I love JoPa — and I love what he did for Penn State and its players. But, I have to say that had someone told me that a full-grown man was sexually abusing little kids in the shower of my athletic facility, I would have been considerable more pro-active. As in going bonkers. And no matter how old I was, the next time i saw the miscreant, I would have had to have been physically restrained from assaulting him.
I wouldn't take someone's word for it -- even if I didn't think they were lying. I'd want it investigated & would report it. If I trusted the people to whom I reported it -- which should go without saying -- and they came back saying "it was no big deal, the kid didn't see what he thought" I'm not sure I'd do much more.
There was a lot of speculation and assumption that Paterno knew of the 1999 matter which was reported to police and dismissed. It appears now that he didn't.
Paterno’s portrait of himself is of an old-world man profoundly confused by what McQueary told him, and who was hesitant to make follow-up calls because he did not want to be seen as trying to exert any influence for or against Sandusky. “I didn’t know which way to go,” he said. “And rather than get in there and make a mistake . . .”