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Wasn't told all problems, Frazier says
RAY PIERCE
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

The man who headed the state Department of Human Services when abuse allegations stained one of its divisions said Monday he didn't act more quickly because he wasn't told the full scope of the problems.
Lee Frazier of Little Rock got a chance Monday to tell his side of the story to legislative committees, which had heard in recent weeks four days of testimony, much of which indicated that dealing with the abuse problems was blocked from the top.
Frazier said that not only did other officials fail to fully inform him, but also he was being told that the problems were being corrected. In addition, he added under questioning that he felt that the former division director, Ruth Whitney of Little Rock, deceived him.
Frazier resigned June 30 as department director. By then, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette had run a six-part series of articles about problems that had occurred in the department's Division of Youth Services. He told the legislators Monday that he didn't think when he was director that the abuse was as widespread or pervasive as everyone was led to believe, nor does he think so at this time. The series of articles involved allegations of physical and sexual abuse.
"We see over 1,200 kids in those centers every year," Frazier told members of the Senate Children and Youth Committee and the House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs Committee. "Of less than the half-dozen of kids in the [Democrat-Gazette] stories, a very small percentage, less than 2 percent, were founded allegations."
The committees have been investigating who knew what and when -- and who acted or failed to act -- on reports of alleged abuse of youths within the division.
Frazier, who testified 51/₂ hours, responded to allegations made by past witnesses. He said that a report concerning problems at the division's now-closed Observation and Assessment Center in North Little Rock that he was given by Whitney on July 7, 1997, just days after taking over at the department, was a preliminary one, and that he gave it back to her at her request. Whitney had testified that she thought it "odd" that Frazier would return that report. Frazier said she requested it back so that it would not be subject to public disclosure under the state Freedom of Information Act.
Some lawmakers thought they saw a discrepancy between his testimony Monday and what he told an Arkansas State Police investigator in June as to when he saw a report on the conditions at the youth center in North Little Rock.
His statement to the state police was that on July 7, 1997, Whitney tried to give Frazier a copy of a report on conditions at the facility, but that the first time he had seen that report was in April 1998.
On Monday, Frazier said he did receive what he called "a preliminary report" from Whitney on the facility. But he said that there were three versions of that report at the department, so he couldn't be sure exactly what he had seen when he talked to the state police investigator.
Frazier said Whitney expressed concern that the report not be subject to the state Freedom of Information Act, so she asked for it back rather than have it filed. "I said I would read it and return it to Ruth," Frazier testified.
Sen. Mike Beebe, D-Searcy, said after the meeting that he was "flabbergasted" at that part of Frazier's testimony.
"I thought that Mr. Frazier didn't have full knowledge based on what he told the state police investigator, but when he testified today he said he did," Beebe said.
"I never told anyone that I didn't know what was going on [at the division]," Frazier said after the meeting. "I just didn't believe it was continuing."
Frazier denied that he had told Whitney and Warford not to discuss their concerns about the abuse allegations with Gov. Mike Huckabee. He said that they had wanted to alert the governor to the Democrat-Gazette's report, and Frazier said that was not necessary.
Frazier said that he did threaten to fire Warford this past February, but not because he was talking with people in the governor's office. He said he told Warford and Whitney to stop talking about the Democrat-Gazette report to other staff members, because that information was coming back to Frazier. Frazier said Warford was telling other employees that Warford would soon be the department deputy director.
"This kind of behavior wasn't needed in a department that was struggling, in a department that was trying to get a handle on many problems," he said.
Frazier said he never discussed the abuse allegations with Huckabee, with whom he met nearly every week, because he had bigger "war stories" to share, such as problems with the Office of Long Term Care and welfare reform.
Frazier said that while the Observation and Assessment Center, a former city jail that had become the focus of the abuse allegation, wasn't a good facility to do centralized assessments of delinquent youths' needs, it wasn't the "hell" that it was made out to be.
"It was very, very clear that the overwhelming majority of kids went on to their final destination, and ultimately did meet at least some of the standards for successful release back into society," he said. "I take exception [to the suggestion] that every kid is slapped or hurt or are put into situations to be slapped or abused."
He said what concerned him most was when he saw youths cleaning up raw sewage after a heavy rain when he made his first trip to the Observation and Assessment Center on April 16.
"It was almost total shock and disbelief, seeing kids picking up sewage from the facility that had backed up from the hard rain," he said. "What I found there sickened me."
Frazier said he questioned former acting division director Larance Johnson of Little Rock about that and whether she saw anything wrong with youths being made to clean up raw sewage. He said she didn't see anything wrong with that.
It was that attitude that led to Frazier deciding that Johnson had to step down. In a quickly arranged news conference on April 24, Huckabee announced that he had learned of serious problems at the center and announced several corrective actions were underway, including Johnson's resignation.
"She didn't see and therefore she could not be part of the vision that was needed in that division," Frazier said Monday. "We need people with the ability to be alarmed."
Frazier, however, denied that he had fired Johnson or that she had been set-up to take the fall, as she indicated in her testimony before the committee Aug. 24. He said he merely "acted upon" her resignation. Ed Rolle, director of the Employment Security Department and who was working on personnel issues at the Department of Human Services at Frazier's request, was the one who told Johnson she had to go.
But in his morning testimony, Frazier said that since he had to virtually beg Johnson to take the acting division director's job, he "felt embarrassed and hurt that I had to tell Larance that I had to terminate her."
In a scene like a cross-examination during a trial, Beebe, who has tried to keep the blame from falling solely on Frazier, queried Frazier about Johnson's dismissal.
Beebe referred to a May 16 deposition Frazier gave in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the State Hospital, where Frazier answered under oath that he had not fired any director or assistant director at the department. Beebe asked Frazier whether he fired Johnson and was frustrated with the way Frazier answered.
At one point, Beebe said, "Did you terminate her or not?" Beebe asked.
"I think if I had to deal with it in terms of the letter of the law, the answer would have to be yes," Frazier responded. "If I had to deal with it in terms of how it was done, then the answer would have to be no. Her resignation was received. It wasn't asked for. It was acted upon."
Despite what some lawmakers saw as an inconsistency in Frazier's testimony Monday and his May 16 deposition, Frazier said he was legally correct in both instances.
When Frazier became department director July 1, 1997, his predecessor, Tom Dalton., had asked all division heads for their resignations as a courtesy to Frazier. Dalton will be the next person to appear before the committee Sept. 21.
Huckabee's former chief legal counsel Bud Cummins, who is on the committees' witness list, sent a letter to a committee staff member saying that he wasn't going to spend his time in the committee room waiting to be called.
"My schedule simply will not permit me to sit at the state Capitol all day waiting to testify in the unlikely event other witnesses complete their testimony," Cummins wrote.
Senate committee chairman Sen. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, said if the committee still need Cummins' testimony, "we'll take whatever legal means this committee has to get his testimony."

This article was published on Tuesday, September 15, 1998

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