John Yonchuk: Shedding TRUTH on The Second Mile’s Decision Making
October 27, 2015 no1lion99 Leave a comment
Note: Ray Blehar, Wendy Silverwood, Maribeth Roman Schmidt, DefendAChild, and JimmyW contributed to this post.
The
recent controversy over the Army-Penn State honorary coin toss, specifically about local business owner and Second Mile co-founder/Board Member Bruce Heim, provided the media and the nation yet another chance to see the duplicity and arrogance with which the Penn State Board of Trustees has been operating since the Jerry Sandusky scandal came to light. Current Penn State Trustee Ryan McCombie nominated Mr. Heim, a West Point grad and Army vet, to represent the Vietnam War and stand at midfield, center stage so to speak, at Beaver Stadium. The incident opened a door for the local, state, national media, and authorities to focus once again on the failures of The Second Mile and, more specifically, its leaders Mr. Heim and Dr. Jack Raykovitz.
The University either ‘forgot’ or just didn’t care how this honor would appear to Sandusky’s victims, who they spent great money assuaging, starting two years ago in the legal settlements totaling well over $60 million and continuing with more undisclosed settlements since. If Mr. Sandusky was the public face of The Second Mile, then surely Heim was the brains of the operation. He was the suave local businessman who handled operations. He had intimate knowledge of all things related to the charity. Penn State rescinded the invitation after a flood of complaints, but in his responses to the story, we learned directly from Mr. Heim exactly what he did know Heim admitted to direct knowledge of the 2001 incident witnessed by Mike McQueary in the Lasch football building. Mr. Heim’s
response to the situation has confirmed he and the executive committee were told of the 2001 incident by Dr. Raykovitz, but claims it was nothing inappropriate.
Contradicting such a notion of “nothing inappropriate” is the fact that Raykovitz and Heim both admit to discussing this matter with staff members inside Second Mile. What we don’t know is what specifically Raykovitz discussed. Was Raykovitz looking for confirmation of previous behaviors? Many in the local community are open that rumors of Jerry’s penchant for being in intimate situations with young boys was rampant for years prior to 2001. More importantly, why would Raykovitz need input from low-level staff? He was a licensed child psychologist trained in recognizing signs of child abuse, and a mandated reporter. Heim, in his role as board member, was also a mandated reporter. A trained professional should have immediately raised a flag when told of the situation: an older man naked and alone with a young boy late at night in a private space. Most child advocates and experts would agree that alone is enough to warrant suspicion. Similar acts in 1998 alerted Dr. Alicia Chambers to file a report against Sandusky.
The media has reported that a septuagenarian football coach “should have known,” but had nothing to say about the licensed child psychologist, Dr. Jack Raykovitz, who failed to report the 2001 incident. Even if nothing overtly specific was reported, one might think that Curley’s report to
Raykovitz,the charity’s executive director, informing him of the ban placed on Sandusky from bringing children on campus, was a sign of inappropriate behavior that warranted further investigation.
Incredibly, Heim stated that Curley came to the charity and told Raykovitz that nothing inappropriate happened. However, a report in the Delaware County Times contradicts Mr. Heim’s account. In that report, citing a person close to the case, Raykovitz is quoted in response to Curley:
“Are you trying to tell me that you think Jerry Sandusky is a pedophile?” suggesting Curley had lost his mind. The evidence (and common sense) tells us that Curley reported that Sandusky’s behavior
was inappropriate.. No matter, the businessman Heim told the licensed child psychologist Raykovitz to not only ignore the complaint, but to bury it from the larger organization, despite Raykovitz’s position as a licensed, trained, state-mandated reporter. So we now have documentary proof of where the break in the reporting chain was. It broke at the two mandated reporters, Heim and Raykovitz, within The Second Mile, not at Penn State. Penn State administrators consulted with legal counsel on their obligation to report, yet there is no evidence that Heim or Raykovitz consulted with theirs. Why? Legal counsel would surely have informed both that they were bound by law to report it, both overseeing children directly and thus being mandated reporters in their capacities at The Second Mile.
So there we were on October 1st, with Penn State preparing to honor the man who buried the 2001 report. No one else related to the case, whether you think they acted correctly or not, ignored the report and advised anyone to bury it. Each person reported it to whom they thought was the proper link in the chain, until it hit two mandated reporters who directly oversaw Mr. Sandusky in his employed position at the charity. Tim Curley, Gary Schultz, and Graham Spanier were indicted, yet Penn State leadership thought they could walk Mr. Heim to midfield and celebrate all he has done for Penn State supposedly.
Penn State leadership flipped a coin, hoping they could insult everyone who is dedicated to the truth about the Sandusky scandal and the improvement of child protection procedures. They lost. They will keep losing until they allow the truth to be exposed, not locked away in Mr. Freeh’s vault for their eyes only. Heim, Raykovitz, and The Second Mile will have to answer for their judgment soon enough because We Are never going to rest until the truth is known.
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