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2002? Uh.... this is 2011. The supposed “reaction” was to keep the pedo from bringing little boys into the shower any more. Meanwhile, he still had full access to the facilities until a few weeks ago.

Make no mistake.. the most powerful guy at Penn State is Joe Paterno, regardless of the formal org structure. He knew there was a pedo in the ranks, and instead of doing the right thing and demanding a full investigation, or confronting the pedo himself, he washed his hands of the whole thing.

What a moral coward. Your attitude makes me sick.

I think it’s strange that McQueary reacted by telephoning his father after witnessing the shower incident. But I get the feeling that McQueary, McQueary’s father, and Paterno were just passing the buck. Each one simply told somebody else, to let that person then decide whether or not to notify the police, or to keep the information in-house.

Maybe there is a perverted “loyalty” within the football program that made them act this way. Or maybe they were scared of the politically-incorrect aspect of exposing a homosexual pedophile within the university community. (I wonder if it would have been handled differently if Sandusky had been seen sodomizing a 10-yr old GIRL?)

You don’t have to be the eyewitness of such a serious crime to be the first one to report it to the police. Paterno could have, and I believe SHOULD have, immediately given the available information to a law enforcement agency. It sounds like Paterno knew that McQueary was the eyewitness to a sex crime involving a 10-yr old victim, and knew that Sandusky was the suspect. That’s enough to start an investigation. The Grand Jury indictment is curiously vague about what McQueary told Paterno on Saturday morning. But I bet the information and circumstances were enough to make a reasonable person feel that the police should be notified.

The statements given recently by university officials makes it sound like a big cover-up.

Christ, you reactionaries just don't quit, do you? First, let me state that I have already volunteered to execute Sandusky. I'll drive the rest of them to Waynesburg myself and inform the nice maximum security inmates what they did. In any case, let's take your points one by one.

Make no mistake.. the most powerful guy at Penn State is Joe Paterno, regardless of the formal org structure.

This is false. College coaches are expendable. Paterno does a lot for the community, but there has never been a history of him having "his way" in any case.

He knew there was a pedo in the ranks

Sandusky was not a Penn State employee, let alone part of the football program, and Paterno had no power over him. Additionally, Paterno didn't "know" anything until the 2002 accusation (at which point Sandusky had been out for years).

and instead of doing the right thing and demanding a full investigation

First of all, he took it to two people - the AD (his direct superior) and the de facto police commissioner. Following this, the actual witness (whose name was provided to Curley and Schultz by Paterno) was contacted by them. Paterno was only involved because McQueary went to him. He did his job. He's a football coach, not a cop. Additionally, he has no authority to "demand a full investigation" into anyone - even if he were a witness. Make no mistake, there SHOULD HAVE BEEN a full investigation into Sandusky based on the information provided by McQueary via Paterno, but it wasn't the fault of Paterno that it wasn't done (and how the hell could it be?) - it was the fault of Curley and Schultz.

What, pray tell, should he have done? Tip off Sandusky that an investigation was under way? Grab a 12 gauge and take care of it himself? There are legal reasons *not* to push this on your own. Paterno's human, the same as the rest of us - he's not some combination of Sherlock Holmes and Marshall Dillon that can determine exactly what happened by himself, don his duster, and go take care of the situation by himself.