<p>Eastcoast, no one forgets what Sandusky did, and I can understand your anguish for such a legendary coach, but before you hastily say too much due to emotions, I think you should step back and take a little more time to reflect more on the whole situation. There was an egregious error committed by Paterno here. A person of authority should never turn a blind eye to a very terrible deed when he/she is in position to stop it. We just went through 20+ years of rehashing what the Catholic church did and 2002 was probably closed to the height of the scandal. How could anyone not be sensitive to the potential problem especially with the perpetrator using the Penn State football connection to assist in his method to reach out for victims. This unfortunately will forever be a part of the legacy of Joe Paterno.</p>
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<p>Really, you are going to blame Sandusky’s parents? Sandusky is a monstor, but Paterno is a selfish and disgusting man who turned his back on a pedophile. Paterno is a pig who should blame himself for the children that were molested after he failed to step up and report the abuse. Should we deem his children disgraced, children raised by a father who knew of child abuse but didn’t report it?</p>
<p>I’m glad I don’t know any Penn State student that is supporting this madness.</p>
<p>I just love (sarcasm) how the media is putting all of this on Joe. Why does America feel that we should place blame on everyone else?</p>
<p>Why aren’t we blasting Jerry Sandusky 24/7 instead? Jerry is the one hopping around showers with boys, not you, not me, not the current players, not the President of Penn State, not Joe Pa… Jerry Sandusky is the man who did the disgusting stuff!</p>
<p>Eastcoast, I think you should stop posting. You are defending someone who protected a predator.</p>
<p>Everybody knows Sandusky is the perpetrator. I am disgusted by all the others that knew, one way or another of the abuse and looked the other way. In some ways, that disgusts me more. How can a “normal” person not do the right thing, help the victim or turn in the perpetrator?</p>
<p>It goes with the territory. If Paterno is not such a huge figure, the media would not be covering this as much. Paterno is the face of the school, in many ways, Paterno is Penn State. It is really not that hard to understand why he gets so much coverage. Sandusky will likely be in jail until he dies after he is convicted, not much else can be said about him.</p>
<p>I just heard an interview from a long time reporter at Penn State. The mother of one of the victimized boys confronted Sandusky after her son told her that Sandusky had showered with him and touched him. There were detectives eavesdropping on the conversation which ended up with Sandusky saying he wished he were dead. The detectives took this to the DA who investigated, and eventually told the mother that “the case was closed”…</p>
<p>As it turns out, that DA disappeared a few years later and was never found…His computer was found, erased and destroyed in some ditch. Nothing could be recovered. The guy was declared “legally dead” a couple of years ago because his body was never found or heard off again…The whole thing is a total mystery… </p>
<p>ALL TOO WEIRD, ISN’T IT???</p>
<p>I believe in Karma, and we’ll see what happens to Joe. I’ll give him a year. That should be a year longer than Sandusky.</p>
<p>It’s one massive cover-up. It’s disgusting. The school chose to value the reputation of its football program over the safety of children from a known pedophile among them.</p>
<p>GA2012MOM, regarding Sandusky, my DH had only one comment: “When he gets to prison, I hope they put him in general population.”</p>
<p>You walk into the shower at your gym, and you find an old man sexually abusing a 10 year old boy…sooo you turn around and leave, and contact the gym manager and tell him LATER what you saw???</p>
<p>I would like to think that my reaction would be to start screaming… *** are you doing dude!!! And punch the guy out!!</p>
<p>Psychologists and those who study human behavior have their work cut out.</p>
<p>What the hell are all the students there that are demonstrating thinking? Is your football team and your beloved coach more important than what the facts of this story are? Please, somebody, help me understand how you can support this?</p>
<p>Anybody want to estimate what the monetary settlement for this thing will be? I don’t even think that the tip of the iceberg has been touched.</p>
<p>I think that the cover up has been massive. McQuery, who told Paterno about the shower incident is now a QB Coach at Penn State (a very coveted position!)</p>
<p>I wonder if this was his reward for not bringing up the incident ever again, even when he saw that nothing had been done about it. </p>
<p>Sandusky should be placed on a suicide watch. He may just kill himself and escape due punishment.</p>
<p>The financial repercussions could be massive as well. Settlements on scores of lawsuits (because I think there are many many more victims to be heard from). Loss of football revenues. Loss of alumni donations. Loss of tuition revenue. And potentially, suspension from participation in federal financial aid under the [Clery</a> Act](<a href=“http://www.securityoncampus.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=271&Itemid=60]Clery”>http://www.securityoncampus.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=271&Itemid=60), which</p>
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<p>Sandusky was arrestedl, others are being charged, the school isnunder investigation and more victims who were molested after 2002 are coming forward. Joe pa who seems to be revered as some sort of god of football, did nothing to stop more abuse. It shows his morals were and are lacking, that his and everyone elses, including the rioting students value football over the lives of little boys. And yes, the current players and the school will have to pay the price for creating and maintaining for years an environment that valued a football program, that put school pride and winning games above children, who were so warped that doing the right thing never even occurred to them, and now Penn state will learn that having an institutional mindset that places football and its people above all else often brings consequences. Tis is a mess of their own making, and well, if you want to be part of a program, and want to be part of that past glory, then you are part of it’s disgrace</p>
<p>Paterno is not the Devil, and I’m surprised at the vitreol blaming him for not doing more than reporting this to management as required by his contract. I guess the rush to leap to a judgment that condemns him outweighs his 40+ decades of leadership, donating millions to the school over the years to support various programs and scholarships, his efforts to establish a model football program with high rates of graduation, etc. </p>
<p>I also guess none of the posters have ever actually been in a situation in which they’ve had to report some suspicion or damaging hearsay in their workplace, and then been legally required to be kept out of the loop and not told of the results of an investigation because of privacy laws or procedures designed to protect both the employer (from libel and similar suits) and the innocent. For all Paterno knew, the incident was reported to the police, had been investigated, and had been determined not to be correct. </p>
<p>I understand that the police and district attorney are making an example of Penn State in order to publicize the reporting laws and the risks of noncompliance. I’ll wait to hear the defense before I rush to Hanging Hill with a rope.</p>
<p>And yes, one of my kids was in that long, long, long line of graduates getting their pictures taken with the statute of Joe Paterno on graduation day a few years ago.</p>
<p>I find it inconceivable that Paterno, Curley, Schultz and Spainer acted (or failed to act) without FIRST consulting with PSUs legal department. Surely legal was aware of the 1998 incident as well as the 2002 incident witnessed by McQuery. </p>
<p>The Trustees need to determine what PSUs legal team knew and what advice/instruction was given to P,C, S and S.</p>
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<p>I’m guessing none of your kids was ever seen “horsing around” in a shower with a naked old man, though. Because if one of your kids had been raped by Sandusky, and Paterno had failed to inform the authorities despite knowing about the incident, you would probably have a different perspective on the whole thing.</p>
<p>…Or maybe not, I don’t know. Maybe some parents genuinely think the football program at their children’s university is more important than the children themselves. Fair enough.</p>
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<p>Neon, I got mad love and the utmost respect for you, however, those of us who work with children are constantly placed in this position, but at the end of the day we are mandated reporters. While we are to keep our principals/administrators in the loop, we are required to report any and all incidents that harm a child; what we have seen, what has been reported to us to the authorities.</p>
<p>Would you have the same view if this had happened at the local high school with a winning football coach instead of a college setting? </p>
<p>the 2 things that I have seen unfold from this situation is </p>
<p>Character is who you are when no one is watching and
Evil prevails when good men do nothing.</p>
<p>At the end of the day. something evil happened at Penn State and good ole Paterno did nothing about it. In hind sight, minimally there should have been an investigation and the authorities called at the beginning. I wonder how Paterno and the President slept at knowing they turned their backs on the situation.</p>
<p>Agreeing with just about all of the above. As a parent, the whole thing is ghastly from the beginning through to the riots today. I get football mania, though, I truly do. And when it calms down I sure hope there’s plenty of good education on offer. As a professional, I’d just like to add that the legal reporting requirement is not a gray area. Everyone, everyone, everyone knows this law, it’s not a secret.</p>