Jerry Sandusky, Penn State assistant coach for 30 years (23 as D-coordinator) under Joe Paterno, has been charged with 40 counts of molesting eight young boys over a 15-year period. He founded a children's charity, The Second Mile, to help young boys...but as we now know that was just his avenue to find potential prey. This story involves Sandusky which makes it high-profile, but it also ropes in Joe Paterno and the Penn State administration.
In 2002, a graduate assistant eye-witnessed Sandusky performing sexual acts on a 10-year-old boy in the shower section of the Penn State football locker room. The graduate assistant reported it to Paterno, and he reported it to the PSU administration. According to the Pennsylvania legal system, JoePa acted in full accordance to the law, and the grand jury has praised him for his cooperation. Meanwhile, the administrators (A.D. Tim Curley and V.P. Gary Schultz) have been charged with perjury and failure to report suspected child abuse. But why is Joe Paterno getting a pass?
Paterno seems to intimate he only thought it was 'horseplay' or just inappropriate activity from Sandusky in the 2002 incident. Well, that could be anything. When the grad assistant told him about it, did he write it down? Was there a formal complaint issued to Joe Paterno or the Penn State administrators? Or is this a game of telephone - the G.A. says this, JoePa says this, and by the time it gets to the top the story is much different than when it started out? This happens a lot, so why is Paterno getting a pass? What if the administrators did not get the full story and did not see a reason to contact the authorities? Then Joe Paterno - and the G.A. are at fault, aren't they?
Or what if there was a formal, written report which stated the accounts of Sandusky's actions by the G.A. Then JoePa handed that report to the administrators and they did nothing. Then it is certainly on the PSU administration for a complete cover-up. Even if Sandusky is completely innocent (which there is no way), then they covered it up from the police. But what about Paterno? If, after getting a full and graphic report that should have infuriated him to the nth degree, wouldn't he want to follow up on that to make sure matters were being taken care of? He should've taken this matter to the police! Not only that, but having known this report he still let Sandusky come around the Penn State program in the years that followed the incident.
Bottom line, either way, there is no 'out' for Joe Paterno in my book. He should be fired from Penn State today and his name should be stripped from anything associated with PSU. Even if Pennsylvania law is so convoluted that it has statutes that say he isn't responsible for reporting it to the police as long as he reports it to the administration, then doesn't he have a moral obligation to do so? This isn't stealing, cheating, or even murder...this is child abuse, and in my opinion, and most everyone else's there is nothing worse.
I've never had anything against JoePa, although I've always thought he should've retired a while ago. But that is neither here nor there, this is a horrible offense and he should either resign or be fired without further delay. If, or when, Sandusky is found guilty he should be mutilated on national television. In all seriousness, what he did is the most disgusting, horrifying thing anyone can possibly do. In a terrible turn of events, he can only face life in prison in Pennsylvania. I would prefer that he be beaten with the blade of an ax until death.
JB
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