DMN INVESTIGATES

The Council on American-Islamic Relations is a high-profile national organization that speaks out frequently when it believes Muslims are being mistreated.

Recently, for example, it denounced the introduction of full-body scanners in airports as a violation of Islamic rules about modesty. Its Web site carries many press releases on a variety of civil rights issues.

But CAIR has been quiet about the recent deportation order against Richardson resident Nabil Sadoun (left), a longtime member of the group's national and DFW chapter boards.

When I asked national CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper for an interview, he responded with this e-mail: "Peace. Perhaps speak to his attorney. She is the best source of information on the case." Hooper did not respond when I followed up with written questions about CAIR's view of the deportation case and its relationship with Sadoun.

Sadoun's attorney, Kimberly Kinser of Richardson, didn't respond to my phone call and e-mail.

East Texas church arson suspect Jason Robert Bourque (right) calls himself "Mr. Brightside" on his MySpace page, lists his religion as "Christian -- other" and prominently displays this quote from the 19th century anti-Christian philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche:

"Never give way to remorse, but immediately say to yourself: that would merely mean adding a second stupidity to the first. -- If you have done harm, see how you can do good. -- If you are punished for your actions, bear the punishment with the feeling that you ARE doing good -- by deterring others from falling prey to the same folly. Every evildoer who is punished may feel that he is a benefactor of humanity."

On his Facebook page, Bourque says he's a fan of bonfires. A couple of clicks takes you to hundreds of photos of blazes.

Bourque was arrested Sunday with Daniel George McAllister (lower right). The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blames the two for a string of 10 recent church fires in East Texas.

The two men used to attend a Baptist church in the East Texas town of Ben Wheeler that was not torched, says Dallas Morning News reporter Richard Abshire.

Now that my power's back on and the igloo in the front yard is melting, I'm catching up on some news from late last week. One item near the top of the pile: Federal authorities released sketches of three men they want to identify and question about the East Texas church fires.

Click on the link and see if you recognize them. Use the magnifying glass icon to blow up the images and check out the tattoos -- one (at right) appears to be an upside-down cross, and the other looks like flames.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case. Around-the-clock tip lines include: 1 (888) ATF-FIRE (888-283-3473); (903) 675-0061 and (903) 675-0062.

Also, you can send me an e-mail or join the conversation by commenting below.

If you're on Twitter, follow our blog at DMNInvestigates. You can also check us out on Facebook.

Some blame Muslims for the East Texas church fires. Some blame Palin-hating liberals. Some blame the devil.

The online speculation was enough to make me call Tom Crowley, spokesman for the Dallas office of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Here's a quick summary of what we talked about:

Q: Does any evidence point to Muslims, liberals or Satan?
A: No.

Q: Any sense of what's motivating the arsonist(s)?
A: "We just don't know ... I wouldn't rule anything out."

Q: What do you see as the possible motives?
A: "It doesn't have to be a hate crime." Thrill-seeking vandals might be responsible. The fires might be set to cover up other crime.

Q: What sort of other crime?
A: Non-religious items have been stolen from some of the churches.

Q: Where on church property were the fires set?
A: Various indoor locations; most cases involved forced entry.

Q: What types of churches have been targeted?
A: A wide variety of Protestant ones, including Baptist, United Methodist, Christian Scientist (pictured above, from a Jan. 17 fire in Tyler) and nondenominational. Most, but not all, have predominantly white congregations.

Q: What accelerants, if any, have been used?
A: No comment.

Q: Any advice for churches and their neighbors?
A: "Be aware of any activity around the church." Keep the place well lit. Keep vegetation trimmed.

Two more East Texas churches burned down Monday night.

Authorities aren't saying yet whether the fires are part of the string of several arsons plaguing Tyler and surrounding areas. But don't be surprised if they're connected -- these last two blazes broke out within 45 minutes of each other, just a few miles apart.

The first was reported about 8:45 p.m. at Dover Baptist Church (right). The second was reported about 9:20 p.m. at Clear Spring Missionary Baptist Church.

Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was activating a national response team after Russell Memorial United Methodist Church in Wills Point was torched.

Tips? Send me an e-mail.

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan wasn't the only guy with extremist ties counseling soldiers at Fort Hood last year, as my story in Sunday's Dallas Morning News shows.

There was at least one more: Louay Safi (shown at right). A month after the worst military-base massacre in U.S. history, he taught Islam to officers who were deploying to Afghanistan. He'd been doing this work on bases around the country, as a military subcontractor, since 2005.

That same year, federal prosecutors named Safi an unindicted co-conspirator in the terrorism-support trial of his old buddy Sami al-Arian. The reason: a wiretapped phone call in which the two men mocked a U.S. order banning dealings with foreign terrorist groups and agreed that Jews controlled the White House.

Al-Arian has since been convicted. But he still faces criminal contempt charges for refusing to testify before a grand jury about the International Institute of Islamic Thought -- a northern Virginia think tank that counterterrorism agents raided in 2002, when Safi was its research director.

Safi now faces a criminal inquiry by the military but has never been criminally charged. He denies wrongdoing. He also has described post-9/11 counterterrorism crackdowns as a "campaign against Islam."

I wrote a column entry this week about a man who generously wanted to donate some suits. While researching which charities take suits and offer them directly to someone in need, I found the Oak Lawn Community Outreach Center.

The center offers clothing to the needy twice a month, a charitable mission that grew out of the Oak Lawn United Methodist Church's weekly dinner for the homeless.

Each Sunday evening beginning at 5 p.m. the church offers a home-cooked meal for people living on the streets and in their vehicles.

They don't forget about the pets of their homeless guests either. A program called "Baxter's Buddies" helps provide food for the furry or feathered set.

To donate to or volunteer for any of the programs, contact gregg.smith@olumc.org.

Here are the latest developments regarding last week's slaughter at Fort Hood:

* Formal charges were filed against Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan -- "13 specifications of premeditated murder, in violation of Article 118, Uniform Code of Military Justice," as the Army puts it. More on this below.

* The White House released a copy of a memo that President Obama sent to the secretary of defense, the director of national intelligence and the head of the FBI. It reads: "On November 6, 2009, I directed that an immediate inventory be conducted of all intelligence in U.S. Government files that existed prior to November 6, 2009, relevant to the tragic shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, especially anything having to do with the alleged shooter, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, U.S. Army. In addition, I directed an immediate review be initiated to determine how any such intelligence was handled, shared, and acted upon within individual departments and agencies and what intelligence was shared with others... Preliminary results of this review shall be provided by November 30, 2009."

* The Dallas Morning News' Dave Michaels reports that authorities have been looking into whether Hasan wired money to Pakistan, which is battling a massive Islamist insurgency and is widely believed to be Osama bin Laden's hiding place.

The results of Dallas Morning News investigations are all over the paper today:

1. A Dallas County court put child psychiatrist William Olmsted (right) on probation for child molestation. But he can still work as a doctor. That's because the Texas Medical Board recently decided not to take his license away, as Dallas Morning News reporter Diane Jennings shows today. The board decided it was enough to limit his practice to treatment of men, in a group setting. Olmsted must also get a psychiatric evaluation, attend "professional boundaries" courses and pay a fine. All of which recalls my colleague Doug Swanson's 2002 investigation showing that the board was reluctant to punish doctors who sexually assaulted or otherwise harmed patients. And it recalls Doug's 2007 follow-up on a Texas legislator who was in business with a doctor and called a special hearing to see whether the board was too aggressive in its discipline.

2. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert says real police officers will begin checking out car-burglary complaints in person instead of letting civilian call takers handle the task by phone. And there will be a sweeping review of all 2009 reports that Dallas police labeled untrustworthy. The changes come in direct response to News reporters Steve Thompson and Tanya Eiserer's recent findings that cops weren't counting all crimes.

3. Today's update on the Dallas Episcopal Diocese's stockbroker-priest scandal: A second clergyman has left his pulpit -- and he's talking about suing parishioners who accuse him of investment-related misconduct.

Do you have a tip about doctor discipline? The Texas Medical Board? Other professional disciplinary issues? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Sometimes the best stuff in The Dallas Morning News is in the briefs. Read on through today's Regional Roundup for three of my favorites:

1. Remember Lori Bailey (top right)? She used to be in the paper all the time as Dallas FBI office spokeswoman. Now she's gone -- and on probation for DWI after a wrong-way crash on the Dallas North Tollway.

2. Remember Jose Merced? Probably not. He's the Santeria priest who sued the city of Euless over its ban on sacrificing goats (lower right) and other critters. And he has won a major round in his freedom-of-religion court case.

3. Someone's going to have a doozy of a time explaining how this happened: An Eagle Mountain Elementary School third-grader slipped out of school on a bathroom break, found an unlocked employee's van with the keys inside and went on a five-mile joyride.

Do you have a tip about something wacky? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Stockbroker/clergyman William Warnky has resigned from the Episcopal priesthood, church representatives say.

Meanwhile, Dallas Episcopal leaders are cautioning clergy not to talk to me about discipline scandals -- whether Warnky and fellow broker/priest Raymond Jennison's financial dealings with parishioners or another priest's three-year suspension for harassment.

Episcopal bosses also have hired one of the Dallas area's top crisis-management consultants, the LeMaster Group.

A decade ago, group president Lisa LeMaster (right) talked to me often -- she helped the Dallas Catholic Diocese manage the aftermath of child sex-abuse scandals. I covered that mess for years.

More recent clients include the National Football League and local sports magnate Tom Hicks. But LeMaster's Web site also notes: "You probably don't know who many of our clients are -- and that's the way we like it. In fact, when we do our job, your audience usually won't even know we were involved. From CEOs, executives and politicians to athletes, coaches and teams, we've helped many prominent public figures express themselves impeccably and deal with tough situations."

LeMaster told me today that she's Episcopalian herself. Asked for comment on the gag order, she sent this via e-mail: "These issues involve some sensitive personnel matters that should only be discussed at the diocesan level. That's what's fair and right for everyone involved."

Difficult questions about pregnancy linger in my mind from the weekend papers, even though the newsprint's already on the recycling pile:

1. Why does Texas lead the nation in repeat teen pregnancy? Bob Garrett of The Dallas Morning News' Austin bureau looked at several factors in Monday's paper. Among them: Only Utah and the Lone Star State require state-funded clinics to get parents' consent before giving their teens birth control. And Utah at least tells young people on a state Web site to go to Planned Parenthood if they don't want to involve their parents.

2. Have you ever thought about what you'd do if you were pregnant and knew the baby was doomed? Over the past two Sundays, my colleagues Lee Hancock and Sonya Hebert traced one family's journey in words, photos and video. If thus stuff doesn't haunt you, have someone check your pulse.

Do you have a tip about matters of life and death? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Dallas Episcopal Bishop James Stanton (right) is responding to the scandal surrounding stockbroker-priest William Warnky with new rules for his clergy.

Effective immediately, priests are "barred from soliciting, providing or selling secular products or services to parishioners," a diocesan press release says. It quotes Stanton thusly: "This new policy is designed to eliminate any conflicts of interest, and we hope these changes will raise the level of confidence in our clergy and that of the people under their care."

Diocesan leaders previously told me that priests had long been prohibited from financial involvement with parishioners. But it turns out that the policy was pretty vague -- it read, according to the press release: "The relationship of members of the clergy with fellow clergy and with members of the laity must be of the highest moral and professional character."

Stanton recently suspended Warnky from the ministry after financial regulators barred him from selling securities. The regulators acted because Warnky failed to pay a former parishioner, D.R. Marshall, $50,000 for stock fraud.

Diocesan leaders are now weighing whether to also suspend the Rev. Raymond Jennison (right). He runs First Canterbury Securities, a northeast Dallas firm where Warnky worked, and is priest in charge of St. David's Episcopal Church in Garland.

Another former member of Warnky's parish (Good Samaritan, near White Rock Lake) told diocesan officials this week that Jennison mistreated her when she complained to him, in late 2007, about Warnky.

Dallas Episcopal Bishop James Stanton's list of problem priests isn't limited to the Rev. William Warnky (right), who, as I reported in yesterday's paper, has been suspended in recent days from both ministry and securities trading because he owes an ex-parishioner $50,000 for stock fraud.

I learned today that two months ago, Stanton quietly stripped the Rev. Keith Roberson (below right) of his collar for three years for "conduct unbecoming a member of the clergy."

Here's a partial translation that I coaxed out of Stanton's top aide, Bishop Suffragan Paul Lambert: The conduct was directed at women at the Terrell church where Roberson worked, Good Shepherd. "It was more harassment than anything," and "it was nothing physical."

Roberson declined to comment today. He runs an optical repair business in Fort Worth called J.R. Optical, whose Web site says:

"I am an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church and I uphold the values and character traits associated with a life of personal commitment and service to the Lord. I live by the Scripture verse 'Love thy neighbor as thyself.' I am honest, open, professional, congenial, and stand by my word."

Lambert acknowledged that Roberson previously left another parish -- he wouldn't say which one -- amid controversy. "It was a bad match," he said. "It was not sexual harassment."

Years ago, Roberson also worked briefly as a fill-in priest at Good Samaritan, where Warnky was the priest in charge until this week. It hasn't been decided yet how long Warnky will be out of ministry.

Dallas Episcopal Bishop James Stanton (right) confirmed today that he has suspended a priest-stockbroker who, as I reported Sunday, owes an ex-parishioner/ex-client $50,000 for securities fraud.

Stanton said he was unaware of what I discovered late yesterday: A Dallas judge put the Rev. William Warnky (below right) on 10 years of probation in 2006 for contempt of court after he failed to pay about $50,000 in child support to his second wife.

Warnky should have disclosed this to Dallas Episcopal Diocese leaders, the bishop said.

"Mercy," he added. "That is a very serious matter."

This spring, the Texas attorney general's office sought to jail Warnky because of continuing child-support failures. The judge let him stay on probation. Warnky has been making payments since, the AG's office said.

The priest declined to comment today. He led services Sunday at his church, Good Samaritan, which is a few blocks south of White Rock Lake. Stanton said his suspension from ministry took effect Monday.

Why is the RISD boss gone? What is the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas going to do with a priest who got in trouble as a stockbroker? Read Today's Hot Links:

1. The Richardson school district is back in session today. And David Simmons (pictured at right) is being paid $300,000 not to be superintendent any more, as Dallas Morning News reporter Jeff Weiss explains. Why? School board members suggest that the payoff is the most efficient way to get rid of Simmons, who quit Aug. 3. And why did they want him out, given that the district has a balanced budget and four straight years of "recognized" status? They aren't giving much of an explanation.

2. Securities regulators told William Warnky last week not to work as a stockbroker because he defrauded a former client and disregarded an order to repay him $50,000. What will become of Warnky's other career as a priest? We're waiting to hear from Dallas Episcopal Bishop James Stanton or his No. 2, Bishop Suffragan Paul Lambert.

Do you have a tip about RISD? David Simmons? The Episcopal Diocese of Dallas? William Warnky? Send me an e-mail and let me know. Or join the conversation by commenting below.

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Dallas Catholic Diocese officials are releasing new information about the strange series of events that cost a church on the University of Dallas campus about $128,000.

First, they have disclosed the name used by a man who received the funds: William "Bill" Ryan. They describe him as white, in his 60s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds, with wavy, graying hair. He is "very personable and animated," and has "a distinguishable New York accent."

The officials say he is a "con man" who posed as a parishioner and probably is using a fake name. They say they have no photo of him -- but maybe somebody reading this does?

Ryan and three others the diocese won't name received a series of Western Union payments in New York "over three and a half months," diocese spokeswoman Annette Gonzales Taylor said.

She said the FBI has dropped its inquiry into the matter without coming to any conclusions about what happened. The FBI would not confirm or deny that.

Another day, another roundup of public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. This leaves you with more questions than answers: Dallas County Judge Jim Foster testified that FBI agents have asked him about colleague John Wiley Price multiple times, but he did not elaborate further during a deposition this month. So is this a formal investigation? What are the allegations? Why would agents go to Foster? For his part, Price didn't appear worried when Kevin Krause interviewed him.

2. Another man walked free after he was cleared by DNA-based evidence in Dallas County, Jennifer Emily tells us. Meanwhile, Gov. Rick Perry signed legislation to increase compensation to those wrongly convicted.

3. Texas has had some characters of televangelists. Robert Tilton was perhaps the biggest. His speaking in tongues and pitching for donations were always striking. His empire collapsed like several of his contemporaries, but he's still toiling in Florida, Scott Parks reports.

Did I miss a good story? Or do you have a tip? Send me an e-mail and let me know.

Let's catch up on a couple of the public-interest stories in The Dallas Morning News and around the Web-o-sphere:

1. Looking for broader perspective on the case of the North Texas soldier accused of killing five fellow troops in Iraq? Check out this award-winning investigation by the Hartford Courant.

2. Federal law bars nonprofit groups from engaging in partisan politics. But it apparently allows a foundation funded by some of Gov. Rick Perry's wealthiest backers to court pastors at election time, according to Dallas Morning News writer Wayne Slater. Here's a tax filing by the Niemoller Foundation, which dubbed its wooing campaign the Texas Restoration Project.

Did I miss a good story? Or do you have a tip? Send me an e-mail and let me know.

A former priest whose 2005 child-porn arrest helped trigger a grand jury investigation of the Dallas Catholic Diocese is finally pleading guilty.

Matthew Bagert (right), got married and worked as a traveling installer for hotel energy management systems while awaiting trial, Dallas Morning News federal-beat reporter Jason Trahan reports.

The grand jury investigation, conducted under former Dallas County DA Bill Hill, went nowhere. It looked for evidence that diocese officials had covered up child molestation in the last few years. Reporting by The News previously documented a long-hidden history of abuse in the Dallas Diocese and around the world.