<p>I wouldn’t - if my child was out there we would have a severe discussion immediately about how wrong that is. But my kid wouldn’t be out there, she knows better about right and wrong.</p>
<p>We had a situation at our local Roman Catholic Church some years back. Of course everyone loved the Priest so when the family came forward they became the pariah both in person and in the local newspaper. When it was proved that the family was correct in their allegations and that the Church had covered it up for years not one person apologized to the family. They moved out of town shortly thereafter. </p>
<p>This is no different, it was a coverup for the sake of football and if the students are outside his house then the students out there are supporting that. It is more than shameful and disgusting and is a sad statement on society. Being young is not an excuse.</p>
<p>How many good things do you have to do in order to prevent people from rushing to judgment when you are accused of doing a bad thing? I think this is a good question with respect to several of the people involved in this. For Sandusky, I don’t think the good things he did were enough to allow for much, if any, slack, given the multiple allegations. I suppose it’s possible that none of them are true, but that seems pretty unlikely.
But for Paterno, it seems to me, it’s a different story. It seems to me that he’s done enough good in order to justify wanting to hear his side of the story before bringing out the cross.</p>
<p>Conspiracy theorists will continue to delve into the additional (potential) twists and turns on the fringes of this scandal. </p>
<p>If the reports are true, 2 police officers overheard Sandusky admit to inappropriate sexual behavior with the 1998 victim when Sandusky was confronted by the victim’s mother in her home. Apparently, that didn’t constitute enough evidence for the DA in office at that time and he declined to press charges.</p>
<p>That DA subsequently left office and in 2005 mysteriously disappeared and was reported as a missing person. His car was found abandoned, with the hard drive removed from his laptop. The hard drive was later located in the Susquehanna River but was too badly damaged to recover any information. The former DA’s body was never found, and he was officially declared dead in (I believe) 2010.</p>
<p>If these reports are factually correct, and if they are related at all to the disgusting cover-up/lack of awareness/lack of response by the PSU administration, it would raise a whole other series of questions regarding the power that PSU wields in the state overall and that area in particular.</p>
<p>Sandusky was retired at the time the garduate assistant came to Pertano after witnessing the incident. It sounds like GA didn’t tell what happened in the shower to Pertano but he was upset enough that Pertano contacted other officials. I don’t see that Pertano was trying to cover up anything.</p>
<p>When her son first came forward, every day was a struggle. There was this overwhelming feeling of deception. Sandusky was supposed to be a role model.</p>
<p>“In the beginning, it was extremely upsetting. I was so shocked. It got so bad we didn’t know what to do,” she said. “[He] is really, really afraid of Jerry. He told me numerous times when he started backing away from him, you just can’t tell him no. I said, why not?”</p>
<p>Her son replied, “You just don’t do that.”</p>
<p>“His attorney was saying how these disadvantaged children, you can’t trust them … because they come from low income. I don’t think that has any bearing on anything,” she said. “I was warned that is what this basically would be about, because kids in The Second Mile are basically disadvantaged.”</p>
<p>Sandusky is doing the despicable blaming of the victims. This mother did everything she could to respond to her son’s abuse, I applaud her strength and say a prayer for each of these victims.</p>
<p>Well said. There are of course a lot of loyal fans and alumni that stand behind him, but let’s not also forget that there have always been the dedicated ‘haters’ that have always looked for any excuse to throw Paterno in front of a bus. </p>
<p>Paterno is the public figure and naturally he’s going to get the brunt of the national press attention. </p>
<p>However at the end of the day, Paterno was a middle-man in this whole thing. He did not witness anything nor was he responsible for investigating anything. He is very much a bigger than life individual, but officially he’s several levels down in the hierarchy within the University. </p>
<p>In my mind, far more responsibility falls on the person that actually witnessed the incident and the officials within the university that are clearly responsible for handling such situations. After all, the graduate assistant (the witness) met directly with the higher ups within the university–a meeting which was the result of Paterno asking them to investigate a concern. </p>
<p>I agree that had he known all the details he should have done more, but it remains unclear what he actually knew. </p>
<p>Is Paterno blameless, probably not, but is the public attention focused on him rather than a) the witness and b) the top brass in the university a bit unbalanced… yes it would appear so.</p>
<p>Ultimately from the board’s point of view is likely the AD, VP and press that will be forced to take the hardest fall for this (in addition to Sandusky of course).</p>
<p>I am not sure how these parents hold it together. I would end up in jail for my actions if my child was abused. </p>
<p>I find it difficult not to jump to conclusions on this. But I do not want to be in the position of damning anyone inappropriately. But man, it is hard!</p>
<p>Did Pertano set the charity for Sandusky? If not, Pertano was no longer associated with Sandusky. If Pertano didn’t know the details and Sandusky was no longer his associate/responsibility, wouldn’t it be natural to refer the case to others?</p>
<p>I think this idea that Paterno had all the power cuts a couple of different ways. On one hand, people are thinking that he must have known everything and that whatever happened (or didn’t happen) was at his command. That could be. Another possibility, though, is that he exercised his power to tell other people to handle it, and assumed (or was told) that it was handled. We don’t know, currently, whether he did any followup or what he was told later.</p>
<p>I think the key is what Pertano knew. If he knew the details and didn’t follow up after referring the case to others, he is responsible. According to his statement and that Grand jury did not indict him points that GA couldn’t bring himself to tell Pertano all that went on. Sandusky had been in the shower with a boy before. Pertano could have just thought that’s what it was. Not saying that is OK just that it is much lighter offense.</p>
<p>The rest of the season consists of three games, then potentially the Big Ten championship game, then a bowl game. Meanwhile, I’d predict that the Board terminates the president or places him on leave. I can’t envision a situation in which the president has to step down but the football coach gets to keep going for six or seven weeks. This is Wednesday and the football players play one of the biggest games of the season on Saturday; I wouldn’t be surprised if Paterno was placed on administrative leave today and an assistant is given three days to step up into the acting role for this weekend.</p>