Freyne Land

No panic. Deadlines are the cornerstones of journalism. Things have to be in by a certain time, no ifs, ands, or buts.  I'll knock out the print version of "Inside Track" tomorrow, but my plan was to knock out the "Under the Dome" column for the monthly Vermont Business Magazine "sometime today."

Instead, I spent time on the "Inside Track" trail this morning. Then strolled down to the caffeine outpost on Pine Street [taking pictures of the flowers along the way] for the print edition of The New York Times avec the bottomless $1.75 Speeder & Earl's high-test.

Though the folks at the tables, all solo flyers with their laptops, never spoke, either to me or one another [laptop culture?], one of the college students working there for the summer had some recent personal experiences to share that were right in synch with an item I'm pursuing for "Inside Track."

Cool.

Then as I was reading The Times - interesting front-page story about the Japanese sushi CRISIS - they're running low on bluefin tuna - the picture of the VT BIZ column started to materialize between the ol' ears. Interesting how that works.

Came home and the phone started ringing. Political types. But then I did something I rarely do - turned on the Ch. 5/WPTZ "News at 5" and there's a shot of Burlington Attorney Jerry O'Neill going ballistic in the Chittenden Superior Court hallway. Why?

Mistrial declared in priest sex case

By LISA RATHKE
Associated Press Writer
BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) -- A mistrial was declared Monday in a priest sex case accusing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington of negligence when a diocesan lawyer overstepped the bounds established by a judge in questioning the alleged victim.

Chittenden County Superior Court Judge Ben Joseph declared the mistrial at the request of lawyers for James Turner, 46, of Virginia Beach, Va., saying Diocesan lawyer David Cleary violated the pretrial ruling....

"We will have a different judge, with a different perspective on the case," said Cleary outside court, referring to a retrial.

JeromeO'Neill, one of Turner's lawyers, said he never saw such a blatantviolation of a pretrial ruling. He said he would seek to have theDiocese found liable for the attorneys' fees and expenses incurred byTurner.

"The Diocese wins again," O'Neill said. "It manages to keep a complainant from coming forward."

Inhis suit, Turner said Willis - who has since been defrocked - molestedhim as they slept with several other people in a Latham, N.Y., hotelroom after attending an ordination ceremony for Bernard Turner.

James Turner was 16 at the time.

It’s tomorrow’s front-pager.

Interesting comment by the Diocese's attorney David Cleary, eh?

About having "a different judge" next time.

Sounds like a guy who just got his prayers answered.