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	Editorial Kuhn's Defiance Not Part of Bargain Dayton Daily News [Ohio] January 6, 2005 The priest had earlier served at Incarnation Church in Centerville, and as chaplain to the Alter High School freshman basketball team and varsity football team. He pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor charge of public indecency and 10 misdemeanor charges of providing alcohol to minors. When Judge Huffman told Rev. Kuhn his sentence, she worried aloud that "it is of great concern to me that you just don't get this." She characterized him as "absolutely remorseless." Not only was she right then, Rev. Kuhn still doesn't get it. He avoided jail time on the charges, but mainly because the maximum time he could be sentenced to was 18 months. Judge Huffman said she was putting him on probation for five years to make sure that he would remain subject to court supervision for a considerably longer period. The conditions she imposed on Rev. Kuhn's probation are basic: get treatment, stay away from kids, gambling and alcohol, and write letters of apology to the victims, including Alter High School and the parishes that he was associated with. Since then, Rev. Kuhn has decided to take a narrow, technical view of what his probation requires. By mid-December, he still hadn't sent the letters of apology. Earlier in the fall, he showed up at a Cincinnati high school, supposedly on a teacher training day when students weren't on the premises. The court had to enter a new order, spelling things out even more specifically. It sets a Jan. 31 deadline for the letters of apology, forbids Rev. Kuhn from coming within 1,000 feet of any private or public school, and requires that he complete sex-offender treatment. Again Rev. Kuhn is quibbling. His lawyer is contesting the treatment requirement, claiming that "there's no evidence in the record whatsoever that Father Kuhn was convicted of being a sex offender." Here's what appears in the record: Rev. Kuhn was convicted of "public indecency." The county prosecutor's sentencing memorandum alleges that Rev. Kuhn used "gifts" of money and alcohol to "lure his victim" — a minor receiving counseling for emotional problems — to his home, and then sexually gratified himself in front of the child. Rev. Kuhn's lawyer asked the court to remove the memo from the record, though he did not say the information was untrue. Rather, he argued, the state had agreed it wouldn't release explicit details except in response to questions at the press conference announcing the plea agreement. The court will hold a status hearing on the case Jan. 13. Rev. Kuhn obviously is a troubled man whom church officials may have difficulty directing. But if he continues to push the limits of his probation, the prosecutor and court should send him to jail.
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