PA--Victims blast Paterno billboards
Victims blast new Paterno billboards
For immediate release: Tuesday, Jan. 20
Statement by David Clohessy of St. Louis, Director of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (314 566 9790, [email protected], [email protected])
New billboards praising Joe Paterno and blasting the NCAA’s Mark Emmert have been erected. They’re the latest in a long string of callous, misguided moves by people who apparently value a coach’s reputation more than children’s safety or victims’ pain.
http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/01/409_billboards_celebrate_penn.html
A private group is behind this so they’re free to spend money however they like. Still, we ask that that they reconsider the impact of their billboards on those who are suffering because of sexual assault. We ask that they consider more productive and less disruptive uses for their money.
This unseemly gloating will only deepen the pain of boys, girls, men and women who have been raped and sodomized.
Instead of thumbing their noses like childish teenagers at the allegedly big, bad NCAA, we hope these Paterno backers will consider donating to scholarships, abuse prevention programs and victim compensation funds.
And we hope Penn State officials will publicly denounce this insensitive and immature move.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We were founded in 1988 and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact - David Clohessy 314-566-9790, [email protected], Barbara Dorris 314-503-0003, [email protected], Barbara Blaine 312-399-4747, [email protected]
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