JoePa and the CNN AC360 emails

I've been thinking about writing a followup to the article I wrote last fall when the Grand Jury indicted Jerry Sandusky. A week after I wrote that I predicted riots and a few days later it happened as the fans showed their support for their fallen coach.

I understand supporting a leader of a place you love and since then I've thought many times of doing a followup. I've read all the articles but at some point I just couldn't do it anymore. It was obvious that Sandusky was guilty after the 1st testimony. Dan Wetzel at Yahoo did a great job covering the trial and I'd expect he is still taking a shower to wash off the stench. This was my feeling at the time:

I'm sure I can read his reports anymore as the whole thing makes me so mad and I know the rest of the trial is going to be more of the same. No Buckeye fan wants to give Wetzel props because his article last March that pushed Ohio State into a fiasco of a press conference. Despite that I have to admit he is doing a nice job on the Sandusky trial.
Mike McQueary Testimony
Victim 1 Testimony
Day 1 Recap with Victim 4 Testimony
Opening Statements

The big question in the aftermath was what would happen to Spanier, Curley and Schultz. With JoePa dead there was little that could change the perception as 'dead men tell no tales'.

I made a joke a few weeks back that JoePa's saving grace might be that it was well known at Penn State that he never used a computer or email. Little did I know how wrong that would be. A few days before the trial someone leaked a statement that the prosecution had been given a document that was a clear paper trail that Spanier, Curley, and Schultz knew more than they were saying publicly.

As it turns out, as the DA was finishing up their case against Sandusky, the Penn State Board of Trustees hired former FBI director, Tom Freeh, to lead an independent inquiry to clean up their own mess. That's what was leaked to the press before the trial. Tonight CNN''s Anderson Cooper had a show where they released the 4 incriminating emails.which tell a much different story than we were lead to believe.

CNN doesn't have a summary up of their show but NBC in Philly has a good recap.

Essentially the 4 emails went like this.

• Email 1 - Recapped a meeting from Schultz to Curley had where they confirmed the plan was to contact the 2nd mile organization along with children's services about sandusky. 
• Email 2 - From Curley to President Spanier that said - I am having trouble with going to everyone, but the person involved. I would be more comfortable meeting with the person…tell him about the information we received 
• Email 3 - From Spanier to Schultz - I am supportive. The only downside for us is if the message isn’t “heard” and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it. But that can be assessed down the road. 
• Email 4 - From Schultz to Spanier and Curley stating that he would contact 2nd mile regardless of the conversation with Sandusky. 

Nothing was ever sent to any outside organization.

The 2nd email is the one that is getting all the attention for this quote:



This states in writing that after talking with Joe Paterno, Curley decide not to press the case forward. This is the same Joe Paterno that stated without question that he didn't know anything about the details of this case. Assuming these emails are confirmed by Curley/Schultz, this email proves that JoePa lied. Not only was he involved but he could be viewed as the ringleader of the cover up.

The more troubling part is the quote that isn't included in the picture.

I would be more comfortable meeting with the person…tell him about the information we received…tell him we are aware of the first situation.

The first situation is the 1998 allegations that were dismissed. On a positive note for them, the way this is worded leads me to believe that that Curley and Schultz were unaware of the 1998 investigation before 2001. When exactly did they find out? It's hard to know that until they are questioned and it is proabable we will never know. I do know it would have been easy for Schultz once he was told of the allegations by McQueary since the 1998 investigation was in his department. Another possible source is they found out when Curley/Schultz met with JoePa. When the 3 of them sat down, they realized the PR backlash if this went public so they backed off.

That leads to the last part of President Spanier's quote in the 3rd email.

The only downside for us is if the message isn’t “heard” and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it.

At this point they all knew about the 1998 incident. They all knew what McQuerary was alleging in 2001. They decided to do nothing. Spanier. Curley. Schultz. Paterno. They are all guilty and they make the statement that the ONLY downside is if Sandusky doesn't stop molesting kids then they are vulnerable for covering it up.

I got into an argument with a guy on the ESPN forums that claimed this proved nothing. My response was a bit sophomoric but I think it is understandable given this shocking nature of these revelations:

Seriously? You can't be serious.

 I can't believe people are still defending JoePa. He was told that something of a sexual nature occurred. It's in his Grand Jury testamony. He said he did nothing as it was for the higher ups to decide what to do. Now we hear that after talking to "Joe", the higher ups changed their mind about going to Childrens services and doing any type of investigation?

I'm not saying JoePa is evil. More likely he was naive. It doesn't matter as he's at the heart of this mess now and his imagine is forever tarnished. It should. All signs point to him enabling his long time assistant to get away from prosecution from crimes in 2001 and if this would have happened many other kids would have escaped Jerry's clutches.

That's the bottom like. If you read the statement Curley and Schultz recently released:

...if we were going to do this case, we had to have the best possible case to go against somebody like Mr. Sandusky who was…loved by everybody…carried out of the football stadium on the shoulders of his football team…For Curley, Schultz, Spanier and Paterno, the responsible and ‘humane’ thing to do was, like Governor Corbett, to carefully and responsibly assess the best way to handle vague, but troubling allegations. Faced with tough situations, good people try to do their best to make the right decisions.

There are times in life where good men need to stand up or the innocent get hurt. Not one of these men followed up after the events. They didn't want to know the truth. Sandusky molested at least 4 others after 2001. It wouldn't have been that hard for them to see that he hadn't changed his ways. He was doing it on their campus and at their bowl games. They make it sound like they were afraid to proceed because Jerry Sandusky was the most powerful man in Pennsylvania. That was patently false. The most powerful man in Pennsylvania was involved in the case and these emails prove to me that Joe Paterno decided to protect his friend and his university at the expense young children. Frankly at this point its a good thing he's dead because I couldn't handle another set of excuses from a hero of mine that I no longer recognize.