by Wendy
Silverwood
A compilation of comments and questions from across the “boards”
The “PSU as villain” script
had to be started for a specific reason. It was never supported by the facts,
especially with respect to the 1998 incident, in which Centre County Children and Youth Services along with an
investigator from PaDPW were involved. Curiously we find Nils Frederickson, PA
OAG Acting Director of Communications, banging out the error filled script for
the 1998 investigation in his Nov. 5, 2011 press release. Once the decision was made by the PA Office
of Attorney General to turn this into PSU as the “bad guy”, everything else simply dropped off the radar.
It was no longer about Sandusky
and his horrendous crimes, it was now about a grand PSU “conspiracy” that the Attorney
General decided must have happened to “cover up” Sandusky’s activities. Let’s
cut across the media roar, turn down the volume and really listen to what
actually went on.
Fundamentally this “cover up” didn’t exist 17 months ago and it still doesn’t exist today.
Perhaps someone wanted or needed
or even insisted this come out of the gate as a giant Penn State “cover-up”. It
could possibly be viewed as being devised by an individual or a group, e.g. the Surmas, with the goal of bringing PSU to its knees as an institution,
settling old scores, wresting control and/or seeing petty vendettas through it.
Sandusky’s own loathsome conduct,
especially given his status as an agent of the county and an executive director
of a state licensed children’s charity became secondary. So instead of trying a
case against a preferential child sexual offender to remedy criminal acts, it’s about bringing
down PSU for possible political reasons.
We have $42 million and counting for “public relations” and crisis management, a
$60 million hammering by the NCAA, an $8 million sham “investigation”, a banner-toting
plane flying over campus for 3 days and enough high-priced consultants, PR hacks,
compliance experts and second lawyers for the first lawyers that the issue is
not Sandusky who culled his victims from a state licensed entity, but PSU and
its “culture problems”.
This all makes zero sense. Problem is, nothing’s made sense.
The McQueary testimony makes no sense. The Freeh Report makes
no sense. The NCAA sanctions make no sense. The “moral responsibility”
statement by Noonan makes no sense. Freeh’s grandstanding press conference
makes no sense. None of the facts line up for a “Conspiracy of Silence” to
“protect the football program”.
Looking at this more clearly
and focusing on everything from the timeline of the investigation to Seasock’s
bizarre conclusions argues that somebody was in a big hurry to get the 1998 investigation
over with.
That in and of itself should give us all cause for alarm.
The use of Counselor John Seasock in 1998 to contradict Dr. Chamber’s findings is
puzzling. Seasock knows who involved him, and other than possibly of Sandusky,
he is the only one who does. So when he doesn’t make an appearance for the
Defense despite the Defense have a written, signed contemporaneous “report”
known to have been provided to the Centre County DA, it raises a question. Is
there a possibility that there is an individual or individuals in Centre County
who has/have the most to lose if it would be publicly revealed who set up the Seasock evaluation and has/have managed somehow to keep it quiet?
Only someone at the county level of government would have had the familiarity
with Seasock’s brand of “compliance”, familiarity with Ray Gricar, familiarity
with Sandusky and familiarity with The Second Mile.
What is troubling is that whoever
was responsible for recruiting and hiring John Seasock to evaluate the victim
has received ZERO scrutiny.
Another troubling aspect.
Why did the PA OAG direct
Freeh to stay away from University Park Police Chief Tom Harmon? He was the
person most directly at the center of the 1998 investigation. Freeh was tasked
with looking into exactly what “went wrong” at PSU and he can’t speak to the
one person at the center of everything? A
long-term former head of a large police department cannot be interviewed in an
“independent” investigation?
Does not make sense.
The person who put Freeh in place did so knowing that he would reach the “right”
result, and that Freeh would abide by the Attorney General’s rules and not put anyone in an awkward position by attempting to talk to people with actual knowledge of what they were being asked. So why did Freeh operate in tandem with the AG’s office?
result, and that Freeh would abide by the Attorney General’s rules and not put anyone in an awkward position by attempting to talk to people with actual knowledge of what they were being asked. So why did Freeh operate in tandem with the AG’s office?
Even Sara Ganim’s headlines’ promoted the prevailing narrative yet
demanded corrections when new information surfaced. Those corrections, however,
never materialized.
More questions.
Why is Investigator Jerry Lauro of PaDPW getting a free pass? Clearly CYS and PA DPW are
at fault for the 1998 situation. Perhaps because they had such a cushy
relationship with The Second Mile they cannot or will not ever admit to their
responsibility. Why wasn’t The Second Mile immediately turned upside down by
the State? The PA OAG has oversight of non-profits in the Commonwealth;
visiting The Second Mile offices did not require a subpoena and could have
swiftly been dealt with. Why hasn’t CYS
& DPW been a focal point for the indignation about Sandusky?
Where is the outrage at these agencies and why are no officials taken to task?
Taking on a hugely popular
and politically connected entity like The Second Mile or those politicos that
create for-profit juvenile prisons and the ensuing “Kids For Cash” scandal has not particularly been PA DPW’s strong
suit.
What does this tell us about the very systems we have in place to protect our kids?
We can only hope that Kathleen Kane’s office
goes back to 1998 – and interviews the CYS head; the CYS intermediary; the DPW
“supervisor”, who supposedly issued the interview order; Jerry Lauro; Victim Number
6's mom; Victim Number 6, to the extent he has any independent memory of the
“incident”; retired Detective Schreffler; Officer Ralston; retired PSU Chief
Tom Harmon; John Seasock and Dr. Chambers.
