I almost hate to interrupt the good vibes from yesterday with this, but I feel like I have to say something about the story coming out of Penn State on its former defensive coordinator being a serial child molester. It’s nightmarish and sickening. Every single person associated with that program who knew something was going on and failed to report it to the police ought to be out of his or her job tomorrow.
And, yeah, that includes Joe Paterno. I have no sympathy for anyone other than the victims and their families. If you think Joe’s hands are clean here or that he deserves a pass, consider how likely it is that Sandusky retired from the Penn State staff in 1999 of his own volition at age 55. And even after that, the man still had the run of the place. That’s simply outrageous and there are people who deserve to fry for that.
Ugh, I feel dirty now.
Get The Picture 
Amen. There’s nothing more sickening. It will be interesting but immensely sad to watch what happens from here, and it seems it will be bad. Thoughts and prayers to the victims.
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Agree with everything you wrote, Senator. Paterno shouldn’t get a pass on this. Simply telling the AD wasn’t enough. And for the life of me, I don’t know how the grad assistant didn’t step in to protect the kid when he saw it happening, instead of running away and thinking about it for a week.
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It probably won’t matter in the long run, but Paterno, so the reports indicate, did, in fact, report the incident to his bosses. The bosses, according to reports, who got a vote of confidence by their boss.
On the whole, I am with the Senator, simply astonishing, disgusting and sad.
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Sorry, but reporting to the boss ain’t good enough. JoePa should have gone to the authorities – if not immediately, then the first time he found out that Sandusky was still walking around the facilities with a kid.
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No doubt. When you have an eye witness to a felony happening in your complex, the protocol should never be — ‘tell the boss about it and get back to work’.
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Agreed..I just got back from sailing with my 7 year old boy, and saw this…sickening, just sickening. I don’t know how parents/relatives can keep from going apesh!t on a dude like this .
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Of course you are right. I guess I am so influenced by the “how cool is Joe Pa coolaid” all these years I just can’t quite get my head around the idea Paterno is culpable, which, of course, he certainly is.
I was going to make another excuse for Paterno, but it’s just more bullshit, you are right, Paterno is as responsible as anyone else.
Actually more, because he could have broken the chain of command, gone to the cops, and nobody could have touched him. Because he is Joe Pa.
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Time to clean house up there in the most backward feudal village in the college football world and let the chips fall where they may. Sounds like the perfectly boiling moral kettle into which The Urbz would gladly wade.
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As if the one at tOSU were not boiling hard enough.
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I don’t see anything wrong with how Joe Paterno handled it. Paterno was not an eyewitness. Sandusky was no longer employed by the football team. Paterno reported it to his boss, and the AD then met with the graduate assistant along with another University Official. You say Joe Paterno should have gone over his bosses’ head and reported it to the police? Paterno had no personal knowledge. He was not the eyewitness. There is nothing Paterno could contribute that would have assisted in an arrest warrant or search warrant. The graduate assistant was the person with knowledge. Now if it turns out that Paterno discouraged or forbid the grad asst. from going to the police, then I would have a different point of view. As far as Paterno knew, the matter was being handled.
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The incidents began (or at least have been corroborated back to…) in 1994 and the guy retained his position as DC until 1999!
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Joe should have insisted above his boss’s head. Just because you aren’t the final arbiter, doesn’t mean that you don’t take responsibility to question where it stands. While the benefit of the doubt could go with Joe thinking it was handled quietly, no one should hesitate in enquiring about progress. While we all have an appreciation for Joe, in this instance he is sacrosanct.
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It seems to me the question to ask at this point is obvious.
What would Mark do?
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ESPN’s initial take seems to be to say “Paterno reported it” and treat that as absolving him. Will be interesting to see if public opinion agrees over the next few days.
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This has been going on (with someone at Penn State’s knowledge) since 1998. That was almost 14 years ago. This was a total cover-up and it allowed more boys to be abused. Even worse is that they had knowledge of his “charity” for at risk kids which was nothing more than a front for a child molester to prey on more victims. The administration at PSU should clean house with everyone associated with this including Paterno.
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No, actually the Commonwealth of Pa should clean house, including the president of PSU and any and all who were party to, or knew about the obvious coverup.
The senator is right, there is no chain of command excuse.
They all suborned child molestation, all of them.
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Unfortunately, something this heinous and earth-shaking is what it was going to take to force out the old man. No one at that school had the backbone to unload him before he was good and ready.
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The “charity” separated themselves from Sandusky 2 years ago. He was prevented from contact with their kids. That was also the timing of the AG’s investigation.
UPDATE: The AD and VP for Finance have taken leave to fight the perjury and culpability charges. Joe was exonerated by the grand jury to this point of the investigation. The Regents have commissioned their own investigation.
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AS usual, I Agree With The senator.
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What in the world is wrong with all of these people who did not call the police?!?!? That includes Paterno and the janitor and the university police who did nothing!
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Agreed. I would have reported it to the administration AFTER I called the police AFTER I administered an ASS whipping to Sandusky.
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As a father of two boys I’m disgusted. I’d be in jail and Mr. Sandusky would no longer be living if he’d done that to one of my boys.
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no you wouldn’t. a jury of your peers wouldn’t convict you.
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bullshit. but beside the point.
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The president just tied his rope to a sinking ship by unconditionally supporting the AD. With this situation, loyalty and friendship will not get you anywhere– just another example of a weak minded fool who didn’t step up and protect children.
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I didn’t read the story. When did Paterno report his knowledge, and how long did Sandusky remain as coach after that?
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Paterno told the AD inn 2002 and Sandusky was already not a coach but was allowed access to the facilities until 2009…..
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I think everyone should take a deep breath. It is easy to start pointing fingers without the whole story. It certainly does not look good at this point with the allegations.
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Hey, great picture for Halloween and all. Really, really, creepy.
Really.
Uh, can you change it now?
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Ugh. I only heard a brief report on this story. I figured Paterno did the right thing with this. Now? Hang ’em all.
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IF this is true, I don’t believe it’s out of the realm of possibility that Sandusky commits suicide.
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Ouch … but what kind of conscience can allow a man to conduct himself as he did for two? three? decades and then decide to end it all jusrt because his cover was blown?
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I’m not advocating that or wishing it upon Sandusky or anyone else, just speculating since he wouldn’t be the first person to do so after getting caught and experiencing the heavy remorse.
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In 2001, Jerry Sandusky published his autobiography:
Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story
Jerry Sandusky
Sports Publishing LLC, 2001 – 225 pages
Touched is the story of Jerry Sandusky’s life in his own words. The book also explores Sandusky’s involvement in children’s charities, including the founding of his charity, “Second Mile.”
WOW, no joke but the book is actually called “Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story.”
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It’s horrific. And lewd.
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Porno when you see it.
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‘Following Orders’ and ‘Following the Chain of Command’ were removed as a substantive defense in 1946 at a town called Nurenburg. Surely we are not looking at some sort of Paternobürgers volkish defense.
Unforgivable not to have taken action. As to Paterno and Penn State and their liability/punishment – ‘Deserves’ has nothing to do with it.
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Correct , sir. Was going to post on this, but didn’t know how to avoid the “N” word. Didn’t want to use it in this context. You got around it beautifully.
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Can’t agree more Lrgk9
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Great point. Paterno should go to jail. Forget Sandusky, they did nothing for that kid.
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I’m a new father, and without a second’s hesitation I would slit this motherfucker’s throat.
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I would be the last person to defend any of the parties to this outrage but the incident took place on school property and the school has it’s own police force. It is the head of that police force that was indicted along with the AD. Joe has been around PSU since the beginning of time and I am sure in his mind he reported it to authorities. Granted once he saw that the school police were not doing the right thing he should have called the state police but this is the trouble with letting the campus cops do anything other than traffic control.
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The whole thing is rancid. But putting aside Jo Pa, what happened to the University police investigation when Sandusky admitted to one of the kids parents and apologized. How does that ball get dropped?
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Yeah, this whole story has some more legs. The report I read this weekend was fairly comprehensive with the who, what, when, where of it . Think it was in USA Today.
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Senator and Cojones,
There’s an article in today’s Washington Post that provides a link to Penn.’s AG’s report regarding the specifics of the allegations but be prepared, it’s fairly explicit. Sandusky is one sick, worthless piece of crap.
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Georgia can’t keep a possible drug violation quiet for a few days but this goes on for how many years and lots of people know about it and it is just now coming out? There should be lots of heads rolling up there. I do not know all of the heads that should roll but there is no way this stays quiet without a very concerted effort by anyone who knew. I have had tons of respect for Paterno but this just does not seem good and I can’t imagine hearing what he was told and then seeing nothing done about it and letting it go at that.
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By the way, Senator, thanks for having the guts to place such an unpleasant subject on here. It certainly has it’s place among all posters to a sports blog and is complimentary toward your audience in assuming we give a shit. That assumption has been verified and interest validated. Know that the PSU alums are outraged as well.
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