Penn State...what did Paterno know?

[Carolina Husker]

The more I read about this Gricar situation, the more plausible to me it becomes that he probably got paid off by PSU to drop the original case, got wind that they were reopening the case years later and that it could be discovered that he was paid to make it go away, so he faked his own death and is living on a tropical island somewhere.

And really, can that even be considered far-fetched at this point from what we know about PSU?

[Kitten Diver]

if he had that then yeah thats on him.

He did. First hand knowledge from a witness. not hear say.

[Happy Panther]

Obviously there is a difference between moral crimes and physical crimes.

No, life in prison would not be appropriate, but some form of punishment would be, including jail time. His non-action (and others involved) allowed the abuse to continue, they share responsibility in the situation after they became aware of it.

Agree he is responsible to some degree. I think everyone agrees on that.

[Happy Panther]

Ok yeah that's completely on him. NO excuse.

You should read the indictment to get a clearer picture of what we do and don't know happened.

[Kitten Diver]

The more I read about this Gricar situation, the more plausible to me it becomes that he probably got paid off by PSU to drop the original case, got wind that they were reopening the case years later and that it could be discovered that he was paid to make it go away, so he faked his own death and is living on a tropical island somewhere.

And really, can that even be considered far-fetched at this point from what we know about PSU?

If you told me a year ago that Paterno had a known kid rapist running a youth camp in his athletic facilities I would not have believed you. So yeah anything's possible at this point.

[Cat]

You should read the indictment to get a clearer picture of what we do and don't know happened.

From what I'm hearing on the radio right now, I'm not sure I could handle it.

[Cat]

If you told me a year ago that Paterno had a known kid rapist running a youth camp in his athletic facilities I would not have believed you. So yeah anything's possible at this point.

Rightfully so, you had no evidence. But one lesson I learned in my 20's is to not put anything past anyone.

[Kitten Diver]

Solid Post from a CFB board about the situation going forward legally:

If I were PSU's attorney here . . . I would not be nearly so comfortable. And again, my advice would transcend matters of law and liability. This is crisis management. Liability is a foregone conclusion at this point. Now, the question is how you salvage the institution by doing the right thing? With regard to the victims, the right course of action for PSU is to (1) establish an independent body to which victims can speak/report confidentially, (2) fund that body sufficiently to provide paid counseling for all victims, and (3) evaluate the veracity of each victim's claim (you don't want folks just saing they were molested to try to get a payday), and if it deems the claim "more likely than not" to be true, (4) administer a settlement fund to pay a sizeable amount to each victim. I would suspect that $1 million per victim would be a sound starting point. $5 million per victim is not out of the question. But the point is that PSU should not even bother to contest any claim that appears to be valid.

And this is without regard to the Pennsylvania Sovereign Immunity Act, which would apparently shield PSU from negligence claims in this case. Yes, that's right -- a COMPLETE shield to negligence liability. Now, you can still go after officials for their INTENTIONAL acts (so, you could go after Sandusky if he was a still a PSU employee), but NOT for negligence. So, PSU COULD answer all negligence suits against it with a plea to the jurisdiction, and the suit would have to be dismissed as a matter of law.

But PSU shouldn't do that. It could win that battle. But it would completely lose the war for its soul, integrity, and future as an institution of higher learning. If I were their attorney, the advice I would give them would have to go way beyond the legal ins and outs, and would have to include greater questions of strategy and a vision for the future.

[Happy Panther]

From what I'm hearing on the radio right now, I'm not sure I could handle it.

The details of what Sandusky did are pretty disturbing.

Paterno's involvement is pretty grey though.

[Panthro]

The details of what Sandusky did are pretty disturbing.

Paterno's involvement is pretty grey though.

So Paterno did not know?

[JakeFlake]

"Old women who love young boys are cougars.....old men who love young boys are nittany lions."

someone e-mailed that to me.

[JakeFlake]

"With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more."

Ya think?

[TheJason]

Just got back from dropping my kid off at school (he's in K), just a reminder on the age of the kids.

Fourth graders. The age of kids running around with my son at the playground.

It heated me up again. I am still in shock McQueary did nothing when he saw it. How your instincts to stop it don't start.

I don't see one jury convicting you of whipping Sandusky in that moment.

[Cat]

So why didn't this eye witness not call the cops at that very moment?

If I catch some adult raping a child, I'd flip out and likely grab the nearest weapon and beat the poo out of them until they get off the child and wait for the cops to show.