1. The GA dropped the ball, no doubt

2. Who says JoePa DIDN'T say that? And at the end of the day, it was up to Schultz and his office to ensure that Sandusky's access was removed. Paterno is just a coach. Influential, no doubt, but he is not the right hand of God, like many are trying to make him out to be.

I think Sandusky is a piece of shit, but this is terrible "journalism" on Madden's part.

Interesting. I believe someone in this thread posted about the potential cover up of a pedophilia ring?

I hope this is a rumor and does not turn out to have any merit.

I heard this today and I hope that it's not true. Mark Madden did, however, report the whole Sandusky-as-megaperv six months ago. It's super-sensationalistic and could just bring more attention to Madden.

Something I've never thought about, but Madden among others has suggested, was the fact that his retirement in '99 was a cover-up for this. At 55, and with years at Penn State under his belt, he could have written his ticket at any major program. Why didn't he do that? Was he concerned with what dirt a job search might kick up? Did he feel the need to stay close to The Second Mile?

I have been reading all of this with complete shock at how adults could let this happen.

The one question that I haven't seen discussed is why the parents of these children didn't go to the police themselves and demand investigations and arrests and head straight to the media if it didn't happen? There is no way that they didn't know. I know that Sandusky preyed on vulnerable kids that often didn't have strong family support, but still.... WHERE are the parents in all of this?

I've read a few articles (I'll have to track them down) that have claimed one of the parents DID know about this, Sandusky simply apologized and said it wouldn't happen again, and it was never reported.

Buzzfeed has a roundup of pictures of Penn State students rioting here.

That was the 1998 incident. He acknowledged that it happened, but the DA declined to press charges.

As many people have said, though, the charity catered to children from "broken homes," for lack of a better term, so many of the events went unnoticed.

Wasn't this the DA who mysteriously disappeared?

I wouldn't be surprised if the boys didn't come forward with these until months or years later, after they had reached majority. In some of the cases I've read, that was certainly the case.

It was also telling to me how the parents interviewed were all mothers--it seemed like he not only focused on "troubled kids," he focused in on those without stable male figures in their lives. One mentioned that she was very disturbed at how Sandusky tried to tell her how to deal with a discipline issue.

Yep.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Gricar

With the 1998 incident, the boy came home with wet hair. When the mom noticed that, he told her that they had been showering together and it was reported very soon after.

I believe it is poor journalism to report on a rumor. I know Mark Madden was ahead of the curve on this but this type reporting is not a good practice.

IMO - Joe Paterno would have been smarter if he had recused himself from coaching through the remainder of the year and then retired at year end. He would have gone out with a least a modicum of dignity. I do think there is a bigger cover up going on at some level at PSU, though. Hope that Paterno is not involved but I believe a lot more will become of this.

BTW - Didn't take them long to get Sandusky out of the "picture".

http://a57.foxnews.com/www.foxnews.c...110_121000.jpg

Please read up on what the Second Mile is about. You may understand why your statement look like an OBVIOUS in light of what the organization is about. I've given time and money (through philanthropy) to the Second Mile and now I am disgusted.

I do sort of get it -- the blaming the media and the support, at least, not the riots. It's a fairly common human response, I think, when something like this comes out to react based on loyalty -- loyalty to family members, loyalty to the Church, loyalty to an institution like a college or an institutional icon like a coach. More than one Penn Stater here has described him as being like a grandfather to Penn Staters. It doesn't seem that odd to me for the initial response for these college students -- still kids in some ways -- to be to defend him. The rioting on the other hand . . . .

From everything I have seen, I think Paterno failed here. He may not have the legal culpability that the AD or the GA have, but he failed, and that failure threatens the integrity of the school. I do see sadness in what has been a pretty brilliant career coming to an end like this, but I don't think the Board of Trustees had any choice but to fire him and fire the president.

This is bugging the hell out of me too. The townies and the kids' parents need to fess up to their responsibility in this...but as usual, they entirely blame the school when anything bad happens and never thank it for the improvement of their quality of life. ("As usual" means "this shit happens in every isolated college town.")

ETA: "This shit" means blaming the school for anything bad...not pedophilia and the cover up of it.

I've read up on it. Just because a kid comes from a "troubled" home doesn't mean that he/she doesn't have a stable male figure in his life (grandfather, uncle, etc.). Calm down.

Be as disgusted as you want to be--I don't care.

On another really random note, and I know there are people who know more about this than me, there are people saying that this all coming out now has to do with the Marcellus Shale controversy. Stranger things have happened, I guess.

http://www.statecollege.com/news/col...ervice-684675/

Why do you seem to have a vendetta against anyone associated with PSU? You have done nothing but, bash all the PSU students/ alums on here because you are angry about the situation. Don't you think we all are? I wouldn't expect you to understand this situation.

You made a stupid comment that he liked to target kids from "broken" homes with mothers as sole-caretakers. Maybe you should take a class on how many kids are raised by just their mothers in a "broken" home or you can try and figure out how many of these at-risk youth don't usually have a male figure in their lives. Then, you'd realize how dumb it was for you to say such a thing.

I don't care if you care that I am disgusted at your stupidity, either.

Show me where I've bashed PSU students/alums. That's right, you probably can't I feel badly for you guys, I do. I'm extremely involved in my college's alumni association on a national level, and I can understand the sense of betrayal that some people might be feeling; others might be taking it a little too far. It seems like you're just being overly sensitive.

You know nothing about my life or family structure. How dare you assume that I don't know anything about kids from "broken homes!" Obviously, he used his position to target some of the most vulnerable children in a community. There's no denying that. How does that make me "stupid?" Of course, that's the first thing you'd come up with--because you don't seem to be the brightest bulb in the chandelier.

Anyway...I really hope this doesn't stretch as far as it's starting to look. :(

I don't seem like the brightest bulb...and you assumed that through??? Say whatever you want. I didn't mean you didn't experience a broken home. I was saying I wouldn't expect you to understand what we are going through at Penn State (as students and alumni). I was referring to the fact that you are not, nor have you ever been a student at PSU. I'm not bright? Apparently, reading comprehension is not your strongest suit.

I'll chalk this up to you being upset, just as many of us are and I won't take your harsh words to heart (as you shouldn't really take mine to heart, either). This whole situation sucks. I just ask that you and other people who are not associated with the school don't give dirty looks to or make nasty remarks about PSU students/ alumni who wear their gear with pride. I've already talked to some sisters and they have experienced nasty comments and dirty looks.

Right now, WE ARE...broken...

I don't want to seem like I'm jumping on you, but this doesn't have anything to do with Munchkin03's post. She was not talking about PSU -- she was talking about Second Mile and the type of children it catered to.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with the bold part. Head coaches at major programs have the ability to hire and fire their staff members. Sandusky reported to Paterno. Paterno could have removed his access. You're kidding yourself to think otherwise.

If this was been posting already-forgive me. But if one has some time on their hands:
Grand Jury Report on Jerry Sandusky:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2...-document.html

Sandusky retired in 1999, so he did not report to Paterno.

Penn State is bigger than this scandal. The university and even the football program will continue to exist.

Why is it that you think he retired in 1999? Just for fun?

What are you talking about?

The "theory" or "rumor" is that he found out definitively that Paterno was not going to step down so he could take the reigns as head coach. Why he didn't take on an AC or HC position somewhere else (when he definitely could have) is anyone's guess.

Being affiliated/not affiliated with PSU doesn't preclude understanding--to some extent--the sense of betrayal or disappointment that comes with something like this. Like I said before, I'm heavily involved with my college and I've been extremely disappointed with decisions they've made. It hasn't stopped me from donating and volunteering. I have plenty of friends who attended PSU and love it and I see the same love that I have for my own college.

I'm still not sure why you got so upset at my suggestion that Sandusky targeted certain kids within Second Mile. Yes, it's a charity that helps kids from broken homes--but some homes are more broken than others and some kids are more damaged than others. Why would it be unreasonable that he focused on specific kids? Some kids come from bad circumstances but they still have some support network. It's obvious that Sandusky preyed on the kids that didn't.

So, no one thinks that the 1998 incident had nothing to do with his retirement? Sounds to me like they allowed him to bow out gracefully.

I'm sure it did have something to do with it.

JoePa didn't give him access to the facilities -- that was the University. The University (read: Schultz's office) should have taken away access. They didn't, and that's why they are being charged now.

If anyone is interested, PSU is now partnering with RAINN to raise money and awareness about child abuse. They're aiming for $500,000 or $1 for each of PSU's 557,000 alumni. The link to donate is here, in the past few minutes alone about $3,000 was donated. I know it isn't much but I think slowly we are starting to realize who the real victims are in this and we want to do what we can. I will also be at the candlelight vigil on Friday with my sisters. This is such a difficult time right now and I know we are certainly not handling it all with grace, but I know my friends and people that I've spoken with want to do the right thing.

Thank you for posting this psusue. I just donated and I will most likely donate more, in the future.

According to reports, there was a statewide push toward early retirement for state employees, with outrageously good benefits at that point - Sandusky qualified, and took the offer, likely due to what you noted (he was no longer "heir apparent"). If he took another job, he'd lose those benefits (presumably).

The 1998 issue likely had something to do with Sandusky's willingness to take the state's golden parachute, but until there's evidence the school had those 1998 accusations in-hand and fully understood the implications, it's hard to say that "something" was on anybody's side but Sandusky's himself.

With all of the accusations and theories abounding, it's worth keeping in mind that most of us don't know shit about shit, and no amount of outrage or vitriol changes that limited amount of knowledge. Holy balls.

I just had to rip a new asshole in some idiot who blamed this incident on the "frat boy culture."

I think that the fundraising for child abuse is a wonderful thing to do. It can't fix what happened in the past, but hopefully, it can prevent future abuse.

I had some one very much like that within my twitter feed last night ;>(

I know this is hypocritical, but she's one of those music scene cat's eye glasses girls, so this is nothing new. I've been ripping new ones in those silly chicas for years.

The Second Mile was founded by Sandusky, at least, that's what reports are saying. If you know that it was not, feel free to correct me.

Just saw some footage from the riot. Wow, just wow. I know quite a few people who go to Penn State and the overwhelming majority of the students there, as you would imagine, are on Joe's side.

Ooooh I can't stand those sanctimonious heffas.

One of my college BFFs is in documentary film and all of her doc buddies are just like that. They think I'm a perpetrator of white male-dominated frat rat culture--if that's any indication of how crazy they are.

Yes, I know that. I was making the point that he founded it for those types of children (ones who were at-risk and possibly from broken-homes). That is why I made that statement.