Jon:
I read with great interest your article today about the Penn State situation and Joe Paterno's failure to act on reports of criminal activity. You state that Paterno "had to go immediately" because of a "massive failure of moral leadership" at PSU. This all comes, you state, because Paterno and other Penn State leaders failed to act on reports of criminal actions involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky
Your piece raises this question: Does The Birmingham News act on reports it receives of criminal acts? What kind of moral leadership does The Birmingham News possess?
For example, I know that Paul Bryant Jr., president pro tempore of the University of Alabama Board of Trustees, was implicated in a $15 million insurance fraud scheme several years ago. This doesn't involve any great reporting on my part. Documents are available on the Web that prove the involvement of Alabama Reassurance, one of Bryant's companies, in a scheme that netted a 15-year federal prison sentence for a Pennsylvania lawyer/entrepreneur named Allen W. Stewart.
In fact, I provide the key document, highlighting pertinent portions, in the following post at my blog, Legal Schnauzer:
http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2011/11/why-is-paul-bryant-jr-on-ua-board-of.html
The post also includes information about a probable cover-up of Bryant's activities by officials with the U.S. Justice Department in the Northern District of Alabama.
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