Eileen Morgan's Letter to the BOT to Honor JVP

January 30, 2012

Dear Penn State Trustee,
Good day. I understand that you have recently received countless letters from Penn State alumni urging the Board to accept the structural reform as suggested by Auditor General Jack Wagner. I applaud and support the alumni for this effort and hope that change will be forthcoming. I also know that you and the other trustees have been publicly chastised for your actions and inactions since the night of November 9, 2011. Although I believe there are  convincing arguments to justify those verbal  attacks,  that is not my intent today.    You see, those arguments will be sustained in the future by the pending trials of Messrs. Curley, Schultz, and Spanier, by the NCAA lawsuits, and/or by other means not yet known.

Today I would like to address the here and now. I would like to request your action on a matter that does not require in-depth, time consuming restructuring, or holding out for future events to transpire. I am making one simple proposal: set aside a day, recognized by Penn State, to honor Mr. Joseph Vincent Paterno.

Would you give the Penn State family a day to come together and celebrate the man who built this school from  the inside out? It requires nothing on your part except approval. The alumni and supporters would organize the event and would work with the Outreach Committee to stay within guidelines. I would even step out on a limb to say that we would be able to fund the event with private donations. I would suggest Friday September 6, before the first home game of the 2013 season. That Friday would be a fantastic day of celebration culminating into Penn State Football Eve.

Trustee, I hope that you would seriously consider this request. It will take an appreciative amount of time and effort to coordinate this project but ‘WE ARE PENN STATE’ and we have the commitment, resources, and passion to bring this dream to fruition. Although Joe would probably not want all this fanfare, this is something the students, the alumni, and the entire Penn State family needs to do in order to finally celebrate the life of our teacher, to bring closure, and in your words, to help us ‘move on.’

The time has come to remove the veil of guilt and shame that Jerry Sandusky’s crimes have draped over this great institution. It is time to unite, stand strong, and show the immense pride we have in this university, the pride which has been built on academia, honesty and integrity. And it is time to finally honor Joe Paterno.

For The Glory,


Eileen Morgan
Penn State 1990

What's Really At Stake In Tom Corbett's NCAA Lawsuit

Tom Corbett cites the economic costs of the NCAA sanctions as the reason for his anti-trust lawsuit and conveniently forgets the greater cost paid every day by the children of Pennsylvania.

By
Ray Blehar

Governor Tom Corbett has created a controversy among Penn State alumni, friends, and fans over the Commonwealth's lawsuit against the NCAA.   While many do not favor the governor politically or personally, they are willing to saddle up with him for what is "the only game in town" for fighting the NCAA.

What could be more unjust than the sanctions levied on Penn State?

THIS:  Since the time that Mike McQueary witnessed that incident in the showers in 2001, over 400 children have been murdered in child abuse incidents in the Commonwealth. The numbers are actually higher because some of the deaths are included in other crime statistics.

The record is atrocious and there's no plan to change things.

The sad reality is that children don't vote.  They don't have money.

Therefore, they are of little use to the governor and he's willing to take a pass on protecting them in an attempt to win favor with the voters of Pennsylvania -- who have both.

A report from the PA Task Force on Child Protection, recommending needed changes to the system sits on the Governor's desk.  It's been there since November 27th.

He's held no press conference to announce the recommendations that he's chosen to implement.

He hasn't invited abused children or the surviving family members of the children who were murdered to his mansion for dinner.

DPW and CYS's Track Record of Failure

In the wake of the Sandusky Scandal, the state government convened a task force to decide what improvements should be made for protecting children.  Don't you love it when legislators react to the latest news du jour, instead of actually being ahead of things and preventing the next crisis?

The task force went about their business holding hearings through the summer and fall about child abuse.  Many people testified.

At one end of the spectrum was Mike Gillum, the psychologist who worked with Aaron Fisher, and helped bring Sandusky to justice.

At the other end was The Honorable Beverly D. Mackereth, Deputy Secretary, Office of Children,Youth, and Families at the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.  Most people have no idea who this nameless, faceless bureaucrat is -- but I do.

Ms. Mackereth, as a caseworker in York County in 1982,  was instructed by doctors not to allow little Aleta Bailey, who had been severely beaten by her mother's boyfriend, to be returned to her home and be a subject of future abuse by the boyfriend.  Against the orders,  Mackereth returned the child to the home and within one month, Aleta was beaten to death.

Anyone who has read this blog knows that the DPW and CYS reacted similarly to a recommendation from Dr. Alycia Chambers, who concluded Sandusky was exhibiting grooming behaviors typical of a pedophile.  Like Mackereth, DPW and CYS ignored the Chambers report and stopped investigating Sandusky, letting him roam free to prey on children for 14 years.

If you've followed the news and the Sandusky trial closely, you might know that Clinton County CYS did not require the Second Mile to institute a "safety plan" after Sandusky was "indicated" as a child abuser in 2009.  And if you've really followed things closely, you'd know that Sandusky was likely abusing Victim 9 while the investigation was in its beginning stages.

It is long past time for much needed reforms at CYS and DPW and I think that we, as Penn Staters, should be asking the Governor to put as much emphasis on protecting children as he is on fighting the NCAA.

Are We Who We Say WE ARE?

I never met Joe Paterno, but Joe was and is a great inspiration to me.

I knew about Joe for a long time, growing up in Central Pennsylvania in the 1970's it was hard not to know about him.  But I didn't learn who Joe was until I read Paterno By The Book.  Then I got to understand the depth of Joe Paterno, what he stood for and what he believed in.

There are many quotes of Joe's which are timeless, but at the moment, one quote stands out:

"There's more things in life that are more important than a football game."

I know from reading his books -- and I've read many of them -- and from looking at history, that Joe preached academics and family were ahead of football.   The graduation rates and academic success of Penn State football players was and continues to be magnificent.

It was the Grand Experiment.  Top flight football played by athletes who excelled in the classroom.  What was a small agricultural college, when Joe arrived, transformed into a world class institution.

The time is now that we demand that Governor Corbett takes steps in taking Pennsylvania toward world-class levels of child protection.

This is not an either or decision.  We can do both.

As Joe used to say,

"Let's show them who we are!"

Corbett Plans Photo Op with Former Players

Governor Tom Corbett invited former players to his mansion for a photo op this Tuesday.  All part of his plan to win back support of the PSU alumni and supporters and to deflect attention away from his failed investigation of Sandusky.  And does it on the anniversary of JVP's passing!

by
Ray Blehar

The e-mail went out on Tuesday, January 15th.  Much like he did when announcing the Commonwealth's lawsuit against the NCAA, Governor Corbett plans to use Penn State football players as props in this "Hail Mary pass"  to win back favor with PSU supporters and deflect attention away from the state's slipshod investigations of Sandusky.  And he does the most classless thing of all by scheduling it on the anniversary of Paterno's passing.

I can just hear his phony tributes to Joe now.  The lettermen need to pack a healthy supply of barf bags if they attend.

 The e-mail is below.

From: "Bernstein, Luke" <lbernstein@pa.gov>
Date: January 15, 2013 7:10:09 PM
To:  <Redacted>
Subject: Meeting with Governor Corbett

Good evening,

Governor Tom Corbett recently met with Justin Kurpeikis, Todd Rucci, Tim Sweeney and several others in State College.  During their discussion, an idea was presented to have a follow-up meeting with additional Letterman.  Thus, we would like to invite you to attend a meeting at the Governor's Residence with the Governor.  Todd, Justin and Tim will be in attendance and will try to ensure we did not exclude anyone that should be included.

The meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 22, 2013 at the Governor’s Residence (2035 North Front Street, Harrisburg, PA 17102).

Please RSVP to Bryan Troop (717-787-5825 or brtroop@pa.gov) no later than Sunday, January 20, 2013.  Please RSVP with your name, address, and phone number (preferably day of event contact number).  For security reasons, all attendees will need to have a photo ID.

We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.

Best,

Luke

Luke Bernstein

Deputy Chief of Staff

Office of Governor Tom Corbett

Tom Corbett: Master of Deflection

Whenever Corbett is feeling the heat about the state's investigation of Sandusky -- and Kathleen Kane is launching it -- you can be he'll find a way to deflect the media's attention to another subject.

This is well documented.

August 2012:  Corbett, feeling the heat from child advocacy groups and others to investigate the slow roll of the Sandusky investigation, enlists his media cohorts to write a story about how Clinton County CYS failed to put a safety plan in place at the outset of the investigation.

November 2012:  In a desperate attempt to swing favor in AG candidate David Freed, the son-in-law of LeRoy Zimmerman, who would take a softer approach on the "investigation of the investigation,"  Corbett has AG Linda Kelly file the "Conspiracy of Nonsense" charges against Curley, Schultz, and Spanier to much media hype and fanfare.

January 2013:  With Kathleen Kane's swearing in and the impending "investigation of the investigation" on the horizon, Corbett announces the Commonwealth's lawsuit against the NCAA, using a smattering of former players and PSU students in the photo op.  The press conference is held at the Nittany Lion Inn even though PSU is not endorsing the lawsuit.

The Football Players Fall For the Ruse?

 No doubt, everyone that has a functioning brain (that excludes most in the media) knows the NCAA overstepped its bounds when sanctioning Penn State.  Penn State alumni, supporters, and especially the former football players want the sanctions removed.  As noted above, when Corbett announced the lawsuit, former PSU football players, including former All-American Kenny Jackson, were in the room standing behind the governor.  But Corbett wasn't done using them as props and enlisted the help of the Letterman's Club to round up more bodies for the next photo op.

From: <Redacted>
Date: January 16, 2013, 4:03:39 PM EST
To: <Redacted>
Cc: <Redacted>
Subject: Meeting with Governor Corbett

Dear Former PSU Football Player,

You may have received an email from Governor Corbett extending a invitation to the Governor's Mansion in Harrisburg at 6:30 PM on 22 January for a private meeting.  If you have not, a copy is provided below.  The Governor would like an opportunity to explain in a private setting the details involving the lawsuit against the NCAA.

It is important to note that this affair is for all former Penn State Football players and it does not involve the Penn State Football Letterman's Club nor will the Club make any official statements regarding this lawsuit in any capacity.  The email list that was used was incomplete so please forward the email from the Governor and this email to your network of former players as they are invited as well. We would like as many guys to receive the invite as possible, so please forward this on.  If you are planning to attend, please do so by responding to individual on the email below from the Governor.

Thank you for your consideration and we hope to see you Tuesday.

<3 Players - Redacted>

It is important to note that "former players" are invited and not letttermen because the Letterman's Club is affiliated with PSU.  So, can we expect a statement from "former players" offering their support of the NCAA lawsuit? Or will they see through Corbett and tell him to stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

We'll see.

The Real Reason for the Lawsuit

Corbett plans to use the NCAA lawsuit as a "club" against Kane   You can bet Corbett will blast her for the investigation of the "successful prosecution of Sandusky" instead of focusing her offices resources on more important matters -- meaning do anything other than investigating something that could roll back on him.  Corbett knows his slow-roll investigation put children in danger and he knows DPW and CYS blew it back in 1998 when they could have rolled up Sandusky.

Abe Lincoln said it best.

"You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time."