Parishes balk at church deal on sex abuse

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, March 15, 2006

SPOKANE – The individual parishes of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane do not want to help pay for a $45.7 million settlement offer made by Bishop William Skylstad to 75 victims of sexual abuse by priests, an attorney said Wednesday.

The 82 parishes were expected to shoulder a hefty portion of the settlement costs, but instead will ask U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Patricia Williams to reject the settlement offer, said Bob Hailey, an attorney and spokesman for the parishes.

“This settlement doesn’t provide a mechanism for parishes to protect their churches and schools,” Hailey said.

Oregon: Power plant likely source of pollution

HOOD RIVER – A Portland General Electric coal-fired power plant near Boardman is likely the leading source of winter air pollution in the Columbia River Gorge, new research shows.

Emissions from the plant may react with ammonia from the nearby Threemile Canyon Farms to form haze particles that funnel into the gorge, according to Mark Green, an atmospheric scientist from the Desert Research Institute in Nevada.

Green is leading a study to identify the causes of declining air quality in the gorge, one of the most polluted natural areas in the West. Winter is the time of the dirtiest skies.

Associated Press