My two cents on "JoePa" Joe Paterno, the legendary coach of the Penn St Nittany Lions football team, the guy with the MOST WINS in history: Joe Paterno has been FIRED IN DISGRACE in connection with allegations of also legendary Penn St defensive coach Jerry Sandusky being a sexual predator of little boys, using his charity he formed, "The Second Mile", as a tool to have access to these boys. The Second Mile is a charity for underprivileged boys, usually with one parent (usually a Mom). In this TIMELINE, of particular importance is the fact that in 2002 Sandusky was caught in the Penn St showers raping an 11 year old boy. MIKE MCQUEARY, a Penn St player and now coach, witnessed this and reported it to Joe Paterno. Joe Paterno said he reported it to his two supervisors. Fast forward to 2011: nothing ever happened to Jerry Sandusky for 9 years! In those 9 years, Joe Paterno never followed up and said, "Hey! How come nothing ever happened to Jerry Sandusky when I reported him?" You don't have to be a genius here: Joe Paterno at the very least shirked his duty to make sure the police did something about Jerry Sandusky. At most, Joe Paterno was involved in a coverup and Paterno's FULL INVOLVEMENT in this whole thing needs to be dug up. When this whole thing first surfaced, Paterno's reaction was to say he would retire at the end of the year. Now keep in mind, Paterno is in his mid 80's and was probably going to retire anyway. In fact, he should've retired long ago. So, Paterno's first reaction, in my opinion, was NOTHING! Now, today, it was announced that Penn St fired Joe Paterno. Paterno put Penn St in that position by saying he would retire at the end of the year instead of saying he would IMMEDIATELY step down. He seemed to be more worried about his legendary mythical status and coaching the team, just like when the incident was reported to him in 2002. This sounds like the Catholic Church covering up pedophile priests and moving them around to other parishes where they would continue to prey on little boys, instead of removing them from the situation of doing more harm to little boys. It's the SAME THING! The similarities are that bigger than life institutions tend to be more concerned over the institutions' "mystique" and certain peoples' legendary status or the institution's status than over protecting the children.
The 1998 Sandusky incident:
All of this Joe Paterno/Jerry Sandusky/Penn St hoopla is about the 2002 incident. What about the 1998 incident no one's talking about? While Jerry Sandusky was STILL coaching with Joe Paterno on the sidelines! If Joe Paterno knew about the 1998 incident (which would be hard to believe that he did NOT), that would mean this 2002 incident we're all talking about was (at least) the SECOND time Joe Paterno was aware of a pedophile incident with Penn St coach Jerry Sandusky! And it would mean Paterno was involved in a coverup and he LIED about saying he did all he could do when the 2002 incident that we're now all talking about was reported to him.
Weird: this NYTimes article does NOT mention the DA was Ray Gricar in 1998 when Sandusky confessed to inappropriate sexual conduct with minors...and the NEXT article about DA Ray Gricar being missing since 2005 does not mention Jerry Sandusky!!!
NYTimes: the 1998 Jerry Sandusky incident.
Although this article doesn't mention the 1998 Jerry Sandusky incident, this is the same DA that was going to bring charges against him. He has been missing since 2005:
DA in 1998 Sandusky incident declared legally dead in 2005, after being missing for years.
Revealed: Prosecutor who failed to nail Penn State coach for 'sex abuse' vanished in 2005 and was declared 'legally dead' this year
DA Who Never Charged Sandusky Has Been Missing Since 2005.Why didn’t Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar prosecute Jerry Sandusky the first time he was accused in 1998? We may never know, as Gricar disappeared in 2005.
Texas checking possible case linked to Penn State scandal
More thoughts (I keep updating this): what are the odds that all this broke loose right after JoePa won his 409th game, making him the all-time winningest coach?
This great video I saw on PBS last night sums it up perfectly: this expert lawyer explains how Joe Paterno may have broken the law by not following up on this situation when it was reported to him in 2002, and how INSTITUTIONS like Penn St and the Catholic Church are breeding grounds for covering up things like this:
Penn State's Paterno deserves no pity
Not only have our educational and religious institutions failed us, but our financial and political institutions have spectacularly self-destructed over the last decade.
What happened, or more accurately did not happen, goes to the core of evil that major college sports programs in this country have become, equivalent to Mafia families in which the code of omertà rules and coaches and staff always close ranks around their own, even if it means letting someone who was first accused of inappropriate sexual conduct in 1998 continue to roam.
Here's Jerry Sandusky in an interview, ironically saying @ 1:00: "IT'S AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ME TO HAVE BEEN TOUCHED BY SO MANY GREAT PEOPLE":
A bizarre story that no one's talking about, is that according to the TIMELINE, there were actually charges brought against Jerry Sandusky in 1998. Keep in mind, he was still coaching Penn St at that time ON THE SIDELINES WITH JOE PATERNO! Did Joe Paterno know about the 1998 charges brought against Jerry Sandusky? How could he NOT know? (that's a BETTER question!) And if he DID know, that would mean the 2002 incident, the incident that caused all this CURRENT controversy, was the SECOND time Joe Paterno was was aware of a situation in which Jerry Sandusky was accused of improper sexual conduct with a minor boy!
MISSING DA RAY GRICAR:
- Body of District Attorney Ray Gricar was never found but car abandoned and laptop dragged from river
- Gricar had a 'bitter taste in his mouth' about Penn State program
- Receivers coach Mike McQueary who witnessed Sandusky's alleged rape of child - but didn't tell police - allowed to stay in his job
- Head coach Joe Paterno fired amid riots on campus
Revealed: Prosecutor who failed to nail Penn State coach for 'sex abuse' vanished in 2005 and was declared 'legally dead' this year
The bizarre twist in the 1998 story is:
Another bizarre twist: Ray Gricar, the Centre County district attorney at the time of the 1998 investigation into Victim 6's allegations, has been missing since 2005 and was declared legally dead in July of this year. We may never know why Gricar did not press charges against Sandusky, despite Sandusky's admissions—per the grand jury report—that he had showered naked with the boy and hugged him. The hard drive from Gricar's computer turned up on the banks of the Susquehanna River six months after his disappearance, according to this story Ganim wrote three years ago, when she was still at the State College, Pa.-based Centre County Daily Times. Whatever was on that hard drive will forever be the subject of speculation now.
WAS JOE PATERNO AWARE OF THE 1998 ALLEGATIONS AGAINST JERRY SANDUSKY? HOW COME NO ONE'S ASKING HIM OR TALKING ABOUT THIS? BECAUSE JERRY SANDUSKY MYSTERIOUSLY/QUIETLY "RETIRED" RIGHT AFTER THAT, EVEN THOUGH HE WAS THE "HEIR APPARENT" TO JOE PATERNO!
The Big Paterno Cover-Up:
Gotta post this one! You'll laugh your ass off, but this guy is spot-on:
23 page Jerry Sandusky grand jury report of charges.
A Republican NEO-CON will never let a good crisis go to waste:
Report: Tom Ridge May Take Over Penn State
Penn St has also fired their president today, Graham Spanier. Here's a bad idea: replace him with Tom Ridge, former head of Bush's Dept of Homeland Security. The guy who said we should duct tape our homes because of 9/11, the guy who became a spokesman for fracking companies in Pennsylvania, the guy who ADMITTED in his book that he used the color coded terror alert for political purposes of raising Bush in the polls, the guy who in my opinion knew all about the Israeli company ITRR spying on fracking protesters and Tea Party protesters!
I am a big sports fan. You wouldn't know it, because I hardly ever write about it here on the blog. In particular, I am a big Penn St fan. I have followed them for YEARS, and knew all about what a great defensive coach Jerry Sandusky was. Penn St was renowned for their great defenses and have provided the NFL with many great defensive players and even NFL hall of fame players.
So this whole thing answers a question of mine from a long time ago. Joe Paterno was getting old, and Jerry Sandusky, with his elite resume and being much younger than Paterno, seemed to be the "heir apparent" to Joe Paterno. One day I noticed Jerry Sandusky was not coaching the Penn St defense. I thought to myself, "Jerry Sandusky isn't coaching the Penn St defense anymore? When did that happen?" I remember, years ago, how ODD that was, that the heir apparent to Joe Paterno just quietly, mysteriously, wasn't coaching their defense anymore. No fanfare, etc...he just wasn't there anymore! I ALWAYS thought that was odd, but never pursued it beyond just thinking it was extremely odd. If you're a big sports fan like I am, you KNOW things like who is the "heir apparent" to many thing, such as the next coach, the next "heir apparent" closer in baseball, the next superstar rookie in the minors to take over for a retiring legend, etc... I guess my question has been answered of how odd it was that the "heir apparent" to Joe Paterno just "disappeared" around 1999. Funny, that's right after the 1998 incident in which I am questioning if Joe Paterno knew about it!
Penn St students protest/riot
