You can't just throw out names of people that are close to you and say what if it happened with them. It's not even close to the same situation.

 

I'd say the best friend you've known for decades is pretty close. But, I just don't the issue is as cut and dry as people want it to be. And I say that as someone who has had to deal with guilty and innocent child molesters.

I guess I should have said this earlier too and part of the reason I take this different, in law school and now I've worked with a few clients that I truly believe were wrongfully accused of rape/molestation and we have jury verdicts to back those up. Those people never got their lives back because of how people went screaming all over town about it. Not saying this guy is innocent, but once these things are made public and go from internal investigations to public ones, regardless of the outcome there will always be a segment of the population that consider them rapists/molesters.

That is a fair point. But I still think JoePa needed to go to the authorities.

1. He wasn't an eye witness.

2. It's what he was suppose to do. Even the police admit Joe Pa followed the law like he should have. If they could have arrested him they would have. The other officials that were arrested were arrested for not properly reporting it. They are the ones that should have went to the police once Joe Pa called it up. That was the protocol based on what I've seen and read and that's why they are in jail and Joe Pa isn't.

 

Again I will say I'm horrified by what happened and I feel the up most sympathy for the victims. But, all too often we as a society just want to hang everyone we can to feel better about what happened, whether they deserve to hang or not.

 

I seriously hope you're playing devil's advocate here.

I really cannot believe the GA just turned away. Besides the actual acts carried about by Sandusky, that is by far the most sickening part of the story to me.

I really cannot believe the GA just turned away. Besides the actual acts carried about by Sandusky, that is by far the most sickening part of the story to me.

 

I agree with that completely. If he beat the snot out of him in the shower room, it would have made the news and he would have been a hero. Honestly, he'd probably be a D1 coach now because that fame would have landed him several great job opportunities, just on name recognition and hey let's give that guy a chance.

^Yep. Not only that, but then he worked with Sandusky for how long? He witnessed Sandusky bringing other children around, and sat around and did nothing.

Joe Pa is Penn State University and should have continued to press the issue until he knew something had been done. Either it was an unsubtantiated report or a rape occured in the locker room. You two are acting as if Joe Pa was a powerless peon at PSU. Sorry, but I feel he had at least a moral obligation to do more. There isn't any HR protocol that should stop that. Wrong as you may think it is, that's what I feel is the right thing to do in this case. This isn't someone telling a dirty joke...it's the witnessing of a ten year old boy being raped.

 

Regarding the GA, he should have beat Sandusky into an inch of his last breath...

 

My point (and I think HT's) is that as far as has been revealed, it seems that Paterno followed what is proper procedure in most institutions and entities. And yes, I know this isn't telling a dirty joke. But I can tell you this from first hand experience: I was stalked by a co-worker, tried to reason with him directly to no avail. I went to HR, and he continued to work there. Why? I don't know. I had physical evidence. It wasn't until he brought a gun to work that he was fired. Could I have gone to the police? Definitely. But I feared that would make things worse. I wasn't told of the results of HR's conversation with the guy. All I could do was continue to do my job. It would be the same as if it were one of my employees who reported something to me.

 

And to your point that it was someone witnessing a ten year old boy being raped, it wasn't Paterno who witnessed it. It was the GA. At that point, he reported it to JoePa, who then reported it to his superiors. From that point, I don't know what happened. But I'm not so ready to say JoePa did anything wrong, nor anyone else. If there's someone who should have leapfrogged the "system" it was the GA.

I see where HT721 is coming from. If I am told of an improper conduct, or suspect it, the policy where I work is that I am to notify either my direct superior and/or the HR department. From there the investigation will proceed. The sticky thing for someone who doesn't actually witness or experience such conduct is that all you have is essentially hearsay. IF Paterno reported what he'd been told and then nothing further was relayed to him, all he could do was continue with the status quo. In HR situations you don't always get told what the results of an investigation were, especially if the investigation doesn't result in anything conclusive.

So if you see a coworker kill someone at work your suppose to go to HR and your supervisor? I think you guys are confusing breaking company policy with committing one of the worst crimes imaginable.

 

For me it starts with McQueary. He should of A) stopped it and B) called the cops. Second it's on JoePa. When McQueary came to him they both should have gotten in the car and went to the police station. I'm having a hard time understanding the defense for anyone involved in this. There is no telling how many more kids were raped by Sandusky after this.

The JoePa followed the chain of command defense doesn't work for me. The only place where a chain of command is the law of the land is the military. As they stated earlier, JoePa had a moral obligation to do more than send an email to his president.

My point (and I think HT's) is that as far as has been revealed, it seems that Paterno followed what is proper procedure in most institutions and entities. And yes, I know this isn't telling a dirty joke. But I can tell you this from first hand experience: I was stalked by a co-worker, tried to reason with him directly to no avail. I went to HR, and he continued to work there. Why? I don't know. I had physical evidence. It wasn't until he brought a gun to work that he was fired. Could I have gone to the police? Definitely. But I feared that would make things worse. I wasn't told of the results of HR's conversation with the guy. All I could do was continue to do my job. It would be the same as if it were one of my employees who reported something to me.

 

And to your point that it was someone witnessing a ten year old boy being raped, it wasn't Paterno who witnessed it. It was the GA. At that point, he reported it to JoePa, who then reported it to his superiors. From that point, I don't know what happened. But I'm not so ready to say JoePa did anything wrong, nor anyone else. If there's someone who should have leapfrogged the "system" it was the GA.

I guess that's the difference. In your case I would have went to the authorities. I'm assuming he didn't actually fire a shot with the gun he brought, but what if he did???

 

The GA's actions are completely indefensible to me. I know Paterno didn't witness it, but he had a first hand account that at the very least Sandusky was acting inappropriately in the showers with a ten year old boy. If that doesn't scream report to the authorities I don't know what does. Child safety is much more important to me than "proper procedure".

So if you see a coworker kill someone at work your suppose to go to HR and your supervisor? I think you guys are confusing breaking company policy with committing one of the worst crimes imaginable.

 

For me it starts with McQueary. He should of A) stopped it and B) called the cops. Second it's on JoePa. When McQueary came to him they both should have gotten in the car and went to the police station. I'm having a hard time understanding the defense for anyone involved in this. There is no telling how many more kids were raped by Sandusky after this.

 

 

This is my mindset.

Oh well, this has been a fun lively debate. I need to go back to work. Sorry to anyone on here I didn't respond too. I'll come back and check this thread later.

I agree with that completely. If he beat the snot out of him in the shower room, it would have made the news and he would have been a hero. Honestly, he'd probably be a D1 coach now because that fame would have landed him several great job opportunities, just on name recognition and hey let's give that guy a chance.

It's mind-blowing that he could have witnessed this and done nothing at all. To top it off, as UKMF says, he continually saw Sandusky with children.

Considering JoePa's stature and power that he wields he could have gotten to the bottom of the whole situation within 24 hours by himself. He chose not to.

Oh well, this has been a fun lively debate. I need to go back to work. Sorry to anyone on here I didn't respond too. I'll come back and check this thread later.

 

It has been good. I can't keep up. I'll have to start over again to see what I missed.