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Jerry Sandusky accused of child molestation (2 Viewers)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) – A Pennsylvania court is ordering the state government to restore the pension of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted of sexually abusing 10 boys.

A Commonwealth Court panel ruled unanimously Friday that the State Employees’ Retirement Board wrongly concluded Sandusky was a Penn State employee when he committed the crimes that were the basis for the pension forfeiture.

The pension is worth about $4,900 a month to Sandusky and his wife, Dottie.

The judges also ordered the board to pay back interest. They reinstated the pension retroactively to when the board ended it in October 2012 on the day he was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison.

Sandusky collected a $148,000 lump sum payment upon retirement in 1999. He’s now 71.

http://abc27.com/2015/11/13/court-ruling-gives-sandusky-back-his-penn-state-pension/
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Potentially shocking news from Penn State. This is pretty despicable if true:

Link

A new bombshell dropped in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal Thursday.

It came in the form of a single line in a court order on a related insurance coverage case involving Penn State, and its full ramifications can't immediately be gauged.

But that line was eye-popping in itself.

The line in question states that one of Penn State's insurers has claimed "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky."

The order also cites separate references in 1987 and 1988 in which unnamed assistant coaches witnessed inappropriate contact between Sandusky and unidentified children, and a 1988 case that was supposedly referred to Penn State's athletic director at the time.

All, the opinion states, are described in victims' depositions taken as part of the still-pending insurance case, but that, according a PennLive review of the case file, are apparently under seal.

"There is no evidence that reports of these incidents ever went further up the chain of command at PSU," Judge Gary Glazer wrote, in determining that because Penn State's executive officers - its president and trustees - weren't aware of the allegations, he would not bar claims from that time frame from insurance coverage.

 
Sandusky didn't wake up one day and become a child predator. He probably was one his entire adult life. 

But the fact that the innuendo and accusation existed inside this organization from the top down since 1976.. Beyond disgusting. 

 
whoknew said:
Potentially shocking news from Penn State. This is pretty despicable if true:

Link

A new bombshell dropped in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal Thursday.

It came in the form of a single line in a court order on a related insurance coverage case involving Penn State, and its full ramifications can't immediately be gauged.

But that line was eye-popping in itself.

The line in question states that one of Penn State's insurers has claimed "in 1976, a child allegedly reported to PSU's Head Coach Joseph Paterno that he (the child) was sexually molested by Sandusky."

The order also cites separate references in 1987 and 1988 in which unnamed assistant coaches witnessed inappropriate contact between Sandusky and unidentified children, and a 1988 case that was supposedly referred to Penn State's athletic director at the time.

All, the opinion states, are described in victims' depositions taken as part of the still-pending insurance case, but that, according a PennLive review of the case file, are apparently under seal.

"There is no evidence that reports of these incidents ever went further up the chain of command at PSU," Judge Gary Glazer wrote, in determining that because Penn State's executive officers - its president and trustees - weren't aware of the allegations, he would not bar claims from that time frame from insurance coverage.
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Not sure why I am bothering to get in front of the mob, but let me respond.

Agree completely with the bolded phrase. If true, disgusting. But we need to know that. So we need the evidence, or lack thereof, to be unsealed. Remember that this is a case in which the insurance company is desperately trying to avoid paying claims. They have to pay after the 2001 incident because we have evidence that not just Paterno, but the administrators know from the email trail. So they go through all the interviews with victims and find these statements from a couple of people. So they throw them in the lawsuit hoping to avoid payments from claims going all the way back to 1976. As the judge states, there is no evidence that these reports went up the chain, which apparently means that the insurance company needs to pay. It doesn't mean that he ruled on the facts of these claims. He doesn't need to. Were the people under oath? Was there any cross examination? Who knows.

What will be interesting is what comes next. If the insurance company has good evidence that these claims are true, it might be worth them arguing that if Paterno/other coaches knew and didn't go up the chain of command, that is their failure and the insurance company shouldn't be held responsible. If they don't have any good evidence, I'm guessing they don't fight the judge's ruling and we don't hear more about this until any records of the case are unsealed.

 
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Terrible if it's true. But I don't understand why Paterno would do that. Why would he risk his own career, and his legacy, to protect such behavior? 

 
timschochet said:
Why are you quoting a great UCLA coach? 
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That was the mentality of Paterno and the higher ups at Penn State who knew all about Sandusky. Exposing him endangered the cash cow which was their football program.  Winning was everything and the only thing, and more important than the welfare of the countless children he molested and raped over the years.

No disrespect meant to Red Sanders. But the quote originated with him, although it is commonly attributed to Vince Lombardi.

 
timschochet said:
Terrible if it's true. But I don't understand why Paterno would do that. Why would he risk his own career, and his legacy, to protect such behavior? 
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Really? I have no idea about this insurance thing, but if this was back in 1976 people in power likely thought they could cover it up. 1976 wasn't twitter and everyone walking around with a camera that can post things online in seconds. Why did priests and other people in power risk their careers and legacies as well? It's happened in so many places so asking why he would is very naive.

 
stbugs said:
Really? I have no idea about this insurance thing, but if this was back in 1976 people in power likely thought they could cover it up. 1976 wasn't twitter and everyone walking around with a camera that can post things online in seconds. Why did priests and other people in power risk their careers and legacies as well? It's happened in so many places so asking why he would is very naive.
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I suppose so. 

But to be honest I never understood why the priests would cover it up either. I'm certainly no hero and I've never considered myself a moralist, but I know that personally I couldn't live with myself if I knew something like that was going on and never said anything. I'd like to believe that most people are this way. Is that naive? 

 
timschochet said:
I suppose so. 

But to be honest I never understood why the priests would cover it up either. I'm certainly no hero and I've never considered myself a moralist, but I know that personally I couldn't live with myself if I knew something like that was going on and never said anything. I'd like to believe that most people are this way. Is that naive? 
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Have you ever been the head coach at a school that competes for national championships or been in a top position at a church with millions of members, etc.? If not, it may be hard to understand the decision. I agree with you that I would handle it properly if I was in that position, but it still has happened so often that it is naive to think that all these people in power care enough about other people. So, yes, I think it is naive to think that most people in power are that way because I would think that most people in power aren't even in that position. If most people in power and in that position (a pedophile working in a key position for them) had reported them, I think we would have heard of quite a few more controversies. It wouldn't surprise me for all the breaking stories we have heard of that there are a bunch of high profile cases that have been hushed with money. 

 
stbugs said:
Have you ever been the head coach at a school that competes for national championships or been in a top position at a church with millions of members, etc.? If not, it may be hard to understand the decision. I agree with you that I would handle it properly if I was in that position, but it still has happened so often that it is naive to think that all these people in power care enough about other people. So, yes, I think it is naive to think that most people in power are that way because I would think that most people in power aren't even in that position. If most people in power and in that position (a pedophile working in a key position for them) had reported them, I think we would have heard of quite a few more controversies. It wouldn't surprise me for all the breaking stories we have heard of that there are a bunch of high profile cases that have been hushed with money. 
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Stan Lee wrote, "With great power comes great responsibility." 

 
stbugs said:
Have you ever been the head coach at a school that competes for national championships or been in a top position at a church with millions of members, etc.? If not, it may be hard to understand the decision. I agree with you that I would handle it properly if I was in that position, but it still has happened so often that it is naive to think that all these people in power care enough about other people. So, yes, I think it is naive to think that most people in power are that way because I would think that most people in power aren't even in that position. If most people in power and in that position (a pedophile working in a key position for them) had reported them, I think we would have heard of quite a few more controversies. It wouldn't surprise me for all the breaking stories we have heard of that there are a bunch of high profile cases that have been hushed with money. 
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I have personal family experience with a guy that won a couple state basketball titles in tiny Texas towns. It's amazing the hoops that several school administrations went through to discredit children who were abused by a horrible person. And we are talking about something that is degrees of magnitude smaller than Penn State football. I'm certain that it was a widely known thing throughout the program for decades that was swept under the rug in the name of winning.

 
squistion said:
That was the mentality of Paterno and the higher ups at Penn State who knew all about Sandusky. Exposing him endangered the cash cow which was their football program.  Winning was everything and the only thing, and more important than the welfare of the countless children he molested and raped over the years.

No disrespect meant to Red Sanders. But the quote originated with him, although it is commonly attributed to Vince Lombardi.
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Won't believe this unless it's tweeted.

 
squistion said:
That was the mentality of Paterno and the higher ups at Penn State who knew all about Sandusky. Exposing him endangered the cash cow which was their football program.  Winning was everything and the only thing, and more important than the welfare of the countless children he molested and raped over the years.

No disrespect meant to Red Sanders. But the quote originated with him, although it is commonly attributed to Vince Lombardi.
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It's fascinating that you know this.   How?

 
Ugh - I hope that's not true but fear that it is.  Most sports scandals I couldn't care less about but this one has always made me sick.  I'm not a PSU fan but always really liked Paterno and thought he was a great guy.  I feel bad for PSU alumni who feel embarrassed by this - they had nothing to do with it.

 
AAABatteries said:
Ugh - I hope that's not true but fear that it is.  Most sports scandals I couldn't care less about but this one has always made me sick.  I'm not a PSU fan but always really liked Paterno and thought he was a great guy.  I feel bad for PSU alumni who feel embarrassed by this - they had nothing to do with it.
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My thoughts exactly.  A terrible situation.

 
timschochet said:
Terrible if it's true. But I don't understand why Paterno would do that. Why would he risk his own career, and his legacy, to protect such behavior? 
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Paterno was all about himself and his legacy at PSU.  He didn't give a rat's behind about anything else and no way was he going to allow a scandal of molestation taint it.  He figured he was so powerful that he could keep it quiet forever...   and he damned near pulled it off.

Even now the majority of PSU alumni still defend Paterno.  It is amazing to me how they can still revere a person that looked the other way while innocent children were being molested. 

 
timschochet said:
I suppose so. 

But to be honest I never understood why the priests would cover it up either. I'm certainly no hero and I've never considered myself a moralist, but I know that personally I couldn't live with myself if I knew something like that was going on and never said anything. I'd like to believe that most people are this way. Is that naive? 
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Most people aren't as good as they tell themselves they are, and they have a really easy time finding justifications for doing the wrong thing.  

The priest thing is easy to understand.  Some priest gets a sense that Father Whoever is spending way too much time around young boys, and he's hearing occasional stories of bad things going on.  Doing the right thing -- calling the cops and effectively ending the guy's life as he knows it -- is hard when it's somebody who you've known and worked with for decades.  So he comes up up with a rationalization like "Well, all of us struggle with sin, and Father Whoever is trying his best to overcome his faults.  And besides, look at all the other good stuff that Father Whoever is doing!  I'd be doing humanity a disservice if I got this guy deflocked and thrown in jail.  The best thing for me to do is just to keep a close eye on things, make sure that my colleague stays away from the boys, and keep things moving along as normal otherwise."  

Obviously that's a bull####, self-serving justification, but it only takes a tiny bit of imagination to understand how somebody could "reason" this way.

 
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Not being an expert on this, the story does seem to indicate one potentially important difference between the way the Catholic Church and PSU handled their child molestation problems. Whereas the church has consistently aggressively defended these claims, attacked the claimants in the most despicable fashion, raised technicalities (such as statute of limitations), questioned their recall, motives, damages, etc., it seems PSU settled with the claimants quickly, even knowing its insurers were contesting coverage, and is now fighting that battle separately. Obviously there is a massive difference in scope, and I think the Catholics are essentially self-insured, or have a captive insurer, so it's far from apples-apples. 

 
timschochet said:
Terrible if it's true. But I don't understand why Paterno would do that. Why would he risk his own career, and his legacy, to protect such behavior? 
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Paterno cared mores about Penn State's legacy and his role in it than many children.

Glad he is rotting in hell. He is a piece of ####.

 
timschochet said:
I suppose so. 

But to be honest I never understood why the priests would cover it up either. I'm certainly no hero and I've never considered myself a moralist, but I know that personally I couldn't live with myself if I knew something like that was going on and never said anything. I'd like to believe that most people are this way. Is that naive? 
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Can't tell if you are intentionally being obtuse.

Its the same thing. Some priests care more about the institution of religion and will protect that over children.

 
Only in mafia movies do you normally see this kind of active, sustained effort to protect and enable such a sick piece of ####

 
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did i hear Gottlieb right just now or did i imagine that he said "i always thought, since he retired, that Jerry Sandusky was a pathological liar, and a good one, who was a child molester"

classic Doug

 
What qualities did have Sandusky have as a coach that made Paterno cover up such evil? I know that sounds like a frivolous question, but I am trying to understand how important and irreplaceable this guy seemed to Paterno's status.

Another question is, if he was such a great assistant for a top program, how come he never got any offers to be the head coach at another school?

 
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Encyclopedia Brown said:
What qualities did have Sandusky have as a coach that made Paterno cover up such evil? I know that sounds like a frivolous question, but I am trying to understand how important and irreplaceable this guy seemed to Paterno's status.

Another question is, if he was such a great assistant for a top program, how come he never got any offers to be the head coach at another school?
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Paterno kept Sandusky around because he knew that a scandal would ruin his own career.

 
Encyclopedia Brown said:
What qualities did have Sandusky have as a coach that made Paterno cover up such evil? I know that sounds like a frivolous question, but I am trying to understand how important and irreplaceable this guy seemed to Paterno's status.

Another question is, if he was such a great assistant for a top program, how come he never got any offers to be the head coach at another school?
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He might've gotten offers, but there wouldn't have been any reason for Sandusky to accept. It'd be hard for him to find a situation more conducive to his attacks on children.

Respected enough to gain access to many victims, but with people above him to shield him and even help him cover it up. It'd be very difficult for him to re-create that situation starting over somewhere. 

 
Encyclopedia Brown said:
What qualities did have Sandusky have as a coach that made Paterno cover up such evil? I know that sounds like a frivolous question, but I am trying to understand how important and irreplaceable this guy seemed to Paterno's status.

Another question is, if he was such a great assistant for a top program, how come he never got any offers to be the head coach at another school?
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Regarding your first question, he was a very good defensive coach, but obviously nothing makes it right to cover this up. What's "strange" is the dates of these new accusations. Sandusky was just a young LB coach in 1971 and even in 1976, it's not like Paterno had a 'legacy' at that point to protect. He had a couple of undefeated seasons but was only 10 years in and no National Championships yet. So the legacy 'excuse' for any coverup doesn't make sense anymore, at least for me.

Regarding your second question, he did interview and get offers at several schools, UVA was the biggest name. But he turned them down. And Paterno wanted him to go at that point. There was lots of friction between them by the early 90s. So it wasn't that Paterno was blocking him and trying to keep him close to control the coverup.

 
I'm not buying it. How would covering up child molestation help Paterno's legacy? Touching kids didn't just start becoming a bad thing recently. Calling the authorities and firing Sandusky would have made Paterno an instant legend. Even back in the 70's before he became an institution.   

I've always said that he should have done more than just report him to the AD after the shower incident, but I'll never believe he covered this up for years. 

 
Yeah, people make fun of Penn State fans, but it really is hard to believe and find a motive, especially so early in his career. Doesn't fit a good narrative.

But people can be different than we think. He certainly could have just been an evil person. Hell, Sandusky proves that you can't just trust what you see of a person and their press clippings.

Having said that, my issue with the coverup angle, at least before the 2001 incident, is that their actions make absolutely no sense at that time if they were covering this up already. Paterno calls the AD and a VP. They bring the GA in to meet them. They call the President of the University. He gets their law firm involved. Then they decide not to go to the police or child services, but tell the President of Second Mile. I mean, if that's a coverup the incompetence, of these very educated men, is just too hard to believe. Occam's Razor and all that.

I've generally liked Dan Wetzel's views on this as he is always reasonable. His latest column pretty much sums it up. Whether it was an active coverup, which doesn't seem to be logical based on their actions, or a passive 'coverup' where they just don't care enough to get more information or to dig deeper, the fact is that they all failed. Badly. And they should all be punished. Severely.

 
JuniorNB said:
I've always said that he should have done more than just report him to the AD after the shower incident, but I'll never believe he covered this up for years. 
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Some people think that not doing more was a mild version of covering it up.  Additionally, if some of these latest allegations are true, then it's mounting evidence that he knew for a long time and was informed on several occasions.  That takes "didn't do enough" firmly in to the "cover up" category.

 
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