Posted on 06/30/2012 9:34:42 AM PDT by Kid Shelleen
With convicted serial child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky behind bars, new questions are surfacing about what Penn State officials knew about a 2001 incident involving the former assistant football coach's encounter with a boy in the shower -- and whether they covered up the incident. After the 2001 incident, Sandusky sexually abused other boys over the course of years until his arrest. CNN does not have the purported e-mails. However, the alleged contents were made available to CNN. The messages indicate former Penn State President Graham Spanier and two other former university officials knew they had a problem with Sandusky after a 2001 shower incident, but apparently first decided to handle it using a "humane" approach before contacting outside authorities whose job it is to investigate suspected abuse.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Not the way it looks now. Paterno's direct superior, Athletic Director Tim Curley, had decided to address the matter with Sandusky and to report Child Welfare and The Second Mile. According to one of the emails, Curley says that after meeting with Paterno, he decided to address the matter with Sandusky only.
And you really have to drop this bit about Paterno reporting this to his superiors, plural, unless you're saying Paterno was a liar. In Paterno's GJ testimony he makes it perfectly clear that after thinking for a day, he contacted only Athletic Director Tim Curley and nobody else. He says he never addressed the matter with anyone except Tim Curley.
Q: To whom or with whom did you share the information that McQueary had given you?
Mr. Paterno: I talked to my immediate boss, our athletic director.
Q: What is that person’s name?
Mr. Paterno: Tim Curley.
Q: How did you contact Mr. Curley?
Mr. Paterno: I believe I did it by phone. As I recall, I called him and I said, hey, we got a problem, and I explained the problem to him.
...
Q: You indicated that your report was made directly to Tim Curley. Do you know of that report being made to anyone else that was a university official?
Mr. Paterno: No, because I figured that Tim would handle it appropriately. I have a tremendous amount of confidence in Mr. Curley and I thought he would look into it and handle it appropriately.
No. From the emails, we're finding out that Paterno was involved in the cover-up. He certainly helped talk Curley out of reporting Sandusky to Child Welfare. From Penn Live (and the same email is quoted in many other sources)
The report, focusing on a series of emails after McQueary's initial reports about the incident, suggested that shortly after receiving them, then Vice President for Finance and Business Affairs Gary Schultz developed a three-part plan to talk with Sandusky; contact the Second Mile — the youth charity Sandusky founded; and inform child welfare authorities.Many around PSU still support JoePa and always will, even if he talked Curley out of reporting Sandusky to child welfare, or was part of the two-man determination not to report Sandusky to child welfare.But that plan was put on hold, the report stated, Feb. 27, when Schultz received an e-mailed reply from Athletic Director Tim Curley — apparently after a discussion with head football coach Joe Paterno — in which Curley suggests talking with Sandusky directly before alerting any outside authorities.
"After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps," CNN quoted Curley as saying in an email. Curley indicated, according to the report, that he planned to talk with Sandusky and also contact The Second Mile, but not necessarily the child welfare office if Sandusky cooperated and got professional help.
The Paterno/Curley plan was then approved, although from the emails, Spanier was concerned about the consequences if it were discovered PSU did not contact child welfare.
He disappeared on April 15, 2005.
That's seven years after one investigation and a few years before the next.
We should remember that, in 1998, Gricar had evidence only on a boy responsible for some of the fewest counts against Sandusky. Basically, Sandusky showered with the boy and bear-hugged 'to wash his hair.' Sandusky said there was no genital contact; even if the boy say there was, it would be his word (and only his word, as no other victims had come forward) against Jerry Sandusky, who at the time was the famous founder of The Second Mile, the acting defensive coordinator of Penn State (and had been for over 20 years and two national championships), a Penn State coach with over 30 years' tenure, and a former Penn State player.
I don't think Gricar believed he could convict Sandusky for an incident of showering - just showering - in front of a Happy Valley jury given how prominent Sandusky was at the time.
We should never forget, however, that Gricar's nephew said that Ray Gricar lived from 1998-2005 with a sour taste in his mouth toward PSU and, in particular, PSU football. Gricar felt he was stonewalled in his investigation by PSU football.
I’m not sure what you’re trying to say. Paterno told his immediate superior. His immediate superior told the President. And then the immediate superior and the President decided to cover it up.
It’s possible to argue that Paterno should have done more. But he did what he should—reported it to his boss. And his boss reported it to the President, who was subsequently forced to resign.
Once it reached those high levels, it was up to them to do something about it. As Harry Truman once said, “The buck stops here.”
Even if Paterno later argued that they should give Sandusky a break, we have no evidence for that, and his superiors certainly were not required to take that advice. Who says that Paterno said that? Apparently, Tim Curley said it, if this summary is accurate. Paterno is no longer around to deny it. But even if true, it’s no excuse for the guys at the top.
See 45. We have only Tim Curley’s say-so that Paterno told him to cover it up. Or, to be more accurate, that they AGREED to urge a coverup.
Even if true, that does not excuse the top guys for not reporting it. But we have only one of the guys who covered it up as evidence that Paterno said that. Maybe Curley just dragged Paterno into the argument to give his plea for a coverup more force.
The President of the university, who publicly pledged when he was hired to do more for gay rights at Penn State, was the guy responsible for making this decision. He didn’t have to go along with Curley, Paterno, or anyone else.
Why would Curley lie in an email to Graham Spanier about meeting with Paterno?
Basically, you have this. Curley and Schultz have met several times, with McQueary and without McQueary. They've communicated with the PSU President. It appears that multiple parties discussed the 'contact three' solution and Curley was to make the final recommendation.
When? Apparently after running it by Joe Paterno.
So Curley was sent to Paterno, or went to his de-facto boss, Paterno, or went to Paterno because he knew Paterno had to go along with the decision.
Curley talks with The Godfather Paterno and, as you say, either Paterno said 'keep this between PSU and Sandusky and don't contact child welfare' or the two reached that decision.
Either way Paterno was there when the decision not to contact child welfare (and therefore, law enforcement) was made. He either made it or participated in it.
He had the power to originate the cover-up and it appears JoePa did.
Should the others have gone along with JoePa's plan? No.
Spanier expressed concern about going along with this decision not to contact child welfare. I guess the person who made it must have pretty powerful. Like . . . JoePa in his meeting with Tim Curley.
Probably both. From press accounts, Graham Spanier was at the very least a “fan” of sexual deviancy. Like most universities, Penn State was ( and probably continues to be) run by the Left with all of its proclivities for these kinds of aberrant "behaviors."
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