Spokane7
49°
February 2, 2010 in City
Testimony contests abuse claim
Morning Star suit profit-motivated, witness says
A former resident of Morning Star Boys’ Ranch testified Monday that Kenneth Putnam was motivated by financial gain in suing the ranch for alleged abuse.
Spokane County Superior Court jurors heard from four former residents of the group home for troubled boys. All said they had never seen any inappropriate behavior by then-director the Rev. Joseph Weitensteiner or counselor Doyle Gillum, now deceased.
Weitensteiner and Gillum are accused of sexually and physically abusing Putnam, whose lawsuit is the first of 19 civil cases claiming sexual or physical abuse at Morning Star. Weitensteiner denies the claims.
Jon D. Lyons, who was a resident of the ranch at the same time as Putnam in the late 1980s, said he ran into Putnam at a north Spokane shop in 2006, after the first lawsuits against Morning Star had been filed.
To make conversation, Lyons said, he asked Putnam if he could “believe what’s going on with Morning Star.”
Lyons said Putnam responded, “I’m going to get me some of that money.”
During cross-examination, Lyons said that “Putnam was not a person I wanted to spend some time with.” Lyons also said he sought Weitensteiner’s counsel about a death in the family many years after leaving the ranch.
Also on Monday, defense attorneys read from the sworn deposition of Jeffery Benz, a former Morning Star resident who was on Weitensteiner’s boat on Lake Coeur d’Alene in 1989, when Putnam said he was molested by the priest.
Benz said he could not recall a time when Putnam was alone with Weitensteiner and never saw or heard about the alleged abuse. However, he did recall Putnam jumping into the lake that day because he was upset about something.
Also testifying on Monday was Tricia S. Schmidt, of South Carolina, who was married to Gillum before his death in an auto-train collision in 1994.
Schmidt met Gillum while she was a volunteer at Morning Star in the summer of 1991. The two were married the following year before Gillum joined the Air Force and the couple moved to Omaha, Neb.
Schmidt testified that she never saw Gillum behave inappropriately, show a sexual interest in boys or seek psychological counseling during their brief time together.
Defense attorneys brought two other former ranch residents to the stand, including Hoa Le, who lived with Gillum for a short time after leaving Morning Star.
In addition, two former Morning Star staff members testified and defense attorneys read the sworn deposition of William Beasley, another former staff member who was Gillum’s best friend.
None of the witnesses could recall inappropriate touching or physical abuse while at Morning Star.
Rights panel poorly understood 
davidclohessy on February 02 at 5:10 a.m.
So a couple of guys say “We never saw any child sex crimes.” Well, duh! Do child molesters routinely commit their heinous acts in front of witnesses?
I hope these two men come to Missouri. I’ll show them dozens of banks Jesse James never robbed.
David Clohessy, national director, SNAP, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790), 7234 Arsenal St., St. Louis MO 63143, SNAPclohessy@aol.com
steveeugster on February 02 at 6:33 a.m.
For more on the host of witnesses presented by the defense yesterday see http://www.washcourts.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=302&message=7.
HammerSix on February 02 at 10:36 a.m.
To davidclohessy,
Thanks for chiming in all the way from St. Louis, MO. Further, I appreciate that you are an advocate for victims of abuse.
Unfortunately, since you don’t live here you cannot know anything about this case except the allegations. Now, since you’re from the “Show Me” state, let me fill you in on the parties involved from someone personally familiar with almost half of all the players.
Father Joe Weitensteiner presided over our marriage 26.5 years ago. We’ve known him for a long time and he’s a good man. This is what I KNOW.
I grew up in perhaps the roughest neighborhood in Spokane now known (for good reason) as “Felony Flats.” Consequently, I know many of my neighborhood “peers” who were “sent up” to Morningstar and many other “homes,” “facilities,” etc.
I took a look at openly available court docket information and discovered the 15 (still unpublished) listed Plaintiffs against Morningstar. Not surprisingly, I personally know more than half of them from Felony Flats. The common denominator in all of these personalities is that each and every one is a card-carrying dirtbag for lack of better words i.e. “n’er do wells?” This is what I KNOW.
Can you sit in St. Louis and “KNOW” that this Priest must have been a molester just because that’s your thing in advocating for victims? Me thinks not.
Here are the names of the plaintiffs and the indications of their involvement in Washington Courts as taken from the official dockets at www.courts.wa.gov. I delved into the dockets of each and show which ones are felons (or likely felons based upon uncertain names i.e. father and son with same name?).
Name Status
Anderson, Glenn (there is a FELON in Spokane Courts)
Baggett, Paul FELON
Call, William
Gariepy, Robert FELON
Gitti, Michael
Gray, Darwin Michael FELON
Houser, Jon
Kinard, Steven FELON
Knapton, William Jail Time
Miller, Stephanie
Mowrey, Benjamin
Nelson, Raymond (middle name Leander?) FELON
Putnam, Kenneth FELON
Rosenthal, Jerome Jail Time
Stump, Curtis (middle name Guy?) FELON
So, you sit in St. Louis and “convict” because all Priests are molesters and I sit in Spokane with personal knowledge of the defendant and more than half of his plaintiffs and I say B.S. because these dirtbags are dirtbags and always will be dirtbags.
For grins, I pulled up the court docket listing for the current plaintiff, Kenneth Putnam. Here are the NINETY TWO court docket listings for the stand up citizen who’s “Gonna get me some of that money.”
I’ll sign off here and let you peruse his stellar record below.
Hammer Six, Out
Docket List of 92 cases all under the name Kenneth W. Putnam!
Spok. Sup
01-1-01069-8
01-1-02098-7
01-9-05660-3
01-9-05668-9
02-3-02401-5
03-2-08275-3
05-2-02442-3
05-2-05791-7
06-1-00743-4
06-9-04078-3
07-9-00182-4
07-9-00183-2
09-2-05326-4
88-8-00823-6
89-8-00168-0
89-8-00386-1
89-8-00433-6
91-8-00653-5
92-8-01226-6
92-8-01665-2
93-8-00603-5
94-1-01089-2
94-2-00870-1
94-9-04712-4
94-9-05251-9
94-9-05252-7
97-1-02433-2
98-2-07777-2
98-9-02404-6
Stevens Sup
03-3-00080-1
03-3-00081-9
Spok Cty Dist
200867DV
595946AH
7834006
9Y6202938
B00162941
C00316133
C00504926
CB0018533
CR0037751
F00011496
F00060370
F00940384
F00941183
F00963347
F00971965
F00981878
F00990027
H00005720
H00020781
H00044356
IN0253805
IN0471156
P00940363
P00951257
Spok. Munic
9Y6071850
9Y6284175
9Y6284176
B00008661
B00008662
B00035310
B00035311
B00040513
B00040926
B00055248
B00083124
DV0040094
J00052805
J00059629
K00524247
K00533952
K00535460
K00542169
L00007259
M00005108
M00011422
M00014817
M00025985
M00032750
P00094361
R00004588
R00008154
R00039461
U00014811
U00033075
U00045927
U00089643
U00106278
U00109739
U00114079
U00124830
Ritzville District
9Y6032849
CONCERNEDREADER on February 02 at 11:58 a.m.
well, duh ! Hammersix - I have always found it amazing that defense counsel and others have gone on and on about the criminal records of the plaintiffs - lets see, they were sent to morning star because they were removed from horrible situations at home or ordered there by the court, so the boys had issues which is why they were placed at morning star in the first place. Then instead of protecting and helping the kids move forward, some members of morning star caused further damage to these already troubled youths … most didnt have parents, family or any support system on the outside, so they get released and are severly psychologically damaged and they turn to drugs, alcohol and crime - the fact that the plaintiffs have criminal records does not mean that the abuse didnt happen. Also, if you look at the data and research (and defense counsel’s own expert will agree) that molesters and sexual predators rarely target and go after well adjusted kids - they target the kids with problems and issues. The plaintiffs fate was sealed the minute that they were sent to morning star….
HammerSix on February 02 at 12:34 p.m.
CONCERNEDREADER,
Point well taken. I failed to mention that while I know 8 of the 15 listed complainants, I know easily twice that many who are success stories and who have spoken on behalf of the Ranch. I insist that they are to be believed with at least equal credibility (personally I give twice the credibility).
So, I would clarify that not all Morning Star alumni remained losers, just this lot of money-grubbers looking for a free lunch.
If these people were abused and have their abuse to blame for their eventual worthlessness to society, isn’t it just a little bit conceivable that their abuse might have been mentioned just once in the sum total of potentially THOUSANDS OF COURT APPEARANCES for HUNDREDS OF CRIMES of which DOZENS ARE FELONIES? I think in a span of more than 20 years something might have been said and made official. But, nothing.
Sorry, the pity is lost on me. If it walks like a duck…
allabout on February 02 at 12:47 p.m.
I want to discuss a few items in recent postings: first of all, you are not released from Morning Star, like most licensed group homes in Spokane it is an open campus. Kids can walk at any time, some do, some dont.
Secondly, just because a person or institution is in court, it does not mean that they are guilty.
I keep reading over and over about how the defense is using the plantiffs criminal record to show that they must be lying - what else does the defense use - that is all that they have, it is all that they can prove to be true; that most are felons. They cannot prove that they are upstanding contributors to society, because most are not. Now, if they are felons because of abuse that happened to them in their lifetime, and they or society want to hold someone accountable, I am all for it - BUT lets make sure we are holding the right person/agency accountable. I would love to believe that ALL of these plantiffs were seeking retribution in the right place.
robtaw on February 02 at 4:27 p.m.
Hammersix,
I have a question for you. Were you ever at Morning Star boys ranch ? I didnt think so.
How can you sit there and say nothing happened if you were’nt there ? how can anyone even give an opinion if you were’nt there, you really sound like a person i would like not to know, whats the words I’m looking for when i think of people like you, oh yea, ignorent, stupid , single mineded, shallow. You really should keep the derogatory remarks to yourself, let the jury do their job.