It was immediately clear to me what more Paterno should have done. Obvious to student writers on the
Penn State newspaper too. Paterno should have driven Mike McQueary to the police station and made sure the police report was made and followed up on.
Also, Paterno should have done all he could (and he could do more here than anyone else involved) to find who that victim was and get help to him. But no one anywhere attempted this, all these years. That's shockingly in-humane, but not surprising - when your priorities are conceal and contain, a victim is someone you never want to deal with, must pretend he doesn't even exit.
If it were Paterno's grandkid getting railed, you can bet "more" would have been done to protect defenseless children! And done immediately too, as is always necessary in allegations such as this.
Thus, Paterno did fulfill his minimum legal obligation to obtain plausible denial of a criminal act, worked hard not to gather any facts, and passed the buck to "superiors" who had less power than him - and when he saw the buck stopped nowhere, he turned a blind eye. In other words, Paterno singularly failed
in his moral and humane obligations - obligations he always instilled in his students to follow.
Not a terrible indictment of Paterno. Yes, some have gone overboard attacking him, but I think it does properly stain his legacy some. I don't think we're far apart on that score, Marine.
True, and I in that position would probably have been as spineless as Paterno was, and just as wrong.
You don't get the benefit of hindsight concerning possible crimes like this.
Ha! Well, if people who "looked up to Paterno" during this time where made aware of the facts as it appears to us, they might feel him stained and tainted all along--like the mother of the child in the 1998 incident who has viewed these men as "monsters" since 1998.
That's according to McQuery's private testimony to his friends. McQuery's handwritten statement to the State Attorney he does not mention going to police, and the grand jury report he did not say it either. The police (city and campus), on public record admissible in court, say they were never contacted by McQuery.
Yes they took action - action so minimal it was not just immoral, but also criminally prosecutable.
They banned Sandusky from bringing Second Mile kids into the locker room. This AD Curley admitted was "unenforceable," the jurors wrote in the presentment. Banning Sandusky from the campus of Penn State, or the Football facilities, is certainly enforceable and is what should have been done, in the very least.
There is no grey area, or being lenient, in charges of sexual conduct between adults and kids.
If Curley and company thought it a bad idea for Sandusky to bring kids into the showers at Penn State (they obviously were concerned about his "naughty" behavior as you put it) then a full police investigation is immediately warranted (at least notifying them is required by law), let alone finding out who the victims were. This is not just the law, it is manifestly the right thing to do too.
An additional example of cowardice and insensitivity - Paterno and company read the full jury report in March of this year ("rhythmic slapping" etc.) , and yet Sandusky was allowed into the PSU football facilities until just a few weeks ago!
all these folks need to get their ass fired...Oh, that's already been done....
