Tuesday, November 6

One Year Anniversary - We Know the TRUTH

Significant updates concerning Cynthia Baldwin have been added to this one year anniversary post but this story needs to remain intact in order to cover that disastrous week in Nov. 2011 and the events leading up to that week. We can now refocus our efforts and reacquaint ourselves in the wake of the election with the horrible injustice done to Joe Paterno and PSU administrators by the now replaced Attorney General and the current Governor along with the Board of Trustees and Louis Freeh. Their actions should not go unchallenged and opposed.  Barry Bozeman FREEHdom Fighter  

"Joe Paterno, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz and Dr. Graham Spanier conspired to cover up allegations of child abuse by failing to report an incident witnessed by Mike McQueary in order to save the PSU football program from bad publicity." 

Remember Remember those Days Last November 
The BoT Treason and Plot 
by Barry Bozeman 
Kelly links AD Curley and VP Schultz
to Jerry Sandusky with perjury charge.  
The nature of business and political power in a our system can sometimes lead to terrible consequences. The collusion of common interests from Governor Tom Corbett and his appointed successor as Attorney General Linda Kelly, his long time acquaintance ripe for a 6.5 million dollar payday Louis Freeh, and a group of the most influential members of the PSU Board of Trustees is what we might expect it to be. Things have worked out as they have, not because these people conspired to undermine justice but by the very nature of their relationships it is simply in their best interest - selfish self interest - to behave as they have. "Enlightened" self interest is not always just and it does not lead to the truth or fairness. That's part of the conflict between corporate and business interests and an interest in truth and justice. 
The power of the office of the Attorney General allows Linda Kelly to choose who to charge. Kelly chose to charge AD Tim Curley and VP Gary Schultz with perjury for their vague recollections of a 10 min meeting a decade in the past but more specifically because they counter the testimony Kelly invents for Mike McQueary. Charging Curley and Schultz makes sense for Kelly who wants publicity and a winning case and for Gov. Corbett who wants a good distraction. 

Kelly chose to levy those perjury and failure to report charges because it clearly was to her advantage in order to make Mike McQureary “a very credible witness” who Kelly says “saw a boy being subjected to anal intercourse” and told that to Joe Paterno, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz. That statement is clearly refuted by Curley and Schultz. We know this invented testimony surfaced in the "Finding of Fact" so Kelly has to prove Tim and Gary are liars since their testimony is contrary to her invention. We know that Mike did not say what Kelly says in the presentment. We know that Tim and Gary are not lying. How can this be allowed? How can the Grand Jury and the AG present a known falsehood in the presentment and charge Tim and Gary for perjury? 

Mike McQueary heard
sounds of a sexual nature.
Either Mike McQueary is guilty of perjury or AG Linda Kelly is guilty of defamation on the statement in the original "Presentment". Even McQueary says he never described a sex act using those words, but Kelly's "Finding of Fact" states he did. How can that lie be a "finding of fact"?  It is this type of perjury by proxy from the  State's star witness that did the most damage to Joe Paterno and PSU. Perjury charges are being used by the Attorney General to damage the reputations of three good and decent men who heard only about 3 slapping sounds Mike thought were rhythmic and sexual. Mike told Joe he heard these sounds of a sexual nature just like he told Dr. Dranov and the Grand Jury.

When an Attorney General is allowed to lie in an official legal presentment it destroys the faith of people in our legal system because that lie becomes an official political act designed to use the position of the State's #1 legal officer to do damage to citizens of the state. In this case damage has been done to Joe Paterno and his family, the alumni, faculty and students of Penn State University and particularly to the athletic program and the current athletes. Why would we tolerate a system that allows this kind of lie on the part of the number one law enforcement officer in PA to stand? 

The lie was made so Mike McQueary could be a credible witness who saw and told these men about forced anal intercourse instead of being a confused young man who heard sounds he thought were sexual. The truth is not the concern of the Attorney General or the Grand Jury and their lie started the earthquake that would lead to a tsunami of media attacks that made Penn State the focal point of national attention in a case about a pedophile who had not been at Penn State as an employee since 1999 and had not knowingly been involved in any potentially inappropriate conduct since Feb of 2001. How can it be like this? We all know this case started with a lie so how can we tolerate it? 


Aaron Fisher a long time
to get justice from Corbett
Gov. Corbett had a problem. As Attorney General he had slow rolled an investigation into allegations against Second Mile founder and paid consultant Jerry Sandusky brought by Aaron Fisher who has told the story of how long it took to get anyone to listen. The Fisher situation is now a decade removed from Sandusky at Penn State. Fisher, a student where Sandusky furthered his nefarious activities, went to school authorities and finally to the police. AG Corbett put one narcotics officer in charge wanting little to do with outing the charity founder during an election cycle where his chance to be Governor might be compromised. Corbett was too busy with Bonusgate - his attack on political opponents - to be that concerned about a pedophile. Why have the HS counselor and wrestling coach along with that administration escaped indictment and blame?

AG Corbett had a boy who actually claimed to be a victim of sexual abuse, a coach who caught Aaron and Sandusky in a compromising position on a wrestling mat, and a HS counselor who knew of Arron's allegations in 2008. Yet Corbett passed on arresting Sandusky during his 2 years as the AG with that knowledge. Where was the search warrant on Sandusky's home, the tap on his phone, the close observation of his activities, the check of his phone records and his computer for those 2 long years?
Think of Aaron's story in comparison to Mike McQueary's 3 sexual slapping sounds, no known "victim", and his 1 or 2 second glance. Think of it in comparison to Doctor of Child Psychology Jack Raykovitz who knew his charity founder and paid spokesman was involved in incidents that got him involved in a complaint from a TSM mother in 1998 and banned from bringing TSM kids on campus in 2001. Where was the search warrant for TSM? Where was the interrogation of the TSM staff and TSM boys who appear in a picture in Sandusky's book? Why has TSM barely been mentioned by the prosecution? 

Given the extensive 1998 inquiry and conclusion by CYS and DPW, how can anyone say blame belongs to a football coach, athletic director or VP of finance when CYS, DPW, and the Centre County DA had 2 boys with bear hugs in a shower, the psychological report of Dr. Chambers, and police who recorded exchanges between Sandusky and Victim 6's mother, yet they concluded Sandusky showed no Criminal or sexually improper behavior. What do Tim Curley, Joe Paterno, Dr. Spanier, and Gary Schultz have to do with any of that?
 


Corbett sees a problem
What could Corbett do to keep the heat off his lack of an intense investigation that could have saved more victims? The answer came in the person of Joe Paterno - the aging coach of the Nittany Lions who had been Sandusky's boss back in the 90's. What a great distraction it would be to blame PSU, the football program, and Coach Paterno. They only had 3 slaps and a 1 or 2 second glance,  and no 'victim'. At least they banned Sandusky from bringing TSM kids on campus and alerted Dr. Raykovitz, his boss at TSM. That's supposed to be a cover up and conspiracy of silence?     

Linda Kelly reports to Corbett that Mike McQueary had a brief encounter with Sandusky in a shower on Penn State property back in "March of 2002". He had spoken to Joe Paterno about hearing 3 slapping sounds he thought were of a sexual nature. McQueary and his father John along with close family friend and doctor Jonathan Dranov, Joe Paterno, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz all knew of this brief encounter and none of them believed this was indication of anything concrete enough to report to authorities. Dranov knew he was a mandatory reporter. 


What bad publicity were John McQueary and Dr. Jonathan Dranov seeking to avoid? Why would they "protect" a football program in favor of a pedophile? How are Tim and Gary charged with failure to report while they are not? PSU and the football program got no bad publicity from the CYS, DPW, police and DA inquiry in 1998. 

In what Twilight Zone is it possible for 4 good intelligent men to conspire to cover up McQueary's slapping sounds to avoid another DPW inquiry due to a fear of bad publicity? Evidently the media and Louis Freeh think the public is dumb enough to buy this nonsense. Can you explain the "reasoning" that says they wanted to avoid bad publicity when in 1998 the DPW inquiry - which the prosecution and Freeh says "they followed closely" - resulted in no publicity at all? The BoT buys this nonsense?


Gov. Corbett virtually ignored Aaron Fisher's complaint for two years, while he approved a 3 million dollar state grant to The Second Mile. Several prominent Pennsylvanians who sat on the TSM board were generous donors to his campaign in amounts exceeding $200,000. Once the media learned this would he be seen as the man who let Sandusky roam free for years after being notified of his pedophilia? Would his financial suporters at TSM be embarrassed and monies he received have to be returned?

Many of the"victims" Kelly's investigators interviewed were reluctant to testify or get involved, so they use some deception and coercion to get them to implicate Sandusky by telling them they had many other "victims' who were going to testify. What Kelly really needed for a conviction was a credible witness and Mike McQueary's 3 slapping sounds and brief glance would not fill that role. The only way McQueary could implicate Joe Paterno and Penn State in the situation would be to induce him to 'amplify' his testimony or perhaps Kelly could do that for him in her Presentment of "fact".  We know that is exactly what happened. *see appendix for McQueary actual statements vs the Presentment summary.  


We don't know what the Attorney General might have said to Mike McQureary to allow her to describe his Grand Jury testimony as she did. If Mike had said what was in the presentment we would have seen that Grand Jury testimony wouldn't we? 

Kelly appears to have no fear of being accused of anything for her obvious fabrication. What did Kelly know that gave her the confidence she could get away with this violation of the public trust? What would happen when Penn State stood up for their administrators and their famous coach?  It turns out she had no reason to be concerned. 

John P. Surma Fires Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier
A MASSIVE VIOLATION OF TRUST and A COMPLETE FAILURE of RESPONSIBILITY

A year ago this week John P. Surma was taking charge of the response of the Board of Trustees to make certain that the Board would not offer any opposition to the Attorney General's decision to point the finger at Curley and Schultz and implicate Joe Paterno and Dr. Graham Spanier. That Monday Kelly went on stage with her props - pictures of AD Curley and VP Schultz charged with perjury - to sit next to Jerry Sandusky charged with 42 counts of child molestation. Kelly tells the country that Penn State is at fault for allowing a child predator to go unnoticed in a cover up and 'conspiracy of silence that put bad publicity for the football team above the welfare of children. Surprisingly the Board of Trustee's through Surma and Corbett and their influential leaders were poised to agree with the absurd claim that Paterno, Spanier, Curley and Schultz were to blame.  

Dr. Spanier is told by Surma to cancel the Tuesday press conference scheduled for Joe Paterno and Surma tells Spanier of his intention to fire Paterno. Spanier objects knowing that this will signal the media that these men are guilty. Spanier urges Surma to circle the wagons and let him lead Penn State out of this mess. Spanier releases a statement in full support of his subordinates Curley and Schultz. With this sane and responsible approach Spanier signs his own warrant.  

Joe Paterno releases a statement of resignation effective the end of the season in his words to spare the Board and administration from wasting any time deciding his fate. 

We imagine the Governor busy on the phone with a whisper campaign telling board members that he knows there is more and worse to come. He would know would he not? He was the consummate insider who was Attorney General when the investigation began. 

As the board made their way to State College key influential members were given this insider take that the best thing for PSU would be to throw Joe, Tim, Gary and Dr. Spanier under the media bus. Spanier because he tried to save the situation by circling the wagons, Joe because he had the temerity to offer a scheduled resignation cast as his arrogance in telling the board what to do. 

The Pennsylvania Railroad engineered by Corbett and Surma is running down this track at full speed. Paterno and Spanier are fired and the Board begins a year of disasterous moves and statements that further the narrative that all this is the fault of Joe Paterno, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz and Graham Spanier when none of it is their fault. 

And thus the battle lines were drawn. The power of the statehouse and the attorney general joined by the industry and business magnates on the Board of Trustees arrayed against a dying aged football coach, two administrators charged as perjurers, and a university president fired by the Board. Just like that it became the PENN STATE SEX SCANDAL with  Mike McQueary the credible whistle blower hero who witnessed a child rape ignored by 4 men bent on saving a football program run amok from bad publicity. This is a description so utterly absurd it is almost impossible to fathom how any intelligent being could buy it. 

And how quickly the world forgot the 61 years of impeccable service by the coach who brought success with honor. How easy it was to destroy the lives and reputations of a long term Athletic Director and Vice-President of Finance who had done their jobs with dedication and intelligence. And now we see Dr. Graham Spanier cast into the same fire based on the same flimsy evidence. 

So who do you believe? This Governor and his Attorney General who we know have motive and who have flat out lied to the people of Pennsylvania? This Board of Trustees led by John Surma - the man with a family vendetta over a nephew who had fallen into serious problems and the business and industry corporate leaders like Peetz, Lubert, Frasier and Dambly who serve with the Governor and his appointees on this Penn State Board of Trustees? Is there any doubt about the clear conflict of interest that exists in this circumstance? 

Or do you believe Joe Paterno - who for 60 years did the right thing and two long serving administrators who never once in their careers ever gave anyone reason to believe they would consider covering up for a pedophile in order to protect your university from bad publicity? That's their motive? Allow a pedophile to operate and cover up his activities in order to save PSU some bad publicity? Do you think that because that's what you would do? What indication or behavior do we have in the lives of these men to make us think that would be their collective endeavor? What would cause 4 good men to make that move? It is simply not credible. 

We've had a full year to contemplate this question and we now know that 1998 was completely in the hands of the Dept of Public Welfare of the State of Pennsylvania and the DA Ray Gricar. We now know that it was 2001 when Mike McQueary heard those 3 slaps and got that 1 or 2 second glance. We now know that Joe, Tim, Gary and Graham did nothing a cover up would require. 

There is no motive for a cover up. There is no activity indicative of a cover up. The very idea runs contrary to everything we know about Joe Paterno, Tim Curley, Gary Schultz and Dr. Spanier. But we have excellent reasons to question the motive of the Governor and this Board of Trustees. Linda Kelly will soon be retired and free of her responsibility for this mess. 

WHO TO BLAME? WHO ARE THE TRULY RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE 

If WE/YOU ARE PENN STATE,  it's time to reflect on what we know. What we know shows quite clearly that the wrong people have been charged and maligned while those truly responsible for a failure to stop Sandusky earlier have gotten away with their failures.  
CYNTHIA BALDWIN - THE NEXT STEP IN UNCOVERING THIS MESS

Although filed a week ago, the motions  are not yet  on the court’s website.  Probably someone is trying to protect Baldwin. 
The omnibus motion to dismiss from the Schultz and Curley Defense website. Baldwin claimed to be Curley and Schultz counsel when she appeared with them at the Grand Jury prior to the indictments and presentment but it turns out she was representing the University and that put her in a direct conflict of interest. Information from attorneys representing Curley and Schultz:
Bottom line: "The only way Cynthia Bladwin is allowed in the Grand jury with Schultz, Curley, Spanier is if she represented them in their individual capacity.  So either she was not representing them and lied to the grand jury supervising judge, the DAG, and our clients to be permitted in the grand jury, or she’s lying now when she says she never represented them.  Plus, if she represented them – and you’ll see from the motions, that it’s almost beyond dispute – her current testimony, as reported in the Presentment, breaches the attorney-client privilege.   
Baldwin is the entire support for the conspiracy charges.  The AG has to know that she is relying on a lying unethical witness, who they were on the verge of charging just 2 months ago.  Sorry, of all the abominations in this case, nothing offends me more than her conduct."
This has been one terrible year for truth and justice at Penn State and those are the people who are responsible. How do we stand up to the Governor, the Attorney General, the leaders of the Board of Trustees and the media? How can we fight a multi-million dollar budget that can buy a false indictment from a former FBI Director? How does the truth survive a battle with that kind of power? 

It survives because we will never give up on the Truth. It survives because no rational person could possibly believe that 4 good men would conspire to cover up the McQueary incident and a avoid a DPW inquiry to save the football program from bad publicity. 

A year has passed and we are still here and growing stronger. The Truth is tough to kill.
Never give up. We Are.......

Remember Remember those days in November 
The BoT treason and plot 
I know of no reason the BOT treason 
Should ever be forgot 

A fact free Presentment false perjury indictments 
The media bought the whole lot 
We know of no reason the fact Freeh false fiction 
Should ever be forgot 

We know Joe Paterno and follow where he goes 
A liar we know he is not 
We know of no reason for the BoT treason 
but we know it will not be forgot. 

The truth is our guide and with it we side
We ARE Penn State - they are not  
We know of no reason the BOT treason 
should ever be forgot. 

Move on or move forward? the path of a coward  
This is the BoT's plot?
We know of no reason this BoT treason 
will ever be forgot

my apology for the bad verse.... 


APPENDIX 
What we know about McQueary's Grand Jury Testimony is limited to what Karl Rominger of the Sandusky defense read into the record as questions in the Sandusky trial:
In this version Mike indicates he got the glance through the mirror and then:
1) He opened his locker as fast as he could. Put shoes in locker and walked out directly as fast as he could.
2) I just didn't do anything to stop it. 

Add this to what Mike told Dr. Jonathan Dranov and the Attorney General has a very shaky ear witness to a sex act. Dr. Dranov testified to the following:



In case you wondered as I did why Tim Curley and Gary Schultz did not simply answer "I don't recall" about events so far in the past this letter will be very helpful. They obviously were not concerned about being investigated or a target of the Grand Jury. With an "attorney" like Baldwin they worse of than with no attorney at all. Baldwin failed them and the university. She tells Tim not to discuss the situation with Gary or Joe? That's crazy!!!! 




4 comments:

  1. Barry, some thoughts occurred to me overnight.... a motive for Erickson, Peetz, Surma et. al. to be continuing to employ the “duck and cover” defense.... started out as a response to a comment on a thread started by the posting of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article featuring Erickson’s having no “second thoughts” about accepting the NCAA sanctions…. It evolved after a couple of repostings into what might be my 3 minute comment at the next BoT meeting……

    Here are the thoughts
    ------------------------------------------------

    I wonder about something dark regarding Erickson's continued inability to consider the possibility that the passive defense strategy adopted by the university leadership might have caused some problems....

    Maybe this critique applies to the board as well.....

    When Sandusky first broke last November, I was personally embarrassed..... a high school friend of mine was coming to the Nebraska game.... I was telling him about the "Blue Out".... he asked, "What's that for?" I explained the relationship of the color blue with child abuse...... he responded (he's not a Penn Stater) "Little late for that, isn't it?"

    The only response I could think of was, "Hey, all we can do is to try to apologize....."

    In reflecting upon that response, I believe I was trying to put some space between myself and the (perceived) ugliness that had become my school.... it was an act of cowardice.... it disarmed my buddy's attack. and it shielded me from association with Sandusky's acts....

    I more or less said, "I am not about child abuse....", and I dumped it on "the school"......

    My response should have been, "Fuck you, Mark...... I didn't do anything to any kid and neither did my school. I got nothing to apologize for...... and as far as anyone has proven, neither does my school....."

    It took me a couple of weeks to get my head right on that count.....

    Challenging the NCAA sanctions..... or the media..... regarding the issue of the school's association with Jerry Sandusky's acts; even in suggesting that we wait until the jury has its say on Schultz/Curley and Spanier...... leaves one personally vulnerable to attack.......

    It would be akin to someone attacking Sen. McCarthy in the 1950s during the "Red Scare"......

    I wonder whether Erickson and the board (save 2 or 3 people) are so concerned about their personal reputations that they don't dare defend the school in public......

    ReplyDelete
  2. Barry,

    Great job. I bet "PAChildRights" is one of the "hate its" on here. I note his or her silence on your last thread is deafening.

    Just had an email from PS4RS on a Penn State faculty senate resolution that will give your "dumbest statement of the year" item at the lead a run for its money. The link to the faculty senate site is (make sure you have a barf bag handy and that everything that can be thrown is out of the way)

    http://lcbpsusenate.blogspot.com/

    Didn't mean to get off track. Wonder if a copy of your post here could be printed out and personally handed to each BOT member at their next meeting? I doubt they'd follow a link or respond to email.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's no secret that Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky were not friends. They didn't even like each other. Their relationship was a working relationship, period. It is inconceivable that Joe Paterno, a humanitarian and God-fearing man, would knowingly allow Jerry Sandusky to molest children. To think he or Tim Curley allowed it to save a football program is absurd.

    People like to talk about Joe's arrogance. If there were any truth in that statement you'd think he'd do whatever it took to get rid of a man that often shared the limelight. Media tag--Dean of linebacker U.

    Pedophiles are manipulators. Pedophiles are sneaks. Pedophiles operate in darkness. Pedophiles are not screaming, "I love children in a sick and perverse way" from the rooftops. Most pedophiles operate for years before they're caught, if they're ever caught.

    This particular pedophile fooled psychologists, Children and Youth Services, the Dept. of Public Welfare (all of these individuals are trained in these matters), and a District Attorney. Yet some people find it completely unfathomable that a football coach, an athletic director, a VP of financial affairs, and a university president could not have known what he was. Corbett knew. And sat on it.

    Also...Erickson. There was much ado about Erickson being booed recently at a football game. I can't help wondering what he was thinking. This man along with the BOT has continuously reduced the people of Penn State to being nothing more than a football culture, and has linked the actions of a pedophile to that culture. And then chose the football platform to "honor academic achievements." It's shameful that Erickson and the BOT would use academics and football to boost their reputation with the people of Penn State and the national audience. How'd that work for ya,Erickson? They might want to think twice before they ever again use that grandstand for their grandstanding. Get out of the house that Joe built.

    ReplyDelete
  4. An excellent recap of the past year, Barry. Thank you for your continued hard work. No mystery why your site is nearing 400K page views.

    ReplyDelete