Best thing I've read yet on Mike McQueary and the PSU/Sandusky sex abuse scandal:

[kath]

Mike McQueary Will Have to Publicly Live with His Cowardice: A Fan’s Perspective
http://sports.yahoo.com/top/news?slug=ycn-10399373

(from the grand jury report)"As the <28 year old> graduate assistant entered the locker room doors, he was surprised to find the lights and showers on. He then heard rhythmic, slapping sounds. He believed the sounds to be those of sexual activity. As the graduate assistant put the sneakers in his locker, he looked into the shower. He saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The graduate assistant was shocked but noticed that both Victim 2 and Sandusky saw him. The graduate assistant left immediately, distraught."


There can't possibly be anything that would prepare you to see something that egregious in the realm of humanity. On its base, I feel for McQueary for having to witness it. However, in comparison to how I feel for the unnamed, faceless ten year old boy that was treated to the business end of sodomy by a sadistic, purely evil, predator, McQueary was treated to ice cream that night. And that is why his cowardice in fleeing the situation is as high in culpability as the perpetration of the crime itself. Something in McQueary's head told him that running to his office to call his father to ask what to do was the prudent move. Something in his father's head thought the prudent thing to do would be to have his son leave the building and come over to the house to discuss it. Meanwhile, there was a 10-year old boy in the shower with a monster. He was left there. This was not some infant swaddled in warm blankets abandoned on the front step of a hospital. This was a boy, a thinking, petrified, innocent child being left out in a cold that not many of us could ever imagine.


When the common citizen conjures up images of a "grad assistant," they may picture a frail, nerdy, insecure college graduate living in libraries because their sociability is at its apex amongst books. That is not the case here. Mike McQueary is a tall and brooding red head, standing well above six feet and carrying 200-plus burly football player pounds. He was a quarterback at State College High School and Penn State. He is said to have been a vocal leader on the field in Happy Valley and a brilliant persuader of young men when recruiting in a living room.


He is said to be a "leader." What a frighteningly sad reality it is when a community as large as Penn State's can so horrendously mischaracterize someone who's stature on the sidelines of every Penn State game is as evident as Joe Pa himself. A leader sternly and angrily screams into that shower to stop. A leader grabs the closest towel or blanket and scoops that boy up, running at break neck speed to the closest area hospital while feverishly dialing 911 on their cell phone. A leader might take a moment to knock out Jerry Sandusky with repeated blows so when the police arrive on scene, he'll still be there, right at the scene of the crime. A leader stands up. Leaders don't cower. Leaders don't run to daddy to ask for advice. Yeah, let's mull it over in front of the family fire place over cocoa while a ten year old endures a life-changing, earth-shattering assault. Lets look out for my own rear end by, in essence, protecting someone who in 2002, didn’t even work there anymore.

More at link.

[Tatiana]

1. I agree. I've changed my thinking on McQueary.

As one of my good friends (who is an alumnus of Penn State) pointed out, McQueary landed himself an actual job beyond grad assistant. So it appears as though his keeping the matter within the PSU family paid off for him career-wise.

I think in the moment when he witnessed the incident, he did go into shock. Having witnessed something along those lines personally, I can recall asking myself "Did I see what I thought I just saw? Did that really happen?" I was very distraught and sickened, but I pulled out the phone book, found the number to DCFS and made an anonymous report. After the investigation was conducted, a positive finding of abuse was determined and the relevant party was arrested and prosecuted.

McQueary doesn't deserve his job.

[SunSeeker]

51. McQueary doesn't deserve his freedom.

I'm so glad there are people like you, Tatiana, who report these things to the authorities. You do doubt spared at least one if not dozens of kids by your actions. But it seems you are in the minority. When you read the Grand Jury Report, it just boggles the mind that NO ONE report anything to child protective services all those years. Here's the report (caution, don't read it on a full stomach): http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/Sandusky.pdf Hell, they didn't even try to figure out who that kid was McQueary saw Sandusky raping.

[loudsue]

99. What else boggles the mind: rape is a capital crime. Like MURDER. If McQuerry

had witnessed a murder of a 10-year-old boy, would he have gone to his daddy to ask what to do?

This world gets weirder and weirder.

[FedUp_Queer]

73. You've really made me think.

There is a universal lesson right there, in very stark and real terms. "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing."

The lessons in this ordeal are just plain universal. They speak of hubris, arrogance, cowardice, justice.

I really wish to thank you for posting this.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

94. People in a cult, the mafia, the Catholic Church don't flip...

That's just people. When people worship people, they fall in line; it's the code of omerta. That's how autrocities can be committed over such a long span of time. It explains Hitler. If it were you or I, yeah, we would have flipped on Paterno and told the Nazi's to go to hell. But you and I don't get it. We're not under the rule of the Godfather. Paterno didn't answer to his "superiors." He was Penn State. Not only was the administration and student body under Paterno's sphere of influence, so were law enforcement, prominent alumni, it goes on and on.

Falling in line is what people who worship others do. Hard for you and me to fathom, but that's what people really do.

[blueamy66]

108. My fiance is quite the pacifist....

but he said yesterday that he would have dragged the old man outta the shower and beat the shit outta him. Then he would have grabbed a towel and wrapped the boy in it and comforted him while they waited for the cops to show up.

What's up with McQueary? Is he slow or what?

[Mojeoux]

2. Kick and Highly Rec for anyone who says they are TIRED of the Penn Scandal n/t

[CoffeeCat]

28. It's NEVER over for the victims!

The exposure of the Penn State scandal, should ultimately be about the victims and serve to heal
the victims.

This is not about football. Or Paterno.

This entire horrid mess should be all about finding as many victims as possible, obtaining
justice for them and helping them to heal for this trauma and abuse. They, and their families
should be helped and felt as if the entire world is grieving right along with them.

We should not move on--until there has been significant progress in those areas.

I hope they find Victim #2, the boy who McQueary witnessed being raped in the shower. It has
been reported that his identity is unknown. I can't imagine his pain.

I hope he is still alive.

Sandusky knows. Pedophiles are weak cowards. Let's hope the police are able to find out from
Sandusky who this boy is.

[Liberal_in_LA]

52. +100

[MissDeeds]

55. +1000 n/t

[roguevalley]

93. tomorrow I am going to watch the fragging game and see what

PSU is made off. It will be horrible. Blue for the kids. White for JOEPA. the coaches have told people to wear white in support of the old man. They need to be freaking fired.

[Control-Z]

104. Wait. What?

People are taking sides about this in a game? How can there be sides? I don't understand. Please explain it to me.

[blueamy66]

107. college football

that what it's ALL about.....SAD...I'll watch and probably lose my breakfast....just gotta see what really goes on today

[freshwest]

98. +1,000

[snagglepuss]

45. +1

[Missy Vixen]

71. Kick and rec for any adult who resolves it's not going to happen to one more kid

on his or her watch.

If we take nothing else away from the PSU reporting, maybe all adults need to be reminded that if ONE PERSON had the courage to dial 911 that night, at least 20 kids (at last reporting,) would have been spared. Maybe each of us needs to know we might be that one person in the future for a child that is terrified and believes he or she is alone.

[SixthSense]

3. Agreed

those who witnessed the rapes and did not act to stop them, along with those who knew and did not blow the cover on this, they are co-conspirators and should be regarded as little better than the child rapist himself

[dkf]

4. Yet look how this story is being reported. A lot of people can't bring themselves to speak of

Anal sex much less a young boy being raped.

I think it makes people really really uncomfortable to talk about this.

[aquart]

8. Really? The ladies on my soap board had no trouble discussing it.

And saying exactly what they thought of that worthless coward, McQueary.

[dkf]

10. How explicit did they get?

Apparently he told Paterno he saw "horsing around" and "fondling".

Sounds to me like he couldn't bring himself to describe things more fully.

[BanzaiBonnie]

11. Yesterday, Papentonio reported on a talk show...

that McQueary reported anal sodmizing of the child to Paterno. When Paterno reported to his higher ups, he's the one who reported it as "horsing around".

[alcibiades_mystery]

53. Papantonio has no basis for that report

McQueary's camp has intimated it, but it is not stated that way in the Grand Jury presentment and McQueary hasn't gone on record independent of his testimony to say that. Paterno's camp outright denies it, and Paterno apparently denied that to the Grand Jury, and has not been charged with perjury. Papantonio's just speculating.

[TorchTheWitch]

12. Pfffttt... that's what PATERNO claimed

And what Curley and Shultz echoed and precisely why the grand jury believed they were LIARS. How else could Paterno, Curley and Shultz possible excuse their active cover-up (particularly in light of the 1998 allegations they knew about and McQuery did not) other than to make the ridiculous claim that after McQuery saw such a heinous crime before his eyes and took the bull by the horns in reporting it to Paterno that he only told him it was "horsing around"? There wouldn't be any reason for McQuery to go to Paterno AT ALL unless he told him exactly what he saw. Conveniently, it is allegations of "horsing around" in the shower that were basically the allegations from the 1998 incident that Paterno, Curley and Shultz all knew about but that McQuery did not.

Sorry, but the DA all along has been saying that McQuery gave a very detailed description, and if he hadn't done so there is no other way the allegations would EVER have come to light. Since Paterno, Curley and Shultz were all claiming McQuery only said it was horsing around or fondling there is no one left BUT McQuery that the actual allegations of sodomy could ever have come to light. Then again, Paterno testified before the grand jury about McQuery's allegations but it was only Curley and Shultz that were deemed liars concerning their claim that they were only told that it was horsing around or fondling - not Paterno - so it appears Paterno may have told the truth to the grand jury but has been lying about what he was told by McQuery publicly.

It's just absurd to believe that McQuery reporting to Paterno what he saw he would have minimized since the only reason to go to Paterno at all would be to tell him the truth of what he saw. McQueary had no reason at all to minimize what he saw in reporting to Paterno, but Paterno, Curley and Shultz all did and criminally so.

[Laelth]

15. Makes sense. Well said. n/t

-Laelth

[alcibiades_mystery]

54. Paterno hasn't been charged with perjury

You certainly present one conclusion that could be drawn from that basic fact: that Paterno told a different story to the grand jury than he's been telling publicly. That's clearly not the only conclusion, however. The other is that McQueary sanitized the description for Paterno and only told the full description to Curley and Schultz, who then lied about it.

[WinkyDink]

19. "Apparently" is he said, he said. I don't believe JoePa for one second.

[SidDithers]

23. No, he didn't. The grand jury report makes it clear that McQueary was explicit...

When he reported to Paterno what he had seen.

Sid

[alcibiades_mystery]

66. I think that remains to be seen

It does not make it clear what McQueary said to Paterno, or at least not as clear as it makes it in the case of Curley and Schultz.

That's certainly the point that's going to be constantly debated until more information comes out.

[tblue37]

64. My 32-year-old son called the other night to discuss it. He didn't feel

too uncomfortable to bring the subject up with his mother, so my guess is that a lot of other people are able to discuss it, too.

My son was shaking with rage when he called, so much so that he was stumbling over the torrent of words that poured out in his outrage. I believe that decent people all over the country feel exactly the way he does, and cannot stop expressing the outrage they feel.

[doublethink]

5. Best comment to that story .... was from .....

GoTx 18 hours ago

"The only phone call McQueary should have made was one telling the police there was a dead pedophile in the Penn State showers . . .

okay a bit over-the-top but I see GoTx's point.

[adigal]

20. My husband, who was in sports and as a coach all his life

said the same thing. Actually, he said there would have been a pedophile flying out the window, after they had a "struggle." Can't say I blame him, this topic gets my husband, who has coached hundreds of kids, very, very upset.

[Pat Riot]

72. What struggle?

They were only horsing around and practicing wrestling moves.

[adigal]

110. Now THAT would be irony in practice!!

Nice!!!

[SunSeeker]

50. Yup!!

[pennylane100]

75. That is not too over the top for me.

It would have been a happy ending to this sordid tale.

[eridani]

6. There is a kind of paralysis that sets in--but it shouldn't last all that long

When I was 3 and my twin brothers were 1, I watched them pluck round red ornaments from our Christmas tree and start chomping on them as if they were apples. I remember thinking that they couldn't possibly be doing that, so I watched them for a couple of minutes. When drops of blood were visible on their lips, I got scared and went for mom--who chewed me out for waiting so long. I was too young to explain myself, and still remember the general sense of paralyzed shock.

[Ruby the Liberal]

17. You were 3 - that is understandable. He was 28.

Sorry, not buying it. Maybe for the nano second until his eyes focused, but not a split second after. He recalled details so vividly that he was able to describe sight and sound some 9 years later at his December 2010 GJ testimony.

He reported to the GJ that it was a Friday night at 9:30, everyone was gone, lights were on in the shower and he heard water and the (paraphrased) "sound of wet skin against wet skin that sounded to him like sex".

His mind had already formulated the core image based on vision and hearing before he walked into and witnessed the actual scene.

To add to this, he also testified that both Sandusky and the victim looked at him when he walked in. Imagine the look in that child's eye, and the surprise/relief that someone witnessed what was happening and would rescue him - only to have that someone walk off and never return.

I hope those demons haunt McQ every time he shuts his eyes for the rest of his life.

[LynneSin]

43. It's difficult to question someone in a moment of shock

But ultimately and with in an hour or so someone should have dialed 911

[truedelphi]

83. I know. Shock sets in, and you don't

handle things as well as you should. And I think you did very well, especially given your age.

Several years ago, I was in a mall and this woman in a shoe store was sticking her toddler with a hat pin.

I went outside the shore store and reported it to the security guards, but he said it would be my word against her word. I am ashamed to say it, but I gave up.

I now wish I had tackled the BITCH to the floor and taken the hat pin from her.

And the security cameras on in the store would have proven my point. That this woman had repeatedly stabbed her child with the hat pin.

But I was so shocked by what I had seen, that I couldn't quite believe it. Who in the world uses a hat pin as a way to tell their kid to sit quietly on the floor while Mommy goes and tries on more shoes?

[malaise]

7. +1,000

!00% correct-he is no leader

[Downwinder]

9. I'll bet all his plays came in from the sidelines.

If so he has been well conditioned.

[Dash Riprock]

13. It was just reported this morning

that Mike McQueary won't be at the Penn State football game on Saturday. One reason is because he's getting death threats. Apparently he still works for Penn State.

[Ruby the Liberal]

16. He is the Wide Receiver's coach and Recruiting Coordinator for the school football program

[MH1]

34. Amazing, isn't it? That of all people, the guy who witnessed and did NOTHING, still has a job?

And yes, he supposedly reported it to Paterno, but my understanding is that what he said was rather vague. To me, that is doing nothing.

[LynneSin]

44. What really amazes me is how he went from grad assistant to PSU coach

makes you wonder.....

[JVS]

48. Grad assistant happens to be the position he was in at the time, but it makes more sense if you...

remember that he was the former QB from 96 and 97. He went back to Penn State after playing for the NFL-Europe league, which was in the process of folding.

[valerief]

77. No doubt in my mind what happened. He was bought off a la Michael Jackson. nt

[ellisonz]

14. Jon Stewart said the same thing tonight...

"compared to what happened to that boy Mike McQueary got ice cream." I think at the very least many people would call the police immediately - fewer would take direct action. Both are far better than what happened.

[OneGrassRoot]

22. Having been in several situations in which I witnessed abuse....

though not anything nearly as horrific as this, I am having a really hard time wrapping my brain around how anyone can NOT act right then and there.

When I've been confronted with these situations in which a vulnerable innocent is being harmed, I don't think. That may not be a good trait, I realize. But, I don't have time to think about my safety or the potential consequences to me.

I acted immediately -- really, kind of in a primal, lioness kind of way -- to stop the abuse right there.

I have a hard time believing others aren't the same way and wonder why they aren't?

:(

[tblue]

86. I wish to God it had been me who was that witness.

The man would have to kill me before I'd leave that kid there. I'd rather die than leave that poor baby with that monster.

I don't want to sound sexist, but I think women would be more likely to say, "The hell with protocol. Let him go, you bastard!" and not leave the scene without taking the child.

I'm imagining what must be happening in Iraq & Afghanistan. where women are sexually abused every day. The fear, the threats that keep men silent when they know what's going on. Meantime the abuse continues.

[freshwest]

100. Been there too, it has to do with knowing we are flesh, we hurt, we feel, we know, we act.

Not sure what's going on with those who lost that connection. I've had situations where I've been in shock when attacked. No sense of shock seeing another attacked, pure instinct to protect rises up and not acting is not an option. I'm still amazed this guy hasn't been charged as an accomplice.

Imagine what it's been like for that kid knowing that this guy saw it and by not acting, gave approval to what was being done to him. Ten years, treated like a piece of meat, so how did he grow up? And if he was still in that community, did he end up in prison from losing respect for authority?

And then to have to look at these people being exalted in every household? This is why people have no respect for law or each other, the cruel hypocrisy of powerful, micromanaging other people's lives in their political tirades, knowing this is going on.

[OneGrassRoot]

106. I post this periodically for bullying, but it certainly applies to this as well:

(and, well said, freshwest, especially this: "And then to have to look at these people being exalted in every household? This is why people have no respect for law or each other, the cruel hypocrisy of powerful, micromanaging other people's lives in their political tirades, knowing this is going on.")

[adigal]

18. Yes, that is what my husband and I said last night

What kind of man leaves that boy there, while he runs to Daddy to figure out how to cover his ass, Paterno's ass, and the football program's ass?? A coward and an enabler. He should be arrested, too, not coaching Saturday's game.

[WinkyDink]

21. Seriously, this is the, PTE, bottom line. There is no rational defense on earth to counter this.

[Pachamama]

25. As a victim of abuse, i will tell you what could make a 6'5" 250+lbs man not call the police & beat

.....the crap out of Sandusky at that moment he saw him raping that child: how about the possibility of the fact Mcqueary was also a rape victim of Sandusky???? He wasnt just a graduate asst coach - he grew up in State College and was a former player of Sandusky. What if he had also been at one time raped by Sandusky (or at the hands of another adult at some time in his past)? What if at the moment he saw Sandusky raping this child, he himself was paralyzed in fear and became the terrified child too. The guilt. The fear.

Read the grand jury report. They repeatedly refer to Mcqueary as a credible witness. They dont say that about Cutler, Shutz, Paterno. I will put money on that is what made a 6'5" man go to his father and not the police. And i think they told Paterno everything and Paterno and the rest of them can rot in hell and should be tarred & feathered in disgrace and be charged criminally too as accomplices. I think when the trial comes out, Mcqueary will be a key witness in putting the rapist Sandusky away for life. My hypothesis is that Mcqueary is a victim too of Sandusky and will be tormented the rest of his life as are all victims of rape. I cry for all of Sandusky's victims. :cry:

[Tatiana]

27. Interesting theory. I never thought of that.

But the thing that keeps tripping me up is the fact that McQueary's dad is a pediatrician. He should know better; he should at least know some of the signs of child abuse. Is it possible he did not recognize them in his own son?

[Pachamama]

29. Another factor to keep in mind: Threats

Don't know if you have come across this bit of news but i predict it will eventually become part of the many bombshells yet to be revealed..... But the DA who was in charge of investigating the complaints "disappeared and was declared dead recently. His state issued laptop was eventually found with the hard drive missing. I don't want to go all conspiracy theory, but I'm a person that looks at things and starts investigating and connecting dots. Its possible in this "company town" environment that Mcqeary and others were threatened or felt threatened. Surely they knew of the "disappeared" DA. My gut tells me there are hundreds of scared victims and i think Second mile needs to be investigated. My husband and i were talking about this last night and he said watch it even come out that rich donors were being rewarded time with these boys. I think this story is just beginning and if real investigations on a federal, state and local level it will be beyond horrific and any of our worst fears or comprehension. There are sick people out there and this tragedy is going to reveal the ugly under belly of pedophiles & a broken system of collegiate football that is a corporate profit machine above all. Stay tuned. There is i believe sooo much more we will be finding out that will make stomachs churn.

[Patiod]

37. I've been following the disappeared DA story since it started

when he was first missing.

One thing you're missing, that has stumped investigators, is that Gricar himself was asking around the office about "how do I wipe/destroy" my hard drive. He was due to retire in a few months, and people in the office wondered what was on his computer that he wanted to destroy. Certainly possible that there was information from earlier Sandusky investigations, especially since people also report that his exposure to Joe Paterno and PSU footbal left him not-a-fan. But it's also possible he did the destroying himself.

I'm guessing the disappearance isn't related to the PSU scandal, but who knows? It could be a walk-away, a suicide (his brother disappeared under similar circumstances, and was found in the river later, judged a suicide), or a murder. Time may tell.

As for the corporate profit machine, no argument there (and I'm an alum). I watched a documentary last weekend about Rene Portland, who hated lesbians and took several of her basketball players' scholarships away from them for being gay (or even associating with gay people). Paterno defended this bitch, and complaints didn't harm her, because her Lady Lions Basketball was considered part of the Penn State Sports Machine (and alumni donation machine).

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

89. perhaps the DA was researching how hard drives get destroyed

in order to protect his own from such actions ocurring?

[Gormy Cuss]

31. It's very easy for a child to hide abuse, even from a trained observer.

However, as a pediatrician the father should have been able to act immediately and report the abuse as soon as he heard his son's report.

[Lars39]

38. I'm wondering if he was the pediatrician for the Second Mile.

Sure would go a long way to explaining things.

[snagglepuss]

47. Another poster said he isn't a pediatrician but a physicans assistant who

now runs a company. This came up in a discussion of who was legally mandated to call police.

[Downwinder]

33. I think you nailed it.

[adigal]

36. That is a very plausible theory

and I am so sorry for your suffering. :(

[spooked911]

56. that would be the only thing that could excuse what he did, I think

otherwise, horrible horrible

[hedgehog]

59. I think you have described the only possible extenuating circumstances- .

although it leaves me questioning if it's also possible Sandusky had something on McQueary!

[pennylane100]

76. That is a very well thought out hypothesis

and it would certainly explain his initial reaction. However, I do not think, as a child abuse victim myself, that lets him off the hook. He should have called the police sometime the same night as it happened. If he was a victim himself, he would know the kind of hell that little boy was going through. Your hypothesis,, if true, does not redeem him but it does explain what I think is the unexplainable.

[Drahthaardogs]

24. WHAT? This guy was 28 years old when this happened?

Okay, this is bullshit. A 28 year old man takes care of his own shit. Why didn't HE report this to police or punch the rapists in the face. I had thought the grad student was a 23 or 24 year old young man. This kind of pisses me off. I think Joe Paterno is being made the patsy for this crap.

[pnwmom]

39. Joe Paterno's behavior was worse than McQueary's -- he was no patsy.

McQueary, like everyone else at Penn State, probably idolized Paterno. He went to Paterno one day after the incident, and it was Paterno's choice to push the problem upstairs, and not to follow up and make sure it got reported to the police.

Don't forget that Paterno would have known about the 1998 incident -- the grad student most likely didn't. Paterno had no excuse not to see the beginnings of a pattern.

[hlthe2b]

26. they have made it sound like he was a kid when he witnessed...

My understanding is that he was 28 years old at the time! WTF? A 28 yo male doesn't know what to do when they recognize child rape?

Yes, he definitely WILL have to live with his cowardice.

[pnwmom]

41. He followed PA law. The legislators hadn't thought through that law well enough. n/t

[bullsnarfle]

62. Um... yeah...sure...

That's certainly what I would have done if I saw a child being brutalized. I would have walked away. Then I would have thought "Gee, lemme go ask my pop what the law says I should do when I see a baby getting buggered".

Yep.

That's what I'd do.

THE HELL IT IS.

[frylock]

70. sometimes it's necessary to go beyond the boundaries of the law..

sometimes it's necessary to break the law. hiding behind the skirt of PA's laws is lame ass authoritarian bullshit, at best.

[hlthe2b]

85. I'm not sure he followed Federal law...

though obviously those involved at the University can continue to point fingers at each other as to who was to have reported. I don't have time right now to research the full issue and I am not certain when the law was enacted, but it is my understanding that any university receiving Federal aid must report these kind of offenses within 30 (60?) days of the event. That certainly implies also reporting to local law enforcement. I'm not sure that the fact he was so much more junior to the other coaches is an excuse.... My understanding, at least today, is that it is not. States vary in terms of who must report, but in Colorado, it is a very broad swath of the populace/professions who would be included.

[aikoaiko]

30. I'm OK with this top down approach to PSU dissassociating itself with certain employees.

Its clear that the top officials truly failed with poor judgment.

And as the investigation continues, someone like McQueary will likely will also need to go, too.

[MH1]

32. "As the investigation continues" ??? WTF? WHY NOT NOW???

This is the single most outrageous aspect about this case, to me - that there is even a second of discussion about McQueary still coaching for Penn State. He should have been let go BEFORE Paterno. Like, instant-f***ing-aneously.

:grr:

[aikoaiko]

40. There are, apparently, several people who had direct or indirect knowlede of abuse.

And I'm willing to let the investigation continue for these people further down the chain of command who may have been told by the university to not do anything. If the university told him to not report, then the university has come culpability in McQueary's behavior.

The head coach and president of the university really can't claim they were told to do or not do anything.

I hope McQueary is fired too, but I think a little university due process should be maintained to ensure he wasn't coerced into a cover up.

[mzmolly]

57. Exactly. Imagine a grade school covering up this kind of

"horsing around"? :wtf: :wtf:

[LynneSin]

42. I suspect at the end of the season the whole coaching staff will go

Just because it's the best way to ensure a clean start with reputation rebuilding.

Penn State is a good university being plague by a few who made a very very poor decision.

They'll be back!

[aikoaiko]

46. Agreed. Coaches. athletics, summer camp officials, even janitors....

... will likely need to go. It sends a message to all those in academia that no one should protect a child abuser.

[frylock]

74. this along with the rene portland affair calls for a closer look at the entire AD..

i'm not saying the AD should be purged, but it's probably time to sever many contracts.

[lunatica]

35. Good for the author!

kick'd and rec'd

[russspeakeasy]

49. Wow ! Thanks for the post...

[Number23]

58. Rec'd, rec'd and rec'd

Sandusky was like an insect feeling out his prey, testing the waters, easing into the unthinkable, not all at once, but with malicious calculation. He should be put to death, but that's a whole other article.

I am ashamed at the feelings I have felt for this man since I had the misfortune of coming across this news story. I should probably keep them to myself. Needless to say, I agree with the author's point of view in just about every way.

[TBF]

60. It makes me ill that so many are defending a 28-yr old grad student,

when the victim of this rape was a 10-yr old child. Completely disgusting.

[librechik]

61. That little boy is US and Sandusky and Paterno is the 1% n/t

[caseymoz]

63. Right, about McQueary's culpability, but wrong about leadership.

I think he confuses "leader" with "hero." Why does the writer presume "a leader" will do the right thing, especially in what was a horrid situation that they aren't prepared for? The nature of shock is a profound failure to grasp the situation until it's too late. However, I have to say I would expect a lesser level failure than McQueary's.

What failed here every time was leadership. The coach, the President, they all either passed the buck or buried this. Why? Mostly to protect the program or cover their asses, and because of the fact that they were too focused on other things, like football. Or, and this is likely with shock, they simply disbelieved it. They were terrific leaders at football. The irony is that football is supposed to be a character-builder. It either isn't, or it builds very specialized character.

No, I wouldn't say the cowardice was as bad as the crime itself. Why? Simply because if the coward were there and not the perp, no crime would have occurred. If we could replace every perp with coward, crime would drop to zero.

[tblue37]

65. I can't buy this:

"Or, and this is likely with shock, they simply disbelieved it."

They knew about his proclivities, and that is why he was forced to resign years earlier, following a 3-year investigation of his predation that was then buried.

They knew, because that is why he didn't get to keep his place in the line of successsion to Paterno's position as head coach.

They had no trouble believing, because they already knew about his behavior and had already buried the story once before.

[caseymoz]

67. I wasn't informed about that part of it.

But it still applies to McQueary.

I think Penn State is about to go under with lawsuits the way some Catholic Diocese did.

[REP]

78. Cowards pick victims who can't fight back

You think a ten year old boy can physically fight off an adult man? Really? You think it takes bravery to rape a child? Really?

Yes, it a cowardice to turn and run like a whipped dog after witnessing abuse instead just dialing 911, let alone stopping the assault. Heroics weren't needed; his life wasn't in danger in he intervened. All he needed was a spine.

[caseymoz]

92. Where did I say a 10-year-old boy can fight off an adult man?

And where the fuck did I say it's brave to rape a 10-year-old child? You've misconstrued what I wrote so badly it borders on character defamation. Don't expect an answer.

[REP]

102. You implied it with this statement:

"If we could replace every perp with coward, crime would drop to zero. " This implies there is no cowardice in preying on smaller, weaker victims. Your assertion is wrong.

[caseymoz]

109. A very serious misunderstanding.

Maybe I should restate it just for you: "If we could replace every perp who's not cowardly enough with someone who's too cowardly to be a perp . . ." clear enough now? I'm trying to regain my patience, here.

The article claimed the guy who saw it and did nothing, McQueary, the coward, was "as high in culpability as the perpetration of the crime itself." That's what I was disputing. Yes, the do-nothing witness was bad, but, no, not nearly as bad as the perp. Since the article never referred to the child molester as the coward, and since I also didn't say that, whether you call a child molester a coward is irrelevant.

However, since you've made the point, a cowardly enough pedophile would be too scared to commit any act against a child whatsoever. No matter how he felt. If he's not afraid of the child, he would at least be too terrified of being caught by the adults. He'd never turn into a child molester. In other words, he'd do nothing, just as the witness McQueary.

Abducting kids is wicked but does not seem cowardly to me. Having sex, with anybody, in semi-public location doesn't scream chicken to me, either. It may be called (depending on how you describe your emotions) disgusting, obscene and with children, vile and reprobate. Cowardly is not the first thing that comes to my mind about it. I've got to indulge in the indirect deduction that you do, the kind of thing we grab at when disgust compels us to insult somebody and calling him a child molester is merely a statement of fact. I understand the drive to insult child molesters as much as possible, but when it begins to interfere with the ability to think clearly, draw the line.

This Sandusky was not a coward, even after he was seen, even after he was caught, he did not stop, and he came up with elaborate schemes to commit his evil. Whatever other terrible thing he is, that is not a coward.

[Prism]

68. How does anyone just walk away?

I cannot understand it. I feel like there must be more here underlying this. Maybe it is something as venal as a career-hungry McQueary thinking "Now I have job security." Sometimes great evil is done for such petty reasons.

But to see a ten year-old being assaulted in that way. It's so rare to actually catch a pedophile in the act. I can understand momentary shock. "Am I really seeing what I am seeing." But that should have lasted ten seconds at best until fury and revulsion overtake and drive an individual to act.

There's something reptilian in McQueary's calculations, and I hope we get to the heart of it. I truly want to know how anyone at all can come across that scene and do as little as this creature did.

[ladywnch]

69. I did not realize until this article that McCreary and the '28 year old grad asst' were one

and the same!!!! HOLY %!@#$%^&

Fire his ass too!!!! He has clearly demonstrated the same pathological disregard for humanity and decency as the rest. He is not fit to 'coach' young men.

[Hamlette]

79. I fear if you punish McQueary you discourage people from coming forward

they would fear being second guessed, as we are doing now.

The worst is the father. He called his dad while he was still at the school. Dad should have called the cops and told his son to get the child to a safe place and try to keep Sandusky there until the police arrived. Dad gave him bad advice.

[cadaverdog]

80. Do all of you who are condemning Mike McCreary

for his failure to take on-the-spot action--do you realize you sound just a tick away from those idiots who are threatening McCreary's life right now?

McCreary did not know (to the best of my reading) that Jerry Sandusky was a suspected pedophile, rather he only knew him as a respected former coach who was the founder of a charity devoted to helping young boys. His personal associations with Sandusky gave him no reason to even consider the possibility that Jerry Sandusky was a serial child molester, let alone prepare him for the vile scene that he was about to walk in on. This evil man was protected by the "team" mentality that exists in too many of these athletic communities, where high value jocks are coddled with illegal payoffs and protected from the consequences of their outrageous behavior off the field, all in the pursuit of "championships" and the big money these games can bring to a university.

The Penn State athletic department knew there was something wrong about Jerry Sandusky, but they chose to do nothing about it. Unfortunately, Sandusky was very clever in establishing his charity, as it provided him the perfect cover for his evil activities while providing members of the athletic department an excuse for not investigating this man earlier: "Hey, who would have thought it? He was such a great guy!"

And yes, I do feel for Mike McCreary. The horror of the unexpected crime he witnessed in that shower room will forever be etched in his mind, and who knows what terrible consequences it will cause him. No, he did not act as we all like to feel we would have, but I can understand the flurry of mixed emotions that must have swirled in his head at that moment.

So I'll save my rage for those who were warned way back in the Nineties that there was something very suspicious about Jerry Sandusky and his involvement with so many young men, given the reports of Sandusky's shower room activities, and other tales of "horsing around."

Mike McCreary didn't ask to be a character in this ugly drama, and while he doesn't measure up to the mantle of hero, at least he helped bring this story out of the darkness into the light of truth for all to see. And I wish all the best for Mike, knowing he has still more difficult days ahead. He has seen enough drama for this lifetime.

[tnvoter]

81. Anyone sympathizing with McCreary should ask themselves this:

Would McCreary have acted the same way, had the perpetrator
been a stranger, another student or one of his players?

I think the answer is no.  If the perpetrator was anyone else
-- a janitor, say, or the coach from a rival school -- 
McCreary would have had no problem throwing the guy across the
room and calling the cops. The same can be said about Peterno
and the administrators.  If it had been anyone else, they
would have gone to the police. 

But the perpetrator was one of their own. And, that made all
the difference.

McCreary's inaction was not motivated by a fear of physical
harm to himself (he could have easily taken down Sandusky).
Let's not kid ourselves. McCrearay's inaction was motivated by
none other than cowardice.

The only reason he didn't react the way most people would is
because it was a football program's reputation he wanted to
protect. He did so at the expense of a child.  For that, I
hope he is forever shamed.

[snagglepuss]

84. As Tansy Gold argued in another thread, it is highly improbable that he

was ignorant of the allegations against Sandusky.

[Arugula Latte]

88. WTF??!!

A guy is raping a child in a shower. It doesn't get any more clear cut than that. Anybody with half an ounce of decency would have stopped it and called the police.

Your post makes me sick.

[beac]

95. And do YOU realize that, after witnessing Sandusky RAPING a child,

McQueary socialized with the pedophile and supported his ongoing contact with vulnerable childen FOR YEARS afterward?:

Described in court papers as distraught about witnessing the 2002 attack, separate newspaper accounts from the time indicate McQueary appeared in the months and years that followed in charity events that Sandusky also took part in, or were to benefit Sandusky's group The Second Mile.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRixrq13pK87h_paTdiYhUrWcJHA?docId=ab1bf2846d9c4b529aa6ad1a8d6d7884

McQueary did NOTHING to "bring this story out of the darkness into the light of truth for all to see." He told Joe Paterno and never said a WORD when Paterno and others decided to sweep it under the rug.


But I guess since McQueary only knew Sandusky to be a one-time rapist and not a "serial child molester", that makes it okay?



(edited to fix coding)

[OwnedByFerrets]

82. Sadly, K and R

[DallasNE]

87. Money Corrupts Absolutely

The storyline is different and much more disturbing but the common thread to all of these corruption cases is money and lots of it. Jack Abramoff, Bernie Madoff, Lehman Brothers, Penn State -- big, big money and big, big corruption (and other illegal activities) often with a coverup. It is what triggered Occupy Wallstreet. Sure, they singled out the biggest, most corrupt of these but they are all pieces of the same puzzle. It is like these people and organizations became too big to succeed and imploded from their own corruption. One place to start to clean up the corruption is public financing of federal elections, excluding outside ads as well. Another is to prohibit an elected official and their entire immediate family from ever working as a lobbyist. That wouldn't fix the Penn State problem. Ethics lapses on such a grand scale due to the money involved is a tough nut to crack. And "they all do it" is no excuse either but some steps can be taken that would make a huge dent in the corruption issue. Occupy Wallstreet holding peoples feet to the fire is another example of what can be done to reverse the tragic course our country has embarked on.

[donheld]

90. He should have went and found the nearest baseball bat or Hockey Stick and

beat the holy shit out of Sandusky.

[JackDragna]

91. A fair question, playing Devil's Advocate..

..if you walked in on someone you revered and trusted doing something equally as vile, would your first response, honestly, be to fly into the situation as some white knight? Would you really be willing to get involved, or would the shock of it be too much for you? People do some odd and frankly dumb things when confronted with shocking, disturbing situations. I'd like to think, were I in the same situation, I'd get the kid the hell out of there, but I'm not so sure. I've known both paramedics and police officers on a personal level, and they've both told me stories where people had plenty of chances to be the good Samaritan when someone was badly injured, or when a neighbor was being beaten to death on their front lawns..and good people did nothing.

McQuery should never, ever coach again on any level, but there's a little bit too much macho-chest pounding about him not going over and bludgeoning Sandusky. It's what should have happened, but few people respond well to that kind of shock or trauma.

[beac]

96. Was he still in "shock" when he attended charity events featuring Sandusky

and supporting Sandusky's charity for YEARS after witnessing that rape?

See: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2284271&mesg_id=2291148

[JackDragna]

97. No, and for that, he deserves what's coming.

What I'm referring to is the incident in the shower itself. He was obviously part of a cover-up for years.

[beac]

101. OK. I read your intention incorrectly and

lumped you in with the "McQueary's a whistleblower/hero" crowd. Please accept my sincere apologies. (I think the blanket defense of McQueary being offered by some DUers has shocked and traumatized me a little.)

Any one of us might have responded with the same shocked inaction and I think far fewer people than claim so would've actually engaged physically. And it still would have been a BAD decision.(FWIW, I would hope my "action" would have been to grab the kid and get him out of there and NOT to assault Sandusky.)

The inexplicable decision was to become a part of the cover-up for years following what he saw. I think we agree, there is NO excuse for that.

[JackDragna]

103. No apology needed - we're in agreement.

I think it really says something terrible about the culture of big-time college sports. The man was promoted several times after the incident and never made any attempt, at least that's yet come out, to do something about Sandusky.

[beac]

105. The phrase "How did he sleep at night?" barely begins to cover it. n/t