ITHACA (NY)
Ithaca Journal
Jan. 11, 2019
By Ann Sullivan
Congratulations and best wishes to Sen. Tom O’Mara as he begins his fifth term as state senator from the New York 58th. We wish him the very best for a successful and productive legislation session.
We also urge him to right a great wrong. Senator O’Mara must end his opposition against and vote for a Child Victims Act that would extend the statute of limitations for actions against child molesters to age 28 in criminal cases and age 50 for civil suits, including a one-year window for victims to sue for restitution for acts that have passed the statute of limitations. Under the current law, victims can press charges only up to the age of 23.
The sordid history of powerful institutions covering up the actions of child molesters is well known. In 2004, an official Catholic Church commission reported that 4,000 priests had sexually assaulted at least 10,000 children over five decades in the U.S. Bishop Salvatore Matano needs to release the names of pedophile priests who served in the Diocese of Rochester, which includes Elmira and Ithaca, but clergy in the Catholic Church are not the only authorities dealing with incidents of abuse. Over 30 now-adult victims of the Horace Mann School located in the Bronx reported incidents of molestation when they were enrolled at the elite private academy. Numerous other New York state institutions whose employees came into unlawful contact with children also need to come clean about any history of molestation.
To its credit, the NY state assembly has responded vigorously to the revelations. For the past several sessions, it has passed a version of the Child Victims Act. The Republican-led State Senate, however, bowed to the demands of the NY state Catholic Conference and refused to advance the bill in its house. In one debate, held in Ithaca in 2016, Senator O’Mara unapologetically stated that the Catholic Church’s position on the bill explained his opposition to it. https://ithacavoice.com/2016/10/state-senate-candidates-omara-danks-burke-debate-issues-ithaca/
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.