The St. Joseph News-Press, Sept. 19

Mourn the last one, help the next one

We may never truly know the backstory of the man who was found dead in the parking lot outside the Veterans Affairs clinic in St. Joseph.

Some of the facts, though, fill in heartbreaking details of one Vietnam veteran’s final hours. On Sept. 12, the man walked into the VA outpatient clinic on the South Belt Highway and filled out paperwork to begin receiving care. VA officials described him as polite and appreciative, with no outward signs of distress. Clinic officials scheduled an office appointment and made plans to get in contact with him.

The next morning, at about 7:20 a.m., a staff member found this veteran in a car parked at the clinic. Authorities said he died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He apparently died alone.

VA officials have initiated the process to get this veteran buried at Leavenworth National Cemetery, so that he may never again be alone. This is appropriate for someone who deserves the honor of resting among those who gave a similar sacrifice to our country.

Perhaps the time will come to uncover this veteran’s identity and give full recognition. We choose not to pursue that angle, both out of respect for privacy, but also because anonymity speaks powerfully to the shared pain that exists among so many veterans who are still in our midst.

At Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier compels us to not only contemplate those who are interred in the vault. This stark and somber monument forces us to comprehend the numbing reality that some are forever entombed in the Flanders mud or the depths of the Pacific Ocean. For a moment, those lost in the fog of war are not forgotten.

This Vietnam veteran should never be forgotten, but let’s also remember that his personal anguish is, tragically, not an isolated outcome of war. Too many of our service members, from Korea and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan, are lost to suicide. A VA report found more than 6,000 veteran suicides a year from 2008 to 2016, with an alarming increase for those between the ages of 18 and 34.

“We ask anyone who will listen to join us in trying to help stop the next heartbreak, the next horrible outcome, the next loss to suicide,” Joseph Burks, public affairs officer for the VA Eastern Kansas Health System, wrote in an e-mail. Burks suggests putting the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline number, 800-273-8255, on your mobile phone.

Let’s also take the time to lift our eyes from our phones and look for signs of trouble. Let’s ask our veterans, and any of our friends and neighbors, if everything is OK.

This is a time to mourn, but it’s also a catalyst to be on guard for the next one.

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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 17

Missouri’s stilted probe of clergy abuse must not be the last word on the issue.

With the Catholic Church’s sordid history of enabling and covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests, and the long failure of government to confront those crimes, it’s tempting to cheer any progress toward justice. That’s why, at first blush, last week’s news might have appeared promising: Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt forwarded the names of 12 former priests to local authorities for possible prosecution after an investigation that dredged up scores of previously unreported allegations against clergy in the state.

But a closer look suggests this progress toward justice is at best minimal.

A dozen possible prosecutions looks like a token next to the 74 criminal investigations underway in Kansas, which has less than half Missouri’s population. Could it be because the Missouri investigation left out the Jesuits and other orders that are home to a significant portion of Catholic clergy? Or that investigators contacted few if any of the Missouri activists and attorneys who have focused for years on clergy abuse and could have offered deep and relevant expertise?

Most problematic is Schmitt’s failure to investigate the church leadership’s protection of the priests, saying it wasn’t part of his “mandate.” Isn’t it always part of the attorney general’s mandate to confront criminal activity - which failure to report child abuse very much is? As Kansas City attorney Rebecca Randles, who specializes in these cases, told us: “There is no way to address this issue without addressing the cover-up.”

Schmitt inherited the investigation of Missouri’s four Catholic Church dioceses last year from his predecessor, former Attorney General Josh Hawley, who initiated it under pressure as probes in other states were turning up previously unreported cases of clergy abuse by the hundreds. These included Illinois, where then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan last year found 500 cases over decades that the church had failed to report, and Pennsylvania, where a grand jury put the number in that state at more than 1,000.

The common thread is the church hierarchy’s systematic obstruction, clearly designed to protect the priests and the institution at the expense of the victims. Yet Missouri’s investigation relied mostly on documentation voluntarily provided by the church itself.

Schmitt says his office didn’t have authority to convene a grand jury and that in many of the cases in which the priests were still alive, the statute of limitations prevented criminal charges. Those are good arguments for reforming Missouri law to make it easier to address these cases. As attorney general, Schmitt is uniquely positioned to lobby the Legislature for such reforms.

That’s only the start of what he should be doing going forward. Twelve potential criminal prosecutions sounds better than none, but if that action is cited to declare this issue adequately addressed, it would be the opposite of justice.

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The Kansas City Star, Sept. 19

Parson makes third trip to St. Louis to tackle violence. Has he heard about KC?

Gov. Parson makes third trip to St. Louis to tackle violence. Has he heard about KC?

Missouri Gov. Mike Parson spent most of Thursday in St. Louis, meeting with prosecutors, politicians, clergy and others to talk about the city’s undeniable murder crisis.

It’s Parson’s third trip to St. Louis this month to address violence. The city is on pace to suffer more than 200 homicides this year, matching the total from 2017, when it registered the worst murder rate in the nation.

Twelve children younger than 17 years old have been killed in St. Louis this year.

St. Louis is one of the most violent cities in America, and the governor must do what he can to help stop the bleeding there. Thursday, he said he would devote roughly 25 state personnel to assist various task forces and other anti-crime efforts - all in St. Louis.

“None of us, no matter where we’re from, want to see our children being shot in the streets.,” he said in a statement.

That’s a welcome start. But Parson’s repeated and ongoing efforts to personally address the violence in St. Louis suggests he is tragically unaware that other parts of the state, especially Kansas City, are facing similar spikes in gun violence that demand urgent action.

There have been 110 homicides in Kansas City in 2019. By the end of the year, the city, which also ranks as one of the most dangerous in the country, may set a record for murders. Yet the governor has not been here recently to talk about those crimes or potential solutions for Kansas City.

Meanwhile, St. Louis has been in heavy rotation.

Parson called a special session of the legislature but specifically declined to ask lawmakers to address guns. Car sales taxes got plenty of attention.

Kansas Citians should not measure the governor’s work by visits alone. And Kansas City’s murder crisis may require different solutions than the assistance offered to St. Louis, or any other community. This is not a competition.

But it is a crisis, on both ends of the state. And Parson must develop concrete plans to assist both metro areas.

He should not come to Kansas City for meaningless photo opportunities. He should come to meet with community leaders and discuss proven measures to reduce violence, solutions that can be implemented quickly.

Mayor Quinton Lucas has a responsibility here, too. Thursday, Lucas said the governor had not contacted him, but that he hadn’t reached out to the governor, either.

That should change. Lucas should invite the governor to Kansas City - next week would be good - and then draft an agenda for discussions about gun violence.

The to-do list should include providing additional state funding for investigators to help clear the backlog of unsolved murder cases. More money for counseling and mental health services should be on the table.

Parson’s agenda should include state legislation that would allow Kansas City to prohibit weapons at outdoor events, such as the Plaza Art Fair and First Friday.

Most importantly, the governor should commit to measures that would clear the way for Kansas City and St. Louis to develop gun regulations that are tailored to the specific crime-fighting challenges the two cities face. Urban violence is complicated, and one-size-fits-all state statutes are counterproductive and dangerous.

Missouri is not helpless, and Kansas City and St. Louis are not hopeless, in the face of brutal killings. Other cities and states have successfully worked to reduce the slaughter. Missouri can do the same.

It will take the concentrated efforts of everyone in the state to do so. That includes Gov. Parson, who must work to reduce violence in every corner of Missouri - not just St. Louis.

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