Deep Thoughts: I smell a cover-up

Friday, June 19, 2009

I smell a cover-up

Dr. Les Heinze, president of a Christian School, calmly told parents that nothing like this has ever happened here before. He was referring to the arrest of the schools principle for allegedly fondling two young boys. He forgot to mention the 1992 conviction of Bennie Bellino, who raped two girls and is now serving a 32-year prison sentence. Nope, no mention at all. It’s like it completely slipped his mind. Except that he was the schools pastor at the time and there is no conceivable way he forget the shitstorm that erupted over the incident. So why would he make this deliberately misleading claim?

We've been operating the school over 50 years and we've not had an incident like this.

When he was called on his statement by people with accurate memories, the school’s response was to parse the wording. What he meant to say was this.

Dr. Heinze could have been more specific when he stated, 'We've been operating the school over 50 years and we've not had an incident like this.' Dr. Heinze intended to communicate that this was the first time that an individual in a leadership position with the school was alleged to be responsible for such an incident.

Ahem… cough, bullshit, cough.

Back in 1992, there were allegations the school responded to the scandal by trying to bury the case. Even going so far as to protect the perpetrator instead of the victims. It was a typical “protect the institution” response.

In the current case, Daniel Brock stands accused of engaging in sex talk, sexual assault and attempted sexual assault. He has a predilection for young boys. . The abuse lasted years.

The school has put up a silent front. I found several articles where reporters attempted to contact the school, but calls were not returned. This coupled with the school president’s obfuscations would reasonably lead one to believe their desire to manage the Christian image of their institution is the primary goal. In other words, screw the kids, they simply represent potential cash flows. How deplorable. I hope the press keeps giving them hell.