BOSTON – As debates about official symbols that some may consider inflammatory or even offensive pop up across the country, a push to change the Massachusetts state seal and flag is losing steam.
The seal, prominent on the flag, depicts a sword-wielding arm above an American Indian holding a bow and down-turned arrow with the Latin motto, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietam," which loosely translated means "By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty." The imagery has long vexed local American Indian tribes and activists, who see it as a callous and inaccurate representation of the relationship between natives of the region and European settlers.
An Episcopal priest has been suspended from a Pennsylvania church after being accused this week of molesting three boys at an elite boarding school in Rhode Island more than 40 years ago.
More than two dozen students allege they were molested or raped at St. George's School in Middletown in the 1970s and '80s. A lawyer for three former students named the Rev. Howard White on Tuesday as being among the six perpetrators the school identified after an internal investigation.
