Pennsylvania State University, home of the storied Nittany Lions football team and its legendary coach, Joe Paterno, was rocked by allegations that one of Paterno’s former assistants, Jerry Sandusky, was charged with sexually assaulting eight young, disadvantaged boys.
The point of the article I posted earlier today, about former Pennsylvania State Senator Vincent Fumo, was abuse of power. This sex abuse scandal is a variation of the same theme. Sandusky’s inappropriate behavior went on for years, probably because no one wanted to challenge a football dynasty.
According to the grand jury report:
• In 1998, Sandusky brought an 11-year-old boy into a Penn State locker room shower and behaved inappropriately. The boy’s mother reported it to Penn State University police. After a lengthy investigation, the Centre County District Attorney decided there would be no criminal charges.
• In 2000, a janitor saw Sandusky in the showers with an 11- to 13-year-old boy pinned against the wall, performing oral sex. He was distraught as he told his fellow janitors and his supervisor what he witnessed. But most of the janitors were new employees, and they were afraid that if they reported what had happened, they would lose their jobs.
• In 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant witnessed Sandusky having anal sex with a 10-year-old boy in the locker room showers. The graduate assistant told Joe Paterno. Paterno told his supervisor, Athletic Director Tim Curley. There were a few meetings, but no official investigation. In the end, all that happened was that Sandusky was told he could no longer bring boys to Penn State. Then, when the grand jury investigated, both Curley and the university’s Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz, downplayed the incident.
For more, read reporting in the Philadelphia Inquirer:
Ex-Penn State coach charged with sex crimes
Paterno says all at Penn State were fooled by Sandusky
You know how I personally feel about pedophiles, Donna, and this story has been on my radar since it came out. I am so glad to see too that the “secret keepers” are also being CHARGED for the cover ups.
Until not only the perps are charged but the people who KNEW AND DID NOTHING are charged and held accountable will this huge WAVE of crime against our youth be stopped.
Back a few years ago when Jack Pratt, one of the members of my living history group and a former park ranger for the Arkansas Department of Parks got out of prison for “kiddie porn” and then came back to our group working with kids and at the state museum, and when I went to the board of directors of our group to announce where he had “been” when he was “out of sight” (federal prison) the men in the group were angry at ME for making a scene —after all he had “paid his debt to society” with 18 months of a 3 year sentence in prison. Fortunately, the director of the museum and the women in our group and on the board were not so “understanding” as the men were, and Jack was outsted from our group and from his job at the museum.
Until Jack committed suicide several years later, he kept finding jobs with “child based” clients, like 4-H and school and museum groups. Several women and I in our group kept sending copies of the public records regarding his crimes to the various groups, but he always seemed to find another group that didn’t know about his record.
It is amazing just how tenacious these pedophiles are in finding groups of children, and how loath people are to “report” the “coach” or the “Scout leader” or the “minister” even if they have SEEN it with their own eyes.
That professionals would cover up behavior like this and eye witnesses makes my skin crawl and I hope the ones who covered this up go to prison as well. Keep us posted on the results.
I hope this case get’s LOT”S of publicity! It’s a classic example of the Edmund Burke quote~
“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
This is just ONE of the problems in our society……nobody wants to stand up and call BULLSHIT!
OMG
WITNESSED the anal RAPE of a 10yr old child and DID NOT STOP IT.
That makes him a party to the rape of a child. IM expert OPINION.
^$$#*(& !!!!!!!!!
I went to Penn State, and let me tell you all that I am nauseated but not surprised that Paterno would be involved in a coverup on this scale.
The football program is a major source of income for that little town’s motels (often booked for months in advance on home game days), businesses, etc. and of course a huge source of revenue for the university. As such, it’s treated with near worship by the university and community alike. You can literally go to the campus bookstore and buy coffee mugs shaped like the head of Joe Paterno — personally, yuck, I’m surprised they don’t curdle whatever liquid is put inside! The university creamery has an ice cream flavor called “Peachy Paterno.” You get the idea.
Paterno’s recruitment of football players is not designed to select the well-rounded individual, to say the least. Both of my parents taught there (science and math), and each of them had several football players in their classes over the years — they were pretty surprised these guys had managed to graduate from kindergarten, let alone high school. Not only that, there was a year 8 of the starting 11 players had criminal records. Winning at any cost! Gotta please the rich alumni who come to town and buy solid gold “Nittany Lion” pins!
So yeah… it doesn’t surprise me in the least that Paterno knew about something like this and buried it as deeply as he could for as long as he could.
I’m grateful for the university’s sports MEDICINE program in that the technology developed there has also gone on to benefit people with arthritis, etc. But the actual sports programs (wrestling is pretty gross, too)? Bleh. Full of control freaks and outright dangers to life and limb.
Edmund Burke quote~
“All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
EB, THANKS!!! I have been trying to remember who said this quote for a month now and couldn’t get the exact wording enough for Google to pull it up! THANKS!!! Dang I hate having CRS!!!! Cant remember shiat!
I think I am going to put this quote on a pillow on my couch, it is to me one of the ALL TIME GREAT “one-line philosophies.”
Look at the sexual perversions in the Catholic church that have gone on for decades? Centuries? Eons? and it is ALL COVERED UP to ‘protect the church’ PUKE!!!
Lady sweet G, I agree with you about the “religion” of sports, both college sports and professional, and how people who can throw or catch a ball are given special privileges just like the popular and successful gladiators in Rome were accorded all kinds of “goodies” and allowed to commit crimes without punishment. But then popular politicians or high up businessmen are also allowed to do all kinds of crimes and get away with it…or have the accusers bought off with payments to them from the businesses.
It’s a shame colleges and universities are no longer about education. SICK! I hope they all go to prison for covering this up!
New article about this:
Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/09/sports/ncaafootball/penn-state-said-to-be-planning-paternos-exit.html?emc=na
I see the latest news.
“YOU’RE FIRED”, Mr Paterno.
Yep, they didn’t wait for the end of the season. The board fired him. There will be LAWSUITS b/c of these rapes. Only 8 boys in 15 years? NAW. That pedophile Sandusky had Far more than that.
Yep, I just saw it. Kind of surprised; I really thought they were going to let him retire.
Well, glad they did that, but it doesn’t make up for what they (as a board/school) did in ignoring the reports they did have….I hope that every one of the victims sues the pants off the school, and gets a zillion dollars each, and directly out of the pockets of the people responsible and the school too…. maybe if nothing else it will scare others into do what what is RIGHT just out of fear if nothing else.
Paterno was FIRED today !!!!
http://www.tmz.com/2011/11/09/joe-paterno-penn-state-football-coach-university-president-fired-graham-spanier/