Blehar: LTE CDT, "We can all do more"

As a child protection advocate, I find Penn State trustee Ken Frazier’s words to be hollow (“Frazier issues apology,” CDT, Monday).

Frazier defends the Freeh report, which attempted to whitewash the failures of Pennsylvania’s child protection system to identify Jerry Sandusky as a child molester back in 1998. Frazier said the report was not chartered to find problems outside Penn State and that it was an internal review.

Nevertheless, the state’s and county’s failures in 1998 still showed through, even with the attempted whitewash by the Freeh group. The alumni and some Penn State trustees understand that Penn State officials were not alone when it came to those who could have done more to stop Sandusky.

As Fred Berlin said, “We can all do more.”

That would especially include Frazier, who barks the loudest about protecting children but hasn’t said a single word about the system that will let 40 children get murdered and another 25,000 get abused this year.

It is clear that Frazier and the rest of his November 2011 cohorts aren’t interested in learning about child abuse problems that occur off university property, nor do they appear to care.

The leadership of the state’s flagship university has decided not to address real reforms to make children across the state safer. That is turning a blind eye to the problem.

I call on Penn State’s leadership to call for the much-needed reforms to Pennsylvania’s child protection system.

To quote Phil LaPorta, “If we can’t do that, we shouldn’t be a university.”

RAY BLEHAR

ANNAPOLIS, MD.

Read more here: http://www.centredaily.com/2013/03/20/3546259/letter-to-the-editor-we-can-do.html#.UUmdPRhKcVk.facebook#storylink=cpy

Thornburgh, Paterno Rebuttals to Kenneth Frazier's Statement on the Paterno reports

Former U.S. Attorney Dick Thornburgh:

When we released our review of the Freeh report we were very careful not to question the motives or challenge the integrity of Mr. Freeh, his investigators or members of the Penn State Board of Trustees. Overheated rhetoric and personal attacks do nothing to advance the objective we all share of finding the truth in the Sandusky scandal.

That some members of the Board of Trustees want to reject our report out of hand, without the benefit of a review or discussion is unfortunate.  We believe the better course would be for the Board to have a public review of both reports. I personally would welcome a chance to discuss these issues with the Board.

We also believe that all of the files and records related to Mr. Freeh’s investigation should be released to the public. This will make it easier for everyone to judge the accuracy and thoroughness of his work.  The flaws of the Freeh report cannot be dismissed or overlooked. They are significant and numerous and must be addressed.  This case will not be resolved until the record is set straight.

Scott Paterno:

Speaking on behalf of my family, we find it unfortunate that Ken Frazier chose to make comments in a forum where his impressions of disputable facts were not open to challenge.
Mr. Frazier is certainly welcome to his personal opinion, but in his capacity as a member of the Board of Trustees, he should be more concerned with finding the full truth than with defending a clearly flawed report.
It has been and remains our hope that the Board of Trustees, led by Mr. Frazier's committee, would examine both reports as well as others. As we have said from the beginning, our team stands ready to answer any questions - an opportunity that we have been denied by the Board of Trustees since November of 2011.

We also do want to take exception with Mr. Frazier's characterization of both the Freeh report as "independent" and with our report as being merely a bought and paid for result. Mr. Freeh was hired by the Board of Trustees, which was and is an interested party in this matter. He is no more independent than our team.

We are proud of the team we assembled and the work they produced. Our team has the very best credentials and sterling reputations for independence - reputations they staked on their reports. To question their independence is to question their integrity. If Ken Frazier wants to question the integrity of Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, FBI profiler and abuse survivor Jim Clemente and world renowned pedophilia expert Dr. Berlin, he should at least allow them an opportunity to address the Board directly on this matter.

And just for fun, a trip down memory lane with Governor Tom Corbett talking about the Penn State investigation:

November 21, 2011:  I'm very pleased with Ken Frazier leading that. Ken – I've only known him a short time – but I'm very impressed with his leadership. I'm very impressed that he has put together some people, including Ron Tomalis, on behalf of the administration and also as [state] secretary of education, on that team, and the selection of Louis Freeh is I think a very good one. I'm sure most of you by now know the former director of the FBI and former federal judge Louis Freeh was appointed.