His Supreme Ugliness, Noble Rick Pendland, was scheduled to a hearing in Kansas yesterday, but one of the witnesses was sick, so it got continued. He is back in jail now, waiting to go to court on June 8 of this year in Cowley County, Kansas. For those who missed all of the excitement, Rick Pendland is a foster parent and a group home counselor for children, and because Kansas authorities did not listen to complaints from parents and children, he got away with abuse of his clients for years. The parents were brushed off, especially parents whose children were in foster care, because the social workers always "know best". According to the Arkansas City Traveler, the charges read thus: "Pendland, who has a background in social services, foster care and education, has been charged with three counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and five counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child." But in Pendland's case, a "background" in social services, foster care, and education really just means that he has had illicit experience with children at the office, in his home, and at school. What a guy! Could Kansas possibly have found a better employee?
12 comments:
Don't blame the entire state--this is all the doing of Assoc. Superintendent of USD 470. Did we say PACK FASTER, JAN?!
I don't blame the entire state. But I am concerned about how desperately unaware so many people in this state are about these goings-on. I am not originally from this state, and I have never met so many sheeple in all my life as I have met in Kansas! And, if you read my post for Missing Childrens Day, (today, btw) you will see why I am so picky about Kansas and the choice of teachers. Some just are not good enough. Also, Kansas happens to be the state where I was blessed with guardianship of a child who has suffered greatly in early childhood, thanks to the population of an entire town who knew he was being abused and closed their eyes to it. I am not saying that these things do not go on in other places, they sure enough do; but Kansans have been more snotty about religious and phony moral issues with me than any other people anywhere. I was a bit naive and a lot disappointed when they failed to live up to it, at the expense of children.
Juli, I am not one of those "sheeples" and I've had to pay a price for speaking out against wrongdoings--but that's a long story for another time/place. I can tell you that many teachers and staff members repeatedly reported concerns about the teacher who was finally charged. There were many "signs" that had teachers and staff concerned, and some filed reports on their own. The administration seemed NONRESPONSIVE and only got minimally involved when hoards of teachers stormed administrators' offices and flooded them with email messages. The Associate Super hired this man AGAINST all input of teachers. If this isn't bad enough, there were incidents this year of harassment, discrimination, denial of civil rights, and even physical battery of Hispanic students in the SAME MIDDLE SCHOOL by a different, bigoted, mentally deranged teacher. Limited English Proficient students were questioned without translators present, and administrators are DOING NOTHING about the teacher. Bad things happen, but if you speak up & report the truth, you get SLAPPED DOWN and everything gets swept under the rug. Now I'll probably get "punished."
Have you given your version of events to the State's Attorney who is trying this case?
Ok.....the treatment of the Hispanic students which you have described is actually discrimination, especially the denial of translators during any type of questioning. If you look at the links in my sidebar, you will find one to the American Civil Liberties Union. If you email them and tell them what you have just told me, only more specifically, they may be able to help, and they may also be able to suggest someone who can, if they cannot. You may also want to go ahead and report some of the abuses that are similar to Pendland's crimes to the FBI, if the local police will not respond.
Dear Juli, I was unable to log on for a few days, and I do appreciate your posts. I have already checked into the ACLU, have read some articles, etc. Regarding Pendland, I have some close associates who have the best, first-hand information, and they have done the right things. My post was mostly an expression of how many staff were/are concerned when bad things happen, and efforts to "get something done" always seem to be thwarted by those in the positions of greatest power to help.
There seems to be a lot of that going around here in Kansas, doesn't there? I appreciate you too, because, as a newcomer to Kansas, it looked, at first, as if I were the only person who cared about the law, child safety, education, and everything this country is supposed to be about! Corruption can be found anywhere, but it's always disheartening when a "righteous" type will try to tell me that Kansas is better then where I grew up, only to find that my children are not even safe at school, and that "nice" teachers are telling them that their direct ancestors are not "in heaven" because of a failure to convert to a Christian sect! I have simply never met people who do those things, and I feel as if I have been tossed into a time warp and landed in a zone 50 years ago! Then I read about Rick Pendland. Somehow, cases like this are going to have to become important to federal authorities, otherwise Kansas will become some sort of a haven, or a Mecca, for this kind of stuff.....if it hasn't already.
Kansas' small communities, like many others in the heartland of this country, suffer greatly with this poor economy and a variety of associated social ills. One of my favorite carpenters hires "helpers" from time to time depending on his work load; these individuals survive on occasional wages, and choose to live like "cockroaches." I have also known a few "starving artists" who take up an austere lifestyle out of a strange sort of stubbornness. Small communities have poverty-priced housing, and Kansas' climate has been mild over this past decade, which is the perfect "haven" for the types who would stand out in a larger metropolis. Odd-ball religious communities fit right in, too. I remember Kansas people, places from fifty years ago, and I can tell things have changed. I'm sure there were Pendland types, but I just don't remember them being in positions of authority over children. Justice is overdue, and things need to get moving!
Ouch! Your starving artist comment hurt! I had to support myself that way at one point! But I do understand you......it is easy to live here without much accountability. But there is no reliable stereotype for abusers, they seem to come from all walks of life. Even Bishop Finn, of Kansas City, was not immune. The thing about Kansas is that it has to become ok to question authority, and when wrongdoing is found, it cannot be ok to sweep it under the rug, depending on who the culprit is.
Did I word that properly? What I meant is that certain culprits, here in Kansas, can do whatever they wish.
Hi Juli: wording not a problem; I understood your post. HEY! there is a Pendland hearing scheduled for Friday! And, another witness came forward! I want to go to the hearing, but have a lot on my plate right now.
Seriously? Friday? Where and when? I prolly can't go either, because I live too darn far away, but if people know about these things, judges and prosecuters know that the general public has an aversion to people like Pendland.
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