Posted on 09/23/2014 7:20:57 PM PDT by FlJoePa
Penn State students and fans Saturday showed support for late coach Joe Paterno with a “Joe-Out” – wearing clothing or displaying images of the Hall of Famer at the Nittany Lions' football game.
As a Penn State alumnus, I am proud of my university and I remain proud of the work that JoePa did on and – more importantly – off the football field, with respect to inspiring students and improving academics at the institution.
Yet there remains in the public sphere this erroneous belief that JoePa was a conspirator in the alleged cover-up of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Sandusky, a former Penn State coach, was charged in fall 2011 and convicted in 2012 of molesting boys over the previous 15-plus years.
Three years later, I await someone to show proof that JoePa was culpable. Even the infamous Freeh Report that looked at the scandal has not given any evidence that JoePa was a conspirator.
In talking to non-Penn Staters about the scandal, I have discovered that many of them have a tremendous misunderstanding of JoePa’s role in the matter. That does not sit well with me, considering JoePa did as much as – if not more than – to advance academics at Penn State University. Yes, that’s academics, not athletics. (For more, read this column written in 2007.)
None of this, of course, exonerates Sandusky or the three former Penn State administrators charged in an alleged cover-up. Sandusky is a monster. The others await their day in court.
Rather, this is an attempt to clear up misunderstandings about Joe Paterno and his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Here are 12 things that most people do not know about JoePa and the scandal:
1 – Jerry Sandusky was not a coach at the time of the shower assault in 2001 in the Penn State football building. Sandusky was retired. JoePa was no longer his boss.
2 – Sandusky, as a professor emeritus, had access to any building that he desired at Penn State. In other words, he didn’t need permission from JoePa or anyone else to go into the football building.
3 – Sandusky targeted his victims through his charity, The Second Mile, and not through Penn State or its football program. The Second Mile, much more than Penn State, deserves blame for this tragedy.
4 – JoePa did not cover up the shower assault, and this is what investigators and the authorities have said and continue to say.
5 – JoePa, in fact, told his boss about the incident, which is the law.
6 – JoePa actually went one step further and also told the man who is in charge of Penn State’s police force about it.
7 – Penn State’s police force is an authentic police force, with about 50 armed police officers, arrest powers and with official jurisdiction over the Penn State campus. It has the same powers and responsibilities as any municipal police force in the state. In other words, Penn State police officers are not like security guards at a mall; they are the real thing and have made thousands of investigations and arrests over the years.
8 – JoePa didn’t just tell his boss and the man in charge of the police about the incident. JoePa also asked them to look into it.
9 – The Freeh Report was commissioned by Penn State’s trustees, who were looking – and still looking – to justify what they did. The Freeh Report has been proven to be faulty and is an interpretation based on supposition and circumstantial evidence – not a finding of fact or a verdict rendered by a jury. For more, click here.
10 – There is not one shred of evidence in the Freeh Report or anywhere – that we know – that shows JoePa covered up anything with respect to Sandusky.
11 – To this day, JoePa is the only person to have apologized for what happened, saying that in hindsight, he wished he would have done more. The key word is hindsight, as JoePa did not know at the time that Sandusky was a predator.
12 – Does anyone honestly believe that if he had known Sandusky was a serial molester that JoePa would have been silent? Furthermore, how could JoePa have known? Trained professionals in child abuse and law enforcement officials did not know.
Having said all of this, it is important again to note that Penn State, the institution, is not absolved of any wrongdoing. Innocent children were irreparably harmed, and a jury will determine whether the former administrators charged with a cover-up will be convicted of those charges.
But one thing is certain, and few non-Penn Staters in the public know it: By all evidence that we have seen, JoePa did not cover up any crime.
Sanduskys access to the facility was part of his exit contract. Absent actual proof of wrongdoing PSU could not suspend his privileges without legal jeopardy. Your next quotation, taken from the fact free report is more nonsense. There was no evidence of these crimes until the grand jury investigation of Sandusky. PSU had no more evidence of those crimes than did Louis Freeh, or for that matter, you. Does that make YOU guilty of a cover up? By your “logic” it does.
He was not a so called man in charge of the police. He WAS the man in charge of the police. Nice attempt at deflection, but again, its contrary to the actual facts.
Joe Paterno = Disgraced pedophile protector
Welcome to what used to be Free Republic.
This is where they all just slink into the shadows - knowing they don’t have the facts to back up their disgusting slanderous accusations. This thread is as good as dead at this point. They don’t want debate. They want THEIR narrative. A lot like Dems actually.
I never did buy into the crap line that Paterno was so wrapped up in his insular life in Happy Valley that he didn’t know what Sandusky was up to. He knew what was occurring, and his loyalty to Sandusky came first.
Paterno may not be provably guilty of a cover-up, but he was plainly incredibly negligent - and he plainly didn't give a sh-t about Sandusky's victims.
I'm glad he lived long enough to get fired and die in shame.
“ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!”
My reaction, too.
Paterno’s level of personal power was only one or two rungs below that of the governor. He could’ve had Sandusky removed and permanently disbarred from that campus.
....”The author refers to Paterno as “JoePa” throughout. How cute. Yet we’re supposed to take the author seriously.”....
It also revealed right away what side he’d be writing from.
It’s so sickening that today the public will continue their “hero worship” regardless of the lives these people’s crimes affect.
I have zip zero interest in sports teams and even less college or university players or those who lead them...but in this case the fact children were being abused one could hardly turn their head away.
Kids were hurt yet the public STILL comes out and “honors” these guys for the cover-up....when they could have easily stopped it.
No...I give no pass on any who cover for what happened there...none..zip-zero..nada!
So if folks don't buy this attempt to rehabilitate Paterno, then FR is somehow ruined?
As someone watching from the side lines, I found it odd if I recall JoePa's son was denied "standing" for the Estate and or representative there of, but allowed standing as a individual if I recall.
Any chance to shine some light on that issue, Individual vs Representative of the Estate?
Classy
Don't forget to salt the earth. Universities are just incubators of marxist and communist thought.
Hero worship? More like 'idol worship'...I'll never understand the devotion so many have to their 'alma mater'. It's sickening.
Like most universities; they have an agenda.
Your beloved JoePa had a report of an actual buggering; he didn’t have to figure anything out - he only had to press the investigation when everyone else swept it under the rug.
Instead, he apparently said to himself “I reported it, now I can wash my hands of it and get back to important things like football.”.
Make sure you “Ping” us all when that happens.
Just an innocent, sincere question to myself regarding all the PSU/Paterno haters in their spotless white togas: Me, myself and I are of the opinion that what Sandusky did was heinous, and in our opinion deserves capital punishment.
But we ask, what is the position of each and every one of the people in their spotless white togas regarding the slaughter of innocent infants in the womb? Are they as outraged by THAT as they appear to be against the entire PSU Institution? When was the last time they spoke out or publicly demonstrated against it anywhere near as forcefully as they rail against Penn State? Or is it possible that the JS scandal merely provides a soapbox for them to vent their hatred toward Penn State?
We sincerely wish we could know the truth.
Parterno said he didn’t know about anal sex between men! WTF!
His exit contract was made based on his previous molestation.
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