Lainey

While I can understand some folks might not believe what they hear, I can't understand your comment that perhaps "it did not strike him as a grave matter" . Any allegation of child sexual abuse is a grave matter.

I think these guys were more concerned with their sports program, protecting their image, and worried about the fall out if word got out. I think Deb nailed this on the head with her post.

dlq04

I have not read the details. I sure as heck don't know what Paterno knew or advised. I do know after having spent a career in middle management and four years in the Air Force that you learn quickly that you do not have the freedom to handle highly volatile issues on your own - not in an strong organization - not in government, not in corporate America, and I'm sure not in a university - even when you are Paterno. You go up the chain of command. You don't make confrontations to the accused, you don't get a baseball bat, you don't call the police, you don't go to the media. What you do is make your superior(s) aware of everything you were told. Generally within hours or days you are repeating yourself to superiors, lawyers, perhaps the police, or whatever but you do not take matters into your own hands especially when it's hearsay.

Lainey

^
Point taken and understood, Dave.

This comment from an online article still says a lot to me. The state police commissioner has chastised him and other school officials for not doing enough to try to stop the suspected abuse. What was the organization that is Penn State doing about these allegations?

We've been down the road of child sexual abuse by other organizations in the past. Once again it appears some folks knew something and did not do enough or did nothing to stop this abuse. No excuse for that. Someone needed to make some noise or blow a whistle!

raymo19

So now that it seems this dates back to 1994 do you still stand by this? It would seem your hours or days somehow became decades. If so you would make a great advocate for some Catholic dioceses.

When the chain is broken why not try to repair the chain?

dlq04

Think about it. How would he know when it started?

But why believe him? It doesn't throw fuel on the fire if you do that. With our media these days it's guilty until proven innocent because that's what sells.

Lainey, I am not trying to make excuses for Penn State's apparent cover up.

MsPerky

I knew more victims were going to come forward and it seems 20 of them have since Monday.

A 2

The real issue here IMHO is that abuse happens and we have systems (in both the private & public sectors) that do not have a proper mechanism whereby abuse is reported and those in positions of power lack the training or knowledge to acknowledge and handle such abuses as and when they happen. I believe this may be the case with Paterno as well as that other industry association (that I shall not name for fear this will be moved to Politics).

I think the Press has a right to interpret things based on what is known and I think thats ok until Paterno speaks.

A former co-worker of mine, also a dyed in the wool Penn State Grad, who'd almost always drag me to watch college games and that always thought of Paterno as god, had this to say on his Facebook feed "Remove the Nittany Lion. Make way for Pedo-Bear". I never thought I'd hear him say that. Perhaps Paterno owes his students and all of Penn State an explanation.

dlq04

Seems to me he has:

Paterno testified that he was informed by an assistant coach in 2002 that he had witnessed an incident in the shower of the team locker room. Prosecutors said Paterno had passed on the information to athletic director Tim Curley. Paterno said specific actions alleged to have occurred in the grand jury report were not relayed to him.

For the record, I've no connection with Penn State or Paterno other than two cousins who are grads and seldom, if ever, watch college football.

dlq04

Twice in my life I've been falsely accused of something without a single thread of proof. Still, I was the only person who knew that for sure. And it was a situation where it was impossible to prove I didn't do it. It's a helpless feeling. People had to take my word at face value. I'm just glad I didn't have blood-sucking media trying to say I did it.

A 2

I think a more detailed statement (perhaps written as a public letter to the student/alumni body and the press) would be more apt Dave. I have no connections to PSU either other than firends and relatives that have gone there. I dont watch football unless forced to, but will say this. Every PSU grad I've ever known has had a sense of pride derived from Paterno and how he maintained integrity when compared to other college coaches. They all felt PSU was in good hands because Paterno ran a very disciplined camp and would not hesitate to boot athletes if their academic grades suffered. To play for PSU was an honor and he would attract the best athletes without the other perks and promises that are typical of college programs elsewhere.

The reason I think we are hearing shrill voices today (from the media) is because people expect Paterno to have done more in that situation. He probably did what he thought was the right thing and maybe that was all he could have done in that circumstance bound by the constraints of the organization he worked for. People are baying for blood as child molestation is a serious issue. I wonder though what else could he have done.