Penn State Pedophile Controversy

[Jazz Spazz]

If you're told by somebody that they saw an assistant coach that you directly employ showering with a 10-year old boy and you tell your AD only to then distance yourself from the entire situation, you are a bad guy. Period, black and white, end of discussion.

I'm going to take this approach.
We know Sandusky is a creep, and a bad guy, and whatever else anyone want to call him.
We know Paterno, and others should have made better decisions and made sure the police were involved from the first moment it was discovered. Does that make Paterno a "bad guy"? I still don't have enough information one way or the other. He could be a bad guy, but he could be a decent guy that made a very bad decision in a moment of truth. I say this to try to be fair, but deep down I think he's known something was wrong, and he knows he made the wrong choice to let it go and let Sandusky off the hook. Any one of these people should have pushed it. The campus police, the GA, AD, University officers, parents should have known something weird was going on, the guy at the school that let kids visit with Sandusky during school hours unsupervised, Sandusky's wife, and probably many other people should have initiated something. This whole scenario is messed up big time.

I don't even have words to explain how sickened I am by Sandusky, and I guess the enablers, for what happened. How many lives were messed up, starting with the kids?

I guess when I read my own post, I must agree with Jazzman12 on this more than any sliver of hope I have for Paterno's goodness. I can't really find any reasonable way to convince myself it would ever be right not to go to the police if I saw a grown man in a shower with a 10 year old boy under the circumstances described, or if I heard a report that someone that works for me was doing this even once.

 

[The Pearl]

Reading through that Grand Jury report is about as sickening as it gets. I have a feeling this is going to get much, much worse in terms of victims and the cover up.

 

[TheDude]

https://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=Ai4m4wuEVJ6_v_TRtYpWWEY5nYcB?slug=dw-wetzel_parting_paterno_do_it_now110811

Lots of reports that JP will be out soon. Disgusting what happened to those kids and he (and several others) should be held accountable.

 

[Bronco70]

Paterno certainly is not the bad guy in this.

Not THE bad guy, but certainly A bad guy.

Yeah, he made a bad decision. Ordering the wrong thing at lunch? Parking in a handicap spot? Leaving his jacket home on a chilly morning? No, he knew about an (alleged) incident of child molestation, and did as little as he could without actually doing nothing (allegedly).

This was the wrong way to handle it and, consequently, other children likely endured the same thing.

Criminally speaking, he probably did what was required of him.

Morally, he's reprehensible.

 

[kwb]

Just read the transcript. Absolutely disgusting. I feel for these victims. What a horrible way for a man to utilize his position to sexually assault young boys.

 

[bigb]

Not only is the blame on Joe Pa, but that GA as well. What did he do to stop it? Tell the Head Football Coach? Whooptee-freeking-doo. If I walked in on a 50-something man showering with a 10 year old boy, I don't just turn around and walk out. I do everything in my power to stop it once and for all. I call the cops, I call the media, I call the White House if I need to.

 

[kwb]

Not only is the blame on Joe Pa, but that GA as well. What did he do to stop it? Tell the Head Football Coach? Whooptee-freeking-doo. If I walked in on a 50-something man showering with a 10 year old boy, I don't just turn around and walk out. I do everything in my power to stop it once and for all. I call the cops, I call the media, I call the White House if I need to.

Exactly this. As I read that transcript, I thought the same thing. Why go to the Head Coach? What the hell is he going to do. You witnessed a crime, a bad one at that and you don't contact authorities about it?

 

[kwb]

Lawyers for Sandusky, Curley and Schultz have said their clients are innocent...

Yeah because a lot of 50 year olds shower with little boys on University Campus' and that's normal enough not to say anything at all.

 

[7StraightIsGreat]

The more I read, the more angry I get. This is as bad as it gets.

Who would of thought that this is how JP was going to go out? Everything else he ever accomplished goes out the window IMO. From now on, when you think of Joe Paterno, you will immediately think of this incident.

 

[moevillini]

what about all the others who witnessed things that seemed inappropriate over the years (high school coaches for instance) or the board and director of the Second Mile group who were apparently told about many of these allegations along the way. And the folks at the state agency who investigated the initial allegations.

It'll be interesting to read more about why they took such a hands-off approach in 1998, at that time Sandusky was still employed by the university. That's where it could get really uncomfortable for the Penn State officials.

There is plenty of blame to go around to a whole bunch of folks, including the head coach.

 

[kwb]

Plenty of people could have stepped in and stopped this. Too bad they didn't. But after how much media attention this has received, I hope people who do witness these things will realize what the right thing to do is, no matter who does it or where it occurs.

 

[vslice02]

A few of you whom I got to know a little bit on the old board know, but for those who aren’t aware - I live in Pennsylvania and reguarly attend and support Penn State athletics. I’ve been attending Penn State football games since I was 8, and the program has been a large part of my life.

I have always viewed Joe Paterno in the highest-esteem possible – and up until last March - I had placed Jerry Sandusky on a pedastal below only Paterno’s. Like everyone else, I was appalled and disgusted by the results of the investigation, and the response by the university has been nearly as disheartening.

Legally Joe Paterno did the right thing by reporting the 2002 incident to his superior. Ethically and morally, I – like many others - wish he would have done more. The lack of response by the university and their unwillingness to allow Paterno to address the matter only furthers the perception of guilt. There is a major black hole of reported information from what Joe Paterno claims he knew, to what the grand jury report on the assistant who witnessed the crime claims to have seen, to the ambiguity of what information was actually relayed to Paterno. That NEEDED to be addressed – by both Joe Paterno and Presidant Graham Spanier ASAP, and it hasn’t.

The story of the grand jury investigation originally broke in March – but the recent indictment has completely caught the university off-guard. Their entire response has been a disaster. There is no way to effectively manage tragic accusations of this nature – but Penn State has handled it about as poorly as they possibly could. There is no leadership whatsoever, and rumors, opinions, and speculation are running amok.

The fact that 7 years went by without questions on the 2002 incident being raised is unforgiveable – and someone (starting with then-AD Tim Curley and VP Gary Schultz) must be held accountable for it. The fact that the graduate assistant (a State College native, former quarterback and well-respected assistant coach) who actually witnessed the crime with his own two eyes never followed up or called the police himself is even more unforgiveable in my opinion. The fact that the president of the college – Graham Spanier – issued a statement last Saturday in which he gave his “unconditional support” to both Curley and Schultz (who were legally obligated to report that incident to the authorities and didn’t and were also charged with perjury) is reprehensible. And if Joe Paterno indeed had full knowledge of the nature of the acts that took place, he should be forced to resign immediately.

Because of my emotional ties – I will admit I’m probably baised in my opinion that until the facts come out on Paterno’s specific knowledge on the 2002 incident – I’m not willing to dispute his claim that he didn’t know the incident was criminal or sexual in nature. My heart still wants to believe that if anyone deserves the benefit of the doubt based off a lifetime's worth of positive action, it's Joe Paterno. Conversely, the Board of Trustees is meeting tonight as well as Thu/Fri – and my mind tells me that neither Paterno nor Spanier will retain their positions. Regardless of what happens, ultimately all I hope is for the truth to come out and for justice to be served.

I apologize for the length of this post.