Eckel Now Defending Honor of Louis A. DeNaples

In a previous post, I noted Keith Eckel's dubious ties to suspected mobster Louis A. DeNaples.  Now Eckel goes on the record, stating his three decade relationship with the North East PA businessman.

DeNaples wronged

Editor: I am appalled at the character assassination of Louis DeNaples by Times-Tribune columnist Chris Kelly.

However, I am not surprised that the newspaper’s editorial staff and publishers would not understand that increased operating costs to any business must ultimately be passed on to consumers if that business is to be financially sustainable.

After all, the newspaper has endorsed polticial candidates for decades who have no concept of fiscal responsibility. Please look at the financial condition of Scranton, if you need verification.

My family and I have known the DeNaples family for three generations, even when Patrick DeNaples, Louis’ father, struggled to feed his family.

Louis and his family have and continue to work long, hard hours to achieve and maintain success. Most importantly, they have shared that success with our community. You need only to look at their commitment to Scranton Prep, the University of Scranton, Allied Services, the Scranton School for Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Children and the Diocese of Scranton, to name a few.

Perhaps even more telling is the generosity of Louis and his wife, Betty, to countless thousands who remain nameless.

My family has been one of those beneficiaries. When my mother became ill in her 90s, Betty brought soup, a warm visit and delicious pasta to our home many times. When our barn burned in 1982, Louis was there the next day with equipment and encouragement to rebuild the barn and continue our dairy operation.

Recently, when our Methodist church embarked on building a new church, Louis and his family became key supporters without desire for recognition.

Fiendish is a preposterous description of Mr. DeNaples. Caring, hardworking, entrepreneurial and philanthropic describes my friend, Louis DeNaples.

KEITH ECKEL

NEWTON TWP.

$60 Million in Fines Should Be Used To Establish An Office of Child Advocate

Eckel and others in Gang of 19 are turning blind eyes to DPW and CYS failures in believing that the $60 million in fines for child protection programs would help PA's children

By

Ray Blehar

Like the 11/9/11 trustees did with the victim settlements, the Gang of 19, which includes nine holdovers from the from the 11/9/11 group, continued to overlook the failures of DPW and CYS in its haste to "help the victims of child abuse."  The PSU BOT must acknowledge these failures and should propose (to the legislature) that the best use of the funding would be to establish an independent Office of Child Advocate to oversee DPW.

At the 15 August meeting of the Governance Committee, Keith Eckel confirmed that the Gang and their predecessors have promoted that Penn State Athletics was to blame for enabling Sandusky and therefore, decided to saddle them with paying the $60 million in fines to help children. Make no mistake, the larger University isn't paying a dime of the fine money.  

Eckel:  Revisionist history about
PSU's desire to keep money in PA

"My recollection from the beginning is that our Board and our leadership always supported the concept that the $60 million be spent in Pennsylvania for the benefit of abused children in this state.  I believe, as I understand it, the resolution presented positively deals with that aspect, and I think that's critically important, and I do not like to see that money in any type of reserve fund instead of being used by Pennsylvania people for the benefit of our children. So I am strongly in support of that concept." 

Eckel wasn't being truthful that the Board desired that the money be kept in Pennsylvania from the beginning, as there was never anything other than a complete roll-over on the NCAA Consent Decree.  It wasn't until the Corman/McCord lawsuit in January 2013,  that the idea of keeping the money in PA surfaced, and, at that time, PSU and its Board didn't voice its support for Corman. Instead, it did what it has typically done in the Sandusky affair and didn't comment on the case.

The fact of the matter is that PSU became forced litigants in the lawsuit when Judge Anne Covey decided information from PSU was needed to determine if the Consent Decree was entered into legally.  As we saw at the Governance Committee meeting, as well as in the Paterno v. NCAA lawsuit, PSU and its General Counsel, Steve Dunham are doing everything they can to avoid providing information for discovery.

However, more importantly, Eckel wasn't being truthful that the Board is genuine about its concerns over Pennsylvania's abused children.  The willingness to settle with the Sandusky victims, child abuse reporting training for PSU employees, and now the desire to support the aspects of the lawsuit that keeps the fine money in state have been strictly public relations moves to provide the appearance of contrition, again -- all not costing PSU a dime, with a tad of corruption mixed in.

Board Refusal to Acknowledge 1998 DPW failures

Frazier:  Gave DPW a pass for its
failure to recognize abuse in 1998

As I've noted many times previously, when trustee Al Clemens stated that the rift between the board's position on the Freeh Report and the alumni's position, he mentioned the DPW's failed investigation of Sandusky in 1998 and that the state should bear some responsibility for enabling Sandusky's abuse.   Former Special Investigations Task Force co-lead, Kenneth Frazier shot back that he wasn't concerned about the state's failures and actually concluded that PSU officials should have known more than the DPW agents who investigated the case.  

Frazier, like nearly everyone else in this case except many concerned PSU alumni and friends, have given the 1998 DPW investigation a pass in the Sandusky case, based on an incomplete record.  

Louis Freeh did not include critical information about signs of possible sex abuse known to investigators in the text of his report.  However, the most critical information Freeh withheld were five e-mails that showed Centre County CYS's involvement in the case up until  May 27th.  CYS received the damning psychological report about Sandusky from Dr. Alycia Chambers, therefore the press reports that the investigators were unaware of her report were false.  

The DPW investigator, Jerry Lauro, claimed never to see either Chambers report or the Seasock report -- which he helped to arrange according to the 1998 police report.   Lauro stated that had he seen the Chambers report, he would have made an abuse finding.  

“The conclusions she had drawn in her report were pretty damaging,” Lauro said. “I would have made a different decision. ... It’s unbelievable, and it gets my blood pressure going when I think about it.”

A real investigation, not a phony one like Freeh conducted, would have rightfully condemned the 1998 DPW investigative failures  and could have put the focus were it belonged in terms of improvements needed to protect children -- better investigations.  

A History of Failures

DPW Secretary Mackereth:  Her 1982
failure caused the death of a child 

Sandusky's 1998 failure was not unique in any sense, but part of a history of DPW failures to properly intervene and protect children dating as far back to 1982.  The 1982 case involved the current Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare, Beverly Mackereth, who was then a caseworker in York County.  Mackereth investigated the case of Aleta Bailey who was abused by her mother's live-in boyfriend, Larry Hake.  When she examined Aleta, she noted two sets of bruises from beatings and took the child to be medically examined.  The doctors informed her that the beatings were severe and the child in no way should have contact with Hake.

Mackereth, who contacted police to escort her to the home because Hake had a reputation as a violent individual, put Aleta back into the Bailey home with the provision that Hake should never be left alone with the child.  Five weeks later Aleta was dead -- raped, tortured, and beaten to death by Hake.

Fast forward to 1998.  Sandusky was placed under investigation by the University Park police and Centre County CYS was called to perform the child abuse investigation.  The Public Welfare Code required CYS to contact The Second Mile to inform them of the investigation, but more importantly to work with the charity to ensure Sandusky had no contact with children while under investigation.

That didn't happen.

The police report revealed that Sandusky was accessing Victim 6 and another boy during the investigation by visiting them at their Little League baseball practices.  In addition, Sandusky continued contacting Victim 6 by phone during the investigation.  Trial verdicts also revealed that Sandusky was accessing and abusing Victim 4 during that time frame.  All of this information is a matter of public record.

In 2008, Clinton County CYS repeated the same mistakes as Centre County CYS in 1998.  They did not work with the charity to ensure Sandusky did not have access to children, and despite claims by TSM's Executive Director Dr. Jack Raykovitz that Sandusky was immediately banned from all programs involving children, the evidence proves otherwise.   

According to press reports, Sandusky was allowed to attend a TSM Clearfield banquet involving families in March 2009 and also was permitted to participate in the 2010 Second Mile Summer Challenge camps.

Just like the Board's statements that few of them were aware of the grand jury investigation of Sandusky when the news broke in March 2011, the Board apparently is continuing to pretend they are unaware of these other widely reported DPW failures.

August 2014: The Tutko Case

On August 4, 2014, news broke that 9-year old Jarrod Tutko Jr. was reported dead and that his father, Jarrod Tutko Sr. had been charged with child endangerment, abuse of a corpse, and concealing the death of a child.

The news report also included the fact that Dauphin County CYS had been called to investigate a prior abuse complaint at the Tutko home.   According to Kimberly Tutko, the mother, she believed Jarrod's older brother Aaron called in an abuse complaint December 2013, stating that his father threw a bottle at Jarrod's leg causing him harm.

Unseen by CYS? The feces
covered room of Jarrod Tutko, Jr.

Dauphin County CYS investigated and determined no abuse took place.  It would appear that a more thorough investigation by CYS could have prevented this tragedy.  Cathleen Palm, a principal at the Center for Children's Justice,  opined that sometimes child abuse investigators will only investigate the allegation at hand and "can be blind to what may be occurring throughout the rest of the house."   

Based on reports from neighbors, the CYS agents investigating this case were willfully blind.  The neighbors reported that Jarrod's older brother looked malnourished - that they could see Aaron's ribs through his skin.

This practice has also been confirmed in Centre County, where one complaining parent referred to his child's case as a "drive by investigation."  The 1998 investigation by CYS could also qualify as a "drive by" based on the 1998 police report.  There was considerable foot-dragging by CYS to investigate Sandusky and, after they punted the case to DPW, it appeared Jerry Lauro spent more time driving back and forth to State College than he did in actually investigating the case.

The Tutko case was back in the news this past week with the release of the autopsy, which determined Jarrod Jr. died from starvation and dehydration.  County coroner Graham Hetrick stated the condition of the body and the condition of the home was "horrendous."

Is the PSU BOT paying attention to this case?

PSU's Misguided (and Corrupt) "Prevention" Efforts 

While the Center for Child Abuse Prevention at the Milton Hershey Medical Center will provide a holistic approach to the broader scope of child abuse, other steps the University has taken appear to be misguided -- focused on reporting -- and fail to address the real problems in PA's child protection system.

First, PSU used the proceeds from the 2012 Ticket City Bowl to provide funding to the Centre County Women's Resource Center and two other organizations for child abuse prevention efforts.  The decision, in part, has the appearance a conflict of interest, as PSU VP for Administration, Tom Poole, is married to Anne Ard, who is the Executive Director of the Center.  The training for adults in the community (to recognize and report child abuse) was planned to be conducted by the Centre County YMCA's Stewards of Children Program. 

PCAR: Rushed to judgment on Paterno
and the events of February 9, 2001

In January 2012, PSU provided a $1.5 million grant to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR) to provide training and education on child abuse reporting and prevention. In the wake of the Sandusky charges, PCAR made a statement concluding that Joe Paterno's reporting "failure" was to blame for Sandusky's abuse was a premature judgement. 

In another effort, PCAR called what happened at PSU the "mother of all teachable moments" about by-standers failing to report.   There should be little doubt that PCAR was simply reinforcing the narrative resulted from the BOT's 11/9/11 decisions.

PCAR provided training on how to identify and report child abuse to 10,000 PSU employees.  While this may have been born of good intentions, it appeared to be overkill to take this type of action based on a single incident.  In addition, through my access to PSU as an alumni "volunteer," I was able to take the training program and found that while it heightened awareness in recognizing abuse, it clearly omitted some critical signs of child abuse that were also omitted in the Freeh Report (i.e., those that were ignored by DPW investigators).  I don't think that was just a coincidence.  However, the bottom line of all of the training is that it doesn't prevent child abuse for occurring, but only recurring.

Child sexual abuse on college campuses is rare and this grant money would have been better spent on age appropriate child sexual abuse prevention programs for children.  This is a truly preventive effort. Training children to recognize signs and talk to their parents about it before abuse happens them is definitely preferred over waiting until adults recognize the signs -- then reporting it to a system that fails much of the time.

PSU's Promise to Be A Leader

PSU officials promised after the Sandusky grand jury presentment broke that the University would become a national leader in child abuse prevention.  It is incumbent on PSU to recognize the Commonwealth's failures in the Sandusky case and in other cases, and as the state's flagship University, demand that improvements be made at "home" first.  

Just throwing money at the state agencies and the so-called victim's advocate groups isn't the answer.

One of the biggest disappointments in the Sandusky scandal has been the quick rush to judgment by the victim's advocates against PSU and their collective silence about the failures of DPW.  This silence is driven, in part, because of these group's reliance on the Commonwealth for grant money to fund their efforts.  

If a settlement is reached in the Corman lawsuit and the PSU football program is saddled with paying the fines, the Board should make recommendations to the legislature regarding the best use of the funding, rather than just letting the legislature slice, dice, and distribute monies to various groups across the state.  

While I am not a fan of government bureaucracy, a number of child protection advocates believe that Pennsylvania would greatly benefit from the establishment of a state-level independent "Office of Child Advocate."  AG Kathleen Kane also voiced her support for this office while campaigning (shown below).  

The Office would provide oversight and review of DPW, ensure protection of children during child abuse investigations, and provide PA's families with an "ombudsman" to resolve issues and complaints related to child protective services.  

Based on the history of Sandusky, Tutko, and other failures, this would be money well spent.

TAKE BACK PENN STATE NOW. An Opportunity to Reclaim Penn State for the Open TRUTH -

Take back Penn State from those who caused the damage and now want to hide the TRUTH. 

PENN STATE OPPOSES PATERNO FAMILY REQUEST TO SEE FREEH DOCUMENTS.

WE ARE PENN STATE - SAYS THE SLOGAN 

WHAT PENN STATE OPPOSES THAT REQUEST?  

Penn State via its legal counsel, speaking for the administration and Board of Trustees, is opposing open display of the TRUTH by opposing the release of documents related to the Freeh Report. It is believed that such materials are not only being withheld from public view but are also being withheld from some members of the Board of Trustees themselves. Yet Penn State has repeatedly argued for transparency and open disclosure, as represented by the alumni who voted for new Trustees who advocate such transparency and responsibility. The motion filed by Penn State's counsel makes it seem like Penn State wants to hide the TRUTH.  

Make no mistake – Stephen Dunham, the University General Counsel and Vice President for the last two years, is opposing the revelation of the TRUTH in your name. He acts at the behest of the Board of Trustees.

Do Penn State's Alumni Elected Trustees oppose the release of these documents? No.

Do Penn State Alumni oppose the release? No.  Does the student body? No. 

Why would Penn State want to hide the TRUTH about the Freeh Report?

Is Dunham afraid the actual documents will show that the Freeh Report was fatally flawed? Would the documents show that Freeh manufactured his damning evidence that Penn State administrators were involved in some cover up of Sandusky's activities?

Help me out here. Who would be harmed if the documentation supports the Freeh findings? Tim Curley, Gary Schultz and Graham Spanier are already under indictment and evidently headed to trial. Joe Paterno's reputation is already in tatters. So what is the potential harm to Penn State if the documents confirm the Freeh Findings? 

Let's keep this very simple:

What SMSS wants is the TRUTH - and the release of this documentation is relevant to that search for Truth.  Isn't that something we can all agree is a good thing?

The Paterno family is obviously searching for the TRUTH in order to prove that Joe was innocent of any wrong doing. If they are correct and these documents prove their point it's a good thing for Penn State. Joe Paterno's legacy was great for Penn State and if it can be shown that Freeh was wrong and Joe did not do anything that could be construed as covering up for Sandusky his reputation could be restored and his legacy could once again become a positive aspect of Penn State's reputation of SUCCESS WITH HONOR.

The only people who stand to lose if Joe is fully exonerated seem to be the Freeh team and those people at Penn State who hired him and then chose to ratify his findings without bothering to read the report. Those people are Tom Corbett, John Surma and the BoT members who were unduly influenced to fire Joe, hire Freeh, and accept the NCAA sanctions. 

So we have a very interesting situation that should be addressed by all trustees, but undoubtedly led by the Alumni Trustees. It seems that Stephen Dunham has either taken it upon himself or has been instructed by the faction in control of the Board to oppose the release of these documents.  So as members of the Board of Trustees is it not your duty to make your opinion known to the General Counsel and any elements on the Board that support his objection to this release of documents? If you are not in favor of that move on behalf of PENN STATE you should now make that known. 

PENN STATE should want the TRUTH revealed. Is PENN STATE the Trustees who were openly elected by the Alumni? OR is PSU the cronies and appointees of Tom Corbett – the man who convened the grand jury that accused Penn State via its administrators and then became the Governor with power over so many trustees with the fiduciary duty to protect Penn State from his attack on Penn State launched as Attorney General?  

PS4RS and the other anti-"move-on" groups who helped defeat the "move-on" candidates should  encourage the trustee's they helped to elect openly oppose this move by Stephen Dunham. 

A vote on this would clearly show PENN STATE alumni and students who has the university's best interests at heart. The TRUTH is in Penn State's best interest and this is a chance to call for a vote by the Board of Trustees. A vote to instruct the General Counsel to withdraw his objections and to file a brief in favor of the release of these documents is a vote for revealing the TRUTH. Any board member who opposes it is in favor of hiding the TRUTH.

It really is that simple. You either want the TRUTH or you want to hide the TRUTH

Call for a vote and don't let those who oppose the Truth hide. 

WE ARE PENN STATE - says the slogan. 
Don't allow Dunham and Corbett to be Penn State. Neither one of them even attended PSU. They should not have the right to speak for the real PENN STATE anymore than I do. .  

WE WON - Analyzing the Result of the PSU Board of Trustee's Elections

The success of the "reform and hold responsible" PS4RS candidates for Board of Trustees is only another step for those of us who worked hard to secure their election. We now need to support them with suggestions and help consolidate the collective power of the only popularly elected members of that body. Congratulations to the new board members.

Now there are NINE -  NINE popularly elected new Penn State Trustees since the 11/9/11 Board who, under the "guidance" of John Surma and the control of Tom Corbett, voted to destroy the reputation of the great institution they had a fiduciary duty to defend.

2012  Election Results Candidate – Vote Total Winners

Adam J. Taliaferro, '05, Swedesboro, NJ -- 15,629

Anthony P. Lubrano, '82, Exton, PA -- 10,096

Ryan J. McCombie, '70, State College, PA -- 4,806

2013  Election Results Candidate – Vote Total  Winners  

Barbara L. Doran, '75, New York, NY – 15,085

William F. Oldsey, '76, Basking Ridge, NJ – 13,940

Edward "Ted" B. Brown, III, '68, State College, PA – 11,403

and NOW  2014  Election Results Candidate -- Vote Total Winners

Alice W. Pope -- 10,025

Albert L. Lord -- 9,516

Robert C. Jubelirer -- 8,101 

The Onward and Upward "MOVE ON" oriented candidates included Myers, Dan Cocco, Julie Harris McHugh, and Matt Schuyler.  UpwardState used some rather devious tactics, such as using photographs of protesting Alumni at the March4Truth, to misrepresent their position about moving forward.  The tactics didn't work.

Cocco and McHugh scored 3800 and 3500 votes respectively - less than half the total of Bob Jubelirer, who was smeared with negative campaign tactics.
Joel N. Myers - the sole 11/9/11 Trustee who sought re-election scored 3500 votes after spending thousands. His role in the 11/9/11 disaster was clearly repudiated by the Alumni.   

Ryan Bagwell (who is responsible for obtaining the emails that exposed the 11/9 members) and Rudy Glocker (endorsed by Sue Paterno)  scored a respectable 3400 and 2700 votes - votes that can be counted against the "move on" movement. 

Ted Sebastianelli - organizer of a group proposing a Joe Paterno statue - and obviously opposed to the "move on" agenda, scored 5700 votes in 4th place. 

So put another way Move On candidates - Myers, Cocco, and McHugh totaled roughly 11,000 votes total  or an average of 3500 votes each while reform and "HOLD RESPONSIBLE" candidates totaled roughly 43,000 votes or 14,000 voters x3 for reform and responsibility. 

Of the Penn State Alumni who cared enough to pay attention and vote on a very basic difference in position and opinion:

3,500 wanted to "move on"   

14,000 want those responsible held accountable

That's 20% vs 80% 

That isn't just a simple victory for the forces of right vs wrong - It is a MANDATE giving the reform trustees a base of support within the Alumni that is powerful and focused on an agenda holding the perpetrators of the 11/9/11 agenda responsible. 

The winning candidates won the PS4RS primary and were thus endorsed by PS4RS. The PS4RS group has spawned additional groups with some differences of opinion on details and tactics like PSU Re-BoT, March4Truth, Put the JoePa Statue Back, and PSU Alumni for Re-Organization of the BoT. But all of these groups were unanimously opposed to the "move on" agenda of the well funded Onward and Upward State groups. The Facebook Pages and websites for the various "Reform and Hold Responsible" groups see significant daily activity.  

This SMSS website is approaching 1.5 million visits this month (the 26th of active existence). That's  60,000 visits a month from Penn Staters who want the TRUTH about what was done to their Alma Mater by Tom Corbett, John Surma and their partners in crime (Ken Frazier, Karen Peetz, the Corbett appointees, etc) exposed.  We supported the "Reform and Hold Responsible" Candidates in order to sustain the 'hold responsible' agenda.  

Only NINE of the Trustees are popularly elected. They alone have a constituency of concerned Penn State Alumni who care about their University - not the interests of corporations or politicians who control their appointments. 

The next move for those who want to hold the 11/9/11 BoT responsible for the damage done - and alter the negative narrative spawned by the Corbett-conflicted 11/9/11 board - is to get actively involved in the defeat of Tom Corbett.  Our impact in damaging Corbett should convince a new Governor to consider our advice on his appointed replacements - as well as reform measures being considered to downsize the BoT and make it more responsive to students and alumni, as opposed to business interests. 

When 80% of the active concerned alumni demonstrate their support with their votes and hard work - these new trustees join the previous six with a significant power base they alone enjoy. These reform trustees were not appointed or chosen by Ag or Business groups - they were elected with a mandate to right the wrong done to Penn State by Tom Corbett and his cronies. This election demonstrates our power to effect change. We need to help set an agenda that makes the best use of that power. 

SMSS will have some suggestions that could alter the narrative during this upcoming election cycle. We herein initiate a discussion of tactics that might re-open the debate in the Commonwealth concerning Penn State's culpability in the Second Mile Sandusky Scandal. 

The election offers an opportunity to focus on Corbett's conflicted agenda that failed to investigate The Second Mile and the Dept of Public Welfare while attempting to blame Penn State. Corbett's failure to protect the children of the Commonwealth by failing to investigate TSM and DPW is a great campaign issue for us. 

A media focused on the gubernatorial election would have to cover 1) Corbett's clear Conflict of Interests concerning Penn State and 2) Corbett's part in the Freeh Fiction. 3) Corbett's clear failure to investigate TSM and DPW - the real agencies that failed the children of the Commonwealth.  Once the public sees how Corbett manipulated this crisis to harm Penn State, everything will be exposed to public view. That will be a very good thing and I think we can help make that happen with the help of the elected BoT members. 

In my view the gubernatorial election not only offers a chance for a new governor to replace a large number of 11/9 Trustees - done right, it could afford reform and responsibility forces input in who replaces them. 

But perhaps more importantly,  this election offers the last best chance to alter the narrative in the Commonwealth concerning Penn State's culpability in what should have always been known as the Second Mile Sandusky Scandal by focusing attention on Corbett's failure to protect children who were failed by The Second Mile and PA's child protection agencies. 

VOTE AS IF THE REPUTATION OF YOUR ALMA MATER DEPENDS ON IT. IT DOES.

The upcoming election for Governor offers the opportunity to get the media to focus on the Truth because the Truth clearly shows Tom Corbett damaged Penn State university without regard for the Truth.  Popularly elected Alumni Trustees will have the power to make the Truth known so vote for the Trustee candidates who are willing to fight for the Truth.  

by Barry Bozeman

May 8, 2013 will mark the end of this year's Board of Trustees election. The turnout as of April 24 is just under 19,000 votes lagging behind 2012 and 2013 by 20 to 25%. As we have attempted to explain in several posts here on SMSS, the makeup of the BoT runs counter to the interests of Penn State University:

In our view, Tom Corbett and those who are beholden to him, are in clear breach of their fiduciary duty to Penn State due to clear and compelling conflicts of interest. Their violations should constitute grounds for removal from the Board of Trustees. Corbett's desire to gut Commonwealth funding for Penn State is just one obvious example of his personal conflict with what is in the best interest of Penn State. His handling of the attack on Penn State and his part in the firing of Joe Paterno and the termination and indictment of Graham Spanier is even more obvious and repellent. We support a strong group of Trustees who will fight Corbett and bring these breaches of fiduciary duty to light in this election year. How can a Trustee bound by law to do what is in the best interest of Penn State be the architect of these attacks on Penn State and remain on the Board of Trustees ? 


Joe Paterno and Alfred Dreyfus - THE PENN STATE CULTURE

THE DREYFUS AFFAIR REDUX by Joseph A Cattano Ph.D Penn State  

First a reminder:  The Dreyfus Affair, a political scandal that divided France 1894 until its resolution in 1906, is one of the most striking examples of a miscarriage of justice with a major role by media and public opinion. 

THE DREYFUS AFFAIR REDUX   

note: Written a year ago edits made to bring current. 

           Before sharing my thoughts regarding the tragedy that occurred at Penn State University, I will preface my discussion with the necessary statement that children were the tragic victims of harm and a reckless insensitivity by a sexual predator that will stay with them for years.  As a mental health professional who has worked with the victims of sexual abuse, I fully appreciate the scope of emotional issues and he horrid “soul murder” of a child who has experienced sexual abuse.There is no question that those responsible for this tragedy should face both criminal and civil prosecution and be held accountable for their actions.

Tom Corbett vs Graham Spanier - THE PENN STATE CULTURE

by Barry Bozeman
FOR THE FUTURE - we must recognize the past. 

The announcement yesterday of the great achievement of the FOR THE FUTURE campaign reminds us of when that campaign began back in April of 2010.

Penn State sets $2 billion goal for campaign to help students

April 23, 2010  University Park, Pa. – President Graham Spanier announced that Penn State will aim to secure $2 billion by 2014 to ensure that the University can continue to offer an outstanding education to students from every economic background while benefiting the public through research and service.

 Penn State raises more than $2 billion in For the Future campaign

April 12, 2014 -- Penn State doubled the amount collected in its last 7 year drive, became one of only 12 public universities in the country to exceed $2 billion in a fundraising campaign, and convinced more alumni to donate along the way than in any other campaign in the nation.

Graham Spanier's 16 year tenure as Penn State University just keeps on giving. We have to wonder why it had to stop. A brief history lesson that should be known to all Penn Staters. 

Joel Myers vs Graham Spanier - THE PENN STATE CULTURE

by Barry Bozeman

Saturday April 11, 2014, In an article on State College dot com, Joel Myers is credited with the following remarks:

"..... three former Penn State administrators, including former President Graham Spanier currently face criminal charges for allegedly trying to cover-up the Sandusky scandal. The board decided to terminate Spanier in the wake of the scandal. 

Joel Myers says Graham Spanier had too much authority at Penn State. 

"Here we had a situation where the board had to act over a couple of days and it became obvious Graham Spanier hadn't kept the board informed," Myers says. "Graham Spanier had a lot of authority, he had in retrospect far too much. ... Obviously he didn't keep the board informed with things they should know about." 

In response, Lubrano challenged Myers, saying the board should be held responsible for allowing Paterno and Spanier to have too much power. Myers argued the board took responsibility with its actions to remove Paterno and Spanier as well as moves to reform the communication and organizational models of the board and administration."

These remarks come along with his justification for the firing of Joe Paterno -- a subject this website has covered in copious detail. Everything that we need to know about Joe's correct and appropriate action has been discussed in great detail repeatedly. We have been remiss in not considering Graham Spanier's role in what happened at Penn State.

It is our contention that, had the Board followed Dr. Spanier's lead, Penn State would be in a far better position today -- morally, ethically, and financially.  Dr. Spanier did two things about which we are certain:  1) He told John Surma that firing Joe Paterno would be a terrible mistake; and 2) He publicly announced his full support of AD Tim Curley and VP Gary Schultz.

Graham Spanier with Joe Paterno

Spanier called the allegations against Sandusky "troubling" and added that Curley and Schultz had his unconditional support.  He predicted they would be exonerated.  "I have known and worked daily with Tim and Gary for more than 16 years," Spanier said. "I have complete confidence in how they handled the allegations..." 

Despite knowing the personal risk Spanier did the right thing - and the BOT fired him for it while Corbett's AG indicted him.

2 1/2 years later, those comments appear to have been absolutely appropriate. 

By contrast, the Board (including Joel Myers) acted in a panic, driven by a media tsunami that was set off by the lies contained in then-Attorney General Linda Kelly's Presentment. The Presentment contained the fabrication that Mike McQueary saw a boy "being subjected to anal intercourse" and told Joe Paterno, Tim Curley and Gary Schultz exactly that. The Board reacted based on those lies and that media pressure. When the Trustees fired Joe and Graham, they sent a message to the world that the Penn State Board believed these key employees to be guilty. That act signaled the world,that the Trustees accepted liability on behalf of the University for the crimes of Jerry Sandusky -- a man who had not been employed by PSU for 11 years. 

Alice Pope's Statement - SMSS Supports ALICE POPE for 2014 Board of Trustees

SMSS offers our support for PENN STATE BOARD OF TRUSTEES CANDIDATES who assure us that they intend to stand up for the best interests of Penn State, unlike the compromised and conflicted BOT members of Nov 9, 2011. We cannot "move on" without addressing the damage done and holding accountable those who failed in their fiduciary duty to Penn State. I give you the statement of ALICE POPE, who is such a candidate.

Alice Pope is endorsed by PS4RS, Reform Members of the BOT Lubrano, Doran, Oldsey and Brown, and Franco & Dana Harris.

ALICE POPE - 2014 Candidate for Penn State Board of Trustees

I am a 3-time Penn State alumna, with bachelors (1979), masters (1983), and doctorate (1986) degrees in psychology.  I have held faculty appointments for the past 25 years in public and private universities.  The Penn State board currently has no faculty as trustees.  I will bring the perspective of a career educator who is familiar with the challenges facing higher education today, and will ensure that Penn State’s education mission is prioritized in decision-making


I ask for your support based on my record of thoughtful, principled, and constructive activism in response to the board’s errors.  I have worked effectively outside the board; now I am ready to serve Penn State as a trustee. In particular, I have:

1.  Regularly attended committee and full BOT meetings.  I have commented at meetings; have communicated with trustees to voice my opinion; I have connected with alumni who attend meetings. 

2.  Written 11 op-eds and other opinion pieces in Pennsylvania newspapers.  These works have made me a recognized voice of alumni who are concerned with promoting effective governance and with responding to the profound weaknesses of the Freeh report.  Please see my website  to read my published work.

3. Conducted research and written position papers in collaboration with other alumni in support of governance reform.  These reports have been used by our progressive PSU trustees and by state legislators to guide their efforts to make the BOT more effective, transparent, and efficient.

4.  Met with Pennsylvania senators and have formed effective working relationships with several who support PSU board reform.

5.  Used social media to lead actions.  We have generated letter-writing campaigns to PSU trustees and to state legislators in support of governance reforms.

6.  Attended hearings and press conferences in the Capitol on PSU governance reform.  I have also helped to organize attendance by PSU alumni at these events to show the strength of our numbers.

CORBETT, SURMA, FRAZIER, TOMALIS & BALDWIN - UNCOMMONLY CLEAR CONFLICTS OF INTEREST PART 1 A

Eight days after the Nov 9, 2011 firing of Joe Paterno and Graham Spanier, Corbett, Frazier, Surma, Garban, and Balwin had Louis Freeh in place as the "INDEPENDENT" executioner for Penn State demanding complete collusion with Attorney General of Pennsylvania Linda Kelly.  

"The hiring of Louis Freeh is synonymous with an institution paying $8.2 million to concoct evidence supporting its own guilt and liability. Why would any institution in its right mind fund such an effort? It's insanity, clearly demonstrating the conflicted interests that are the point of this article. The Freeh insanity depicts Penn State as a schizophrenic trying to convict itself of a crime imagined in the fevered mind of its own alter-ego, the Board of Trustees." 

In Part I CORBETT & SURMA - UNCOMMONLY COMPLETE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
the roots of the damaging decisions of the Board of Trustees were exposed, showing why Corbett, Surma and Corbett's appointees should have recused themselves from the Nov 9th meeting that resulted in the termination of President Spanier and Joe Paterno.

Although I have followed these events very closely since Linda Kelly's Presentment drew my interest on Nov 5, 2011; I was very surprised to find the enclosed documents among the 300 made available by Ryan Bagwell. They verify the 8 day timeline and actually confirm the effort to restrict the special investigation group to a tightly controlled Cobett conflicted few. 

If you want further confirmation that the events of Nov 9, 2011 were a well-planned and executed strategy on the part of the Attorney General turned Governor Tom Corbett and his willing Joe hating partner John Surma, then take a quick look at this timeline. Have you ever seen any sizable governing body move this quickly?

TIMELINE  NOV 5, 2011 Penn State stands accused at the moment Linda Kelly decides to put equal sized posters of AD Tim Curley and VP Gary Schultz on her Presentment stage along side of a poster of Jerry Sandusky,  There was simply no equivalence involved in the crimes of which they are accused thus the display was part of a strategy to anchor a narrative of PSU enabling Sandusky's abuse.

The verifiable LIE in that presentment; that Mike McQueary saw a boy being "subjected to anal rape" on the Penn State campus was tied to Curley and Schultz in another LIE - that McQueary told this to Joe Paterno and then to the two PSU administrators.  Those lies created the media tsunami that made Penn State the equal villain in the public eye.

CORBETT & SURMA - UNCOMMONLY COMPLETE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

WHO REPRESENTED PENN STATE'S BEST INTERESTS IN NOV. 2011?

PART ONE - THE MAJOR CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

“In general, the most conventional form of a conflict of interest involves money—typically, an institutional decision maker has some kind of financial stake in the outcome of the decision.  A conflict can also arise when the decision maker has a non-monetary stake in the outcome of a decision—for example, a personal relationship, prestige, or career advancement.” 

by Barry Bozeman

Tom Corbett Embarrassed Trustee

Tom Corbett served as Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 2004 until he assumed office as Governor on January 18, 2011.

The Governor is automatically placed on the Penn State Board of Trustees. He also appoints six (6) members, in addition to his choices for PA Secretaries of Education, Conservation, and Agriculture, who sit on the Board along with a non-voting personal representative. This block of Trustees depends on the Governor for their positions, effectively making him the single most powerful presence in both voting power and influence.


Six (6) members of the Board are known as Business and Industry Trustees. These members are "self -selected" by an arcane procedure far from being transparent or apparent to those outside the process. Another six (6) members of the Board are known as Agriculture Trustees, who are selected through a county-by-county vote of the Commonwealth's agricultural societies (i.e., the PA Grange and the PA Farm Bureau).  We will discuss the business relationships of most of these members and the influence the Governor holds over them in our next installment.

Nine (9) members are elected by Alumni, the most independent and democratically selected group. That's only 9 members to attempt to balance 11 of the Governor's directly controlled members plus 6 each from Business & Industry and from Agriculture.

Tweets of Highlights of Bagwell emails 180-297

1. Highlights of emails 180-297 include:

   #288 - uncertainty of the threat of the death penalty
   #279 - Ed Ray stating PSU was never in a "take it or leave it" situation
   #258 - the shut down of the "Task Force" two days after Freeh Report was released
   #255 - Corbett podium pounding mad over questions about Sandusky investigation
   #253 - On July 10, the Freeh Report appears on agenda with little warning (note that the last official notice of a Briefing Call for the Task Force was on 4/4/12)
   #204 - Frazier mentions "culture" issue on 5/4/2012

   Tweets

2. Ray Blehar ‏@RayBlehar  Mar 30

   .@Bagwell4Trustee EM #294&295 10/31/12 Fina emails Paw to give him heads up on Conspiracy of Silence presentment

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3. Ray Blehar ‏@RayBlehar  Mar 30

   .@Bagwell4Trustee EM#293 8/13/12 notes that Schultz will have access to all of Freeh's supporting docs, e-mails, interviews, etc.

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4. Ray Blehar ‏@RayBlehar  Mar 30

   .@Bagwell4Trustee EM#289 PA Aud Gen Jack Wagner reccos that PSU come under Right-To-Know laws. PSU fighting #transparency

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5. Ray Blehar ‏@RayBlehar  Mar 30

   .@Bagwell4Trustee EM#288 on 7/25 BOT says PSU was "likely facing" death penalty. LIKELY? Hmmmm. pic.twitter.com/LouNotoB5Y

   
   

   

   
   

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6. There is much more to see beneath the break 
7.