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VOLUME 131, No. 178
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Accused priests
move on to teach,
counsel and prey
BY CLAUDIA LAUER AND MEGHAN
HOYER
Associated Press
Almost 1,700 priests and
other clergy members that the
Roman Catholic Church consid-
ers credibly accused of child
sexual abuse are living under
the radar with little to no over-
sight from religious authorities
or law enforcement, decades
after the first wave of the church
abuse scandal roiled U.S. dioces-
Participants in the Summer Founders Program at Happy Valley LaunchBox.
Happy Valley LaunchBox
business accelerator
helps local startups
BY SARAH PAEZ
spaez@centredaily.com
Nicholas Welch was putting
his kids to bed one night when
he noticed the light switch out-
side their room was hot.
“If I had not found that (hot
switch), that would’ve, without
question, undoubtedly turned
into a fire within the next few
hours,” he said.
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es, an Associated Press investi-
gation has found.
These priests, deacons, monks
and lay people now teach mid-
dle-school math. They counsel
survivors of sexual assault. They
work as nurses and volunteer at
nonprofits aimed at helping
at-risk kids. They live next to
playgrounds and day care cen-
ters. They foster and care for
children.
And in their time since leav-
ing the church, dozens have
Finding no protective gear
that his kids could reasonably
use to save themselves in the
event of a fire, Welch set out to
create a device that could pro-
tect the most vulnerable pop-
ulations — young children and
seniors — from fatal smoke
inhalation during a fire.
Welch, a combat veteran and
former emergency room physi-
cian who lives in Bloomsburg,
had the drive and competitive
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committed crimes, including
sexual assault and possessing
child pornography, the AP’s
analysis found.
A recent push by Roman
Catholic dioceses across the U.S.
to publish the names of clergy
members it considers to be cred-
ibly accused has opened a win-
dow into the daunting problem
of how to monitor and track
priests who often were never
criminally charged and, in many
cases, were removed from or
edge needed to run a startup,
but he had to get from imagin-
ing the product to creating and
selling it.
Armed with a sketch of his
product idea, Welch went to the
Small Business Development
Center in Wilkes-Barre. From
there, he connected with the
Penn State Entrepreneur
Assistance and IP Clinic, Penn
State engineering’s The Learn-
ing Factory, Wilkes University,
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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2019
left the church to live as private
citizens.
Each diocese determines its
own standard to deem a priest
credibly accused, with the alle-
gations ranging from inappropri-
ate conversations or unwanted
hugging to forced sodomy or
rape.
Dioceses and religious orders
so far have shared the names of
more than 5,100 credibly ac-
cused clergy members, more
than three-quarters of them in
the last year. The AP researched
the nearly 2,000 who remain
alive to determine where they
have lived and worked – the
largest-scale review to date of
what happened to priests named
as possible sexual abusers.
The review found more than
160 continued working or volun-
teering in churches, including
dozens in Catholic dioceses
overseas. Roughly 190 obtained
SEE PRIESTS, 2A
RICK BRANDT Happy Valley LaunchBox
Bucknell Engineering and
Wilkes-Barre Think Centre.
Welch’s Smoke Shield System
is a device that, when it detects
smoke, turns lethal gases from
smoke into breathable air for up
to an hour. It’s designed to be
mounted in the corner of an
enclosed space, like a closet, so
that children or elderly people
can shelter in place while an
LED light alerts emergency
responders to the victim’s loca-
tion. People also have the option
to attach emergency cellular
communications so they can
connect directly with emergency
services.
In a matter of months, Welch
had enrolled in the 16-week
FastTrack Accelerator program
beginning November 2018
through April 2019 at Happy
SEE LAUNCHBOX, 4A
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Penn State
police K-9
handler will
not face
charges
BY BRET PALLOTTO
bpallotto@centredaily.com
The Penn State police K-9
handler who was the subject of a
state police animal cruelty
investigation will not be charged
because there was insufficient
evidence to support a conviction,
Centre County District Attorney
Bernie Cantorna said Friday.
The unidentified male officer
was placed on administrative
leave in July after a complaint
was filed. State police at Hun-
tingdon investigated the claim
that the officer held the dog by
the neck, struck it on the head
and threw it to the ground, ac-
cording to a state police press
release issued Friday.
Those with knowledge of the
incident were interviewed, along
with K-9 experts. The dog was
found to have no injuries after a
full examination at an animal
hospital, police said.
The investigation was turned
over to Cantorna’s office, which
determined in September that
there was not enough evidence to
move forward. The investigation
was then closed, police said.
University police are reviewing
the state police report, depart-
ment spokeswoman Jenn Cruden
SEE K-9, 2A
District
reacts to
State High
student’s
video
BY SARAH PAEZ
spaez@centredaily.com
State College Area School Dis-
trict is addressing an incident in
which a State High student used
“racially insensitive” language in
a self-made video that was
shared on social media by anoth-
er student.
Lorraine Jones, a SCASD pa-
rent and member of Standing Up
for Racial Justice, said the group
was contacted Thursday by
SCASD students of color and
their families who said a racist
video was posted on Snapchat by
a State High student, which the
school district has confirmed.
The student was using racial
slurs in the video, which was
posted Thursday night and was
still circulating on Friday, Jones
said. SURJ leadership and the
SEE VIDEO, 2A
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News
Influx of immigrants is
rebuilding Florida
BY MIRIAM JORDAN
New York Times
CALLAWAY, FLA.
They arrived by the hun-
dreds last year after Hurri-
cane Michael sliced
through the Florida Pan-
handle, packing 160 mph
winds that snapped pine
trees in half, mangled steel
posts, ripped off roofs and
upended people’s lives.
Without electricity, potable
water or reliable accommo-
dation, a rapid-response
labor force got to work
carting away the wreckage.
In the ensuing months,
the workers – nearly all of
them from Central Amer-
ica, Mexico and Venezuela
– toiled day and night
across Bay County to re-
open Panama City’s City
Hall, repair the local cam-
pus of Florida State Uni-
versity and fix damaged
roofs on several churches.
In towns like Callaway,
Nicholas Welch, CEO of Southern Safety Products LLC, talks about his product and about
going through the Happy Valley LaunchBox FastTrack program.
FROM PAGE 1A
LAUNCHBOX
Valley LaunchBox, a
business incubator part of
Invent Penn State. Going
through the program was
like having a “10,000 foot
view” of all the tools need-
ed to succeed in running a
startup, he said.
Over 40 participants
have gone through the
accelerator program, which
started in 2016, said Jason
Huber, LaunchBox en-
trepreneurial cog connec-
tor.
“They just seem to be
collectively dedicated to
enhancing the community
involvement and opportu-
nities for entrepreneurs to
bring their ideas, their
concepts to market to be
tested by industry profes-
sionals,” Welch said. “And
it’s for everyone. It’s for
locally driven economy to
inspire entrepreneurs to
have these types of re-
sources that wouldn’t nor-
mally be available.”
FROM STARTUP
CONCEPT TO REALITY
By using the Penn State
Law clinics, Welch said he
was able to save over
$100,000 in legal fees
with all the consulting,
research and filing they did
for him. He only had to pay
the $149 intellectual prop-
erty trademark filing fee.
Tamela Serensits, a Buf-
falo, New York native who
has lived in State College
for 15 years, put her idea
through the FastTrack
program that began in
November 2018 and is now
about to launch her prod-
uct.
“I think I would’ve got-
ten discouraged early on
without having all the re-
sources that they have (at
LaunchBox) and the en-
couragement. Encourage-
ment and accountability,”
she said.
Five to eight teams are
typically selected by appli-
cation for the FastTrack
program. Participants meet
which saw 90% of its hous-
ing stock damaged by the
Category 5 storm last Octo-
ber, they are still working.
The Congressional Bud-
get Office estimates that
1.2 million Americans live
in coastal areas at risk of
significant damage from
hurricanes.
The increased frequency
and severity of such disas-
ters have given rise to a
new recovery-and-recon-
struction workforce.
It is overwhelmingly
made up of immigrants.
Like the migrant farm-
workers of yesteryear who
followed the crops, the
hurricane workers move
from disaster to disaster.
They descended on New
Orleans after Hurricane
Katrina; Houston after
Harvey; North Carolina
after Florence; Florida after
Irma and Michael.
And as the United States
confronts more extreme
weather caused by climate
weekly as a group, and
learn about customer dis-
covery, marketing, logo
making, prototypes and
legal assistance for compa-
ny formation and intellec-
tual property, said Huber.
They also partake in one-
on-one mentoring, hear
from guest speakers who
talk about different aspects
of early stage startup devel-
opment, and make pitches
to the group, he said.
“What our mission is at
LaunchBox is essentially
accelerate and de-risk your
business so if we can put
resources in place that will
help you offset lots of cost
or help you save a lot of
time,” he said.
Everyone who doesn’t
get in to LaunchBox’s pro-
grams is still able to use its
free resources, he said.
LaunchBox helps several
hundred people per year,
offering co-working space
and walk-in legal and busi-
ness advice Monday-Fri-
day.
Serensits, a Navy veteran
who worked in the sales
department at MiniTab in
State College for 10 years,
kept hearing from custom-
ers at smaller manufactur-
ing businesses who needed
a simpler software for qual-
ity control-specific statis-
tics. When she left the
company in August 2017,
she thought there might be
an opportunity to make a
“software program that
does the quality assurance
that smaller manufacturers
are looking for.”
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change, theirs has become
a growth industry.
Lorenzo, a 67-year-old
from Mexico, is adept at
elevating and moving
houses to higher ground,
and keeps pictures on his
cellphone to prove it –
mansions he rescued in
New Orleans; Baton
Rouge, Louisiana; and
Houston.
Marcelo, 44, specializes
in siding. “In a week here I
can earn what I make in a
month in Brazil,” he said in
the 95-degree heat as he
installed a gray facade on a
one-story house in Call-
away.
Many of the hurricane
workers are immigrants
who entered illegally across
the southwestern border.
Others are asylum-seekers,
fleeing persecution in their
home countries, or tourists
who were supposed to
remain in the country for
only a few months.
Many said they came
ABBY DREY adrey@centredaily.com
A friend referred her to
Lee Erickson, director of
Happy Valley LaunchBox,
who gave Serensits a book
guide on customer discov-
ery. She went through the
process, and a year later
she won a spot in the busi-
ness accelerator. There,
she began developing
Argolytics, a web-based
software tool that helps
smaller manufacturers
track the quality of their
product using Trendable,
an accurate quality control
reporting software.
TURNING KNOWLEDGE
INTO GROWTH
Like Welch, Serensits has
taken advantage of mul-
tiple programs aimed at
supporting entrepreneurs
and small business devel-
opment. She earned a mi-
cro-grant for $3,000
through the National Sci-
ence Foundation I-Corps,
gained help through the
Penn State Law clinic,
participated in a pitch com-
petition for funding
through the Ben Franklin
TechCelerator at State
College, gained $10,000
through the Penn State
Summer Founders Program
and was approved for seed
funding from Ben Franklin
State College Kiwanis Club
AMBA Blood Screening
Wellness Event
Saturday, November 2nd, 2019
6:30 A.M. to 10 A.M.
at Grace Lutheran Church
Corner of Garner and
Beaver Avenue in State College
Call 1-800-234-8888
to make an appointment
because they knew the
work was plentiful and
promised to pay well.
But since arriving in Bay
County during the chaotic
weeks after Hurricane
Michael, many of the im-
migrant workers have been
exploited by employers
who do not always pay
what they are owed or
landlords who charge exor-
bitant rent for their tempo-
rary quarters.
In this relatively conser-
vative corner of the coun-
try, some have been
stopped by sheriff’s depu-
ties and transferred to
Immigration and Customs
Enforcement.
“Sometimes we work
and work, we trust people,
and then we don’t get
paid,” said Will, a 44-year-
old Honduran immigrant
who has worked successive
hurricanes since Katrina in
2005.
Like others, he asked to
be identified only by his
first name out of concern
that he could be targeted
for deportation, which he
said was a constant worry.
Technology Partners — all
within two years.
“You can see actually her
confidence grow from each
(program), and the differ-
ent connections she’s able
to make from each one,”
said Huber.
Both entrepreneurs have
concentrated their efforts
to grow their businesses in
the central Pennsylvania
region by using mostly
local talent and keeping
manufacturing in-state.
“There are quite a num-
ber of individuals in the
community that have al-
ready helped me get this
product together,” said
Serensits. “... That’s an
incentive for me to look
locally first for people who
can help support this prod-
uct and bring it to the mar-
ket.”
She will launch Tren-
dable at the Quality Show
outside Chicago Oct. 22-
24, and plans to hire em-
ployees in sales and mar-
keting and software devel-
opment within the next
year.
Welch, meanwhile,
recruited both his vice
president of research and
development Mark Bou-
dreau and chief technology
officer Colby Geary from
Penn State University Park.
Right now, he’s optimizing
and testing his product,
crowdfunding for market
research, engineering for
manufacturability, building
industry relationships and
working with Worcester
Polytechnic Institute in
Massachusetts on an SBIR
grant.
“I profoundly implore
anyone who’s considering
taking the risk or consid-
ering the journey to be an
entrepreneur, start their
own business, launch their
own product, between the
Small Business Devel-
opment Center and the
LaunchBox, I don’t feel like
there’s anything better that
you can do to improve your
understanding, your per-
ceptions (or) what your
next steps are,” he said.
Applications for the Fast-
Track program close Oct.
26 at 11:59 p.m. Interested
applicants should visit
launchbox.psu.edu.
US to begin
denying visas
to immigrants
unable to pay
medical costs
BY MICHAEL D. SHEAR
AND MIRIAM JORDAN
New York Times
WASHINGTON
The Trump adminis-
tration will deny visas to
immigrants who cannot
prove they will have health
insurance or the ability to
pay for medical costs once
they become permanent
residents of the United
States, the White House
announced Friday in the
latest move by President
Donald Trump to under-
mine legal immigration.
Trump issued a proclama-
tion, effective Nov. 3, order-
ing consular officers to bar
immigrants seeking to live
in the United States unless
they “will be covered by
approved health insurance”
or can prove that they have
“the financial resources to
pay for reasonably fore-
seeable medical costs.”
Trump justified the move
by saying that legal im-
migrants are three times as
likely as U.S. citizens to lack
health insurance, making
them a burden on hospitals
and taxpayers in the United
States. Officials cited a Kais-
er Family Foundation study
that said that among the
nonelderly population, 23%
of legal immigrants were
likely to be uninsured, com-
pared with about 8% of U.S.
citizens.
“The United States gov-
ernment is making the
problem worse by admitting
thousands of aliens who
have not demonstrated any
ability to pay for their health
care costs,” Trump wrote,
adding, “immigrants who
enter this country should
not further saddle our health
care system, and subse-
quently American taxpayers,
with higher costs.”
The president’s procla-
mation, which has been in
the works for several
months, is aimed primarily
at immigrants seeking to
join their families in the
United States, according to
a White House official who
spoke under condition of
anonymity to more openly
discuss the new policy. It
does not affect refugees,
asylum-seekers or students
seeking to attend college in
the United States, accord-
ing to the White House.
Immigrant visas are the
vehicle for receiving a
green card in the United
States for people who are
processing their paperwork
abroad. Once the policy is
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SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 2019
CENTREDAILY.COM
in place, people seeking
those visas would be asked
by consular officers to
show how they intend to be
covered by health insur-
ance within 30 days of
arriving in the United
States. That could include
proof they will have health
care through a job or will
be covered under a rela-
tive’s insurance.
If they cannot show that
to the satisfaction of the
consular office, their visa
will be denied, the White
House official said. The
State Department will de-
velop standards and rules
that consular officials will
follow in making the deter-
mination, the official said.
Thousands of people
annually would be denied
green cards if the executive
order takes effect, said
Steve Yale-Loehr, an im-
migration scholar at Cor-
nell Law School.
The surprise order is the
latest step in a long effort
by Stephen Miller, the
president’s top immigra-
tion adviser, and others in
the administration, to limit
what they consider the
financial burdens of allow-
ing immigrants into the
United States.
After years of effort by
Miller, the administration
issued a regulation in Au-
gust that would allow offi-
cials to deny permanent
legal status to immigrants
who are poor. The reg-
ulation, which imposes an
aggressive wealth test on
legal immigrants, has faced
several legal challenges but
will go into effect on Oct.
15 unless it is blocked by a
court.
Under that policy, known
as the “public charge” rule,
immigrants seeking to live
permanently in the United
States could be denied if
officials deem it is likely
they will be a burden on
society by, for example,
being unable to pay for
health care or seeking food
and housing assistance.
Under the new proclama-
tion, which was earlier re-
ported by The Wall Street
Journal, officials are directed
to use a similar approach in
determining whether to
grant immigrant visas to
people seeking to live in the
United States.
Immigration advocates
were taken aback by the
proclamation, noting there
are already several steps
applicants for a green card
must take to qualify.