Posted on 02/10/2013 7:10:13 AM PST by Uncle Chip
A report commissioned by Joe Paterno's family calls the July 2012 Freeh report that was accepted by Penn State trustees before unprecedented sanctions were levied by the NCAA against the school's football program a "total failure" that is "full of fallacies, unsupported personal opinions, false allegations and biased assertions."
The Paterno family report, which targets nearly every conclusion and assertion the Freeh report made about Paterno in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, states that while former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has had an honorable past and good reputation, his investigation -- especially as it relates to Paterno -- relied on "rank speculation," "innuendo" and "subjective opinions" when it concluded that Paterno concealed facts about Sandusky in part to avoid bad publicity.
Freeh was hired on Nov. 21, 2011 and paid $6.5 million by Penn State University trustees --
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The Paterno family immediately roundly and loudly rejected the report, and, four days after its release, instructed its lawyer to form a "group of experts" to conduct a comprehensive review of the facts and conclusions. The Paterno family asked its attorney's law firm, King and Spalding of Washington, D.C., to start "a comprehensive review of the report and Joe Paterno's conduct. They authorized us to engage the preeminent experts in their field and to obtain their independent analyses."
The law firm hired former U.S. attorney general Richard Thornburgh, former FBI supervisory special agent and former state prosecutor James Clemente, and Dr. Fred Berlin, a treating physician, psychiatrist, psychologist and expert in sexual disorders and pedophilia at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and School of Medicine. The family's report attacks Freeh's conclusions, assertions, methodology, investigative abilities and choices, disclosures and independence.
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(Excerpt) Read more at espn.go.com ...
Sorry Alaska, I don’t see the facts to support you opinion. We will have to disagree. If additional info ever confirms your opinion, I will change mine. Until then, I won’t condemn Paterno based on opinion, inference or innuendo.
Thank you for your feedback.
All I'm saying -- and perhaps you might agree to some extent -- is how unfortunate that JoePa suddenly "woke up" in late 2011 to FINALLY publicly declare, "I wish I had done more" with regard to Sandusky and these kids.
The question here is why it took over a decade for Paterno to lament these words...(10 years, 9 months to be exact)
My understanding is that the authorities were investigating Sandusky by 2009...so hey, I guess we might be able to excuse JoePa for part of '09 + all of '10 & all of '11...given that by this time, JoePa's "forthrightness" wasn't going to necessarily be of significant special use to authorities...
On the other end of that continuum, Paterno found out in Feb 2001 about an "inappropriate action" -- what he MUCH LATER told the Grand Jury was a "sexual" act of some sort.
So, even if we assume the benefit of the doubt here and not fault JoePa for his February 2001 reactions...at some point that "wish I had done more" statement actively kicks in...well before November 2011!
At some point...perhaps by 2002, it should have dawned on JoePa that this predator was still at loose with nothing being done. A man of JoePa's stature could have demanded an update at any time.
Even if we draw some grace here and take it another year (2003)...or even into early 2004...at some point, we know JoePa was either interviewing Mike McQueary for a Wide Receiver job (early 2004)...or could have had an active involvement in that interview.
Are we all going to close our eyes and somehow imagine that what McQueary saw in a Penn State shower would somehow be 100% irrelevant to the question of whether McQueary would/should be hired?
I mean, as a "negative" vs. the case for Penn State hiring McQueary, since JoePa knew what McQueary reported, his "eyewitness" role should have gone down as a "no go" disqualifier if for no other reason than to keep him at arm's length from the Penn State program...lest later "revelations" erupt that could taint the program. The fact is, JoePa DID NOT regard McQueary as a "negative" association-wise -- either with hiring him on as a wide receivers coach or later as head of recruiting. So, in this way, it comes across to outsiders as a "reward" of sorts for McQueary's extended silence in not pursuing ultimate protection for the children.
Beyond that, JoePa was the most powerful man on campus. At anytime -- beginning from the 2004 interview he/or his reps had of McQueary -- thruout McQueary's 2004-->2009 employment...JoePa could have queried and discovered EXACTLY how authorities had...or had NOT...followed up with McQueary's report...McQueary could have amply told him: "Nothing has happened since then...No follow-up since I've discussed this with other Penn State admins."
And if JoePa couldn't even ask McQueary a follow-up Q of this nature, then it shows his silence is culpable. And, if he did ask such a Q or two, and got those answers from McQueary, his silence carries even more malice vs. the child-victims.
JoePa was a man of influence who failed to use it on behalf of these children.
You really should pose that question to the victims and the victims parents and guardians. Paterno was among the powerful and authoritative who failed to keep a serial child molester off of the PSU campus
http://prospect.org/article/no-touchdown-paterno-biography
Paterno's key failure was not in 1998. Sandusky, after all, had been cleared by the authorities. Paterno's knowledge of the 1998 investigation was relevant not because Paterno could have stopped him at that point but because it should have made the urgency of contacting the authorities in 2001 even more compelling.
And both broken the law. You apparently don't understand the confidential tent under which investigations like this are undertaken. Once you have told the authorities what you know you are then out of the loop -- unless or until they need anything further from you. They are now in charge -- not you.
As I said -- once he handed the ball off his job was done. His moral obligation at that point was not to interfere in the subsequent investigation which he probably believed was going on.
You actually have to look at them.
http://prospect.org/article/no-touchdown-paterno-biography
Paterno's key failure was not in 1998. Sandusky, after all, had been cleared by the authorities. Paterno's knowledge of the 1998 investigation was relevant not because Paterno could have stopped him at that point but because it should have made the urgency of contacting the authorities in 2001 even more compelling.
You guys just want to pin everything on Paterno, don't you???
Paterno was not involved in the 1998 investigation and was privy to none of the information.
It was the PA DPW who let Sandusky slide on that one.
If he knew anything about it then whoever told him was breaking the law.
but because it should have made the urgency of contacting the authorities in 2001 even more compelling.
He did contact the authorities in 2001 or weren't you aware of that???
Keep trying -- maybe you and Freeh can find that he had something to do with the Kennedy assassination or Sandy Hook??? Haaaaah
Yes, Paterno should have immediately contacted the people above him in the Penn State administration, people like the athletic director and the head of the university police, for example. After all, Sandusky was gone from the football program nearly 3 years at that point and was no longer working for Paterno. So Paterno, no longer Sandusky's boss, and not being a cop or an investigator or a prosecutor himself, should have contacted the appropriate people who would certainly do something to find out what the heck was going on.
I've repeatedly stated that Paterno was one of the powerful and authoritative people at PSU. What is it about "one of" that you fail to comprehend?
Paterno was not involved in the 1998 investigation
Who claimed he was? He sure as hell had knowledge of the investigation as did others.
".....whether or not McQueary told him that he had witnessed anal rape, any report of sexual abuse should have triggered an investigation by proper authorities, particularly since Paterno knew that Sandusky had been investigated before."
Yes, the police. This was more than a university problem. I can't believe there are so-called conservatives defending the indefensible.
No he did not. Where are you getting your misinformation.
That 1998 investigation was being played close to the vest like all of these types of investigations, and like 2001 would have been. If anybody had told Paterno what was going on in 1998 they would have been breaking the law and been brought up on charges.
I got news for you. The Penn State University Police Department ARE the police on the Penn State campus, as it is on most university campus's throughout the country.
In the 1998 Sandusky investigation the police force involved was [you guessed it] the Penn State University Police Department, more specifically their Chief Harmon.
That's why all this nonsense about Paterno not going to the "authorities" is poppycock.
The head of the PSUPD was Gary Schulz and he was involved within days of the McQueary incident and met with him, and then Chief Harmon was contacted.
What more did people want of Paterno??? Was he supposed to do their jobs too??? and maybe teach dance classes as well??? Get real -------
Yeah, Joe Paterno should have contacted the police. Not McQueary or his old man. Not Curley. Not Schultz. Not Spanier. Not the hundred other people, including Sandusky’s family, friends, Second Mile associates, university benefactors.... maybe even a VICTIM? Yeah. It wasn’t up to anybody else, especially the administrators who were supposed to know what to do - - it was all on the old man, the football coach, Joe Paterno.
You’re lazy. You really should try thinking a little bit before you start big-mouthing and pointing a finger at somebody far more accomplished than you will ever be. It always cracks me up - - even as it disappoints me - - how little people like you enjoy tearing down people who have accomplished something.
Does PSU have its own district attorney, court system and prison system?
What more did people want of Paterno???
How about being a responsible adult?
You're right for a change.
It wasn’t up to anybody else,
That's a dumb thing to state. Every adult with the slightest suspicion of what the serial child molester, Sandusky, was doing is partially responsible.
You’re lazy. should try thinking a little bit
I've done the research and posted links. What have you done besides attack me?
little people like you enjoy tearing down people
Rather hypocritical of you, isn't it?
Where are you getting your information? I already posted a link, but I'll repost it especially for you. It seems you have difficulty keeping up.
http://prospect.org/article/no-touchdown-paterno-biography
If anybody had told Paterno what was going on in 1998 they would have been breaking the law and been brought up on charges.
Can you provide documentation that would be the case after the investigation was concluded?
“Once the quarterback hands the ball off cleanly to the halfback, what is his further responsibility??? “
Ironically, his responsibility is to carry out a fake.
Which Paterno did.
May God bless you and yours!
Heh, what a lame reply.
I think I hear the sound of a worm heading back under his/her/its rock.
Have a nice life.
It must be you.
No -- they utilize the county's -- like most towns. My town of 15,000 does as well.
If you had done your research you would have known that the police chief involved in the 1998 episode was Chief Harmon of the Penn State University Police Department.
How about being a responsible adult?
You mean like obeying the law and keeping the requirements of a contract. He did that. It's you who somehow thinks that breaking the law is being a responsible adult.
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