Fornits
General Interest => Open Free for All => Topic started by: Anonymous on July 06, 2006, 10:52:00 AM
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http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst ... ort06.html (http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-abort06.html)
Priest who axed abortion clinic gets Elgin post
July 6, 2006
BY TOM POLANSEK Courier News
A priest who used an ax to hack up a Rockford medical clinic where abortions are performed has been assigned to a top position at an Elgin church.
The Rev. John P. Earl began serving July 1 as parochial administrator at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 272 Division St.
In an interview Wednesday, Earl declined to discuss his arrest and subsequent guilty plea for the attack on the Northern Illinois Women's Clinic.
Instead, he urged a reporter to begin an investigation into whether DNA from the "blood and guts'' found at abortion clinics matches the DNA of people who enter and leave the clinic. Until he sees such a report, Earl said he had "no interest in talking to . . . any newspaper.''
Scared off by owner's shotgun
Earl's entanglement with the law began Sept. 30, 2000, when he was arrested after he admitted to crashing his car into a garage at the clinic and using an ax to break doors, windows and surveillance cameras on the building, according to police reports. He was charged with two counts of criminal damage to property.
Earl never actually made it inside the medical office, which performs abortions. He stopped his attack after the building's owner fired two warning shots from a shotgun, the reports stated.
The clinic was closed at the time of the incident, and no one was injured.
Earl pleaded guilty to the charges Feb. 14, 2001, and was sentenced to 30 months of probation and ordered to pay restitution and fines.
The motive and timing for the attack were never specified, although it occurred two days after the federal government approved the RU-486 abortion pill and the day before scheduled abortion protests in Rockford.
At the time of the incident, Earl was a pastor in Rochelle. Since he pleaded guilty, he has been transferred twice -- first to Aurora and then to Rockford, according to a receptionist at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockford, which oversees churches in the area.
The receptionist said no diocese officials were available to comment about the reasons for Earl's assignment to Elgin.
Asked about his move to Elgin, Earl said Wednesday he was "happy to be here.''