Paterno’s statement’s not enough, Penn State dropped ball

alright, I can’t argue with irrational people anymore. I guess it might be a positive thing if you on the message board were in control. We would have a ton of people in prison. They might not all deserve to be there but there would be a lot there. No need to wait on the judicial system. It’s ok to fry now.

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how about this one jvillebil. Is it possible that Paterno and the AD and the president are all the same person? Why else would the AD come to HIS house? Does that make you think too?

You guys make Paterno out to be the guy running the town on Roadhouse. LOL

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“I can’t imagine any university, company or entity handling a situation worse than how Penn State has handled the past few days.”

Well that is that one organization located in Italy that has been involved in a worldwide child rape racket for at least the last 50 years. They haven’t been handling their situation any better than Penn State.

Which is why I’m surprised at this outrage directed towards Penn State. Everyone is clamoring for people to be held accountable. Yet when those pedophiles in the funny hats are exposed for doing much, much worse, actually enabling decades of child rape in multiple countries, the story simply passes.

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Well nothing like a little heated verbal debate, want to apologize for the name calling. After reading those 23 pages my blood was boiling a bit. Still say joepa knew what sandusky was and he turned his head to protect his beloved university. He should have been more concerned with innocent children. We will agree to disagree.

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A person SMART enough to know……
November 9th, 2011
12:39 pm

DOUGLAS…………….Joe Pa going to the police without PROOF means nothing. The Grad Ass was the WITNESS. What Joe Pa knew is considered Hear Say/ Rumor.
Douglas I heard you get drunk and beat your wife! I call the police to tell them what I heard. What do you think they will do or tell me? The WITNESS or VICTIM as to make the claim for an investigation to start or charges to be filed. Hear Say is not enough for Probable Cause.

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You’re partially right….hearsay is not not admissible as evidence, but law enforcement could certainly use it to develop probable cause (and do every day).
Joe Pa had a moral obligation in my opinion to report the incident to law enforcement, especially once he saw that his immediate “superiors” had not.
And while I’m at it, no free pass for McQueary either. This guy’s git right.
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ycn-10399373
Oh, and BTW, good column Jeff.

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That athletic building was like Joe’s house. You mean to tell me if you cousin told you they saw your 50-year old uncle raping one of your other 10-year nephews in the shower of your spare bedroom, you wouldn’t move mountains to find the truth. He knew Sandusky for 30+ years. You can talk all the legal bullcrap you want, but you can’t make it add up. Would you not lay in bed at night and wonder what was going on with Sandusky. Would you not call McQueary back in the say now tell me again, I want to make sure. Would you not call Sandusky, your supposedly former employee & friend in your office privately and ask, “What the hell were you doing?” Whoever said earlier whever there is smoke there is fire is dead on target. Talk all the legal ramafications you want, the fact of the matter Joe decided to stick his head in the sand. I wouldn’t let my son play for him for $10 million dollars. I think he needs to take up a second profession. Hypnotism, because he certainly has most of his players brainwashed from what I’ve read of today’s meeting.

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The “Real Deal”: This all ties back to the state of College Football. Money $$$. Jerry Sandusky was set up to continue his exploitation of kids because he had the “goods” on the Penn State Football nucleus that benefited from College football and reaped all the money.

The President of the School
The Athletic Director
The VP of Finance
The Head Football Coach

All of them knew, all of them were the beneficiaries of College football money. They even let the grad asst. join in to stay quiet giving him a coaching position. All of them knew, even Sandusky’s wife, and the grad assistant’s Dad knew. How long will it take the DAs to figure this out and expose the rest of this story?
The one I’ve been venting to you about for years – College Football money and the associated exploitation of the kids. People are so greedy they will let little boys be raped for 20 years and do nothing.
It is a real shame.
coach e

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Obviously there are people here who love Joe Pa “The Coach”

This is for the victims who will suffer forever! Guilty or not this is what should have been done. To some of you comment posters I ask; if a family member of yours was violated would you rather the witness or persons they told go to their boss at work or the proper authorities?

Code Section 23§6303, et seq.
What Constitutes Abuse Act which causes nonaccidental serious physical injury, sexual abuse/exploitation, serious physical neglect constituting prolonged or repeated lack of supervision or failure to provide essentials of life

Mandatory Reporting Required By Physician, coroner, dentist, chiropractor, hospital personnel, Christian Science practitioner, clergy, school teacher/nurse/administrator, social services worker, day care or child center worker, mental health professional, peace officer, law enforcement official, funeral director, foster care worker

Basis of Report of Abuse/neglect Reasonable cause to suspect (within their respective training) that child is abused

To Whom Reported Department of Public Welfare of the Commonwealth

Penalty for Failure to Report or False Reporting Summary offense for 1st violation; misdemeanor in 3rd degree for 2nd and subsequent offenses

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WOW I see why child molesters don’t fair to good in prison. If Normal law abiding citizens are ready to hang Joe Paterno for not doing enough, then I can only imagine what Sandusky will face in the joint.
Hope to read back some more, but I am not sure I can handle some of the posts. I sure hope I never need some of you people on a jury for me.
Hope your lives are going better than Sandusky’s.

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A little follow-up on the former DC fondling & sexaully molesting a child in the showers case would have been the right thing to do. I don’t need to know anymore. These are the facts presented to the Grand Jury under testimony, subject to perjury if you are caught lying. Why didn’t he follow-up and find out what happened with the acusation? He could have asked McQueary what the hell happened. the kid worked for him. How effing hard could that have been?

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5150 – doesn’t need to be hung but IMO he does not deserve to be put on a pedestal or deserve the dignity he wants his beloved team to finish the year with. He should have manned up and stepped down. His only discussion of the team should have been an apology that he did not have the strength to call the police and do the right thing ten years ago. I can see why the GA didn’t call the police, his boss didn’t either.

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5150 – If he is being paid anything by the school, which he likely is, he may fall under the title of teacher or administrator. That is why the DC was given an honorarium and allowed to use the Unversity Facilities.

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@kevdawg that would mean a Janitor (paid by the school) would fit your description. I don’t think that is the case. Would a Football secretary be considered an administrator? I don’t think that is true is it?

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Paterno released a statement in which he conceded, “With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more diddling.”

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Just passing along what an attorney said. Found it. Also includes additional analysis:

Under Pennsylvania’s Child Protective Services Law, certain individuals, including teachers and school administrators, have a legal obligation to immediately report suspected child abuse to child protective services or law enforcement, or to a “person in charge” (supervisor), who must then report the alleged abuse to the authorities. The reporting must be honest. When in writing, the reporting must also include known information about the nature and extent of the suspected abuse, along with other material details.
Within one day of learning from McQueary of the alleged abuse, Paterno notified Curley, his boss. By doing so, Paterno satisfied an obligation to immediately report to a person in charge.
On the other hand, one could read the Child Protective Services Law to classify Paterno as himself a person in charge of McQueary and as one who had a subsequent obligation to report to the authorities. Still, Curley’s status as Paterno’s boss likely insulates Paterno from liability, at least for failing to notify child protective services or law enforcement.
Paterno may have nonetheless violated the Child Protective Services Law by failing to tell Curley the specific story as told by McQueary and by failing to provide known information about the nature and extent of the suspected abuse. As discussed above, if McQueary’s testimony is true, Paterno appeared to downplay the severity of the incident while speaking with Curley. His portrayal seemed incomplete, if not outright disingenuous. Also, while Paterno made his initial report of the suspected child abuse to Curley by phone, any written communications would have required the known information.
In Paterno’s defense, law enforcement authorities have indicated that, in their current view, while Paterno appeared to do the bare minimum, he technically satisfied his legal obligations under the Child Protective Services Law. Whether that viewpoint proves sustainable could depend on the development of new and more incriminating facts and public pressure.

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Kid Diddler
Please don’t be sick. That was not funny or cute.

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Now knowing the full scope of the story, the only acceptable response by Penn State was to immediately fire its athletic director and head football coach, plus anyone else who knew about the crime but failed to directly notify law enforcement upon first learning that no one else at Penn State had done so.

Jeff, if a crime this horrible happened at the offices of the AJC, do you think your newspaper’s owning corporation would not immediately do the same, regardless of popularity or fame of any of the principles?

In anticipation of your answer, I will say this is another horrible example of a double standard in revenue-generating college sports for those with fame and influence.

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To me, the real question is what we as individuals should do in a situation where someone comes to us and tells us that they saw an adult sodomizing a defenseless 10 year old child? Does this not warrant a call to the police regardless of where we work or legal obligation?

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I understand everyone has an opinion on this matter and I’m not trying to defend JoePa, but does anyone here really know all the legalities involved? Public opinion has already been determined that JoePa did NOT do what was morally right, or did he? Here is a blog written by an attorney and is worth reading if you want to know how the law actually works. Regards.

Tuesday, November 08, 2011
A Strong Defense of Joe Paterno: Why Paterno Was Morally & Ethically Right Not To Go Further in The Sandusky Sex Abuse Case
In the comments section of an article in an SI online blog post by Joe Posnanski, Columbia Univ. Adjunct Professor Scott Semer assails Joe Paterno for not taking greater actions in the Jerry Sandusky case (Link is to the actual Grand Jury Report. It is not for the squeamish.)

Semer rests his opinions as a lawyer and an Adjunct Professor of Transactional Law at Columbia Univ. in NYC. He takes what I believe is the majority opinion as to Coach Paterno’s decisions which is that he did the least he could do to cover himself but owed a moral duty to do more.

I too am an attorney, a criminal defense lawyer, a former special prosecutor, and an adjunct professor of Trial Advocacy, and as to his judgment of Paterno I completely disagree with Professor Semer. I think Paterno did what was both morally and legally correct.

After contacting his chain of command superiors, he let them do their jobs. He knew there was a campus police force that investigates ( and prosecutes ) crimes on campus. He took whatever information he had to the head of his department. He took it to the person who is, for all intents and purposes, the police commissioner of a 256 person police force which according to the Campus website says: “(The University Police are) governed by a state statute that gives our officers the same authority as municipal police officers.”

Paterno didn’t just give his information to a superior, he turned it over to the highest ranking official in that police department. That man, PSU’s VP of Business called in the ACTUAL WITNESS and spoke to him. In other words Paterno could see an investigation.

Suggesting Paterno should have then done more is both ridiculous and dangerous. Paterno should not have approached Sandusky,for fear he tip him off to the investigation; he should not have called University police after nothing happened because 1. A police department has a right to set its policing priorities. The Courts have consistently held that: it is a “fundamental principle of American law that a government and its agents are under no general duty to provide public services, such as police protection, to any individual citizen.” Warren v. District of Columbia, 444 A.2d 1 (D.C. Ct. of Ap., 1981).
2. Once he reported the incident (and not having any information as to the progress of any investigation or the results thereof) Paterno had no other action he could reasonably take. If he pressed further or went public he risked opening himself and the University up to a law suit from Sandusky for libel , and that is assuming Paterno thought the grad assistant was both reliable and accurate. By that person’s own admission he was distraught. He would be accused of trying to eliminate a potential competitor for his job. He would also call into question the safety of the campus and without any proof of his own on the allegations of another. Pattern is not a witness and arguably isn’t even an “outcry witness.” ( an outcry witness is one who verifies that another witness was so distraught that what they are saying must be true. To be an outcry witness the original witness must make his statement to you first and within a few minutes top hours after witnessing the incident. More than a couple of hours usually spoils the outcry’s reliability. It gives the maker too much time to make up the testimony)
3. Assuming Paterno did go to the Chief of Police for the Penn State police department, the person under Gary Schultz, would that not be an act of insubordination? What if he were wrong? He would lose a long time friend and PSU family member. He would hurt alums, recruits and his teams. His fellow coaches could not trust him, all of this without being an actual witness to anything. Taking one man’s word against anothers.

Noone wants to see kids hurt, and I believe Coach Paterno heads that list. People suggesting he needed to do more either don’t understand the law of criminal investigation, or have a different ax to grind ( like the head of the PA State Police who is grand standing in saying people have a greater responsibility than to report crime to the local Authority. He would be the first guy to defend a civil rights suit against his agency, (brought by a crime victim claiming that the failure to arrest caused her injuries) by invoking the Warren case.)

Paterno handled this exactly as he should have and to suggest otherwise is to use 20/20 hindsight to judge what was a fluid real time situation. I guess the path is always clear for the Monday Morning Quarterback.

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and the fact this report was from 11 months AGO!!?? how convenient Penn state waits till paterno gets the record before releasing the info 2 days after he gets the record.. This coverup and that is exactly what this has been is going to be far reaching and many heads will roll. I only wish we could get the details of the intimacy the inmates will share will those who are imprisoned. The whole bunch at Penn State are jokes and those mush minded students defending joe are embarrasing the university and the state.

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I am not sure if an employee the same story that I would be the one to call the police. the EYEWITNESS should make the call. I would not risk my good name reporting something I did not personally see.

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51, that is what JP should have insisted when the your grad assistant came to his house….callem right then!

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Unfortunately, the ongoing attempts to cover up criminal behavior at Penn State is not limited to college football. It happens every day in families, companies, elementary, middle and secondary schools and every level of government. Whenever the stakes are “high”, morality sadly loses its footing. It is cheap and superficial to place the blame on college football. It is also too easy blame the “unchecked power” of its coaches. The blame should always be individual for it is always individual actions, or lack thereof, that cause and frequently cover up these unspeakable crimes. There is really no such thing as “institutional oversight.” Institutions do not think, feel or act, people do. Reporters and pundits are quick to blame college football in order to separate themselves from the real issue. The need to succeed and the resulting fear of failure in our society causes way too many of us to adopt situational morality. Penn State is not to blame. All those people, including Paterno, McQueary, the AD, the President and even the janitor who were unable to place those children above their own self interests are to blame. Doing what is required can be institutionalized. Doing what is right requires the ethical and moral fiber that is the hallmark of individual integrity. In my opinion the Board at Penn State already appears to be failing the litmus test. If Paterno, the President, McQueary and the whole lot are not gone by the end of the day, the Board will have proven to me that thet too have no moral or ethical compass.

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@I Wish.. Yes I’m sure he (the GA) does regret his lack of involvement. Joe Pa is shamed to a certain degree, but not to the extent most of the people posting on this blog would like. When a cover-up/conspiracy is unveiled, then I will be on their side. Until then, you don’t have enough information to speculate on what is or isn’t going on at Penn State and don’t have the right to call for the immediate departure of Paterno. The only reason I would agree he needs to get out now is because of people such as the majority on this blog that call for Joe’s head without thinking. All this talk of morality and justice yet nobody wants to hold him innocent until proven guilty, they much prefer a mob-like feeding.

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Just wondering. This animal is collecting a state pension check. After Sandusky’s sick butt is convicted, will the State of Penn. pension plan continue to send him checks?

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