[Cy2009]

I went to Penn State and saw Joe many times on campus. He was always cordial and always spoke even before we had a chance to say hello to him. So let me set up another scenario that you may not have envisioned.

Let's assume that McQueery came to him, as he did, with this sketchy story about Sandusky and Joe immediately goes to his superiors, as he was supposed to do. He immediately releases Sandusky from his perks on campus. Then he goes to the police. Then he goes to newspapers, all in an effort to save any possible attack on children. I would imagine that many of you would think this is a good thing to protect the children.

Now two weeks later everyone finds out that the story is made up, similarly to the assistant coach at Syracuse. The Syracuse assistant coach was accused by a former student, then the student recanted and said that he made the story up because the assistant coach wouldn't help him get a loan. But meanwhile, since Paterno shouted to the top of his lungs that Sandusky did this, do you think that Sandusky would ever get his life back if the allegations were false.

Many times in the threads people pointed out, "What if this was your child?" Well, what if this man was your brother, your father, and if the allegations were false? Would you want his life to be totally ruined by a possible false allegation? In any situation like this, you do want to protect the children. But there are always two sides to the story. Now to protect both sides, wouldn't it be prudent to go to your superiors and have them do an investigation and find out exactly what happened? Well, that's what Joe did.

If you come back at me and say that we need to jump to the aid of the (adult) child now, that this wouldn't really harm the alleged attacker, then all you need to remember is the Atlanta Olympics. Remember the guy that they accused of setting off that bomb. His life was totally ruined after the false allegations hit the airwaves and he died an early life because of the toll of the stress upon him.

Now, of course, it would have been nice to stop these attacks. It would be wonderful, in hindsight, to do the right thing. But one must take prudent action to insure the integrity of both parties. That is the right thing to do.

Cy