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| "Arkansas' Voice on the Internet" | Previous Features / Investigations |
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 Two aides tell of dilemma about abuse ELIZABETH MCFARLAND ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Ruth Whitney and Lloyd Warford said Monday they were in an "ethical dilemma whether to tell the governor and state lawmakers about alleged abuse of youths in state custody. Whitney, former director of the state Department of Human Services' Youth Services Division, said then department Director Lee Frazier told her and Warford, an assistant division director, not to talk about the problems to those outside the department. To do so would have been insubordination, she and Warford said in interviews. "It was a directive from my boss," Whitney said. Frazier could not be reached for comment late Monday. Jim Harris, Gov. Mike Huckabee's spokesman, said he talked with Huckabee and the governor said to relay the message that "their comments confirm what the governor said all along, that they didn't say anything to him. If there was a gag order within DHS, the governor was unaware of it and certainly didn't order it." Huckabee said Saturday at a gubernatorial candidate debate in Eureka Springs that he met with Whitney in his office in October 1997 and she did not bring up a single instance of abuse. "Director Frazier told me in a meeting on July 7, with Lloyd Warford present, that he would handle all communications, external with the department on these issues. He met with the governor, I assume, weekly," Whitney said. She said Frazier's directive was substantiated by a follow-up meeting in February "where he threatened to fire us for even talking to the governor's staff." Warford, who Whitney put in charge of the division's North Little Rock center in April 1997, said he and Whitney had gone to Frazier in October to ask him to set up a briefing for Huckabee. "He said, 'I'll handle all communications on this matter,'" Warford said. "He told us in no uncertain terms that, buddy, he was in control and he would handle communications on all those matters." Warford said there had been news stories on every major allegation of abuse before the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette published a series in June on problems with treatment of youths in state custody. "We were very aware of the fact that all of this information was on the TV and in the press. We discussed on a couple of different occasions, given Frazier's instructions, how we would respond when and if the Legislature had asked us," Warford said. Whitney and Warford both said they would have answered legislators' questions if asked. "The reason we were having that whole discussion is it was an ethical dilemma for us. What are we going to say? What are we going to do?" Warford said. Whitney said she did not bring up the topic in quarterly reports to legislative committees because those reports were not about abuse cases. Whitney also said department employees don't discuss individual abuse cases at legislative meetings because of continuing investigations and confidentiality concerns. Huckabee also said at the debate that once he learned of the problems, he asked people in the department and the division to make sure the abuse allegations were being dealt with. "I was assured they were. I was told that those issues were corrected," Huckabee said. Harris said Huckabee would not elaborate on who assured him the problems were corrected. Whitney and Warford said Huckabee never asked them if problems were being dealt with. Whitney also said that she never told anyone the problems were corrected. This article was published on Tuesday, July 28, 1998 Copyright, permissions and privacy policy Copyright © 2008, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. |
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