Slog
News & ArtsThursday, November 26, 2009
Religion Youth Pastor Watch
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Nov 26, 2009 at 11:55 AM
A youth leader pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges he molested an 11-year-old girl earlier this month at an east Salinas church. Erick Velasquez Mendoza, 20, appeared in court for the first time since he was arrested Monday, three days after the girl reported the allegations to the Salinas Police Department, officers have said. Police have said Mendoza has been a youth leader for about a year at the Pentecostal Nueva Vida church in the 800 block of Beech Street.... [Mendoza] has been charged with six counts of lewd acts against a child and five counts of forcible lewd acts with a child under the age of 14. Johnson said Mendoza is accused of molesting the girl on two separate dates....This is the second time this year that a person connected to a church has been arrested in Salinas. The Rev. Antonio Cortes of St. Mary of the Nativity Church in Salinas is undergoing court proceedings on charges of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy.
1
I'm sure no-one at SLOG is particularly interested in reining in an ongoing witch-hunt, but this "Youth Pastor Watch" schtick is getting old enough to start collecting Social Security. Call me a fuddy-duddy, but I'm nowhere near as interested in reports of police charges as I am in hearing about, y'know - actual convictions.
Ever heard of a defunct crime tabloid called 'Allo Police'? 'Cause this is just the kinda stuff that Allo Police thrived on for decades... maybe you should look into buying the rights to the name, Dan.
Ever heard of a defunct crime tabloid called 'Allo Police'? 'Cause this is just the kinda stuff that Allo Police thrived on for decades... maybe you should look into buying the rights to the name, Dan.
2
@1 is anyone forcing you to read this? It's not like they point a gun at you and say "you MUST read this before reading our other, far more common, content."
. . . Just saying.
. . . Just saying.
3
@2 No, you're right - no-one is "forcing" me to read this. No gun pointed at my head, no threat of being decapitated. But you're wrong about this not being "common" content. Every day brings the same-old, same-old, reports of charges that have yet to be substantiated (and are never followed up). It's become old. Old like Methuselah. Even the schadenfreude aspect of it is drinking Metamucil and playing Bingo on Tuesdays.
A long, long, desperately long time ago I used to watch COPS on Saturday nights to point, laugh and sneer derisively with my friends. And then, maybe fifteen years ago, I realized I just didn't see the value in it anymore. Same with this particular column - it doesn't really accomplish anything, certainly nothing positive. It's just an endless parade of names and faces and allegations that goes nowhere - and that can't actually go anywhere, given that this isn't so much journalism as it is, like I said in my earlier post, a witch-hunt.
A long, long, desperately long time ago I used to watch COPS on Saturday nights to point, laugh and sneer derisively with my friends. And then, maybe fifteen years ago, I realized I just didn't see the value in it anymore. Same with this particular column - it doesn't really accomplish anything, certainly nothing positive. It's just an endless parade of names and faces and allegations that goes nowhere - and that can't actually go anywhere, given that this isn't so much journalism as it is, like I said in my earlier post, a witch-hunt.
4
@3 not to keep this argument going- but to say that Dan never follows up with any of these stories is patently false and just makes you look like a whining brat. He does- not for every one but more often than I can count. And when it comes to how common these are: while they are a staple of SLOG, they are a tiny slivver of what these guys, including Dan, tend to write for this website. You can say otherwise, but once again it just makes you sound like a hyperbolizing melodramatic child.
Don't like it then ignore it. End of story.
Don't like it then ignore it. End of story.
5
Right on @2 and @4.
Personally I like these posts. In my opinion, the more places we can point to the hypocrisies of those that deny civil rights to others based on some morel standing the better.
Personally I like these posts. In my opinion, the more places we can point to the hypocrisies of those that deny civil rights to others based on some morel standing the better.
6
@4 - Ah, so veil is once again lifted on the usual knee-jerk response I've come to expect, both from SLOG readers and SLOG writers. Yes, whine whine whine - if you happen to disagree with an article, if you happen to have opinions not necessarily in keeping with those of some apparently unspoken consensus - well, by all means unleash a short torrent of smug dismissal.
That's a little something you people in Seattle seem to excel at, so why change?
Be seeing you (in Dan's next installment of Allo Police).
That's a little something you people in Seattle seem to excel at, so why change?
Be seeing you (in Dan's next installment of Allo Police).
7
Just for the record: there have been 6 installments of YPW since October 1 of this year. So it's a bit of an overstatement to describe YPW as an "ongoing witch-hunt" with new reports filed daily. And I usually post when someone is charged, when the trail starts, if there's a trail, and when the youth pastor in question is either acquitted (which has happened once) or convicted.
Thank you for playing Slog.
Thank you for playing Slog.
10
@6 it's not smug dismissal- it's simply refuting your hyperbolic statements with fact. Dan is right- there are barely more than one of these posts a week. And I only call people childish a brattish when those words best describe someone. And frankly they do with you. A mature person would see these posts and- if they did not like them- skip over them. Maybe express their distaste in a calm, thoughtful manner. The response of a brat is over-the-top snarky drivvel - which is what you are huffily going on and on with.
11
I just think some people don't want to admit that all Christians are child molestors and any parent is nuts to allow their kids around them.
Or is that what the christians say about gays?
Or is that what the christians say about gays?
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