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Chip Minemyer | Victims have been courageous; time for others to do the same

By Chip Minemyer
Tribune-Democrat
April 01, 2017

http://www.tribdem.com/news/editorials/columns/chip-minemyer-victims-have-been-courageous-time-for-others-to/article_5b81fa36-164d-11e7-9ab9-7f3cf751625e.html

Former Penn State president Graham Spanier walks back from a lunch break on the second day of his trial at the Dauphin County Courthouse, Tuesday, March 21, 2017, in Harrisburg, Pa. The failure of Penn State's former president to report child molestation accusations against Jerry Sandusky allowed evil "to run wild," prosecutors said Tuesday at the start of Spanier's trial.
Photo by Dan Gleiter


Penn State’s former leaders have been found guilty of endangering children, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown has been forced to adopt new policies and the Pennsylvania Legislature is wrestling over the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

As we enter April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month, major institutions are in turmoil because of past sins – while the quest for justice for those who suffered at the hands of priests, coaches and other trusted adults remains a struggle.

If only someone in power had showed the courage and compassion years ago to say: “This stops now.”

Former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, founder of The Second Mile for troubled kids, was convicted in 2012 on 45 counts of child sexual abuse. 

His case prompted the scathing Louis Freeh Report, which pointed the finger at former college President Graham Spanier, head football coach Joe Paterno and other Penn State leaders.

Spanier was convicted last week of child endangerment in a jury trial that featured as prosecution witnesses two men who were charged when the Sandusky scandal broke – Penn State’s former Athletics Director Tim Curley and Vice President for Finance Gary Schultz. 

Schultz and Curley took plea deals before testifying.

The jury said Spanier failed children more than 15 years ago when a report that Sandusky had molested a boy in a campus shower was not pursued through legal channels.

Spanier pledged to appeal the verdict. He could face up to five years in prison.

Freeh – the former FBI director whose conclusions have been attacked by the Paterno family, Penn State trustees and others who refuse to lay blame at the feet of the school’s former leaders – fired back after the Spanier verdict was announced:

“Graham Spanier, Gary Schultz and Timothy Curley were the most powerful men who ran the Pennsylvania State University. Today, they are convicted criminals. And Joe Paterno’s once iconic legacy is forever marred by his own decision to do nothing when he had the chance to make a real difference.”

Penn State trustee Albert Lord, former CEO of student-loan company Sallie Mae, spoke out following the Spanier trial, telling The Chronicle of Higher Education that he is “running out of sympathy” for Sandusky’s “so-called victims,” as reported by The Associated Press and others.

Freeh pointed to Lord and other pro-Paterno trustees and groups in saying they “have no vision for PSU except a ‘rear-view’ one.”

Ira M. Lubert, chairman of the Penn State trustees, responded with a statement that Lord’s comments “do not represent the opinions of the board or the university.”

“First and foremost, our thoughts remain with the victims of Jerry Sandusky,” Lubert said.

Let’s be honest: Nobody’s thoughts were first and foremost with victims when there was an opportunity to intervene.

Not at Penn State, where allegations against Sandusky back to the 1990s and even earlier, and Mike McQueary’s report to Spanier, Paterno and the rest in 2001, were brushed aside. 

Not in the Altoona-Johnstown Diocese, where – as the state attorney general’s office reported last March – more than 50 religious leaders abused children in local parishes for decades, their crimes covered up by bishops who moved those priests from community to community.

And not, to date, in the Pennsylvania General Assembly, where lawmakers have been reluctant to make retroactivity part of the plan when addressing the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse.

Beginning Monday in Harrisburg, when statute bills will be debated, those lawmakers have a chance to get something right.

Very real and courageous victims will speak in support of removing the statute of limitations and making the measure retroactive.

It’s time for members of the state House and Senate to show some courage and do what many would not do in our parishes and on our campuses – hear the cry for help and say: “This stops now.”

Contact: cminemyer@tribdem.com




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