Quite a few readers sent me this link. I wasn’t going to post it, because it is such a soft ball, so consistent, so obvious, so maddening. But I reread it today and I am posting it:

https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2022/01/25/mark-andrews-michigan-state-police-troopers-drinking-on-duty/6634461001/

Total whistleblower case. Sadly, not only will this man be blackballed but he and his family members will probably be pulled over on Michigan highways for the rest of time. Maybe he should team up with the private investigator from Birmingham who, unlike the state police and other agency divers, was not too afraid to get out on the Red Cedar River with a goddamn saw and an underwater camera last week.

Some brave investigative journalist in Michigan should [try to] write a long, long story about the history and culture of the Michigan State Police and how they retaliate against those who dare to cross the thin blue line as well as citizens who dare to ask questions about investigations.

Children of the Snow is back on Hulu and ID. If you haven’t watched this two-part documentary about the OCCK case, check it out. Ask yourself how you would feel if your brother’s murder case was locked in a MSP file cabinet. Someone who recently watched the documentary made this observation: “It is truly bewildering there wasn’t a single cop with a conscience, who could have at any time slipped an anonymous note in one of your mailboxes, in the middle of the night, naming names. Cowardice comes to mind.”

Yeah, it does.

Read this opinion piece from The Detroit News that ran yesterday:

And speaking of more headline-grabbing instances of abuse, this week defrocked priest Gary Berthiaume was sentenced to 17 months in prison after pleading guilty to sex crimes against boys, committed during the OCCK era in the very church this priest was serving, the aptly named Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Farmington Hills, MI. https://www.hometownlife.com/story/news/local/farmington/2022/01/20/former-farmington-priest-sent-prison-sexual-assault-cases/6591361001/  Brave survivors and their representatives spoke at his sentencing hearing. Berthiaume’s attorney, Michael Smith, pulled the old disparage the “alleged” victims stunt these defense attorneys have been using for 50 years. It’s time for that shit to stop as well, especially after your client plead guilty. Try some dignity for a change.

I’m keeping an eye on this guy. This guy goes back to the same time and place as the OCCK crimes. He hasn’t shown up in MDOC yet. Hopefully he will end up in the general population at Jackson. But some defrocked priest who had someone/some entity post his $50K bond so he could chill at a hotel while awaiting the inevitable, probably worked out some easier lock-up. The kind where none of his cell mates could administer their own form of polygraph as concerns cases like the OCCK, right Gary?

Maybe as public awareness is increased in Michigan (finally), it will become much more difficult for predators–and those who operate under color of state law to cover for them–to hide. No statute of limitations. No immunity. Out these people, all of them.

Today it was announced that the University of Michigan has reached a $490 million settlement with former athletes and other U-M students who sued the school saying they had been sexually assaulted by the late Dr. Robert Anderson, a former football team doctor. https://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2022/01/19/university-michigan-robert-anderson-settlement-sexual-assault/6553333001/ 

I did not even wade into the reader comments to this article, which I’m sure are filled with “these people are just looking for a payday!” This is the only language spoken by institutions and agencies that shut down victims, don’t listen and look the other way. Money. Want to stop predators and the enablers who protect them? Money. More victims, more money. Do the math and decide if the university presidents, board members and highly paid coaching staff are getting this right.

The Michigan legislature should address why these huge scandals happen in Michigan and a good place to start would be with the lack of oversight and accountability by the Oakland County prosecutor’s office who derailed the investigation into the Oakland County child killing cases, 1976-1978. This lack of accountability, oversight and transparency set the stage for decades of predators’ crimes to be swept under the carpet in Oakland County. Michigan’s long history of corruption doesn’t begin with predators Robert Anderson or Larry Nassar. When law enforcement (including prosecutors) ignore these kinds of crimes–or worse, sweep them under the rug, they should have to pay, too.