented her from contacting her own daughter via Facebook.

Judge: Joe White, Kanakuk actions sufficient for sexual abuse lawsuit to remain in Texas

A lawsuit filed by the parents of one of Pete Newman's sex abuse victims will remain in Texas.

U. S. District Court Judge Joe Fish ruled Friday that the plaintiffs had shown enough evidence that a significant portion of the crimes against the boy occurred in Texas. The following passage was taken from Judge Fish's decision:

The plaintiffs contend that Kanakuk CEO Joe White and Kanakuk officials came to Texas to convince children to come to the camp at Branson where they were sexually molested by Newman. Newman pleaded guilty to sex abuse charges and is serving two life sentences.

According to the complaint, White and Kanakuk deliberately came into this
district, persuaded residents of this district to send their children out of the district, and facilitated the transportation of those children out of this district. White spoke at the “Promise Keepers” event in Irving, Texas to influence parents to sent their children to the Missouri Camps Kanakuk convinced the defendants to send their son to a camp outside of this district by communicating with them at their home in this district through telephone calls, mail, and e-mail. Once the plaintiffs agreed to sent their son to the camp, the defendants
organized a bus in Dallas that would take him out of this district and into Missouri.

Newman’s phone, mail and e-mail communications with John Doe I at home
in Texas allowed Newman to “groom” John Doe I for sexual abuse.

These communications, which were allegedly “sponsored and sanctioned” by Kanakuk, permitted Newman to develop a “deeper and more trusting relationship” with John Doe I. Id. And after receiving permission from John Doe, Newman discussed masturbation with John Doe I over the phone, while John Doe I was at his home in Texas.

It was the second decision in less than a month to go against White. Earlier in the month, Judge Fish ordered White not to try to contact the plaintiffs.

Attorneys for the boy and his family requested the injunction in a motion filed July 13. The motion indicated that White and Kanakuk officials had not left the family alone since the lawsuit was filed.

The unwanted attention began April 7, according to the motion. "Since appearing in this case, defendants have maintained regular communications with the plaintiffs, directly, by way of mail, telephone, and e-mail, despite repeated requests (from both plaintiffs and plaintiffs' counsel) that they not do so."

The latest such communication occurred July 8, the motion says,when "a package from Defendant White and his wife, arrived at the Doe home."

The e-mails, phone calls, letters, and packages have added to the boy's "emotional and psychological problems that stem from his sexual abuse," the motion said.

The $10 million lawsuit against White, Newman, and Kanakuk alleges that Newman's sexual assault of the boy and others came after White ignored obvious danger signals and allowed Newman to continue working with young boys.

The father of the child says White,a nationally known Christan motivational speaker, encouraged him to send his son to Kanakuk Kamp in Branson following a speech at a Promise Keepers meeting in Irving, Texas.

"Defendant Joe T. White appeared and lectured at a Promise Keepers event at Texas Stadium in Irvin, Texas. (The father) attended this event and heard (his) presentation advocating Christian values." White spoke of Kanakuk Kamp and distributed literature, and later sent letters and Internet messages to him, his wife, and other parents encouraging them to send their children to the Missouri camp.

When their son was sent to the camp, the lawsuit said, Pete Newman, the camp director, sexually molested him, "appearing nude with an erection in a hot tub for Bible studies with (the boy) as Newman masturbated himself, he masturbated (the boy) and had the boy masturbate him."

The abuse also included games of naked truth or dare, and having the boy spend the night in Newman's living quarters, where he was sexually abused.

"At other times, Defendant Newman's inappropriate behavior and sexual abuse of (the boy) occurred in the presence of other Kanakuk Kamp personnel." The child was in the camp during the summers of 2005-2007. The lawsuit also names Kanakuk Ministries, Kanakuk Kamp, and every other name by which Kanakuk has been called as defendants.

"Newman used his position at Kanakuk Kamps as a means to abuse children such as John Doe I (as the boy is referred to throughout the petition) by developing the children's trust and friendship. This, coupled with Newman's mantle of authority as a dircctor of Kanakuk Kamps, allowed Newman to sexually abuse and molest multiple boys through masturbation, oral sex, and sodomy."

The lawsuit charges that White and Kanakuk Ministries "had every reason to know Newman, a sexual predator, was operating freely in the Kanakuk Kamps and placing young boys at risk for sexual abuse and molestation and the lifelong burdens that childhood sexual abuse creates."

The petition goes into specifics about White's prior knowledge of Newman's perversions:

"At least as early as 1999, Defendant Joe T. White, Kanakuk Ministries and/or Kanakuk Heritage, Inc. knew that Newman, in the nude, was riding four-wheelers at the 'kamp' with nude 'kampers,' who were minor children entrusted to the care of Defendants. In response to this sexually inappropriate behavior, Newman was placed on probation."

That was not the last time Newman's perverted antics were known to White and Kanakuk officials, the lawsuit charges. "In or about 2003, a nude Defendant Newman was streaking through the 'kamp' property with nude minor 'kampers.' Although this conduct came to the attention of Defendants Joe T. White, Kanakuk Ministries, and/or Kanakuk, Heritage, Inc., again Newman remained on staff in easy reach of his future victims, including John Doe I."

The petition charges White and Kanakuk officials with negligence in allowing Newman anywhere near children. John Doe I "suffered injuries that have required and will continue to require medical and psychological care. The childhood sexual abuse of John Doe I in the context of what was purported to be Christian ministry further complicates his injuries and treatment.

White and Kanakuk are also charged with fraud, misrepresentation, and unfair and deceptive practices, negligent infliction of emotional distress. The parents are asking for medical expenses, punitive damages, and attorneys' fees and are requesting a jury trial.

The parents and son are being represented by the Turley Law Firm of Dallas.
The lawsuit was the second to be filed against Newman and Kanakuk, and the first to be filed against Joe White individually.

The first lawsuit, filed Jan. 31 in Taney County Circuit Court, charges officials at the Christian sports camp Kanakuk with fraud for allowing Pete Newman to masquerade as a role model at the same time he was molesting scores of underage boys. The petition was filed on behalf of a Little Rock man who was only 12 years old when Newman allegedly began grooming him.

Among the allegations in that petition:

-Kanakuk officials had received sexual misconduct reports about Pete Newman as early as 1999. (He remained in Kanakuk's employ until 2009.)

-Kanakuk's cost-saving policies encouraged employees recruiting campers in the off-season to stay with families, providing opportunities for Newman to zero in on potential victims.

-Kanakuk promoted Newman as a "camp director, devoted husband, loving, beloved friend and mentor to youth" long after being made aware of sexual misconduct allegations. Camp officials also allowed Newman to "continue to promote himself all over America as an expert on teenage sexual purity."

-Newman had one-on-one Bible studies with boys in his hot tub.

-Newman used his unrestricted access to Kanakuk facilities to lure underage boys to the facilities during the off-season for sexual purposes.

-Newman bombarded the plaintiff, referred to as "John Doe, J. G." in the petition with phone calls and letters and engaged in phone sex with him.

-Newman had sexual relations with boys in Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. (Not mentioned was Colorado where Newman, who is currently serving two life sentences plus 30 years in a Missouri penitentiary, still faces charges.)

-At a "Purity Conference" in Memphis, Newman engaged a group of boys in sex talk, telling them what it was like to "have sex with a woman now that he was married."

-Newman invited the plaintiff to a conference in Oklahoma where he tried to get the boy to engage in sodomy, was turned down, and finally convinced him to engage in a mutual masturbation session.

According to the petition, the plaintiff was first seduced by Newman on Feb. 7, 2003, and then again the following day at K-Kountry in Taney County, at an area known as "The Pit," a foam pit next to the gymnastics equipment.

In the summer of 2003, the petition says, Newman lured the children with a yellow jeep into "spending time with him on Kanakuk property."

During the Purity Conference in Tennessee in 2004, Newman again engaged in a mutual masturbation session with the boy and then took advantage of him at the conference in Oklahoma in 2005, according to the lawsuit.

Kanakuk officials and Newman are charged with fraud, negligent supervision of a minor, breach of fiduciary duty, negligent infliction of emotional damage, breach of duty in loco parentis (serving in place of the parents) and negligent infliction of emotional distress.

The petition indicates the plaintiff suffers from "severe depression and ongoing anxiety and that he is "psychologically confused and spiritually damaged by a person promoted to him by Kanakuk as a role model."

The plaintiff in the Missouri case is asking for a jury trial.

Saying goodbye to a forgotten school

(The following is my latest Huffington Post blog and is also my column for this week's Newton County News and KY3/KSPR.)

During a recent teacher in-service day, staff members from Joplin East Middle School where I teach, left the warehouse where we are conducting classes for the 2011-2012 school year (and probably the next year or two) and returned to the building that we called our own for the last two years for a farewell ceremony.

I stayed at the warehouse.

It was not that I was making light of the planned ceremony. I am sure it helped some to find closure after the May 22 tornado that destroyed that building; I just did not have a strong connection. It was a brand new building, less than two years old, and while I had some wonderful memories in those two school years, I did not feel a need to say goodbye.

The building where I used to teach was an entirely different matter. Before moving into East Middle School, I taught at South for six years. It was an old building, one of those made in the 1920s that did not have a smooth transition into the computer era.

South did not have a gymnasium; it had an auditorium with an extended stage that was used for physical education classes. The computer lab was a converted boys bathroom. The classrooms, at approximately 500 square feet, were smaller than the ones in the warehouse and desks were jammed into every corner with a cruel efficiency.

An entire area of the basement was shut off due to asbestos. We had no playground area, just a fenced-in gravel lot with basketball goals and picnic tables that had been donated to us by our hard working parent-teacher organization.

By all definition, South Middle School was a dump compared to the spacious, modern school building we left it for prior to the 2009-2010 school year.

I loved that broken down building like no place I have worked in the past three and a half decades.

During the first year at the new East, I had to go to South during the school day on one occasion and it was not the same. The halls seemed darker, the laughter nearly non-existent. This was not my South. I made the mistake of stopping by Room 210, which had been home to me for six years. There were no traces of that home. It was just another classroom.

After serving as a temporary building for one of our other middle schools that year, the old South building was vacant last year for the first time in more than 80 years.

I did not even think about it until May 22. The same tornado that destroyed our state-of-the-art East Middle School, also ripped through the stately building with the grim, institutional look on 22nd Street.

I checked out East two days after the tornado. It took me more than five months to visit South. After I read that our board of education had awarded a contract to demolish South, I had to make one more pilgrimage to the place that had been such an important part of my life.

It was broad daylight Sunday when I parked my car in the gravel lot in the same parking place I used every morning at 6:45 a.m. during the school year.

As far as I could tell, I was the only one in a two block area. The houses in this older part of town, the ones that survived the tornado, are mostly boarded up with prominent no-trespassing signs.

As 40-mile per hour winds whipped through my old school, despite the daylight, there was a sense that I was walking in another world.

Most of South's windows are gone, but the wind whipped through the blinds, all of which were intact, slamming them against the wall in a macabre symphony. Creaking metal sounds could be heard, every 10 seconds or so.

Sections of the building were gone and the front door, the one I had walked through thousands of times during those six years was covered by a sign warning of asbestos contamination.

I looked up at the second floor to the window of my room 210 and the ghosts of thousands of wonderful memories came back to me.

There was Jessica in her front row seat, working diligently on her Elks Lodge essay, filling in even the margins on her paper and then turning in 750 words for an essay that did not allow more than 250. After that, Jessica did a masterful editing job, eliminating 501 words and winning the contest.

There was Andrew causing people to roll in the aisles with laughter with his interpretation of a character during our reading of the play, The Diary of Anne Frank.

I could see Fox's always empty seat, and then when I looked down at the floor, I saw her scribbling away in her notebook.

After thinking about those days for several, long minutes, I walked back to my car and left South Middle School for the final time.

I appreciate the public ceremony for East. I am sure it helped my fellow staff members deal with the loss of their workplace.

But to me, South Middle School was a home and a quiet, private goodbye was just what I needed.

Lobbying records show legislature is full-time job for Ron Richard

The Missouri State Legislature ended its regular session in mid-May, but that has does not mean representing constituents is a part-time job for our elected officials.

Documents posted this morning on the Missouri Ethics Commission website indicate Sen. Ron Richard, R-Joplin, has received $2,814.49 in gifts from lobbyists during the calendar year with more than $1,000 of that total coming in the months since the legislature's regular session ended.

Richard collected $250.95 in gifts during September, the most recent month posted, including meals from lobbyists for Caesar's Entertainment, State Farm Insurance, Missouri Automobile Dealers Association, Missouri Hospital Association, St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives, and Missouri American Water.

The most expensive meal, $108.50, came from Jeffrey Brooks, lobbyist for Armstrong Teasdale.

Ethics Commission documents show Richard ended August with a flourish, receiving more than $350 in meals and gifts from the St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association, including a meal from a Monsanto lobbyist, while being presented a Statesman Award.

"Storm Country" available: proceeds go to Joplin school libraries

The proceeds from a new book, Storm Country,  from the Missouri Writers Guild and its Joplin Writers Guild chapter, will go to Joplin school libraries. The book, which has a cover photo taken by Carthage Press Managing Editor John Hacker, co-author of 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado,  is described on its website:

When an E-5 tornado struck Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011, part of the major devastation to the community was to school buildings in the Joplin R-VIII School District. Among these were libraries of four schools, along with the district's Teacher Resource Center. 

In a collaborative effort, the Missouri Writers' Guild and its Joplin Writers' Guild chapter, the Missouri Humanities Council, and Mozark Press present a collection of the region's writers and poets who contributed their work as a fundraising effort to restore library resources for the Joplin School District. Inside are contributions ranging from Missouri and Kansas poets laureate, to a Joplin High School sophomore, to a 2011 Pushcart nominee, to sixth-grade students from Fair Grove Middle School. Most importantly, inside you'll find the creative voices of the caring community existing within the region we call "Storm Country."

All proceeds from the sale of Storm Country: The Anthology will go toward books and learning materials for the Joplin school libraries and Teacher Resource Center.

The book sells for $10.

MU sophomores talk about Joplin tornado experiences

University of Missouri student newspaper The Maneatet features an interview with sophomores Megan McCallister and Jordan Herr, relating their experiences in the May 22 Joplin Tornado:

"People were trying to come up to our window asking us for help, but we didn't know where our families were, so we had to find some way home,” McAllister said.

After a drive home that took the women two hours instead of 15 minutes, they finally reached McAllister’s home. Or what was left of it.

"We pulled up to where my house was supposed to be and there was just nothing, just nothing,” McAllister said. "Seeing my house gone, I thought I was the only one alive.”

It was only a matter of 10 minutes, McAllister said, between the time she and Herr arrived at the rubble that used to be her house and when she finally saw her family running at her down the street. Her sister and brother, flanked by her two dogs, ran to hug her and to reassure her that her parents were safe and helping their neighbors nearby out of the rubble.

"It was probably 10 minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime that I didn't know where they were," McAllister said. "Literally, you don't think about it, but when I went to the mall that day, that was all that I had. I didn't have anything."

McAllister’s family then stayed with the Herr’s for nine days, passing the time waiting out more severe weather, searching through the rubble and volunteering to help around town by bringing food and drink to people rebuilding and sorting through what was left of their homes. They stayed with McAllister's grandparents for three weeks afterward.

“All of our memories in that house were gone,” McAllister said, who had lived there since she was three years old. The tornado reached EF-5 status right as it passed over her house, she said.

Sorting through the rubble, the women found McAllister’s cat, still alive, and small belongings left over that they normally wouldn’t have been excited about, such as a baby doll.

But it was all they had left. As for clothes, those that were found were so ingrained with rubble it took dozens of washes to make them close to wearable again, and even then, many had to be tossed away. The time after the tornado was spent salvaging anything possible, from a few old pictures left behind to knobs that used to be on doors or dressers.

For Herr and McAllister, the stretch of time when they didn’t know if their families were alive affected them the most. The same question kept popping into their heads: What do you say to your best friend when her family is gone?

Luckily for both women and their families and relatives, that wasn’t the case.

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