SALT LAKE CITY
Another ex-student sues Catholic diocese
Another former Roncalli High School student has come forward with allegations that he was incapacitated with ether and sexually molested by a former Marianist brother who taught at the school.
In a lawsuit made public Thursday, the unnamed man joined 13 others in suing the Catholic Diocese of Pueblo and the Marianist Province of the United States, claiming sexual assault by Brother William Mueller.
The 54-year-old who filed the latest suit attended the all-boys school from 1965 to 1969. He claims Mueller asked him to participate in a confidential, psychological experiment in the school’s band room. Mueller then allegedly placed a cloth soaked in ether over the boy’s face and sexually assaulted him when the ether rendered him semiconscious, the lawsuit states.
Permanent chapel dedicated at Buckley
Six years after it became a full-fledged Air Force base, Buckley Air Force Base got a permanent chapel Friday.
The base in Aurora is a former Air National Guard facility and still houses Guard units. It had used a series of temporary chapels.
A standing-room-only crowd of about 350 filled the nondenominational chapel for its dedication, including Maj. Gen. Charles Baldwin, chief of the Air Force chaplain service, and Gen. Lance Lord, commander of Air Force Space Command.
Baldwin has been caught up in a controversy over whether evangelical chaplains have been pushing their faith on others. He has been a strong supporter of allowing chaplains freedom to share their faith.
The Air Force said he was unavailable for an interview Friday.
“This chapel is neutral. We build chapels to be neutral,” Baldwin told the group. He said the symbols used by specific religions, if any, will be brought in for their services.
“In America we are free to worship God in our way,” he said.
GOP leader’s death ruled apparent suicide
Glenwood Springs – Garfield County Republican chairman and community leader Tom Beard died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Sheriff Lou Vallario.
Beard was 55.
Vallario said Beard apparently shot himself between 2 p.m. and when his wife, Pam Szedelyi, found Beard’s body about 6 p.m. Wednesday, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported for its Friday edition.
Vallario said Beard left a note. The coroner is investigating the death.
Beard, a former developer in Florida, also was president and general manager of the development company Battlement Mesa Co., where he had worked since 1992, according to the company’s Lynn Shore.
Besides serving as GOP chairman, Beard had served on several county committees, including those dealing with community corrections, a rewrite of subdivision regulations and a socio economic study.
Report of armed man affects hotel, day-care
A hotel was evacuated and a nearby child care center locked down after sheriff’s deputies received a report of a man with a gun in one of the hotel rooms Friday afternoon, a spokesman with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
No one was injured in the incident, which ended about 1 1/2 hours after it started, sheriff’s spokesman Jim Shires said. It was unclear whether the man had a gun.
During the standoff, parents were able to pick up their children at the heavily guarded child care center, Shires said.
Deputies talked to the man, who had locked himself in a Holiday Inn Express. After he surrendered, he was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
It was unclear how many guests were affected. A clerk at the front desk referred calls to a regional manager who did not return messages.
