Today is Monday, Nov. 1, the 305th day of 2021. There are 60 days left in the year. 

On Nov. 1, 1765, the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament, went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists. 

In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition was established. 

In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln named Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan General-in-Chief of the Union armies, succeeding Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott. 

In 1936, in a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an "axis" running between Rome and Berlin. 

In 1949, an Eastern Airlines DC-4 collided in midair with a Lockheed P-38 fighter plane near Washington National Airport, killing all 55 people aboard the DC-4 and seriously injuring the pilot of the P-38.

In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. (One of the pair was killed, along with a White House police officer.)

In 1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, code-named "Ivy Mike," at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. 

In 1973, following the "Saturday Night Massacre," Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox. 

In 1989, East Germany reopened its border with Czechoslovakia, prompting tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the West. 

In 1991, Clarence Thomas took his place as the newest justice on the Supreme Court.

In 1995, Bosnia peace talks opened in Dayton, Ohio, with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present. 

In 2003, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean stirred controversy within his party by telling the Des Moines Register he wanted to be "the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." (The former Vermont governor explained that he intended to encourage the return of Southern voters who had abandoned the Democrats for decades but were disaffected with the Republicans.) 

In 2015, the Kansas City Royals won their first World Series crown since 1985, beating the New York Mets 7-2 in Game 5, which lasted 12 innings, ending after midnight.

Ten years ago: Europe's days-old plan to solve its crippling debt crisis and restore faith in the global economy was thrown into chaos by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's stunning decision to call a referendum on the country's latest rescue package. (Papandreou dropped the referendum plan two days later.) Dorothy Rodham, 92, mother of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton's mother-in-law, died in Washington.

Five years ago: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fired the commander of the peacekeeping force in South Sudan after an independent investigation sharply criticized the military response to deadly attacks in July on a U.N. compound housing 27,000 displaced people. Most of an African-American church in Greenville, Mississippi, was destroyed by an arson fire; the building was spray-painted with the words "Vote Trump." (A member of the church later pleaded guilty to arson and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.) The Chicago Cubs forced a deciding Game 7 in the World Series as they defeated the Cleveland Indians 9-3.

One year ago: Two days before Election Day, the Texas Supreme Court denied a Republican-led petition to toss nearly 127,000 ballots cast at drive-thru voting places in the Houston area. (A federal judge also rejected that effort the following day.)

Today's Birthdays: World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player is 86. Country singer Bill Anderson is 84. Actor Barbara Bosson is 82. Actor Robert Foxworth is 80. Country singer-humorist Kinky Friedman is 77. Actor Jeannie Berlin is 72. Music producer David Foster is 72. Actor Belita Moreno is 72. Country singer-songwriter-producer Keith Stegall is 67. Country singer Lyle Lovett is 64. Actor Rachel Ticotin is 63. Apple CEO Tim Cook is 61. Actor Helene Udy is 60. Pop singer-musician Mags Furuholmen (a-ha) 59. Rock singer Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 59. Rock musician Rick Allen (Def Leppard) is 58. Country singer "Big Kenny" Alphin (Big and Rich) is 58. Singer Sophie B. Hawkins is 57. Rapper Willie D (Geto Boys) is 55. Country musician Dale Wallace (Emerson Drive) is 52. Actor Toni Collette is 49. Actor-talk show host Jenny McCarthy is 49. Actor David Berman is 48. Actor Aishwarya Rai is 48. Rock singer Bo Bice is 46. Actor Matt Jones is 40. Actor Natalia Tena is 37. Actor Penn Badgley is 35. Actor Max Burkholder is 24. Actor-musician Alex Wolff is 24.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573488868914.jpeg" alt="Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a>" />
 <figcaption>Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a></figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSToday is Monday, Nov. 1, the 305th day of 2021. There are 60 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Nov. 1, 1765, the Stamp Act, passed by the British Parliament, went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists. On this date: In 1478, the Spanish Inquisition was established. In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln named Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan General-in-Chief of the Union armies, succeeding Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott. In 1936, in a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an "axis" running between Rome and Berlin. In 1949, an Eastern Airlines DC-4 collided in midair with a Lockheed P-38 fighter plane near Washington National Airport, killing all 55 people aboard the DC-4 and seriously injuring the pilot of the P-38.In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington, D.C., in a failed attempt to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. (One of the pair was killed, along with a White House police officer.)In 1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, code-named "Ivy Mike," at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. In 1973, following the "Saturday Night Massacre," Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox. In 1989, East Germany reopened its border with Czechoslovakia, prompting tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the West. In 1991, Clarence Thomas took his place as the newest justice on the Supreme Court.In 1995, Bosnia peace talks opened in Dayton, Ohio, with the leaders of Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia present. In 2003, Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean stirred controversy within his party by telling the Des Moines Register he wanted to be "the candidate for guys with Confederate flags in their pickup trucks." (The former Vermont governor explained that he intended to encourage the return of Southern voters who had abandoned the Democrats for decades but were disaffected with the Republicans.) In 2015, the Kansas City Royals won their first World Series crown since 1985, beating the New York Mets 7-2 in Game 5, which lasted 12 innings, ending after midnight.Ten years ago: Europe's days-old plan to solve its crippling debt crisis and restore faith in the global economy was thrown into chaos by Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's stunning decision to call a referendum on the country's latest rescue package. (Papandreou dropped the referendum plan two days later.) Dorothy Rodham, 92, mother of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and former President Bill Clinton's mother-in-law, died in Washington.Five years ago: Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fired the commander of the peacekeeping force in South Sudan after an independent investigation sharply criticized the military response to deadly attacks in July on a U.N. compound housing 27,000 displaced people. Most of an African-American church in Greenville, Mississippi, was destroyed by an arson fire; the building was spray-painted with the words "Vote Trump." (A member of the church later pleaded guilty to arson and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.) The Chicago Cubs forced a deciding Game 7 in the World Series as they defeated the Cleveland Indians 9-3.One year ago: Two days before Election Day, the Texas Supreme Court denied a Republican-led petition to toss nearly 127,000 ballots cast at drive-thru voting places in the Houston area. (A federal judge also rejected that effort the following day.)Today's Birthdays: World Golf Hall of Famer Gary Player is 86. Country singer Bill Anderson is 84. Actor Barbara Bosson is 82. Actor Robert Foxworth is 80. Country singer-humorist Kinky Friedman is 77. Actor Jeannie Berlin is 72. Music producer David Foster is 72. Actor Belita Moreno is 72. Country singer-songwriter-producer Keith Stegall is 67. Country singer Lyle Lovett is 64. Actor Rachel Ticotin is 63. Apple CEO Tim Cook is 61. Actor Helene Udy is 60. Pop singer-musician Mags Furuholmen (a-ha) 59. Rock singer Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is 59. Rock musician Rick Allen (Def Leppard) is 58. Country singer "Big Kenny" Alphin (Big and Rich) is 58. Singer Sophie B. Hawkins is 57. Rapper Willie D (Geto Boys) is 55. Country musician Dale Wallace (Emerson Drive) is 52. Actor Toni Collette is 49. Actor-talk show host Jenny McCarthy is 49. Actor David Berman is 48. Actor Aishwarya Rai is 48. Rock singer Bo Bice is 46. Actor Matt Jones is 40. Actor Natalia Tena is 37. Actor Penn Badgley is 35. Actor Max Burkholder is 24. Actor-musician Alex Wolff is 24.

Today in History - Nov. 1

<a href="https://yazelmeglifh.com/obituaries/lauren-thiessen">Lauren Thiessen Obituary 2021 - Yazel - Megli Funeral Homes (yazelmeglifh.com)</a>

Lauren’s life began on September 18, 1948, the son of Willard and Lena (Neufeld) Thiessen in Newton, Kansas. He graduated from Berean Academy Class of 1966 and then went on to receive his bachelor’s in business administration from Fort Hays State University in 1971. 

He married the love of his life, Jo Ann (Giebler) Gottschalk, on May 8, 1982, in Hays, Kansas.

Lauren retired from Scott Rice Office Interiors as a salesman in 2018. He was a member of Central Christian Church where he taught marriage classes, mentored married couples, and was an elder. He was also a member of Bel Aire Chamber of Commerce. He loved his family, especially the grandkids, fishing, golfing, and restoring his 1979 El Camino. His loving family includes his wife Jo Ann of the home; sons Garry Thiessen of Ames, Iowa, Brent Thiessen (Wendy) of Marshalltown, Iowa, Scott Thiessen (Tammy) of Avon, Ohio, Cory Gottschalk of Norman, Oklahoma, Chad (Cassie) Gottschalk of Wichita, daughter Nicole Thiessen of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; sisters and their husbands, Jolyn and Dave Stark of Raymore, Missouri and Lavada and Dan Klinger of Phillipsburg, Kansas; nine grandchildren and one great-granddaughter; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and a daughter-in-law, Cheryl Gottschalk.

Lauren passed peacefully into his Savior’s arms on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at the age of 73 years old. A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. at Central Christian Church, 2900 N. Rock Road, Wichita, Kansas. A private family burial in Emmaus Cemetery, Whitewater, Kansas. Memorial contributions may be directed to Central Christian Church at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccc.org/give" target="_blank">www.ccc.org/give</a>&nbsp;or His Helping Hands at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccc.org/hishelpinghands" target="_blank">www.ccc.org/hishelpinghands</a>&nbsp;or Berean Academy&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bereanwarriors.org/giving" target="_blank">www.bereanwarriors.org/giving</a>&nbsp;or in care of Lamb Funeral Home, P.O. Box 358, Whitewater, Kansas 67154.

Please sign his online guest book and leave a memory of Lauren at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.yazelmeglifh.com/" target="_blank">www.yazelmeglifh.com</a>&nbsp;.

To order&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sympathyfloralstore.com/en-us/funeral-flowers/productdetails/?eod=sxi1Z5G6UOE%2B5nNU%2FJi4oMIvmyBpsrEYh%2FUpRiCyPd4TMlTM3EXdHUx5qw6MsKIcjAV%2FJ%2BrKu5IbZHdgGOraLph4dWETR1rLJ%2ByzYvqSEw417YHoAeApC4BVm5oNEIq0i2eEgoecInKgEz%2BFxgHuHsXODNEs8cAF0m74YQfD%2Bip3bJCl4OEpfdbLGknFZmQaACArwJY%2FAb76vSxiQJHvA%2BjwjIMSA%2Fr%2F4fIdD5zXhFhU0M5s9UNLR3lit005Cg1i%2FOFGmuShfvuVQKjN3idAQwGaqYBe2ol%2BCq1d0fpNyX3eNPig%2FV%2F4KSWxzMctWcWO20yC%2BrGtgjqIYtWEpnRZ6afQPF9YAqQzB3KxJGpPmuWoBN6WcQeU1JD9BKSTcDMrzU4J6f4UZloImVjN%2FYR5P%2BNp57GjZB%2FXSZ3x8vGa5isIiWE0Tk7XESuuTrvG9%2BlIsL%2BbRffClTRuBfz0cSkX%2FRiY0m7OEUit2I4R6usaBFplIbRYJvA5ekGOCQjPIj0QDw5Qe2ibeIgLTI3tRKH%2FWLV52w7mSkdVFkBPLx8xf7djDOO65oCUoJoS3ldx68Qry9WH%2FAwNyDkpYb%2BlN2aQdjKMsnJnxTokq%2FYEjR%2FT6%2Fdc48r8tqN6EFRap%2Fe5pJ7KpRPk8gQDWTostMAtbjHIW7EXUaUYx2OC6CCGMPDqs80RUUay0J%2FCdOt2xg3oJ5m%2Bb7MlA1K8RfAXkl0BroBD%2BKM079%2BTgAaT6Vw2P9cv%2F8H9F1n6hJkTfDFFW7ozeiGVLE%2FewjFKZofcWbo9VvjkVTXE%2BxYSA4oMsvxox5CD6mAULeMNqnNwU8st6AfPa41fez3he2dbUZq5seiNfFDKFsiLwqHcTw%2Boy5gw%2Bd3txurZaaCQezggNlsDX0UseH2K5VPmBi%2BD9maz8bUiq3OmMC%2BEXJUCmoyidOIZajJ6FP2Vg9MbVsd57iVffSg45tH7pOYFPIRMhjPRCKrfKfDUggQvb4H%2BCbsidi0IDvs5Hte9SgXe%2Bh4W686ZaTaqsDLBohCeaYl4imL5Q7Bh5jR8xVOcsumZZ6tg2P8Rm8HsqtNxrnOoc3enS0jcYWIEZjSZpXQT%2BdFMve4IDJjWtI8GI29CfKi3oLDgjMwykj5edlW5wnpQAb6klM4elpvJ11pcTkim40rahb1hV5w3x9U3YInP0Wj2TwY5XAFkX%2F45kkw%3D&amp;co=7&amp;affiliateid=4490&amp;v=01&amp;pm=199&amp;sku=tre-ttim">memorial trees</a>&nbsp;or send flowers to the family in memory of Lauren Thiessen, please visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://condolences.com/Lamb-Funeral-Home/flowers/?bgs=NkKw3748jCQVnX3pVaaIUfCgF9CYFab5O8C26pSwun6esUY5%2B0ndrAuyrch2kZTIiXcoPKWg78jnMr2F8%2FFeDeu4qcc%2FAZP0G9VfpPgvdb7838hceOT7HtwjMf5OmuhponYryJgg9t2S09%2FpMTB1RymsiA499BmXCZZg5AtP%2BUZXb85PCru3nDok7uwQv9FW2gtL7XCed8reLbvy6T7ARoWDQ1n1MsYOCNPmAY1D6nzdodFZnX2FazD0V0pSZusVeA%2BDTQymVquK3l0fLvdpj3KOsgS1bKaCBUfFC4XpDUM7mTQlnD6xDVZtsgz4XtKdzDzPH6Rv0%2BT%2FEH%2BLqkt6s6kOCMHnITZwK7uQm6%2BbVv11ZFbydSfLNiIxF7Pz7e6uncWLAQnwhBsh%2FALhW%2FHvRitgS7LaeaM%2FTq8hX0AO%2FK5mIHOPzK9QQZLmEti%2F4k9dKqiOC032vNXC8uL%2FXA1rktuCGSSycMUlz%2B3Iua67YMqCtx0TjFBKAUB%2BgBbfyhedG%2FC80TKC9n1%2BwdWZDiQ7CATYVVIxNZ%2Be1GhengEd7RUU%2FRexKLBgnh1BgF8toIEm%2FAKLUw1gHbRZP%2BgI2cl%2FlqWB85TCIwrUYA7N6YBm%2BwfVIh8UF0m2QL%2BPxkyyAZNLsAfXifBK1Q267rRQq8bDOTipHTykjYXBMuochyBs3wvzGts%2FIDM3S%2Bgj%2F%2BQcwLhvChyaJgMd4e6qSTmmcSvpFWv4QoYBpfJD%2FUbgCprPqW10qh6QzwljhDE0j9uGAF6qvaSmJzsxJEOURhciZ9npxx3TFu5zH1DMndWZ1%2BaDTrrZonPn9cVb5y9R9yxW9R7xpJBB%2F8L181cpH1HKbhdaFP7kenDp%2FA5ERNE7OIWH3S1TrWZX9eoNeN7VOFhJA6GvaCo95cS70YBrg%2FSx7i4w9zkezgGZ2%2B2NhjY3%2B7SKuC8j%2FS1fLyRh5SW%2F%2BUTY%2FmhvK0DbYGf2fVABtOQQ3REYfQzQqmCi%2BARdjuX%2FvJQHoSwalvyhNW6Ii15SVOazoVebhw544ObZDE3fef4cb%2FXTJK7nNDVF5z%2BMrp%2FHpdkKpfiAxAP47QABjUqMg3hJlEnvyslqFcZwE%2BBd%2FA%2BtS0it%2BhdqJpHsDK9u0ndmalzv%2FytOH10m%2Bw7K5wISYd1gU%2BE4RwuZt9cxdHLI65xvphcu47lmzSaYltSDaGz8y9REMUCyiZV5%2FPvZqB4BT2%2FSPHBKCkvCwUf3M7h7%2FE1Rdn9wCF5iJ0bCpR41uJ6ELjmfxRusysf%2FWCye6rsVeF495%2FIyUF500akbLTIpqB%2BwAwn1jg%3D%3D">flower store</a>.

<h2>Lauren Keith Thiessen</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635708675137.jpeg" alt="Lauren Keith Thiessen" />
 <figcaption>Lauren Keith Thiessen</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://yazelmeglifh.com/obituaries/lauren-thiessen">Lauren Thiessen Obituary 2021 - Yazel - Megli Funeral Homes (yazelmeglifh.com)</a>September 18, 1948 - October 27, 2021Lauren’s life began on September 18, 1948, the son of Willard and Lena (Neufeld) Thiessen in Newton, Kansas. He graduated from Berean Academy Class of 1966 and then went on to receive his bachelor’s in business administration from Fort Hays State University in 1971. He married the love of his life, Jo Ann (Giebler) Gottschalk, on May 8, 1982, in Hays, Kansas.Lauren retired from Scott Rice Office Interiors as a salesman in 2018. He was a member of Central Christian Church where he taught marriage classes, mentored married couples, and was an elder. He was also a member of Bel Aire Chamber of Commerce. He loved his family, especially the grandkids, fishing, golfing, and restoring his 1979 El Camino. His loving family includes his wife Jo Ann of the home; sons Garry Thiessen of Ames, Iowa, Brent Thiessen (Wendy) of Marshalltown, Iowa, Scott Thiessen (Tammy) of Avon, Ohio, Cory Gottschalk of Norman, Oklahoma, Chad (Cassie) Gottschalk of Wichita, daughter Nicole Thiessen of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; sisters and their husbands, Jolyn and Dave Stark of Raymore, Missouri and Lavada and Dan Klinger of Phillipsburg, Kansas; nine grandchildren and one great-granddaughter; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and a daughter-in-law, Cheryl Gottschalk. Lauren passed peacefully into his Savior’s arms on Wednesday, October 27, 2021 at the age of 73 years old. A celebration of his life will be held on Saturday, November 6, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. at Central Christian Church, 2900 N. Rock Road, Wichita, Kansas. A private family burial in Emmaus Cemetery, Whitewater, Kansas. Memorial contributions may be directed to Central Christian Church at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccc.org/give" target="_blank">www.ccc.org/give</a>&nbsp;or His Helping Hands at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ccc.org/hishelpinghands" target="_blank">www.ccc.org/hishelpinghands</a>&nbsp;or Berean Academy&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bereanwarriors.org/giving" target="_blank">www.bereanwarriors.org/giving</a>&nbsp;or in care of Lamb Funeral Home, P.O. Box 358, Whitewater, Kansas 67154. Please sign his online guest book and leave a memory of Lauren at&nbsp;<a href="http://www.yazelmeglifh.com/" target="_blank">www.yazelmeglifh.com</a>&nbsp;.To order&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sympathyfloralstore.com/en-us/funeral-flowers/productdetails/?eod=sxi1Z5G6UOE%2B5nNU%2FJi4oMIvmyBpsrEYh%2FUpRiCyPd4TMlTM3EXdHUx5qw6MsKIcjAV%2FJ%2BrKu5IbZHdgGOraLph4dWETR1rLJ%2ByzYvqSEw417YHoAeApC4BVm5oNEIq0i2eEgoecInKgEz%2BFxgHuHsXODNEs8cAF0m74YQfD%2Bip3bJCl4OEpfdbLGknFZmQaACArwJY%2FAb76vSxiQJHvA%2BjwjIMSA%2Fr%2F4fIdD5zXhFhU0M5s9UNLR3lit005Cg1i%2FOFGmuShfvuVQKjN3idAQwGaqYBe2ol%2BCq1d0fpNyX3eNPig%2FV%2F4KSWxzMctWcWO20yC%2BrGtgjqIYtWEpnRZ6afQPF9YAqQzB3KxJGpPmuWoBN6WcQeU1JD9BKSTcDMrzU4J6f4UZloImVjN%2FYR5P%2BNp57GjZB%2FXSZ3x8vGa5isIiWE0Tk7XESuuTrvG9%2BlIsL%2BbRffClTRuBfz0cSkX%2FRiY0m7OEUit2I4R6usaBFplIbRYJvA5ekGOCQjPIj0QDw5Qe2ibeIgLTI3tRKH%2FWLV52w7mSkdVFkBPLx8xf7djDOO65oCUoJoS3ldx68Qry9WH%2FAwNyDkpYb%2BlN2aQdjKMsnJnxTokq%2FYEjR%2FT6%2Fdc48r8tqN6EFRap%2Fe5pJ7KpRPk8gQDWTostMAtbjHIW7EXUaUYx2OC6CCGMPDqs80RUUay0J%2FCdOt2xg3oJ5m%2Bb7MlA1K8RfAXkl0BroBD%2BKM079%2BTgAaT6Vw2P9cv%2F8H9F1n6hJkTfDFFW7ozeiGVLE%2FewjFKZofcWbo9VvjkVTXE%2BxYSA4oMsvxox5CD6mAULeMNqnNwU8st6AfPa41fez3he2dbUZq5seiNfFDKFsiLwqHcTw%2Boy5gw%2Bd3txurZaaCQezggNlsDX0UseH2K5VPmBi%2BD9maz8bUiq3OmMC%2BEXJUCmoyidOIZajJ6FP2Vg9MbVsd57iVffSg45tH7pOYFPIRMhjPRCKrfKfDUggQvb4H%2BCbsidi0IDvs5Hte9SgXe%2Bh4W686ZaTaqsDLBohCeaYl4imL5Q7Bh5jR8xVOcsumZZ6tg2P8Rm8HsqtNxrnOoc3enS0jcYWIEZjSZpXQT%2BdFMve4IDJjWtI8GI29CfKi3oLDgjMwykj5edlW5wnpQAb6klM4elpvJ11pcTkim40rahb1hV5w3x9U3YInP0Wj2TwY5XAFkX%2F45kkw%3D&amp;co=7&amp;affiliateid=4490&amp;v=01&amp;pm=199&amp;sku=tre-ttim">memorial trees</a>&nbsp;or send flowers to the family in memory of Lauren Thiessen, please visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://condolences.com/Lamb-Funeral-Home/flowers/?bgs=NkKw3748jCQVnX3pVaaIUfCgF9CYFab5O8C26pSwun6esUY5%2B0ndrAuyrch2kZTIiXcoPKWg78jnMr2F8%2FFeDeu4qcc%2FAZP0G9VfpPgvdb7838hceOT7HtwjMf5OmuhponYryJgg9t2S09%2FpMTB1RymsiA499BmXCZZg5AtP%2BUZXb85PCru3nDok7uwQv9FW2gtL7XCed8reLbvy6T7ARoWDQ1n1MsYOCNPmAY1D6nzdodFZnX2FazD0V0pSZusVeA%2BDTQymVquK3l0fLvdpj3KOsgS1bKaCBUfFC4XpDUM7mTQlnD6xDVZtsgz4XtKdzDzPH6Rv0%2BT%2FEH%2BLqkt6s6kOCMHnITZwK7uQm6%2BbVv11ZFbydSfLNiIxF7Pz7e6uncWLAQnwhBsh%2FALhW%2FHvRitgS7LaeaM%2FTq8hX0AO%2FK5mIHOPzK9QQZLmEti%2F4k9dKqiOC032vNXC8uL%2FXA1rktuCGSSycMUlz%2B3Iua67YMqCtx0TjFBKAUB%2BgBbfyhedG%2FC80TKC9n1%2BwdWZDiQ7CATYVVIxNZ%2Be1GhengEd7RUU%2FRexKLBgnh1BgF8toIEm%2FAKLUw1gHbRZP%2BgI2cl%2FlqWB85TCIwrUYA7N6YBm%2BwfVIh8UF0m2QL%2BPxkyyAZNLsAfXifBK1Q267rRQq8bDOTipHTykjYXBMuochyBs3wvzGts%2FIDM3S%2Bgj%2F%2BQcwLhvChyaJgMd4e6qSTmmcSvpFWv4QoYBpfJD%2FUbgCprPqW10qh6QzwljhDE0j9uGAF6qvaSmJzsxJEOURhciZ9npxx3TFu5zH1DMndWZ1%2BaDTrrZonPn9cVb5y9R9yxW9R7xpJBB%2F8L181cpH1HKbhdaFP7kenDp%2FA5ERNE7OIWH3S1TrWZX9eoNeN7VOFhJA6GvaCo95cS70YBrg%2FSx7i4w9zkezgGZ2%2B2NhjY3%2B7SKuC8j%2FS1fLyRh5SW%2F%2BUTY%2FmhvK0DbYGf2fVABtOQQ3REYfQzQqmCi%2BARdjuX%2FvJQHoSwalvyhNW6Ii15SVOazoVebhw544ObZDE3fef4cb%2FXTJK7nNDVF5z%2BMrp%2FHpdkKpfiAxAP47QABjUqMg3hJlEnvyslqFcZwE%2BBd%2FA%2BtS0it%2BhdqJpHsDK9u0ndmalzv%2FytOH10m%2Bw7K5wISYd1gU%2BE4RwuZt9cxdHLI65xvphcu47lmzSaYltSDaGz8y9REMUCyiZV5%2FPvZqB4BT2%2FSPHBKCkvCwUf3M7h7%2FE1Rdn9wCF5iJ0bCpR41uJ6ELjmfxRusysf%2FWCye6rsVeF495%2FIyUF500akbLTIpqB%2BwAwn1jg%3D%3D">flower store</a>.

Lauren Keith Thiessen

SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have a suspect in custody.

At 5:30 a.m. Saturday, police were working a call in the 1700 block of SW Clay in Topeka when they saw a disturbance in the 1800 block of SW Clay, according to Police Lt. Kelvin Johnson.

As the officers were approaching the disturbance, they heard gun shots&nbsp; saw people running. Two individuals were detained and found to be the victims of an aggravated assault.

Information led them to a residence on that block where the suspect had run back into. Police surrounded the house and they called the suspect out where he was eventually taken into custody.

The suspect was identified as Jerome C. Vetaw, 42 of Topeka. Police arrested and booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of Aggravated Assault,&nbsp;&nbsp;Criminal Possession of a Firearm and Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Sell, according to Johnson.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635627435322.png" alt="Vetaw photo Shawnee County" />
 <figcaption>Vetaw photo Shawnee County</figcaption>
 </figure>SHAWNEE COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have a suspect in custody.At 5:30 a.m. Saturday, police were working a call in the 1700 block of SW Clay in Topeka when they saw a disturbance in the 1800 block of SW Clay, according to Police Lt. Kelvin Johnson.As the officers were approaching the disturbance, they heard gun shots&nbsp; saw people running. Two individuals were detained and found to be the victims of an aggravated assault.Information led them to a residence on that block where the suspect had run back into. Police surrounded the house and they called the suspect out where he was eventually taken into custody.The suspect was identified as Jerome C. Vetaw, 42 of Topeka. Police arrested and booked him into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of Aggravated Assault,&nbsp;&nbsp;Criminal Possession of a Firearm and Possession of Marijuana with Intent to Sell, according to Johnson.

Police catch suspect in Kan. drug deal shooting

By MAX MCCOY <a href="http://kansasreflector.com">Kansas Reflector</a>

CHERRYVALE — The chain of low hills known as the Bender Mounds extends in a diagonal seven miles northeast of here, islands of limestone and scrubby trees over level fields where this time of year soybeans have just been harvested. The lonely hills meander across what is now U.S. Highway 400, where travelers whoosh by in comfort at 65 mph.

But 150 years ago, the rugged Osage Trail ran between these mounds, somewhat north of the present highway. This section of the trail ran the 47 miles from the Osage Mission at what is now St. Paul to Independence, Kansas, and food and lodging was hard to come by. Tired and hungry travelers would sometimes stop for a hot meal and a hard bed at the Bender Inn, a two-room frame cabin on the south side of the trail between the mounds.

Many of the travelers were never seen again, victims of a multiple-murdering frontier family that has gone down in history as the Bloody Benders. The Bender saga is a thoroughly American crime story, full of mystery and gore, and their story is as famous in its way as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral or the killing of Billy the Kid. But the enduring mystery behind the Benders is what happened to them. They vanished into history and became the stuff of nightmares — and books, television shows and movies.

“I bought it because I love history and would like to find out where (the killings) happened,” said Bob Miller, a Wells Fargo financial adviser from Independence, Kansas, who now owns the parcel where the Bender cabin is believed to have stood.

For 65 years, Miller said, the land was owned by a family who farmed it out and had little interest in its history. No search of the property for the location of the cabin or graves was formally conducted, at least not that anybody could remember. When the property came up for auction last year, through Indiana firm Schrader Real Estate and Auction Co., Miller knew he had to bid on it.

Miller won by purchasing a package of parcels that included the Bender site. He declined to disclose how much he paid.

“I really like history a lot,” he told me. “I’ve never had an acre of land before. Somewhere, somehow, some way, I’m going to get some kind of expert investigation going there. The whole thing is just so bizarre, and one of America’s first documented mass murders.”

Miller grew up on tales of the Benders and often visited the old historical museum in Cherryvale where a replica cabin stood and the town celebrated “Bender Days.” The story is the kind of gruesome stuff that has fascinated kids for generations, especially Kansas kids like me.

“Between 1870 and 1873 several travelers who disappeared between Independence and Osage Mission were traced to within a few miles of the Bender Mounds,” according to the WPA guide to Kansas published in 1939. “So many stories of mystery, murder, and the supernatural were associated with the area that cautious persons would go long distances to avoid it.”

By all accounts, the Benders were a strange lot. There were four of them, including an older couple named John Sr. and Kate, and a younger couple, also named John and Kate. They had come from St. Louis in 1870-71 to join a small community of Spiritualists, part of a movement that flourished after the carnage of the Civil War and maintained it was possible to talk to the dead.

The older Benders were described as unpleasant and spoke mostly German. But the younger Benders were different. They may have been brother and sister, or perhaps common law husband and wife. John Jr. was strong and handsome. But it was young Kate that attracted the most attention, a red-haired 20-something who was a trance medium, advertised herself in local newspapers as “Prof. Katie Bender,” and who claimed supernatural powers to heal.

By May 1873, the mystery of the missing travelers would be solved.

A search party found the Bender cabin deserted and their livestock untended. In an orchard out back they found the remains of between eight and 11 bodies —it was difficult to determine exactly how many, but at least one was a child — and a trapdoor in the floor of the cabin that led to a bloody cellar, rank with blood and gore.

“Though stories of strange experiences at the inn had circulated throughout the community since its establishment, few had given them credence,” according to the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/bender-knife/10106">Kansas Historical Society</a>. “After the discovery, though, such tales seemed more plausible. Neighbors reported violent behavior, strange séances, and narrowly escaping with their lives.”

It was theorized that victims were forced to sit at a table with their backs against a stained canvas curtain and, while distracted by Kate — who gets most of the blame in traditional accounts — were dispatched by a hammer blow to the back of the head. After being shoved through the trap door into the bloody cellar, they may have been finished off with a knife across the throat. The motive was robbery, as travelers often carried large amounts of cash to buy land and cattle.

But nobody knows for sure what happened in the cabin. Those who did know ended up dead or disappeared.

When the Bender site went up for auction last year, it renewed my interest in the bloody family. Stories about the upcoming auction ran in news outlets around the world. Not having the means, or frankly the will, to own such a site, I submitted no bid. But after the sale, I did contact the auction company a couple of times, asking to be put in touch with the new owners. Unsurprisingly, the auction company did not respond to my requests.

But I lucked out last weekend when I visited the Cherryvale Historical Museum. The museum used to be downtown, but it’s now in what was once a private residence and is open 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. The replica Bender cabin that used to be at the old museum is long gone. Cherryvale doesn’t celebrate Bender Days anymore, either.

The museum still has three hammers taken from the Bender property shortly after the crimes were discovered, and I wanted to see them. They were there, in a cabinet behind bulletproof glass that has become hazy with the passage of the years. They were difficult to photograph, so I asked if the case could be opened.

But the kind woman who was tending the museum that day suggested I contact local historian Carol Staton, who knew more about the Benders than just about anybody in town. So I did, and had a pleasant conversation with Staton about a particularly unpleasant crime. Then I asked if she knew who had bought the land at auction.

Why yes, she said. It was a friend of hers in Independence. She gave me Bob Miller’s name.

Miller told me he hasn’t done anything with the land since buying it in February because he just hasn’t had the time. He would like to investigate the site, he said. It is undoubtedly the piece of land the cabin was on, but the actual location of the cabin and the orchard have been lost over the years. Because he has a keen interest in history and a respect for doing things right, Miller said he’d like to partner with a team of professional archaeologists, perhaps from a Kansas university, to do a ground-penetrating radar study and possibly undertake excavations.

There may be more to the Bender story than we know, he said. Finding the location of the cellar abattoir or the orchard cemetery may lead to discoveries that were not possible with 1870s technology. Some of the victims were never identified.

“If we could find some stuff,” Miller said, “some bones or maybe teeth, that would allow for DNA matching with living relatives.”

The Benders were discovered when the relative of a victim went searching in 1873.

Col. Alexander York, a state senator and Civil War veteran, wanted to find his missing brother, physician William York. Dr. York, who had disappeared on the Osage Trail.

Scouting the trail with a posse of 15 or so men, Col. York called upon the Bender Inn. The Benders said yes, the doctor had been there, but he had left unharmed. Kate suggested, the story goes, that for a price she could use her clairvoyant powers to help locate the missing man. The colonel left, but suspicion lingered.

The cabin was later found deserted. The discovery of the bodies, including that of Dr. York, followed.

A wagon and team belonging to the Benders was later located abandoned near Thayer, and a clerk at the depot there said four individuals matching the family’s description had bought tickets and boarded a train to Humboldt. That’s the last real clue we have as to the murderous family’s fate, even though the governor of Kansas at the time offered a $2,000 reward for their capture.

Over the years, tales have placed the Benders in Canada, in St. Louis, and even escaping — however improbably — in a hot air balloon. These stories have continued unabated, and as recently as 2013 amateur sleuths claimed to have solved the mystery of the Benders, including one theory that young John and Katie lived the rest of their lives in Colorado and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://truewestmagazine.com/article/history-mystery-solved-hiding-in-plain-sight/">are buried in plain sight</a>&nbsp;at Glenwood Springs.

The two theories that seem most likely are that the Benders successfully escaped to parts unknown, or that they were lynched by locals and buried in secret. The former is more probable, as it’s been my experience that people have a hard time keeping a secret — and a secret as big as the fate of the Benders couldn’t be kept by a group for 15 minutes, much less a century and a half.

“It’s just a mystery that keeps perpetuating itself,” Staton, the local historian, said.

After the bodies were found in 1873, the cabin was ripped apart, board by board, until nothing was left. In time, all visible traces of the Bender place disappeared at the mound, just as the Benders themselves disappeared.

Staton said she has visited the site, or at least peered at it from the public road. An individual on the museum board, she said, has sometimes led private tours out to the Bender Mounds, and this persuaded the board to consider hosting day trips.

Miller said he has no plans to open the site to the public as yet, because he wants professionals to survey the location first.

On my trip to Cherryvale last weekend, I drove out to the Bender Mounds. I’m not going to reveal the precise location of the site, because like Miller I fear a loss of historical data beneath a crush of uninvited visitors. I can tell you that the roads around the site are poorly maintained, and that some are impassible in wet weather without a four-wheel drive vehicle. On one half-mile stretch of road, my Jeep was nearly up to its axles in mud.

A few miles away from the site, at the rest area where U.S. Highway 400 meets U.S. Highway 169, is a state historical marker about the Benders. It doesn’t give the location of the site, just saying it is near.

The narrative on the marker indicates how attitudes toward the Benders have changed over the years, at least among historians.

The text on the marker, as originally provided by the state historical society, described Kate Bender as “a beautiful, voluptuous girl with tigerish grace” and “the leading spirit of the murderous family.” The description was typical of most narratives about the Benders and, in 1970, is what led Samuel Goldwyn Jr. to openly speculate whom he should cast as the beautiful and diabolical Kate in an intended major release. Jacqueline Bissett seemed a frontrunner.

While Goldwyn’s film was never made, there have been smaller films featuring the Benders. In 2016’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0s5lOHliQY">“Bender,”</a>&nbsp;Nicole Jellen played Kate. There have also been novels and graphic novels, most notably&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Geary">Rick Geary’s</a>&nbsp;“Saga of Bloody Benders.” There have been a mountain of nonfiction books, the latest of which is&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622578/hells-half-acre-by-susan-jonusas/">“Hell’s Half Acre”</a>&nbsp;by Susan Jonusas, set for release in March 2022, which promises to tell us the “untold story.”

The current state historical marker has been edited to omit any mention of Kate as voluptuous or possessing grace, tigerish or otherwise. While Kate is an intriguing historical figure, there’s just no evidence to suggest she was the family mastermind. Murder is a dull and brutish business, no temptress required.

If there is an untold story to be told about the 1873 horror seven miles northeast of Cherryvale, chances are it won’t come from a movie or a book. But it just might emerge from the mud at the base of a mound on an otherwise featureless parcel of farmland recently purchased by a local kid who was fascinated by one of the bloodiest true stories in Kansas history.

Max McCoy is an award-winning author and journalist. A native Kansan, he started his career at the Pittsburg Morning Sun and was soon writing for national magazines. His investigative stories on unsolved murders, serial killers and hate groups earned him first-place awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors and other organizations. McCoy has also written more than 20 books, the most recent of which is "Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River," named a Kansas Notable Book by the state library. "Elevations" also won the National Outdoor Book Award, in the history/biography category. Max teaches journalism at Emporia State University.

The above opinion piece is republished with permission from <a href="http://kansasreflector.com">Kansas Reflector</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635690639426.jpeg" alt="The Benders operated a modest “inn” on the Osage Trail northeast of Cherryvale in the 1870s. They also murdered at least a dozen travelers. The Bender cabin was at a mound not unlike this one, which is a mile or so from the actual site, which has no visible trace of the mayhem which took place there. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>The Benders operated a modest “inn” on the Osage Trail northeast of Cherryvale in the 1870s. They also murdered at least a dozen travelers. The Bender cabin was at a mound not unlike this one, which is a mile or so from the actual site, which has no visible trace of the mayhem which took place there. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>By MAX MCCOY <a href="http://kansasreflector.com">Kansas Reflector</a>CHERRYVALE — The chain of low hills known as the Bender Mounds extends in a diagonal seven miles northeast of here, islands of limestone and scrubby trees over level fields where this time of year soybeans have just been harvested. The lonely hills meander across what is now U.S. Highway 400, where travelers whoosh by in comfort at 65 mph.But 150 years ago, the rugged Osage Trail ran between these mounds, somewhat north of the present highway. This section of the trail ran the 47 miles from the Osage Mission at what is now St. Paul to Independence, Kansas, and food and lodging was hard to come by. Tired and hungry travelers would sometimes stop for a hot meal and a hard bed at the Bender Inn, a two-room frame cabin on the south side of the trail between the mounds.Many of the travelers were never seen again, victims of a multiple-murdering frontier family that has gone down in history as the Bloody Benders. The Bender saga is a thoroughly American crime story, full of mystery and gore, and their story is as famous in its way as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral or the killing of Billy the Kid. But the enduring mystery behind the Benders is what happened to them. They vanished into history and became the stuff of nightmares — and books, television shows and movies.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635690777723.jpeg" alt="Bob Miller purchased the land where the Benders’ cabin was once located. (Submitted)" />
 <figcaption>Bob Miller purchased the land where the Benders’ cabin was once located. (Submitted)</figcaption>
 </figure>“I bought it because I love history and would like to find out where (the killings) happened,” said Bob Miller, a Wells Fargo financial adviser from Independence, Kansas, who now owns the parcel where the Bender cabin is believed to have stood.For 65 years, Miller said, the land was owned by a family who farmed it out and had little interest in its history. No search of the property for the location of the cabin or graves was formally conducted, at least not that anybody could remember. When the property came up for auction last year, through Indiana firm Schrader Real Estate and Auction Co., Miller knew he had to bid on it.Miller won by purchasing a package of parcels that included the Bender site. He declined to disclose how much he paid.“I really like history a lot,” he told me. “I’ve never had an acre of land before. Somewhere, somehow, some way, I’m going to get some kind of expert investigation going there. The whole thing is just so bizarre, and one of America’s first documented mass murders.”Miller grew up on tales of the Benders and often visited the old historical museum in Cherryvale where a replica cabin stood and the town celebrated “Bender Days.” The story is the kind of gruesome stuff that has fascinated kids for generations, especially Kansas kids like me.“Between 1870 and 1873 several travelers who disappeared between Independence and Osage Mission were traced to within a few miles of the Bender Mounds,” according to the WPA guide to Kansas published in 1939. “So many stories of mystery, murder, and the supernatural were associated with the area that cautious persons would go long distances to avoid it.”By all accounts, the Benders were a strange lot. There were four of them, including an older couple named John Sr. and Kate, and a younger couple, also named John and Kate. They had come from St. Louis in 1870-71 to join a small community of Spiritualists, part of a movement that flourished after the carnage of the Civil War and maintained it was possible to talk to the dead.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635691054438.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>The older Benders were described as unpleasant and spoke mostly German. But the younger Benders were different. They may have been brother and sister, or perhaps common law husband and wife. John Jr. was strong and handsome. But it was young Kate that attracted the most attention, a red-haired 20-something who was a trance medium, advertised herself in local newspapers as “Prof. Katie Bender,” and who claimed supernatural powers to heal.By May 1873, the mystery of the missing travelers would be solved.A search party found the Bender cabin deserted and their livestock untended. In an orchard out back they found the remains of between eight and 11 bodies —it was difficult to determine exactly how many, but at least one was a child — and a trapdoor in the floor of the cabin that led to a bloody cellar, rank with blood and gore.“Though stories of strange experiences at the inn had circulated throughout the community since its establishment, few had given them credence,” according to the&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/bender-knife/10106">Kansas Historical Society</a>. “After the discovery, though, such tales seemed more plausible. Neighbors reported violent behavior, strange séances, and narrowly escaping with their lives.”It was theorized that victims were forced to sit at a table with their backs against a stained canvas curtain and, while distracted by Kate — who gets most of the blame in traditional accounts — were dispatched by a hammer blow to the back of the head. After being shoved through the trap door into the bloody cellar, they may have been finished off with a knife across the throat. The motive was robbery, as travelers often carried large amounts of cash to buy land and cattle.But nobody knows for sure what happened in the cabin. Those who did know ended up dead or disappeared.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635691149420.jpeg" alt="The Bender Room, in the Cherryvale Historical Museum, offers an exhibit about the family and slayings. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>The Bender Room, in the Cherryvale Historical Museum, offers an exhibit about the family and slayings. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>When the Bender site went up for auction last year, it renewed my interest in the bloody family. Stories about the upcoming auction ran in news outlets around the world. Not having the means, or frankly the will, to own such a site, I submitted no bid. But after the sale, I did contact the auction company a couple of times, asking to be put in touch with the new owners. Unsurprisingly, the auction company did not respond to my requests.But I lucked out last weekend when I visited the Cherryvale Historical Museum. The museum used to be downtown, but it’s now in what was once a private residence and is open 1-4 p.m. on Sundays. The replica Bender cabin that used to be at the old museum is long gone. Cherryvale doesn’t celebrate Bender Days anymore, either.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635691232034.jpeg" alt="The Benders’ hammers are displayed at Cherryvale Historical Museum on Oct. 24. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>The Benders’ hammers are displayed at Cherryvale Historical Museum on Oct. 24. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>The museum still has three hammers taken from the Bender property shortly after the crimes were discovered, and I wanted to see them. They were there, in a cabinet behind bulletproof glass that has become hazy with the passage of the years. They were difficult to photograph, so I asked if the case could be opened.No dice, I was told.But the kind woman who was tending the museum that day suggested I contact local historian Carol Staton, who knew more about the Benders than just about anybody in town. So I did, and had a pleasant conversation with Staton about a particularly unpleasant crime. Then I asked if she knew who had bought the land at auction.Why yes, she said. It was a friend of hers in Independence. She gave me Bob Miller’s name.Miller told me he hasn’t done anything with the land since buying it in February because he just hasn’t had the time. He would like to investigate the site, he said. It is undoubtedly the piece of land the cabin was on, but the actual location of the cabin and the orchard have been lost over the years. Because he has a keen interest in history and a respect for doing things right, Miller said he’d like to partner with a team of professional archaeologists, perhaps from a Kansas university, to do a ground-penetrating radar study and possibly undertake excavations.There may be more to the Bender story than we know, he said. Finding the location of the cellar abattoir or the orchard cemetery may lead to discoveries that were not possible with 1870s technology. Some of the victims were never identified.“If we could find some stuff,” Miller said, “some bones or maybe teeth, that would allow for DNA matching with living relatives.”The Benders were discovered when the relative of a victim went searching in 1873.Col. Alexander York, a state senator and Civil War veteran, wanted to find his missing brother, physician William York. Dr. York, who had disappeared on the Osage Trail.Scouting the trail with a posse of 15 or so men, Col. York called upon the Bender Inn. The Benders said yes, the doctor had been there, but he had left unharmed. Kate suggested, the story goes, that for a price she could use her clairvoyant powers to help locate the missing man. The colonel left, but suspicion lingered.The cabin was later found deserted. The discovery of the bodies, including that of Dr. York, followed.A wagon and team belonging to the Benders was later located abandoned near Thayer, and a clerk at the depot there said four individuals matching the family’s description had bought tickets and boarded a train to Humboldt. That’s the last real clue we have as to the murderous family’s fate, even though the governor of Kansas at the time offered a $2,000 reward for their capture.Over the years, tales have placed the Benders in Canada, in St. Louis, and even escaping — however improbably — in a hot air balloon. These stories have continued unabated, and as recently as 2013 amateur sleuths claimed to have solved the mystery of the Benders, including one theory that young John and Katie lived the rest of their lives in Colorado and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://truewestmagazine.com/article/history-mystery-solved-hiding-in-plain-sight/">are buried in plain sight</a>&nbsp;at Glenwood Springs.None of these are convincing to me.The two theories that seem most likely are that the Benders successfully escaped to parts unknown, or that they were lynched by locals and buried in secret. The former is more probable, as it’s been my experience that people have a hard time keeping a secret — and a secret as big as the fate of the Benders couldn’t be kept by a group for 15 minutes, much less a century and a half.“It’s just a mystery that keeps perpetuating itself,” Staton, the local historian, said.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635691538560.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>After the bodies were found in 1873, the cabin was ripped apart, board by board, until nothing was left. In time, all visible traces of the Bender place disappeared at the mound, just as the Benders themselves disappeared.Staton said she has visited the site, or at least peered at it from the public road. An individual on the museum board, she said, has sometimes led private tours out to the Bender Mounds, and this persuaded the board to consider hosting day trips.Miller said he has no plans to open the site to the public as yet, because he wants professionals to survey the location first.On my trip to Cherryvale last weekend, I drove out to the Bender Mounds. I’m not going to reveal the precise location of the site, because like Miller I fear a loss of historical data beneath a crush of uninvited visitors. I can tell you that the roads around the site are poorly maintained, and that some are impassible in wet weather without a four-wheel drive vehicle. On one half-mile stretch of road, my Jeep was nearly up to its axles in mud.A few miles away from the site, at the rest area where U.S. Highway 400 meets U.S. Highway 169, is a state historical marker about the Benders. It doesn’t give the location of the site, just saying it is near.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635691638811.jpeg" alt="The Bender historical marker sits at a rest area at the intersection of U.S. Highway 400 and U.S. Highway 169 near Cherryvale. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)" />
 <figcaption>The Bender historical marker sits at a rest area at the intersection of U.S. Highway 400 and U.S. Highway 169 near Cherryvale. (Max McCoy/Kansas Reflector)</figcaption>
 </figure>The narrative on the marker indicates how attitudes toward the Benders have changed over the years, at least among historians.The text on the marker, as originally provided by the state historical society, described Kate Bender as “a beautiful, voluptuous girl with tigerish grace” and “the leading spirit of the murderous family.” The description was typical of most narratives about the Benders and, in 1970, is what led Samuel Goldwyn Jr. to openly speculate whom he should cast as the beautiful and diabolical Kate in an intended major release. Jacqueline Bissett seemed a frontrunner.While Goldwyn’s film was never made, there have been smaller films featuring the Benders. In 2016’s&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0s5lOHliQY">“Bender,”</a>&nbsp;Nicole Jellen played Kate. There have also been novels and graphic novels, most notably&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Geary">Rick Geary’s</a>&nbsp;“Saga of Bloody Benders.” There have been a mountain of nonfiction books, the latest of which is&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/622578/hells-half-acre-by-susan-jonusas/">“Hell’s Half Acre”</a>&nbsp;by Susan Jonusas, set for release in March 2022, which promises to tell us the “untold story.”The current state historical marker has been edited to omit any mention of Kate as voluptuous or possessing grace, tigerish or otherwise. While Kate is an intriguing historical figure, there’s just no evidence to suggest she was the family mastermind. Murder is a dull and brutish business, no temptress required.If there is an untold story to be told about the 1873 horror seven miles northeast of Cherryvale, chances are it won’t come from a movie or a book. But it just might emerge from the mud at the base of a mound on an otherwise featureless parcel of farmland recently purchased by a local kid who was fascinated by one of the bloodiest true stories in Kansas history.Max McCoy is an award-winning author and journalist. A native Kansan, he started his career at the Pittsburg Morning Sun and was soon writing for national magazines. His investigative stories on unsolved murders, serial killers and hate groups earned him first-place awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors and other organizations. McCoy has also written more than 20 books, the most recent of which is "Elevations: A Personal Exploration of the Arkansas River," named a Kansas Notable Book by the state library. "Elevations" also won the National Outdoor Book Award, in the history/biography category. Max teaches journalism at Emporia State University.The above opinion piece is republished with permission from <a href="http://kansasreflector.com">Kansas Reflector</a>.

MCCOY: A mysterious murder site has a new owner

By RON WILSON Kansas State University

In our modern society of today, it’s important to have various kinds of networks. But what if we could have a network of networks?&nbsp;

Today we’ll meet a team of people who are building connections between multiple networks for the economic benefit of small businesses and communities across the state.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Christina Long is strategic director for this new cross sector network known as NetWorked – Partnership for Community Investment, sometimes known as NetWorked for Change or NetWorked for short. She knows the importance of these issues firsthand.&nbsp;

Christina is a Wichita native and a graduate of Wichita State. She was a cultural affairs reporter for the Wichita Eagle and then worked with the Wichita school system in student support.&nbsp;

In 2013, she launched her own business known as CML Collective. CML&nbsp;Collective strives to develop and enhance marketing and communication strategies for brands that recognize inclusion as a business imperative.&nbsp; “We want to create positive channels of communication for communities of color,” Christina said.&nbsp;

Among other services, CML Collective offers training titled&nbsp;Go Long – Leadership that Lasts, provided by Christina and her husband, Jonathan Long.&nbsp;

When she founded her small business, Christina reached out to the Small Business Development Center. She learned about various resources including NetWork Kansas, the statewide entrepreneurship organization.&nbsp;

In 2015, Christina conducted a half-day workshop to build awareness of these small business support resources. This would become known as Create Campaign, Inc., which provides business development support for minority business founders in the Wichita area.&nbsp;

“I could see we needed a bridge&nbsp;between entrepreneurs and service providers,” Christina said. She served in a leadership role in the Wichita Urban Entrepreneurship-Community (E-Community) and helped start similar organizations in Kansas City, Kansas and Shawnee County.&nbsp;&nbsp;n 2019, she published her book, titled&nbsp;For the Greater Success.&nbsp;

Christina worked with NetWork Kansas in various ways. In 2020, NetWork Kansas CEO Steve Radley approached her with an idea:&nbsp;&nbsp;What if there was a network of networks for economic development? Essentially, this meant creating a process for enhanced communication and collaboration among the various support systems for entrepreneurs.&nbsp;

This became what is now known as NetWorked.&nbsp;

The mission of NetWorked is to connect unconnected networks and close the gap between people, information and assets in order to develop pathways that boldly solve community challenges. “We want to encourage cross-sector collaboration,” Steve Radley said.&nbsp;

Along with multiple resources within NetWork Kansas itself, NetWorked involved key external resource persons such as Virginia Barnes from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and Jeff Usher from the Kansas Health Foundation. Among the other members of this leadership team is the NetWork Kansas product manager for rural entrepreneurship in western Kansas.&nbsp;

That is Christy Preston who lives at the rural community of Selden, population 219 people. Now, that’s rural.&nbsp;

“We want to support communities big and small, urban and rural,” Christina Long said.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Ultimately, the success of investment in these communities impacts our wellbeing as a state.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

“We had our first (online) convening in March 2021,” Christina said. Since then, Christina has facilitated monthly sessions, recorded live and posted online, with various stakeholders for NetWorked. Topics include various grants, programs and technical assistance that provide cross-sector investment in non-profit community development organizations as well as for-profit businesses.&nbsp;

“We want to make bold changes and attack real problems,” Christina said. What drives her to do this work?&nbsp;&nbsp;“I live by the African proverb that says, `I am because we are,’” she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;“We’re interconnected. I want to bring about changes in people’s lives and make this a better place.”&nbsp;

For more information on Christina’s work, go to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cmlcollective.com/" target="_blank">www.cmlcollective.com</a>. For information on NetWorked, see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.networkedforchange.com/" target="_blank">www.networkedforchange.com</a>.&nbsp;

What if we could have economic and entrepreneurial development that is supported, not just by a network, but by a network of networks? That should multiply the benefits. We commend Christina Long, Steve Radley and all those involved with NetWorked – Partnership for Community Investment for making a difference with their collaborative efforts. Their networking is having an impact of impacts.&nbsp;

And there’s more.&nbsp;&nbsp;We’ll learn about one new small business initiative next week.&nbsp;

Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huckboydinstitute.org/" target="_blank">http://www.huckboydinstitute.org</a>.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635641676307.jpeg" alt="Christina Long. Photo courtesy KSRE" />
 <figcaption>Christina Long. Photo courtesy KSRE</figcaption>
 </figure>By RON WILSON Kansas State UniversityIn our modern society of today, it’s important to have various kinds of networks. But what if we could have a network of networks?&nbsp;Today we’ll meet a team of people who are building connections between multiple networks for the economic benefit of small businesses and communities across the state.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Christina Long is strategic director for this new cross sector network known as NetWorked – Partnership for Community Investment, sometimes known as NetWorked for Change or NetWorked for short. She knows the importance of these issues firsthand.&nbsp;Christina is a Wichita native and a graduate of Wichita State. She was a cultural affairs reporter for the Wichita Eagle and then worked with the Wichita school system in student support.&nbsp;In 2013, she launched her own business known as CML Collective. CML&nbsp;Collective strives to develop and enhance marketing and communication strategies for brands that recognize inclusion as a business imperative.&nbsp; “We want to create positive channels of communication for communities of color,” Christina said.&nbsp;Among other services, CML Collective offers training titled&nbsp;Go Long – Leadership that Lasts, provided by Christina and her husband, Jonathan Long.&nbsp;When she founded her small business, Christina reached out to the Small Business Development Center. She learned about various resources including NetWork Kansas, the statewide entrepreneurship organization.&nbsp;In 2015, Christina conducted a half-day workshop to build awareness of these small business support resources. This would become known as Create Campaign, Inc., which provides business development support for minority business founders in the Wichita area.&nbsp;“I could see we needed a bridge&nbsp;between entrepreneurs and service providers,” Christina said. She served in a leadership role in the Wichita Urban Entrepreneurship-Community (E-Community) and helped start similar organizations in Kansas City, Kansas and Shawnee County.&nbsp;&nbsp;n 2019, she published her book, titled&nbsp;For the Greater Success.&nbsp;Christina worked with NetWork Kansas in various ways. In 2020, NetWork Kansas CEO Steve Radley approached her with an idea:&nbsp;&nbsp;What if there was a network of networks for economic development? Essentially, this meant creating a process for enhanced communication and collaboration among the various support systems for entrepreneurs.&nbsp;This became what is now known as NetWorked.&nbsp;The mission of NetWorked is to connect unconnected networks and close the gap between people, information and assets in order to develop pathways that boldly solve community challenges. “We want to encourage cross-sector collaboration,” Steve Radley said.&nbsp;Along with multiple resources within NetWork Kansas itself, NetWorked involved key external resource persons such as Virginia Barnes from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas and Jeff Usher from the Kansas Health Foundation. Among the other members of this leadership team is the NetWork Kansas product manager for rural entrepreneurship in western Kansas.&nbsp;That is Christy Preston who lives at the rural community of Selden, population 219 people. Now, that’s rural.&nbsp;“We want to support communities big and small, urban and rural,” Christina Long said.&nbsp;&nbsp;“Ultimately, the success of investment in these communities impacts our wellbeing as a state.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;“We had our first (online) convening in March 2021,” Christina said. Since then, Christina has facilitated monthly sessions, recorded live and posted online, with various stakeholders for NetWorked. Topics include various grants, programs and technical assistance that provide cross-sector investment in non-profit community development organizations as well as for-profit businesses.&nbsp;“We want to make bold changes and attack real problems,” Christina said. What drives her to do this work?&nbsp;&nbsp;“I live by the African proverb that says, `I am because we are,’” she said.&nbsp;&nbsp;“We’re interconnected. I want to bring about changes in people’s lives and make this a better place.”&nbsp;For more information on Christina’s work, go to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.cmlcollective.com/" target="_blank">www.cmlcollective.com</a>. For information on NetWorked, see&nbsp;<a href="http://www.networkedforchange.com/" target="_blank">www.networkedforchange.com</a>.&nbsp;What if we could have economic and entrepreneurial development that is supported, not just by a network, but by a network of networks? That should multiply the benefits. We commend Christina Long, Steve Radley and all those involved with NetWorked – Partnership for Community Investment for making a difference with their collaborative efforts. Their networking is having an impact of impacts.&nbsp;And there’s more.&nbsp;&nbsp;We’ll learn about one new small business initiative next week.&nbsp;Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.For more information about the Huck Boyd Institute, interested persons can visit&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huckboydinstitute.org/" target="_blank">http://www.huckboydinstitute.org</a>.

NOW THAT'S RURAL: Christina Long, NetWorked

Today is Sunday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2021. There are 61 days left in the year. This is Halloween. 

On Oct. 31, 1961, the body of Josef Stalin was removed from Lenin's Tomb as part of the Soviet Union's "de-Stalinization" drive. 

In 1795, English poet John Keats was born in London. 

In 1864, Nevada became the 36th state as President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation.

In 1926, magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. 

In 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927. 

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations. 

In 1975, the Queen single "Bohemian Rhapsody" was released in the United Kingdom by EMI Records.

In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh security guards. 

In 1992, Pope John Paul II formally proclaimed that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning the astronomer Galileo for holding that the Earth was not the center of the universe.

In 1998, a genetic study was released suggesting President Thomas Jefferson did in fact father at least one child by his slave Sally Hemings. 

In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard. 

In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito (ah-LEE'-toh) to the Supreme Court. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks was honored during a memorial service in Washington, D.C. 

In 2019, President Donald Trump announced that he would be making Palm Beach, Florida, his permanent residence after leaving the White House rather than returning to Trump Tower in New York.

Ten years ago: Palestinians won their greatest international endorsement yet with full membership in UNESCO, but the move prompted the U.S. to cut off payments to the Paris-based cultural agency. The United Nations estimated that the world's population had surpassed 7 billion.

Five years ago: Pope Francis marked the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation by traveling to secular Sweden, where he encouraged Catholics and Lutherans to forgive the "errors" of the past and forge greater unity, including sharing in the Eucharist.

One year ago: Actor Sean Connery, who rose to international stardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then carved out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles, died at his home in the Bahamas at the age of 90. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new month-long lockdown for England amid a resurgent coronavirus outbreak. Tropical Storm Eta formed in the Caribbean, tying the record (28) for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season. (The season would conclude with 30 named storms.)

Today's Birthdays: Actor Lee Grant is 96. Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 90. Folk singer Tom Paxton is 84. Actor Ron Rifkin is 83. Actor Sally Kirkland is 80. Actor Brian Doyle-Murray is 76. Actor Stephen Rea is 75. Olympic gold medal long-distance runner Frank Shorter is 74. Actor Deidre Hall is 74. TV show host Jane Pauley is 71. Actor Brian Stokes Mitchell is 64. Movie director Peter Jackson is 60. Rock musician Larry Mullen is 60. Actor Dermot Mulroney is 58. Rock musician Mikkey Dee is 58. Rock singer-musician Johnny Marr is 58. Actor Rob Schneider is 58. Country singer Darryl Worley is 57. Actor-comedian Mike O'Malley is 56. Rap musician Adrock is 55. Rap performer Vanilla Ice (aka Rob Van Winkle) is 54. Rock musician Rogers Stevens (Blind Melon) is 52. Rock singer Linn Berggren (Ace of Base) is 51. Reality TV host Troy Hartman is 50. Gospel singer Smokie Norful is 48. Actor Piper Perabo is 45. Actor Brian Hallisay is 43. Actor Samaire Armstrong is 41. Actor Eddie Kaye Thomas is 41. Rock musician Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance) is 40. Actor Justin Chatwin is 39. Actor Scott Clifton is 37. Actor Vanessa Marano is 29. Actor Holly Taylor is 24. Actor Danielle Rose Russell is 22. Actor-singer Willow Smith is 21.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573488868914.jpeg" alt="Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a>" />
 <figcaption>Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a></figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSToday is Sunday, Oct. 31, the 304th day of 2021. There are 61 days left in the year. This is Halloween. Today's Highlight in History: On Oct. 31, 1961, the body of Josef Stalin was removed from Lenin's Tomb as part of the Soviet Union's "de-Stalinization" drive. On this date: In 1795, English poet John Keats was born in London. In 1864, Nevada became the 36th state as President Abraham Lincoln signed a proclamation.In 1926, magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix. In 1941, work was completed on the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, begun in 1927. In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered a halt to all U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, saying he hoped for fruitful peace negotiations. In 1975, the Queen single "Bohemian Rhapsody" was released in the United Kingdom by EMI Records.In 1984, Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by two Sikh security guards. In 1992, Pope John Paul II formally proclaimed that the Roman Catholic Church had erred in condemning the astronomer Galileo for holding that the Earth was not the center of the universe.In 1998, a genetic study was released suggesting President Thomas Jefferson did in fact father at least one child by his slave Sally Hemings. In 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990, bound from New York to Cairo, crashed off the Massachusetts coast, killing all 217 people aboard. In 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Judge Samuel Alito (ah-LEE'-toh) to the Supreme Court. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks was honored during a memorial service in Washington, D.C. In 2019, President Donald Trump announced that he would be making Palm Beach, Florida, his permanent residence after leaving the White House rather than returning to Trump Tower in New York.Ten years ago: Palestinians won their greatest international endorsement yet with full membership in UNESCO, but the move prompted the U.S. to cut off payments to the Paris-based cultural agency. The United Nations estimated that the world's population had surpassed 7 billion.Five years ago: Pope Francis marked the upcoming 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation by traveling to secular Sweden, where he encouraged Catholics and Lutherans to forgive the "errors" of the past and forge greater unity, including sharing in the Eucharist.One year ago: Actor Sean Connery, who rose to international stardom as the suave secret agent James Bond and then carved out an Oscar-winning career in other rugged roles, died at his home in the Bahamas at the age of 90. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a new month-long lockdown for England amid a resurgent coronavirus outbreak. Tropical Storm Eta formed in the Caribbean, tying the record (28) for most named storms in a single Atlantic hurricane season. (The season would conclude with 30 named storms.) Today's Birthdays: Actor Lee Grant is 96. Former CBS anchorman Dan Rather is 90. Folk singer Tom Paxton is 84. Actor Ron Rifkin is 83. Actor Sally Kirkland is 80. Actor Brian Doyle-Murray is 76. Actor Stephen Rea is 75. Olympic gold medal long-distance runner Frank Shorter is 74. Actor Deidre Hall is 74. TV show host Jane Pauley is 71. Actor Brian Stokes Mitchell is 64. Movie director Peter Jackson is 60. Rock musician Larry Mullen is 60. Actor Dermot Mulroney is 58. Rock musician Mikkey Dee is 58. Rock singer-musician Johnny Marr is 58. Actor Rob Schneider is 58. Country singer Darryl Worley is 57. Actor-comedian Mike O'Malley is 56. Rap musician Adrock is 55. Rap performer Vanilla Ice (aka Rob Van Winkle) is 54. Rock musician Rogers Stevens (Blind Melon) is 52. Rock singer Linn Berggren (Ace of Base) is 51. Reality TV host Troy Hartman is 50. Gospel singer Smokie Norful is 48. Actor Piper Perabo is 45. Actor Brian Hallisay is 43. Actor Samaire Armstrong is 41. Actor Eddie Kaye Thomas is 41. Rock musician Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance) is 40. Actor Justin Chatwin is 39. Actor Scott Clifton is 37. Actor Vanessa Marano is 29. Actor Holly Taylor is 24. Actor Danielle Rose Russell is 22. Actor-singer Willow Smith is 21.

Today in History - Oct. 31

Today is Saturday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of 2021. There are 62 days left in the year. 

On Oct. 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, known as the "Rumble in the Jungle," to regain his world heavyweight title. 

In 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman, running for a second term of office with President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day. (Sherman was replaced with Nicholas Murray Butler, but Taft, the Republican candidate, ended up losing in an Electoral College landslide to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.) 

In 1921, the silent film classic "The Sheik," starring Rudolph Valentino, premiered in Los Angeles. 

In 1938, the radio play "The War of the Worlds," starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS. 

In 1945, the U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing, effective at midnight.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at about 50 megatons. The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb. 

In 1972, 45 people were killed when an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train was struck from behind by another train on Chicago's South Side.

In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead" a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City. 

In 1984, police in Poland found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerzy Popieluszko, whose death was blamed on security officers. 

In 1995, by a razor-thin vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, Federalists prevailed over separatists in a Quebec secession referendum. 

In 2001, Ukraine destroyed its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling a pledge to give up the vast nuclear arsenal it had inherited after the breakup of the former Soviet Union. 

In 2002, Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell), a rapper with the hip-hop group Run-DMC, was killed in a shooting in New York. He was 37. 

In 2005, the body of Rosa Parks arrived at the U.S. Capitol, where the civil rights icon became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda; President George W. Bush and congressional leaders paused to lay wreaths by her casket.

Ten years ago: Britain's Sunday Telegraph published an interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who warned that a western intervention in Syria would lead to an "earthquake" that "would burn the whole region."

Five years ago: The third powerful earthquake to hit Italy in two months spared human life but struck at the nation's cultural identity, destroying a Benedictine cathedral, a medieval tower and other beloved landmarks.

One year ago: A day after Walmart said it had removed ammunition and firearms from displays in U.S. stores because of "civil unrest" in some areas of the country, the retailer said the items had been restored to displays because the unrest had remained isolated. "Full House" actor Lori Loughlin reported to a federal prison in California to begin a two-month sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scandal. A Connecticut prosecutor said Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel would not face a second trial in the 1975 killing of Martha Moxley; he had served more than 11 years in prison before being freed in 2013.

Today's Birthdays: Movie director Claude Lelouch is 84. Rock singer Grace Slick is 82. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 82. R&amp;B singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 80. Actor Joanna Shimkus is 78. Actor Henry Winkler is 76. Broadcast journalist Andrea Mitchell is 75. Rock musician Chris Slade (Asia) is 75. Country/rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 74. Actor Leon Rippy is 72. Actor Harry Hamlin is 70. Actor Charles Martin Smith is 68. Country singer T. Graham Brown is 67. Actor Kevin Pollak is 64. Rock singer-musician Jerry De Borg (Jesus Jones) is 61. Actor Michael Beach is 58. Rock singer-musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 56. Actor Jack Plotnick is 53. Comedian Ben Bailey is 51. Actor Billy Brown is 51. Actor Nia Long is 51. Country singer Kassidy Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 45. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal is 43. Actor Matthew Morrison is 43. Business executive and former presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is 40. Actor Fiona Dourif is 40. Actor Shaun Sipos is 40. Actor Tasso Feldman is 38. Actor Janel Parrish is 33. Actor Tequan Richmond is 29. Actor Kennedy McMann is 25.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573488868914.jpeg" alt="Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a>" />
 <figcaption>Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a></figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSToday is Saturday, Oct. 30, the 303rd day of 2021. There are 62 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Oct. 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round of a 15-round bout in Kinshasa, Zaire, known as the "Rumble in the Jungle," to regain his world heavyweight title. On this date: In 1912, Vice President James S. Sherman, running for a second term of office with President William Howard Taft, died six days before Election Day. (Sherman was replaced with Nicholas Murray Butler, but Taft, the Republican candidate, ended up losing in an Electoral College landslide to Democrat Woodrow Wilson.) In 1921, the silent film classic "The Sheik," starring Rudolph Valentino, premiered in Los Angeles. In 1938, the radio play "The War of the Worlds," starring Orson Welles, aired on CBS. In 1945, the U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing, effective at midnight.In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the "Tsar Bomba," with a force estimated at about 50 megatons. The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin's body from Lenin's tomb. In 1972, 45 people were killed when an Illinois Central Gulf commuter train was struck from behind by another train on Chicago's South Side.In 1975, the New York Daily News ran the headline "Ford to City: Drop Dead" a day after President Gerald R. Ford said he would veto any proposed federal bailout of New York City. In 1984, police in Poland found the body of kidnapped pro-Solidarity priest Father Jerzy Popieluszko, whose death was blamed on security officers. In 1995, by a razor-thin vote of 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent, Federalists prevailed over separatists in a Quebec secession referendum. In 2001, Ukraine destroyed its last nuclear missile silo, fulfilling a pledge to give up the vast nuclear arsenal it had inherited after the breakup of the former Soviet Union. In 2002, Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell), a rapper with the hip-hop group Run-DMC, was killed in a shooting in New York. He was 37. In 2005, the body of Rosa Parks arrived at the U.S. Capitol, where the civil rights icon became the first woman to lie in honor in the Rotunda; President George W. Bush and congressional leaders paused to lay wreaths by her casket.Ten years ago: Britain's Sunday Telegraph published an interview with Syrian President Bashar Assad, who warned that a western intervention in Syria would lead to an "earthquake" that "would burn the whole region."Five years ago: The third powerful earthquake to hit Italy in two months spared human life but struck at the nation's cultural identity, destroying a Benedictine cathedral, a medieval tower and other beloved landmarks.One year ago: A day after Walmart said it had removed ammunition and firearms from displays in U.S. stores because of "civil unrest" in some areas of the country, the retailer said the items had been restored to displays because the unrest had remained isolated. "Full House" actor Lori Loughlin reported to a federal prison in California to begin a two-month sentence for her role in the college admissions bribery scandal. A Connecticut prosecutor said Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel would not face a second trial in the 1975 killing of Martha Moxley; he had served more than 11 years in prison before being freed in 2013. Today's Birthdays: Movie director Claude Lelouch is 84. Rock singer Grace Slick is 82. Songwriter Eddie Holland is 82. R&amp;B singer Otis Williams (The Temptations) is 80. Actor Joanna Shimkus is 78. Actor Henry Winkler is 76. Broadcast journalist Andrea Mitchell is 75. Rock musician Chris Slade (Asia) is 75. Country/rock musician Timothy B. Schmit (The Eagles) is 74. Actor Leon Rippy is 72. Actor Harry Hamlin is 70. Actor Charles Martin Smith is 68. Country singer T. Graham Brown is 67. Actor Kevin Pollak is 64. Rock singer-musician Jerry De Borg (Jesus Jones) is 61. Actor Michael Beach is 58. Rock singer-musician Gavin Rossdale (Bush) is 56. Actor Jack Plotnick is 53. Comedian Ben Bailey is 51. Actor Billy Brown is 51. Actor Nia Long is 51. Country singer Kassidy Osborn (SHeDAISY) is 45. Actor Gael Garcia Bernal is 43. Actor Matthew Morrison is 43. Business executive and former presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is 40. Actor Fiona Dourif is 40. Actor Shaun Sipos is 40. Actor Tasso Feldman is 38. Actor Janel Parrish is 33. Actor Tequan Richmond is 29. Actor Kennedy McMann is 25.

Today in History - Oct. 30

Today is Friday, Oct. 29, the 302nd day of 2021. There are 63 days left in the year. 

On Oct. 29, 2018, a new-generation Boeing jet operated by the Indonesian budget airline Lion Air crashed in the Java Sea minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board; it was the first of two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max, causing the plane to be grounded around the world for nearly two years as Boeing worked on software changes to a flight-control system. 

In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier, military adventurer and poet, was executed in London for treason.

In 1929, "Black Tuesday" descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America's "Great Depression" began. 

In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, Israel invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" premiered as NBC's nightly television newscast. 

In 1957, former MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer died in Los Angeles at age 75.

In 1960, a chartered plane carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team crashed on takeoff from Toledo, Ohio, killing 22 of the 48 people on board. 

In 1987, following the confirmation defeat of Robert H. Bork to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan announced his choice of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a nomination that fell apart over revelations of Ginsburg's previous marijuana use. Jazz great Woody Herman died in Los Angeles at age 74. 

In 1994, gunman Francisco Martin Duran fired more than two dozen shots from a semiautomatic rifle at the White House. (Duran was later convicted of trying to assassinate President Bill Clinton and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.)

In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he'd blazed for America's astronauts 36 years earlier. 

In 2004, four days before Election Day in the U.S., Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped statement, directly admitted for the first time that he'd ordered the September 11 attacks and told Americans "the best way to avoid another Manhattan" was to stop threatening Muslims' security.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm and its aftermath were blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S. 

In 2015, Paul Ryan was elected the 54th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. 

In 2017, all but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem, reacting to a remark from team owner Bob McNair to other NFL owners that "we can't have the inmates running the prison." 

Ten years ago: A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into an armored NATO bus on a busy thoroughfare in Kabul, killing 17 people, including 12 Americans. A "white Halloween" storm with record-setting snowfalls brought down trees across the northeastern U.S., knocking out power to millions; 39 deaths were blamed on the weather. Joe Paterno broke Eddie Robinson's record for victories by a Division I coach with No. 409 in Penn State's sloppy 10-7 win over Illinois.

Five years ago: Hillary Clinton lashed out at the FBI's handling of a new email review, leading a chorus of Democratic leaders who declared the bureau's actions just days before the election were "unprecedented" and "deeply troubling."

One year ago: The Commerce Department estimated that the U.S. economy grew at a sizzling 33.1% annual rate in the July-September quarter — by far the largest quarterly gain on record — rebounding from an epic plunge in the spring, when the coronavirus closed businesses and threw tens of millions out of work. Six people were dead and millions were without power after Hurricane Zeta tore across the South, leaving shattered buildings and thousands of downed trees as it weakened to a tropical storm. An attacker identified as an Islamic extremist who had recently arrived from Tunisia stabbed three people to death at a church in the French city of Nice before being seriously wounded by police. The Vatican ended Pope Francis' general audiences with the public amid a surge in coronavirus cases in Italy and a confirmed infection at the previous week's encounter.

Today's Birthdays: Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is 83. Country singer Lee Clayton is 79. Rock musician Denny Laine is 77. Singer Melba Moore is 76. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is 74. Actor Kate Jackson is 73. Country musician Steve Kellough (Wild Horses) is 65. Actor Dan Castellaneta (TV: "The Simpsons") is 64. Comic strip artist Tom Wilson ("Ziggy") is 64. Actor Finola Hughes is 62. Singer Randy Jackson is 60. Rock musician Peter Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 56. Actor Joely Fisher is 54. Rapper Paris is 54. Actor Rufus Sewell is 54. Actor Grayson McCouch is 53. Rock singer SA Martinez (311) is 52. Actor Winona Ryder is 50. Actor Tracee Ellis Ross is 49. Actor Gabrielle Union is 49. Actor Trevor Lissauer is 48. Olympic gold medal bobsledder Vonetta Flowers is 48. Actor Milena Govich is 45. Actor Jon Abrahams is 44. Actor Brendan Fehr is 44. Actor Ben Foster is 41. Rock musician Chris Baio (Vampire Weekend) is 37. Actor Janet Montgomery is 36. Actor India Eisley is 28.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2019/11/1573488868914.jpeg" alt="Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a>" />
 <figcaption>Photo of old book courtesy <a href="http://shutterstock.com">shutterstock</a></figcaption>
 </figure>By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSToday is Friday, Oct. 29, the 302nd day of 2021. There are 63 days left in the year. Today's Highlight in History: On Oct. 29, 2018, a new-generation Boeing jet operated by the Indonesian budget airline Lion Air crashed in the Java Sea minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board; it was the first of two deadly crashes involving the 737 Max, causing the plane to be grounded around the world for nearly two years as Boeing worked on software changes to a flight-control system. On this date: In 1618, Sir Walter Raleigh, the English courtier, military adventurer and poet, was executed in London for treason.In 1929, "Black Tuesday" descended upon the New York Stock Exchange. Prices collapsed amid panic selling and thousands of investors were wiped out as America's "Great Depression" began. In 1956, during the Suez Canal crisis, Israel invaded Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" premiered as NBC's nightly television newscast. In 1957, former MGM studio boss Louis B. Mayer died in Los Angeles at age 75.In 1960, a chartered plane carrying the California Polytechnic State University football team crashed on takeoff from Toledo, Ohio, killing 22 of the 48 people on board. In 1987, following the confirmation defeat of Robert H. Bork to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, President Ronald Reagan announced his choice of Douglas H. Ginsburg, a nomination that fell apart over revelations of Ginsburg's previous marijuana use. Jazz great Woody Herman died in Los Angeles at age 74. In 1994, gunman Francisco Martin Duran fired more than two dozen shots from a semiautomatic rifle at the White House. (Duran was later convicted of trying to assassinate President Bill Clinton and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.)In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he'd blazed for America's astronauts 36 years earlier. In 2004, four days before Election Day in the U.S., Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped statement, directly admitted for the first time that he'd ordered the September 11 attacks and told Americans "the best way to avoid another Manhattan" was to stop threatening Muslims' security.In 2012, Superstorm Sandy slammed ashore in New Jersey and slowly marched inland, devastating coastal communities and causing widespread power outages; the storm and its aftermath were blamed for at least 182 deaths in the U.S. In 2015, Paul Ryan was elected the 54th speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2017, all but 10 members of the Houston Texans took a knee during the national anthem, reacting to a remark from team owner Bob McNair to other NFL owners that "we can't have the inmates running the prison." Ten years ago: A Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into an armored NATO bus on a busy thoroughfare in Kabul, killing 17 people, including 12 Americans. A "white Halloween" storm with record-setting snowfalls brought down trees across the northeastern U.S., knocking out power to millions; 39 deaths were blamed on the weather. Joe Paterno broke Eddie Robinson's record for victories by a Division I coach with No. 409 in Penn State's sloppy 10-7 win over Illinois. Five years ago: Hillary Clinton lashed out at the FBI's handling of a new email review, leading a chorus of Democratic leaders who declared the bureau's actions just days before the election were "unprecedented" and "deeply troubling." One year ago: The Commerce Department estimated that the U.S. economy grew at a sizzling 33.1% annual rate in the July-September quarter — by far the largest quarterly gain on record — rebounding from an epic plunge in the spring, when the coronavirus closed businesses and threw tens of millions out of work. Six people were dead and millions were without power after Hurricane Zeta tore across the South, leaving shattered buildings and thousands of downed trees as it weakened to a tropical storm. An attacker identified as an Islamic extremist who had recently arrived from Tunisia stabbed three people to death at a church in the French city of Nice before being seriously wounded by police. The Vatican ended Pope Francis' general audiences with the public amid a surge in coronavirus cases in Italy and a confirmed infection at the previous week's encounter.Today's Birthdays: Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is 83. Country singer Lee Clayton is 79. Rock musician Denny Laine is 77. Singer Melba Moore is 76. Actor Richard Dreyfuss is 74. Actor Kate Jackson is 73. Country musician Steve Kellough (Wild Horses) is 65. Actor Dan Castellaneta (TV: "The Simpsons") is 64. Comic strip artist Tom Wilson ("Ziggy") is 64. Actor Finola Hughes is 62. Singer Randy Jackson is 60. Rock musician Peter Timmins (Cowboy Junkies) is 56. Actor Joely Fisher is 54. Rapper Paris is 54. Actor Rufus Sewell is 54. Actor Grayson McCouch is 53. Rock singer SA Martinez (311) is 52. Actor Winona Ryder is 50. Actor Tracee Ellis Ross is 49. Actor Gabrielle Union is 49. Actor Trevor Lissauer is 48. Olympic gold medal bobsledder Vonetta Flowers is 48. Actor Milena Govich is 45. Actor Jon Abrahams is 44. Actor Brendan Fehr is 44. Actor Ben Foster is 41. Rock musician Chris Baio (Vampire Weekend) is 37. Actor Janet Montgomery is 36. Actor India Eisley is 28.

Today in History - Oct. 29

WASHINGTON (AP) —There’s an intriguing subplot to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-pope-francis-business-europe-dcf0c3e68138c318f1980a04b27ade39">President Joe Biden’s Friday meeting with Pope Francis</a>. The world’s two most prominent Roman Catholics will be celebrating a shared outlook on church teaching and vital social issues even as Biden faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-government-and-politics-religion-ea0179cd6c8eddbf66693a7e2b28e2da">unwavering opposition from many U.S. Catholic bishops</a>&nbsp;over his stances on abortion and LGBTQ rights.

Less than three weeks after Biden’s visit to the Vatican on Friday, the American bishops will convene in Baltimore, with one of the agenda items inspired in part by conservatives who contend that Biden’s support for abortion rights&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-joe-biden-communion-d58f0eec9ac1a1ff576e38fb85bf532f">should disqualify him from receiving Communion</a>. Though any document that emerges is not expected to mention Biden by name, it’s possible there could be a clear message of rebuke.

“This is way beyond embarrassing,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of historical theology at Villanova University who recently authored a&nbsp;<a href="https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/media/pressreleases/2021/0113.html" target="_blank">book</a>&nbsp;about Biden and Catholicism.

“For some of the bishops, it’s an act of intimidation” toward Biden, Faggioli said. “And they have a pope who is protecting a Catholic president’s access to the sacraments — he’s had to send a signal from the Vatican saying, ‘We don’t think this is wise.’”

The pope upholds Catholic doctrine opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, but he has irked some conservative Catholics in the U.S. and elsewhere by emphasizing other issues that mesh with Biden’s priorities — protecting the environment, combating racial injustice and poverty, for example.

The pope and Biden “see eye to eye on many issues,” Faggioli said. “But they both are really embattled, facing very strong headwinds ... fighting against different kinds of ideologues.”

Biden is only the second Catholic president of the United States., after John F. Kennedy, and displays his faith openly, often wearing a rosary and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-politics-pope-francis-jen-psaki-42db004ea67e67350c1a563adbece683">attending Mass routinely</a>. The devotion dates to childhood; he has expressed gratitude to the nuns who helped bolster his confidence while he struggled with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-us-news-politics-7670c784a29d8cf6e60558156bdd239e">stuttering as a schoolboy.</a>

“Wherever there were nuns, there was home,” he wrote in his 2007 memoir “Promises to Keep.” “My idea of self, of family, of community, of the wider world comes straight from my religion.”

His faith was tested, but not weakened, after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/michael-pence-holidays-joe-biden-ap-top-news-delaware-e5a1e70314eb44219448eeb850c65f1e">his wife and baby daughter were killed in a traffic accident</a>&nbsp;in 1972.

“I never doubted that there was a God, but I was angry with God,” he told The Christian Science Monitor in 2007.

In that same interview, Biden conveyed why he considers himself a faithful Catholic despite his views on abortion.

“My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine,” Biden said. “There are elements within the church who say that if you are at odds with any of the teachings of the church, you are at odds with the church. I think the church is bigger than that.”

Francis already has made clear he won’t shun U.S. political leaders who support abortion rights. On Oct. 9 he met at the Vatican with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose abortion stance has drawn the wrath of the top Catholic in her hometown of San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.

Cordileone has been urging the U.S. bishops conference to send a message to Biden, Pelosi and others “that would move them in their conscience.”

“They need to understand the scandal that is caused when they say they are faithfully Catholic and yet oppose the church on such a basic concept,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-government-and-politics-religion-22e0d1ba299fe8693013036e3cc85c81">he told The Associated Press in April</a>.

Under Catholic policy, decisions regarding exclusion from Communion are left to individual bishops. While Cordileone has discouraged Pelosi from receiving Communion in his archdiocese, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, has made clear that Biden is welcome to receive Communion when he attends services there.

<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-joe-biden-communion-d58f0eec9ac1a1ff576e38fb85bf532f#:~:text=ABOARD%20THE%20PAPAL%20PLANE%20(AP,into%20questions%20about%20receiving%20Communion.">Francis, asked last month</a>&nbsp;whether Biden and like-minded politicians should be denied Communion, avoided a “yes” or “no” answer, saying bishops must minister to such people with “compassion and tenderness.” He warned that clerics shouldn’t let politics influence decisions about receiving Communion.

Abortion is not the only issue placing Biden in opposition to the U.S. bishops. He is a strong supporter of the proposed Equality Act, which would extend federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people nationwide.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usccb.org/equality-act" target="_blank">The bishops say the bill,</a>&nbsp;currently stalled in the Senate, would violate the religious freedom of churches and individuals opposed to same-sex marriage and various transgender-rights policies.

The meeting this coming week will be Biden’s first encounter with Francis since becoming president, but he has met him three times before: first when Francis was inaugurated as pope in 2013; later during the pontiff’s 2015 visit to the U.S.; and in 2016, when Biden visited the Vatican for a conference on regenerative medicine, where he spoke on cancer prevention.

Francis repeatedly reaffirmed his opposition to abortion in recent weeks, calling the procedure “murder” and defending the right of conscientious objectors to refuse to participate in it. He has likened abortion to “hiring a hitman” to solve a problem.

Chad Pecknold, a professor of theology at The Catholic University of America, doubts that the pope will confront Biden over his support for abortion rights, but said many Catholics — bishops included — may wish that would happen.

“I think the Catholic faithful have a right to hope for this, and to express their concern for the soul of Mr. Biden,” Pecknold said.

The Biden-Francis visit “could actually highlight the urgent need to unite around a clear and coherent view of how the bishops should respond to politicians who publicly hold the Church’s teaching in contempt while presenting themselves for Holy Communion,” Pecknold added via email.

Steven Millies, a professor of public theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said the meeting will affect the debate over abortion and Communion “in a way that will produce a lot of heat and very little light.” He doubts Francis will see a need to discuss abortion with Biden.

“It’s not going to get anybody anywhere,” Millies said. “On the other hand, there’s a great deal to be accomplished by focusing on areas of aligned concerned and shared interest.”

When Kennedy became the first Catholic president in 1960, abortion was not the divisive issue that it is today. Not until 1973 was there a nationwide right to abortion, and Kennedy felt no pressure to take a public stance.

Anti-Catholic prejudice was common as Kennedy campaigned. Some Protestant ministers questioned whether he could maintain independence from the Catholic Church.

Unlike Biden, Kennedy enjoyed overwhelming support from Catholic voters, winning about 80% of their votes in 1960, according to researchers at Georgetown University. Biden was backed by about half of Catholic voters in the 2020 election.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635005251145.png" alt="In 2015, then Vice President Joe Biden accompanied Pope Francis on a walk through the U.S. Capitol-photo courtesy CSPAN" />
 <figcaption>In 2015, then Vice President Joe Biden accompanied Pope Francis on a walk through the U.S. Capitol-photo courtesy CSPAN</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) —There’s an intriguing subplot to&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-pope-francis-business-europe-dcf0c3e68138c318f1980a04b27ade39">President Joe Biden’s Friday meeting with Pope Francis</a>. The world’s two most prominent Roman Catholics will be celebrating a shared outlook on church teaching and vital social issues even as Biden faces&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-government-and-politics-religion-ea0179cd6c8eddbf66693a7e2b28e2da">unwavering opposition from many U.S. Catholic bishops</a>&nbsp;over his stances on abortion and LGBTQ rights.Less than three weeks after Biden’s visit to the Vatican on Friday, the American bishops will convene in Baltimore, with one of the agenda items inspired in part by conservatives who contend that Biden’s support for abortion rights&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-joe-biden-communion-d58f0eec9ac1a1ff576e38fb85bf532f">should disqualify him from receiving Communion</a>. Though any document that emerges is not expected to mention Biden by name, it’s possible there could be a clear message of rebuke.“This is way beyond embarrassing,” said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of historical theology at Villanova University who recently authored a&nbsp;<a href="https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/media/pressreleases/2021/0113.html" target="_blank">book</a>&nbsp;about Biden and Catholicism.“For some of the bishops, it’s an act of intimidation” toward Biden, Faggioli said. “And they have a pope who is protecting a Catholic president’s access to the sacraments — he’s had to send a signal from the Vatican saying, ‘We don’t think this is wise.’”The pope upholds Catholic doctrine opposing abortion and same-sex marriage, but he has irked some conservative Catholics in the U.S. and elsewhere by emphasizing other issues that mesh with Biden’s priorities — protecting the environment, combating racial injustice and poverty, for example.The pope and Biden “see eye to eye on many issues,” Faggioli said. “But they both are really embattled, facing very strong headwinds ... fighting against different kinds of ideologues.”Biden is only the second Catholic president of the United States., after John F. Kennedy, and displays his faith openly, often wearing a rosary and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-politics-pope-francis-jen-psaki-42db004ea67e67350c1a563adbece683">attending Mass routinely</a>. The devotion dates to childhood; he has expressed gratitude to the nuns who helped bolster his confidence while he struggled with&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/joe-biden-us-news-politics-7670c784a29d8cf6e60558156bdd239e">stuttering as a schoolboy.</a>“Wherever there were nuns, there was home,” he wrote in his 2007 memoir “Promises to Keep.” “My idea of self, of family, of community, of the wider world comes straight from my religion.”His faith was tested, but not weakened, after&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/michael-pence-holidays-joe-biden-ap-top-news-delaware-e5a1e70314eb44219448eeb850c65f1e">his wife and baby daughter were killed in a traffic accident</a>&nbsp;in 1972.“I never doubted that there was a God, but I was angry with God,” he told The Christian Science Monitor in 2007.In that same interview, Biden conveyed why he considers himself a faithful Catholic despite his views on abortion.“My views are totally consistent with Catholic social doctrine,” Biden said. “There are elements within the church who say that if you are at odds with any of the teachings of the church, you are at odds with the church. I think the church is bigger than that.”Francis already has made clear he won’t shun U.S. political leaders who support abortion rights. On Oct. 9 he met at the Vatican with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose abortion stance has drawn the wrath of the top Catholic in her hometown of San Francisco, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone.Cordileone has been urging the U.S. bishops conference to send a message to Biden, Pelosi and others “that would move them in their conscience.”“They need to understand the scandal that is caused when they say they are faithfully Catholic and yet oppose the church on such a basic concept,”&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/health-coronavirus-government-and-politics-religion-22e0d1ba299fe8693013036e3cc85c81">he told The Associated Press in April</a>.Under Catholic policy, decisions regarding exclusion from Communion are left to individual bishops. While Cordileone has discouraged Pelosi from receiving Communion in his archdiocese, Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the archbishop of Washington, has made clear that Biden is welcome to receive Communion when he attends services there.<a href="https://apnews.com/article/pope-francis-joe-biden-communion-d58f0eec9ac1a1ff576e38fb85bf532f#:~:text=ABOARD%20THE%20PAPAL%20PLANE%20(AP,into%20questions%20about%20receiving%20Communion.">Francis, asked last month</a>&nbsp;whether Biden and like-minded politicians should be denied Communion, avoided a “yes” or “no” answer, saying bishops must minister to such people with “compassion and tenderness.” He warned that clerics shouldn’t let politics influence decisions about receiving Communion.Abortion is not the only issue placing Biden in opposition to the U.S. bishops. He is a strong supporter of the proposed Equality Act, which would extend federal civil rights protections to LGBTQ people nationwide.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.usccb.org/equality-act" target="_blank">The bishops say the bill,</a>&nbsp;currently stalled in the Senate, would violate the religious freedom of churches and individuals opposed to same-sex marriage and various transgender-rights policies.The meeting this coming week will be Biden’s first encounter with Francis since becoming president, but he has met him three times before: first when Francis was inaugurated as pope in 2013; later during the pontiff’s 2015 visit to the U.S.; and in 2016, when Biden visited the Vatican for a conference on regenerative medicine, where he spoke on cancer prevention.Francis repeatedly reaffirmed his opposition to abortion in recent weeks, calling the procedure “murder” and defending the right of conscientious objectors to refuse to participate in it. He has likened abortion to “hiring a hitman” to solve a problem.Chad Pecknold, a professor of theology at The Catholic University of America, doubts that the pope will confront Biden over his support for abortion rights, but said many Catholics — bishops included — may wish that would happen.“I think the Catholic faithful have a right to hope for this, and to express their concern for the soul of Mr. Biden,” Pecknold said.The Biden-Francis visit “could actually highlight the urgent need to unite around a clear and coherent view of how the bishops should respond to politicians who publicly hold the Church’s teaching in contempt while presenting themselves for Holy Communion,” Pecknold added via email.Steven Millies, a professor of public theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, said the meeting will affect the debate over abortion and Communion “in a way that will produce a lot of heat and very little light.” He doubts Francis will see a need to discuss abortion with Biden.“It’s not going to get anybody anywhere,” Millies said. “On the other hand, there’s a great deal to be accomplished by focusing on areas of aligned concerned and shared interest.”When Kennedy became the first Catholic president in 1960, abortion was not the divisive issue that it is today. Not until 1973 was there a nationwide right to abortion, and Kennedy felt no pressure to take a public stance.Anti-Catholic prejudice was common as Kennedy campaigned. Some Protestant ministers questioned whether he could maintain independence from the Catholic Church.Unlike Biden, Kennedy enjoyed overwhelming support from Catholic voters, winning about 80% of their votes in 1960, according to researchers at Georgetown University. Biden was backed by about half of Catholic voters in the 2020 election.

Biden to meet Pope Francis amid some rifts with US bishops

<a href="https://www.tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com/obituary/Arla-Mach">Obituary for Arla J. (Ocobock) Mach | Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home (tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com)</a>

July 13, 1935 ~ October 25, 2021 (age 86)

The family requests family and friends attending Arla's services to please wear masks or other facial coverings.&nbsp;

<h2>Arla J. (Ocobock) Mach, Belleville</h2><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/10/1635455263817.jpeg" alt="Arla J. (Ocobock) Mach" />
 <figcaption>Arla J. (Ocobock) Mach</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://www.tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com/obituary/Arla-Mach">Obituary for Arla J. (Ocobock) Mach | Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home (tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com)</a>July 13, 1935 ~ October 25, 2021 (age 86)<h2>The family requests family and friends attending Arla's services to please wear masks or other facial coverings.&nbsp;</h2>Arla Jeanne Mach was born on July 13, 1935, near Scandia, the daughter of Lyle D. and Dorothy (Larson) Ocobock. Arla was one of four children and grew up in Scandia, graduating from Scandia High School.Arla was united in marriage to Raymond Mach on June 30, 1957, and to this union, four children were born. Arla worked as a waitress at Bobbie &amp; Dots, she was the City Clerk for Scandia, and she retired from Cloud County Community College where she worked in payroll and bookkeeping.Arla was an avid reader, and loved going to bookstores and libraries. She also enjoyed walking, and would walk almost every day to The Feathered Nest for coffee and fellowship with her friends, and spending time with the Nest staff that she loved.She loved her family and friends beyond measure. Arla was a fantastic cook, and rarely missed making Sunday dinners for whatever family could make it. She loved to travel, especially to Estes Park in Colorado, and the Rocky Mountains in general, making many trips through the years. She also liked to travel to visit her brothers, her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren, in Seattle, Washington, Loveland, Colorado, Wamego, Kansas, Eudora, Kansas, and Lincoln, Nebraska.&nbsp;Arla passed away on October 25, 2021, in Loveland, Colorado, at the age of 86 years, 3 months and 12 days. She is preceded in death by her parents, her sons Randy and Darin, daughter-in-law Deanna Mach, brother Lyle Ocobock and sister Gwen Loring.She is survived by her daughters Terri Paugh of Belleville and Lori Reinke (Dan) of Loveland, Colorado. Arla is also survived by her grandchildren Mandy Mach, Amber Mach (Jason), Dustin Mach, Megan Jones (Taylor), Kyle Cyr (Sarah), Ashley Worobec (Adam) and Aaron Reinke; greatgrandchildren, Dokken, Audrey, Ethan, Roman, Vandin, Paxton, Eli, Renli, Kade, Kirk, Korey and Niko. She is also survived by her brother Vaughn Ocobock of Lincoln, Nebraska, and brother-in-law Glenn Loring of Scandia, nieces, nephews, and many friends.Funeral services will be Saturday, October 30, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. at Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home in Belleville, with visitation and family greeting friends from 11:30 a.m. until service time. Cremation will follow, with private family inurnment at Riverview Cemetery in Scandia at a later date.Friends may sign Arla’s book on Friday, October 29th, from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., at the funeral home. Memorials are requested to the Arla Mach Memorial and may be sent in care of the funeral home.Tibbetts-Fischer Funeral Home assisted the Mach family with these arrangements, www.tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com.&nbsp;&nbsp;To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Arla J. (Ocobock) Mach, please visit our&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tibbettsfischerfuneralhome.com/obituary/Arla-Mach/sympathy">floral store.</a>