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Message: [QUOTE="LStudfellow, post: 2219567, member: 5436"] Unfortunately, the deliberate act of willfully sweeping Sandusky's crimes under the rug and bullying at least some of his victims into silence for years... decades... is almost as heinous. It would be one thing if the incident in 2001 was the only time anyone saw or heard something. But when you realize that the first incident occurred allegedly in 1971 - and that victim said he was about as sure as you could be that the "Joe" on the other end of the phone who helped to bully him into silence had to have been Joe Paterno. Well, then you realize if you really go through the chronology of events from 1971 through 2001, and then to 2011... that Joe Paterno willfully put the image of Penn State and his football team above the lives of innocent boys throughout those 4 decades. When you piece it all together, the picture it paints is of a man who became drunk with his own power - He was absolutely the most powerful man in all of Central Pennsylvania, if not the entire state, for at least 25 to 30 years. He could have, and SHOULD HAVE put a stop to Jerry Sandusky's reign of terror. Instead, he allowed the man to have continued access to all campus facilities, and have his own office within the sports complex... allowed him to continue to be a legitimate member of the Penn State circle, even if pushed a bit to the outside. It disgusts me every time I think about it. The supporting evidence in just that case alone is overwhelming... but for anyone who needs further support, read this story about how he treated the woman who was made Head of Student Affairs at Penn State in 2003, only to be run out of town in 2008 thanks in large part to - Joe Paterno. The man had become a bully, plain and simple. It was well known that he would bully or freeze out anyone who disagreed with him from the 1980's onward. I grew up in southern Connecticut, and remember Mike Francesca would make mention of JoePa's behavior from time to time many years before this story broke in 2011. At that point though, JoePa was so powerful that no one dare come up against him... well, almost no one, anyway. [URL='http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/15/us/triponey-paterno-penn-state/']The woman who stood up to Joe Paterno - CNN.com[/URL] The "Penn State Way" should be a slogan of extreme caution (and frankly, derision) that shows what happens when a man and a football team and their success on the playing field are worshipped to the point of putting that above everything else - even protecting the lives of innocent children who had no voice and no way of protecting themselves. If there is such a place as hell or purgatory, the man is there... and deservedly so. [/QUOTE]

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