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Boston Globe
5 days ago
- Boston Globe
Long-buried claim of rapist priest at Catholic summer camp puts N.H.'s statute of limitations to the test
Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up According to the plaintiff, counselors at the camp would play a game they called 'strip the campers,' in which adults would chase children and remove clothing from whoever they caught. Advertisement In his efforts to avoid being forcibly disrobed, the plaintiff recalled hiding behind a bench where three adults laughed at him, and one directed him to hide in a nearby cabin. The camp's director, The plaintiff alleges Dowd told him to rest on a bed, where he could watch the other campers through the window. Then Dowd climbed onto the bed and raped the child, while saying that he and God both loved the boy and wanted him to be there, according to the lawsuit. Advertisement This wasn't the first allegation of predatory behavior at Camp Fatima, nor was it the first against Dowd. Several other claims More than 20 years later, states are still struggling with how to hold abusers accountable — and whether statutes of limitations apply. As society's understanding of trauma and its complex impacts on victims has evolved, many states have sought to give survivors more time to file litigation seeking accountability from individuals and institutions, especially in cases of childhood sexual abuse. Heed's report concluded the diocese could be criminally charged with endangering the welfare of minors for failing to protect children from priests who had abused kids in the past. In lieu of prosecution, the attorney general's office reached an agreement with the diocese and released the facts that investigators had uncovered. Dowd's name appears among dozens of others on the diocese's Advertisement New Hampshire lawmakers enlarged the statute of limitations repeatedly in the 2000s, then abolished it altogether in 2020; however, the 2023 lawsuit over Dowd's alleged conduct at Camp Fatima is now testing whether the abolishment of the statute of limitations applies retroactively. The diocese contends the plaintiff could have filed his lawsuit until 1986, when he turned 20 years old, since the statute of limitations that was in effect at the time gave childhood victims until two years after they attained adulthood to bring such claims. The diocese contends the expiration of the prior statute of limitations created a 'vested right' that state lawmakers cannot revoke later on — and Superior Court Judge Elizabeth M. Leonard agreed. 'The Court acknowledges that the plaintiff is one of many who was not served by the prior law,' Leonard wrote in a decision last fall granting the diocese's motion to dismiss this case. 'However, the fact that the current law allows the plaintiff a path of recovery cannot justify the revival of a time-barred claim through the retrospective application of the law.' 'Ultimately, it would be more unjust to allow for a system in which vested rights can be taken away by subsequent legislative amendments,' Leonard added. The plaintiff's attorneys, Scott H. Harris and Stephen A. Weiss, have appealed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court, urging the justices to overrule Leonard's decision and prioritize their client's right to seek a judicial remedy over the diocese's right to be free from previously time-barred litigation. Harris and Weiss argued the concept of an unambiguous vested right is 'especially odd' in a case like this one, since a hypothetical plaintiff in similar circumstances might be granted more time to bring allegations of decades-old misconduct if they didn't know enough earlier on about the existence of their potential claim. Advertisement 'Statutes of limitations are important tools to encourage parties to bring their disputes to court promptly, while memories are still fresh and evidence still available,' they wrote in a court filing. 'Statutes of limitation are not, however, substantive law that determines the merits of a disputed claim.' Harris and Weiss argue the diocese was negligent. They say church leaders either knew or should have known children were being sexually abused at Camp Fatima. And they fault the diocese for naming Dowd as camp director in 1971 shortly after he was accused of fondling a teenage boy in Keene, N.H. During oral arguments, an attorney for the diocese, Olivia F. Bensinger, will argue that Leonard's decision was correct. In a statement, Bensinger framed the outcome as a matter of practical fairness. 'As the statute of limitations law recognizes, a lawsuit concerning a report of abuse that is many years old can be difficult, if not impossible, to defend because witnesses and evidence may no longer remain available,' she said. Bensinger said the diocese has been working for more than two decades to meet the needs of victims and survivors of abuse, and the diocese has implemented safeguards to foster safe environments at parishes, schools, and camps to protect kids. While this case in New Hampshire echoes similar disputes across the country, state courts have Advertisement In Maine, the Supreme Judicial Court The New Hampshire Supreme Court may be inclined to reach a similar conclusion, especially since the state's constitution expressly prohibits retrospective laws as ' New Hampshire's constitution is one of only seven nationwide — and the only one in New England — with such a clear-cut prohibition. Steven Porter can be reached at
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
USC baseball blown out by Oregon State, setting up winner-take-all game Monday
After winning its first two NCAA Tournament games, USC baseball entered Sunday on the cusp of its first super regional appearance in nearly two decades. With a victory over old Pac-12 foe Oregon State Sunday night, the Trojans would win the Corvallis Regional and head to the tournament's second weekend for the first time since 2006. Instead, however, USC suffered a humiliating blowout loss. The Beavers dominated the Trojans 14-1, setting up a winner-take-all game to decide the regional on Monday. Advertisement Things went awry from the start for the Trojans. After Brayden Dowd led off the first inning with a single, Ethan Hedges hit a double. Dowd was sent home by the third base coach despite there being no outs in the inning. Dowd was thrown out at the plate, and the Trojans did not score in the frame. The very next inning, Oregon State was helped significantly by poor defense from USC. Everything the Trojans did so well in their tournament opener against TCU on Friday, they essentially threw out the window. They did the complete opposite in this game and allowed the contest to spiral out of control. Oregon State built a 6-1 lead with some line-drive singles, but also a number of infield hits USC fielders did not handle as well as they could have. The game's other turning point came in the fifth inning. Trailing 6-1, USC loaded the bases with no one out, a golden opportunity to get back in the game. Instead, however, the next three Trojans batters all struck out, and they did not get a single run across. The very next inning, Oregon State hit a three-run home run to go up 9-1, and the rout was on. The two teams will now play a decisive winner-take-all game on Monday. The winner will move on to the super regionals to face Florida State, while the loser will go home. First pitch from Corvallis is set for 3 p.m. Pacific time on ESPNU and ESPN+. This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Oregon State blows out USC, with rematch to decide regional champion
USA Today
02-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
USC baseball blown out by Oregon State, setting up winner-take-all game Monday
USC baseball blown out by Oregon State, setting up winner-take-all game Monday After winning its first two NCAA Tournament games, USC baseball entered Sunday on the cusp of its first super regional appearance in nearly two decades. With a victory over old Pac-12 foe Oregon State Sunday night, the Trojans would win the Corvallis Regional and head to the tournament's second weekend for the first time since 2006. Instead, however, USC suffered a humiliating blowout loss. The Beavers dominated the Trojans 14-1, setting up a winner-take-all game to decide the regional on Monday. Things went awry from the start for the Trojans. After Brayden Dowd led off the first inning with a single, Ethan Hedges hit a double. Dowd was sent home by the third base coach despite there being no outs in the inning. Dowd was thrown out at the plate, and the Trojans did not score in the frame. The very next inning, Oregon State was helped significantly by poor defense from USC. Everything the Trojans did so well in their tournament opener against TCU on Friday, they essentially threw out the window. They did the complete opposite in this game and allowed the contest to spiral out of control. Oregon State built a 6-1 lead with some line-drive singles, but also a number of infield hits USC fielders did not handle as well as they could have. The game's other turning point came in the fifth inning. Trailing 6-1, USC loaded the bases with no one out, a golden opportunity to get back in the game. Instead, however, the next three Trojans batters all struck out, and they did not get a single run across. The very next inning, Oregon State hit a three-run home run to go up 9-1, and the rout was on. The two teams will now play a decisive winner-take-all game on Monday. The winner will move on to the super regionals to face Florida State, while the loser will go home. First pitch from Corvallis is set for 3 p.m. Pacific time on ESPNU and ESPN+.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Butte VA clinic renamed for World War II veteran, Pearl Harbor survivor
The Montana VA Healthcare System renamed Butte's clinic to the Charlie Dowd VA Clinic in honor of a local veteran who survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Courtesy Photo) Ahead of the Memorial Day Weekend, dozens gathered in Butte for a ceremony renaming the city's Veterans Affairs Clinic to honor Montana's last survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Montana VA Heath Care System renamed the clinic to the Charlie Dowd Veteran Affairs Clinic, honoring Dowd, a World War II veteran who was awarded seven bronze stars throughout his military career, and died in March 2023 in Butte at the age of 99. 'We are honored to be able to rename this clinic after a local Veteran like Charlie,' Montana VA Executive Director, Duane Gill said in a press release. 'At 17 years of age, this proud Sailor ran out to defend Pearl Harbor in only a t-shirt and trousers. It is that fighting spirit that we will recognize. That same fighting spirit is in the hearts of every Montana Veteran. In some small way by renaming this clinic, we hope to memorialize the honor, commitment and courage for every Veteran who walks through those doors.' U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke and U.S. Montana Sen. Steve Daines introduced companion bills to rename the Butte clinic, which was signed into law in July 2024. 'Montana is home to nearly 100,000 veterans. As the proud son of a United States Marine, I think it's safe to say each one of our veterans has his or her own story,' Daines said in his remarks at the renaming ceremony on Friday. 'And each one is a hero is his or her own right.' Dowd joined the U.S. Navy in 1941, when he was 17 years old, and was assigned to a station in Pearl Harbor. According to Daines' remarks, 'Charlie did not hesitate when we were attacked and ran straight toward danger to defend his country.' 'Wearing just a t-shirt and trousers, Charlie sprinted to the armory, climbed to the roof with a Springfield rifle, and fired at the torpedo bombers. During the attack he suffered burns on his arms and neck when the USS California, which was nearby, was engulfed in flames,' Daines said. 'His bravery in that moment is both astonishing and inspiring. He had the Montana fighting spirit.' According to the Montana VA, the Butte clinic opened in 2022 and is four times larger than its former location in Anaconda. More than 1,750 veterans receive care at the clinic each year from Silver Bow, Deer Lodge, Beaverhead, Madison and Jefferson Counties. Following his military service, Dowd settled down in the Butte area and was an active member of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association, a member of the Anaconda Sportsmen's Club, and worked as an outdoor writer for the Anaconda Leader newspaper. 'I had the privilege of visiting with Charlie many times over the years, and I'll never forget listening to him share stories from Pearl Harbor and the South Pacific. Even at 99, he could still fit into his uniform and tap out Morse code like he did in the service. The 'Charlie Dowd Department of Veterans Affairs Clinic' will serve as a lasting reminder of Devil Dog Dowd's legacy of bravery and lifelong commitment to his country, his fellow veterans, and his community,' said Zinke, in a press release.
Winnipeg Free Press
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Alice's Wonderland
Ageless Gardens is a popular documentary series that travels to gardens across Canada and introduces viewers to inspiring people who share the stories of their gardens. Filmed by Gemini Award-winning director and cinematographer Ian Toews, the series is produced by Toews and Mark Bradley, who collaborate through 291 Film Company in association with VisionTV and ZoomerMedia Limited. The Season 5 première started on May 5. The May 19 episode, Gardening for All Seasons, features Leanne Dowd, a Neepawa gardener whose garden is a story of rediscovery and transformation. The beginning of the episode takes place in April when plants are beginning to reawaken. Every gardener can relate to the joy of discovering new growth emerging from the ground in spring, but for Dowd, each new discovery brings her closer to learning more about the vast collection of plants that were planted by the garden's previous owners, Alice and Bill Moger. Ageless Gardens photo Neepawa gardener Leanne Dowd is featured in Ageless Gardens Season 5 in the episode Gardening for All Seasons. It airs May 19 on Vision TV. Alice died at the age of 87 in 2018, two years after her husband Bill. They were well-known for hybridizing lilies, delphiniums, daylilies and irises. Their once beautiful garden, however, had fallen into neglect in their later years. Dowd purchased the one-hectare property in spring of 2020. Since then, she has painstakingly uncovered and nurtured hundreds of lilies, peonies, roses, clematis and delphinium that were buried beneath layers of overgrown grape vines, raspberry canes, chest-high weedy growth and a thick carpet of fallen leaves from the many trees on the property. 'It was probably five years before Alice passed away that anything was last done with the garden,' says Dowd. 'By the time I bought the property, the garden had been sitting untended for at least seven years.' But the garden's past was so significant that Dowd set about immediately to uncover its treasures. 'The first two years, I would spend hours tiptoeing around the garden because I knew there could be plants beneath the fallen debris. I carried a fistful of orange flags and every time I came across even just a hint of a plant, I would mark it with a flag. Within months, the garden was an absolute sea of fluttering orange flags. It drove my family crazy because they had no idea where to walk on the property.' That first year in the garden was also an enormous task. Ageless Gardens photo Leanne Dowd identifies a treasure trove of hidden and rare plants left by her garden's previous owner, Alice Moger. 'Alice wanted something of everything and what resulted was a property that was jam-packed with plants,' says Dowd. 'So many old, half-dead trees had to be removed. There were mountains of debris — fallen branches — that had to be removed and rampant growth that had been left unchecked. Every bed needed to be re-dug and every plant had to be transplanted. 'Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) was one of the plants that suddenly showed up and at first I had no idea what it was. It was just a tiny little thread of a thing. I lifted it out of its unfortunate location and planted it in a different spot and last year it just exploded with growth. That has happened so many times after plants were uncovered and exposed to more sunlight.' In 2023, while on a walkabout during the first filming of the episode which features Dowd, director Toews was intrigued by Northern Nodding Trillium, the most northerly occurring trillium in North America. 'It popped up a couple of years ago and is one of the really special plants that Alice left behind,' says Dowd. Dowd never doubted that the plants would survive and thrive. 'The garden took care of itself,' she says. The organic material that fell on the beds over the years had been left undisturbed and allowed to slowly decompose and feed and enrich the soil. 'But it's also a testament to the bone-cold-hardiness and disease resistance of Alice's plants,' says Dowd. Leanne Dowd photo The door to Alice's Wonderland in Neepawa leads the visitor into a garden full of wonder and mystery. The May 19 episode of Ageless Gardens touches on the enormity of the task of plant identification. There are, for example, hundreds of unnamed lilies and peonies, many of which Alice planted from seed decades ago. While Dowd is an experienced and knowledgeable gardener as well as a lily hybridizer and the author of Canadian Lily Hybridizers and Their Lilies (Pegasus Publications, 2023), identifying the treasure trove of rare plants left by her garden's previous owner has taken many hours of careful research and networking with horticultural experts in Manitoba and across Canada, including the Canadian Rose Society and the Canadian Peony Society. Dowd has applied for historical status for the vast collection of Canadian-bred lilies that grow in her garden. 'Heritage status would ensure their protection once I am gone,' says Dowd. 'Unless we keep a dialogue going about the history of horticulture in Canada, the push for discovery as well as preservation of the plants introduced by hybridizers, past and present will fade away.' If the application is successful, the garden would be open to the public and allow visitors a chance to see the extraordinary plant collection. Dowd is also attempting to register some of the Martagon lilies hybridized by Alice Moger with the Royal Horticultural Society Lily Group. Leanne Dowd photo This one-hectare Neepawa garden features a stunning collection of hundreds of lilies, peonies, roses, clematis, delphinium and more. The garden contains plants from some of Canada's best-known plant breeders — Frank Leith Skinner, A.J. (Bert) Porter and Isabella Preston. The vast collection of roses holds many fascinating stories. One example is the Dr. Merkeley rose, an ultra hardy (Zone 2B) double pink rose which a soldier brought home to Canada after the First World War. He gave a cutting from the rose to Dr. H.J. Merkeley, a dentist in Manitoba, who gave it to Frank Skinner who had a nursery on his Dropmore homestead. Skinner named the rose after Dr. Merkeley. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Dowd cannot resist backstories. 'It's the backstory that intrigues me as much as the plant itself,' she says. She is not only maintaining the numerous plants that Alice originally planted, but she also adds new plant acquisitions every year. 'I have an order of roses coming from Cornhill Nursery in New Brunswick. I add eight to 10 new roses a year,' she says. Dowd has named her garden Alice's Wonderland. The door to Alice's Wonderland leads visitors into a garden full of wonder and mystery. Be sure to watch the episode of Ageless Gardens that airs on May 19 on VisionTV at 8 p.m. The episode, Gardening for All Seasons, also travels to a protected woodland and public-cultivated garden on Vancouver Island, as well as to a beautiful private garden in Waterloo, Ont. The photography is breathtaking and the original score uplifting. The entire series affirms all the reasons why we garden — therapeutic benefits, a sense of community, and above all, a love of plants. For the series trailer and exclusive webisodes, visit colleenizacharias@ Leanne Dowd photo The fascinating story behind the origin of the Dr. Merkeley rose dates back to the First World War and involves a soldier, a Manitoba dentist and legendary breeder Frank Skinner. For advice, ideas and tips to keep your outdoor and indoor plants growing, sign up to have Winnipeg Gardener, a free monthly newsletter I write for the Winnipeg Free Press, at Colleen ZachariasGardening columnist Colleen Zacharias writes about many aspects of gardening including trends, plant recommendations, and how-to information that is uniquely relevant to Prairie gardeners. She has written a column for the Free Press since 2010 and pens the monthly newsletter Winnipeg Gardener. Read more about Colleen. Every piece of reporting Colleen produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. 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