(CNN) -- A 93-year-old World War II medic who froze to death last month in his Bay City, Michigan, home left his entire estate to a local hospital, an estate attorney told CNN Wednesday.
The temperature in Marvin Schur's home was 32 degrees when his body was found, a medical examiner said.
The temperature in Marvin Schur's home was 32 degrees when his body was found, a medical examiner said.
The attorney would not disclose the exact amount left behind by Martin Schur. But his nephew said his uncle indicated to family members two years ago that he had saved up more than a half-million dollars over the years. Schur and his wife, Marian, who died more than a year ago, did not have any children.
"I just know at one time he said he had over $600,000 in savings," said William Walworth. "That's what he told me and my brother, and he was proud that he was able to save and build his estate up to that."
Cathy Reder, an attorney negotiating on behalf of Bay Regional Medical Center and the Schur family, said she was filing paperwork in probate court Wednesday for the court to determine the validity of the will. A hearing has been set for March 17.
Reder would not specify the amount left to the hospital, other than to say it's more than $1.
"The will leaves everything to Bay Medical Center," she said.
The hospital had no immediate comment.
Walworth said his uncle was a frugal man who hadn't eaten at a restaurant for over 30 years. "He was very tight, and he was very frugal. But he did manage to save a lot of money."
He said it's possible his uncle's estate could be less than $600,000, but he believes it's still "sizable."
"Knowing my uncle, that's him," Walworth said. "He loved his community. He loved Bay City, Michigan."
He added, "Hopefully his death is not in vain and we can learn from this, and he's still able to save lives. ... He was a very unique, special person in my life. I'm proud of what he was able to do in his life."
He said he hopes his uncle's message will spur others to "look out for their neighbor."
Read the rest of this tragic story (here).
KANSAS CITY — A three-member panel of the Western District Court of Appeals has upheld a Cole County Circuit Court decision in favor of Windermere Baptist Conference Center’s right to amend its articles of incorporation in 2001 without the approval of the Missouri Baptist Convention.
Cole County Judge Richard Callahan in March 2008 granted Windermere’s motion for summary judgment, prompting the MBC’s appeal.
MBC cases against The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptist University, Missouri Baptist Foundation and Word&Way have not yet been decided.
Word&Way will soon post a fuller story on the latest decision.See latest information from The Word and Way (here)
and more extensively (here).
~*~
IN-DEPTH COVERAGE from The Springfield News Leader
(here).~*~
READ THE COURT'S DECISION
(here - pdf required).
(This link was borrowed from Brian Kaylor's insightful blog.)
~*~
Appeals court sides with Missouri Baptist conference center
By Vicki Brown (Associated Baptist Press)
Tuesday, 03 February 2009
February 4, 2009
~*~
Appeals Court Affirms Trial Judge in Windermere Case
MBC Pathway,
the official journal of the Missouri Baptist Convention
February 4, 2009
~*~
Appeals Court Rules Against Mo. Convention
EthicsDaily.com Staff
February 4, 2009
~*~
WINDERMERE'S WEBSITE (HERE)
~*~~*~~*~
From the time-warped MBC Pathway (timestamped as Last Published: February 3, 2009 3:25 PM)
Missouri Baptists get new executive director
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (BP)—The man who held the interim title for nearly 22 months, David Tolliver, is the new executive director of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC).
The MBC Executive Board in a special called meeting Feb. 3 voted to call Tolliver 44-4, and Tolliver said he would accept in a Gold Room filled with board members, state convention staff, and visitors. Tolliver, 58, has been serving since May 2005 as an MBC associate executive director.
The executive board action was the culmination of a nationwide search by the 11-member search committee that took nearly 19 months. During that time Tolliver, a fourth-generation Missouri Baptist pastor, was hard at work in the Baptist Building in what turned out to be an extended job interview. Various national candidates besides Tolliver were considered along the way, but he was the only one recommended and ultimately called to succeed David Clippard, who was terminated April 10, 2007, on a 44-7 vote by the board.
Tolliver becomes the 12th man to hold the position of executive director/general superintendent/executive secretary since the 175-year-old convention created that office in 1917. Seven of those leaders served in the Missouri Baptist General Association, which was renamed the MBC in December 1958.
Read article (here).
Lots more to be said later today ...
Peace Committee continues work, more meetings set
JEFFERSON CITY—The Peace Committee of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) is looking for some guidance from the entity that formed it, the MBC Executive Board, before going ahead with a third-party mediator for what would appear to be a process of biblical reconciliation.
The committee agreed Jan. 15 when it met at the Baptist Building to place two items on the agenda of the Feb. 3 special called meeting of the Executive Board, which is mainly to consider MBC Interim Executive Director David Tolliver for the position of executive director.
The first item is to amend the composition of the committee to include two non-voting, ex-officio members—the executive director, and the chairman of the board’s Administrative Committee, who is Roy Dameron, a retired minister from Concord Baptist Church here.
Also up for a board vote is a Peace Committee request that Johnny Johnson, a Peacemaker Ministries consultant, be secured as an independent contractor for future Peace Committee meetings. This is “in compliance with the spirit” of the mandate of the committee, which is “to work things out in Missouri Baptist life.” ...
Read entire article (here).More comments to follow after today's meeting ...
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.
Marvin E. Schur died "a slow, painful death," said Kanu Virani, Oakland County's deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy.
Neighbors discovered Schur's body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City Times reported Monday.
"Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning." ...
Read The Associated Press Story (here).
Our Opinion: Heartless Power company shows no remorse at death of customerRead the entire editorial (here).
No one gave Marvin E. Schur a second thought.
And someone should lose sleep — if not some freedom — over his death.
...The company must file testimony in the case by Feb. 22, reported the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, including what steps the company took to enroll senior citizens like Schur for shut-off protection.
Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told the Associated Press that the company’s policies would be reviewed but he didn’t think the case was handled incorrectly.
A man died, and the city manager doesn’t think the city did anything wrong?
In his infinite wisdom, the city manager did have one sound piece of advice:
“I’ve said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors,” Belleman told the AP.
Customers are neighbors, too.
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) — A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said.
Marvin E. Schur died "a slow, painful death," said Kanu Virani, Oakland County's deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy.
Neighbors discovered Schur's body on Jan. 17. They said the indoor temperature was below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City Times reported Monday.
"Hypothermia shuts the whole system down, slowly," Virani said. "It's not easy to die from hypothermia without first realizing your fingers and toes feel like they're burning." ...
Read The Associated Press Story (here).
Our Opinion: Heartless Power company shows no remorse at death of customerRead the entire editorial (here).
No one gave Marvin E. Schur a second thought.
And someone should lose sleep — if not some freedom — over his death.
...The company must file testimony in the case by Feb. 22, reported the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth, including what steps the company took to enroll senior citizens like Schur for shut-off protection.
Bay City Manager Robert Belleman told the Associated Press that the company’s policies would be reviewed but he didn’t think the case was handled incorrectly.
A man died, and the city manager doesn’t think the city did anything wrong?
In his infinite wisdom, the city manager did have one sound piece of advice:
“I’ve said this before and some of my colleagues have said this: Neighbors need to keep an eye on neighbors,” Belleman told the AP.
Customers are neighbors, too.
Parts of the "All In the Family" Letter will be posted shortly.
The Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Board will consider Dr. David Tolliver for the position of Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Director during their February meeting (February 3):
(Missouri Baptist Convention Pathway) JEFFERSON CITY—David Tolliver, who has served as interim executive director for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) since April 2007, will be recommended for the job permanently at a special called meeting of the MBC Executive Board Feb. 3.The board is expected to discuss calling Tolliver to the position and vote, up or down, on his candidacy, according to James Freeman, chairman of the Executive Director Search Committee and a layman from Country Meadows Baptist Church, Independence. The meeting will take place at 11 a.m. at the Baptist Building.
Tolliver, 58, is well known throughout Missouri as a pastor who has stood in pulpits and shepherded flocks from St. Louis to Mid-Missouri to Kansas City. Those churches include: Calvary Baptist and Oak Hill Baptist in St. Louis (8½ years total after a merger); Friendship Baptist, California (5 years); and Pisgah Baptist, Excelsior Springs (6 years).Over the last two decades he has worn multiple hats as both a Southern Baptist and Missouri Baptist leader, serving on several national and state boards and committees.
His work includes: Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee, 1992-2000; SBC Committee on Nominations, 1999; MBC president, 2004; MBC recording secretary, 2002; president of the Missouri Baptist Pastors’ Conference, 2000; MBC Agency Restoration Group since its inception in 2002; Southwest Baptist University trustee, 2002-2007; and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trustee, 2002-2008).
... (see remainder of article in the MBC Pathway here).
(Missouri Baptist Convention Pathway) JEFFERSON CITY—Founders of the annual prayer service for Missouri government leaders at Concord Baptist Church have always said that the event is bigger than any one person, yet Jan. 7 was notable in that it ended the five-year run of a familiar friend—Gov. Matt Blunt.
Blunt, a Missouri Southern Baptist who worships at Second [Baptist Church of] Springfield, never missed a service after he attended the first one in 2005 as governor-elect.
His actions revealed his abiding belief that prayer works, and members of the three sponsoring entities—the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) Christian Life Commission (CLC), The Pathway, and the host church—came to appreciate his consistency.
It seemed inevitable that the 2009 service would have a warm moment. Five days before he was to leave office, the governor heard Michael Knight, prayer service master of ceremonies, pastor of First Baptist Church, Viburnum, and member of the MBC Executive Board, thank him for his faithful service while in office due to his good character.
Departing from tradition, many of the 200 or so attendees applauded a man, causing the governor to examine his shortcomings before a holy God.
“It was too kind,” Blunt said. “I’m a fallible person, and I’m aware of that, but it’s been a real privilege to attend this event through my years as governor... .”
Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has since succeeded Blunt, a Republican, as governor.
(See: Governor Provided Annual Reminder of Prayer’s Priority here.)
But I don't understand! Doesn't REAL Justice demand that those involved in unethical and even criminal conduct be dismissed -- both within the Southwest Baptist University Trustees and the Missouri Baptist Convention Executive Board?Marie wrote in response:
If that is all that can be done, then, yes.
But, in light of all that has happened, that seems like a pathetically simplistic response.
Of course, my purpose in this (at least in part) is to deliver my own life out of their hands and to “restore”(if and where possible) the lives of those who aided me during these years.
If this reprehensible situation persists, sooner or later, individuals associated with Southwest Baptist University will be responsible for ending my life -- either through unmediated hostility, calculated, surrogate assault, or ongoing, contemptuous neglect.
At this point, I have a moral responsibility to act: My refusal to publicly confront these people -- who show so little concern for the lives of others (and for my life, in particular) -- would be the moral equivalent of suicide (or self-murder) and/or of being an accessory to the "murder" of the souls (if not the actual bodies) of others.
Regardless of their propaganda claims of excellence, these people have not acted in a "godly" -- or even "reasonable" or "good" -- manner.
REAL Justice is demanded in this case. Absolutely. But, Justice -- especially Restorative Justice -- is not simple or reflexive revenge. Always, Justice must be tempered and transformed by Mercy.
Jesus came not merely to fulfill Justice, but to teach, demonstrate, and embody Mercy.
His Sacrifice should be the Example we model, not the weak exculpations and excuses, which so permeate much of the modern Church.
Christ’s sacrificial Example was not (and is not) simple, cheap, or easy.
Jesus came to give Himself for the good of the Church and the World -- THAT should be OUR ultimate goal in this Sacrificial Justice.
This is the Mystery: Justice -- transformed by Mercy through Sacrifice -- brings True Restoration.
Indeed, both Sacrificial Justice and Restorative Mercy are desperately needed by Southwest Baptist University, the Missouri Baptist Convention, and the First Baptist Church of Bolivar -- whether they acknowledge it themselves or not.
... and THAT is what we ALL should seek.
Thursday, January 15, 2009 Specifically, these claims involve: malicious slander and defamation; harassment; intimidation; retaliation; witness tampering; forgery; obstruction of justice; fraud; the conspiracy to defraud and harm in collaboration with city, county, and state officials; the conspiracy to defraud and harm in collaboration with Southwest Baptist University, Southern Baptist and Missouri Baptist Conventions and other church officials; the conspiracy to defraud and harm in collaboration with local business and community members; the intentional infliction of physical damage, pain and suffering; the intentional infliction of emotional distress and social, spiritual, and psychological anguish, pain and suffering; financial damage and losses; the invasion of privacy and violation of confidentiality; pastoral negligence and the abuse of pastoral privilege and authority, and various conspiracies to cause injury, humiliation, debasement, and harm.As you can see, these claims are a serious, long-standing affront to Jesus Christ and His Church. Further, it is impossible to ignore the reality of the involvement of a sizable portion of the membership of your congregation.
... form the basis for restorative practices in all settings, using all models, where the primary aims are to repair harm and promote dialogue. ... Supporting this framework of Principles are the values encompassed by the Restorative Justice Process. Restorative practices are underpinned by a set of values, these include: Empowerment, Honesty, Respect, Engagement, Voluntarism, Healing, Restoration, Personal Accountability, Inclusiveness, Collaboration, and Problem-solving.
Excerpts from this morning's Springfield News Leader:Jefferson City -- U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt would be "the leading candidate" to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Kit Bond in 2010, his son, outgoing Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, told the News-Leader Thursday.
"I think he makes a lot of sense in a lot of different ways," Matt Blunt said in a telephone interview.
But there might be some other prominent Republicans who would take issue with the governor's comments. ...
Blunt said he had a brief conversation with his father about Bond's surprise announcement on Thursday, but had "no real strategic discussion or anything in the nature."
Roy Blunt has not made any comments to the media about his intentions, but issued a statement Thursday praising Bond for his nearly 40 years of public service.
"After almost four decades of service, the contributions Kit made are interwoven in the history of Missouri and our nation," Congressman Roy Blunt said in a statement. ...
Roy Blunt was elected to Congress in 1996 to represent Missouri's 7th District. In that time, he's served in House GOP leadership. Prior to that, he was Missouri Secretary of State, president of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar and Greene County clerk. He lost a race for Republican primary for governor in 1992, so he has experience running statewide. ...
Matt Blunt, the outgoing Republican governor, said he was encouraged by some supporters to seek Bond's seat, but has decided to "try my hand at something else" other than politics.
"I'm really excited about some business opportunities that I'm about to launch off into," Blunt said.
Upon leaving office Monday, Matt Blunt will become senior advisor to a Boston-based private equity firm co-founded by the eldest son of former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney. ...
[Although a gubernatorial spokesman said Tuesday, December 31, 2008 that "... Blunt plans to continue living with his family in Springfield after leaving office. Blunt spokesman Rich Chrismer said it’s possible that Blunt will pursue other job opportunities as well." (see mid-article here.) ]Craig Hosmer, chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party, said in a statement that Democrats are encouraging Secretary of State Robin Carnahan to run.
"Robin Carnahan spoke to the Governor-elect this morning," Hosmer said. "Robin would be a strong candidate and a great Senator and Democrats across the state hope she'll run."
Another Democratic source close to Carnahan says she is almost certain to enter the race.
As the daughter of the late Gov. Mel Carnahan [a former Southwest Baptist University Trustee] and former U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan, her name recognition is as good as anybody's, political observers say.
When it comes to Missouri politics, the only name as well known as Carnahan is, of course, Blunt. ...
Remainder of article (here).
