Showing posts with label Penn State. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Penn State. Show all posts
Monday, September 17, 2012
Rush to Judgment in Sandusky Trial?
It's hard to come to the defense of a man charged with serial pedophilia, especially when there are so many witnesses against him, like there are against Jerry Sandusky of Penn State infamy. Fortunately, I won't be coming to his defense.
But his lawyers in the case felt the trial timeline (seven months from arrest to verdict) gave them inadequte time to fairly defend their client. According to Joe Amendola:
"We told the trial court, the Superior Court and the Supreme Court we were not prepared to proceed to trial in June due to numerous issues, and we asked to withdraw from the case for those reasons."
Source:
http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8088760/penn-state-nittany-lions-jerry-sandusky-lawyers-wanted-resign-judge-said-no
Regardless of what one thinks of Sandusky, one should expect he receive a fair legal defense.
And besides, what's the harm in giving the defense more time, especially since the case seems pretty airtight? In fact, given that serial pedophiles like Sandusky usually have even larger stat counts than they're charged, postponing the trial would have allowed the prosecution to uncover even more victims.
And there's the rub: postponing the Sandusky trial would have allowed more time for new evidence to pop up, evidence the prosecutors decided not to investigate.
Item one prosecutors chose not to investigate:
"I can give you a rumor and I can give you something I think might happen," Madden said on the radio. "I hear there's a rumor that there will be a more shocking development from the Second Mile Foundation -- and hold on to your stomachs, boys, this is gross, I will use the only language I can -- that Jerry Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors. That was being investigated by two prominent columnists even as I speak."
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/penn-state-scandal-rumors-sandusky-pimping_n_1086099.html
In other words, Sandusky faced a speedy trial in order for richer, more powerful individuals to evade punishment. Individuals so rich and powerful that Joe Paterno became an acceptable scapegoat to demonize as an alternative.
It's a shame (but understandable) that prosecutors lack the tenacity of a previous investigator:
The district attorney who tried and failed to prosecute Jerry Sandusky in 1998 after reports of sexual abuse emerged, has been missing since 2005 and was declared legally dead in July.
Ray Gricar disappeared on April 15 six years ago after telling his girlfriend he was going for a drive.
His body was never found, only his abandoned car and his laptop which had been tossed in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania without its hard drive.
Source:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060027/Ray-Gricar-disappeared-2005-tried-bring-sex-abuse-case-Penn-States-Jerry-Sandusky.html
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Sandusky Rumored to Have 'Pimped' Boys to Donors
"I can give you a rumor and I can give you something I think might happen," Madden said on the radio. "I hear there's a rumor that there will be a more shocking development from the Second Mile Foundation -- and hold on to your stomachs, boys, this is gross, I will use the only language I can -- that Jerry Sandusky and Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors. That was being investigated by two prominent columnists even as I speak."
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/penn-state-scandal-rumors-sandusky-pimping_n_1086099.html
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/penn-state-scandal-rumors-sandusky-pimping_n_1086099.html
Penn State Pedophile Scandal Dead Body
From DailyMail.co.uk:
The district attorney who tried and failed to prosecute Jerry Sandusky in 1998 after reports of sexual abuse emerged, has been missing since 2005 and was declared legally dead in July.
Ray Gricar disappeared on April 15 six years ago after telling his girlfriend he was going for a drive.
His body was never found, only his abandoned car and his laptop which had been tossed in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania without its hard drive.
In 1998, Gricar had attempted to bring a case against Penn State former football defence coordinator Jerry Sandusky on child rape charges...
When it came to the Sandusky allegations 13 years ago, friends and former co-workers said Gricar would never have backed down if he had a strong case.
The lawyer's nephew Tony Gricar told The Patriot-News: 'People ask why Ray did not prosecute, and I have no problem saying, because he clearly felt he didn't have a case for a ''successful'' prosecution.
'One thing I can say is that Ray was beholden to no one, was not a politician.'
The DA had a 'bitter taste in his mouth' for the Penn State program and Coach Sandusky, added his nephew.
Montour County District Attorney Robert Buehner Jr, a friend of the missing man, told the New York Times that if Gricar had committed suicide, he would have wanted his body found.
No suspects have ever emerged after investigations into Gricar's death.
A report written in 1998 on the charges levelled against Sandusky decided the claims were 'unfounded' - even after the DA had the mother of an alleged victim confront the football coordinator while police listened in.
Revealed: Prosecutor who failed to nail Penn State coach for 'sex abuse' vanished in 2005 and was declared 'legally dead' this year
Laurie Whitwell and Louise Boyle
11th November 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060027/Ray-Gricar-disappeared-2005-tried-bring-sex-abuse-case-Penn-States-Jerry-Sandusky.html
The district attorney who tried and failed to prosecute Jerry Sandusky in 1998 after reports of sexual abuse emerged, has been missing since 2005 and was declared legally dead in July.
Ray Gricar disappeared on April 15 six years ago after telling his girlfriend he was going for a drive.
His body was never found, only his abandoned car and his laptop which had been tossed in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania without its hard drive.
In 1998, Gricar had attempted to bring a case against Penn State former football defence coordinator Jerry Sandusky on child rape charges...
When it came to the Sandusky allegations 13 years ago, friends and former co-workers said Gricar would never have backed down if he had a strong case.
The lawyer's nephew Tony Gricar told The Patriot-News: 'People ask why Ray did not prosecute, and I have no problem saying, because he clearly felt he didn't have a case for a ''successful'' prosecution.
'One thing I can say is that Ray was beholden to no one, was not a politician.'
The DA had a 'bitter taste in his mouth' for the Penn State program and Coach Sandusky, added his nephew.
Montour County District Attorney Robert Buehner Jr, a friend of the missing man, told the New York Times that if Gricar had committed suicide, he would have wanted his body found.
No suspects have ever emerged after investigations into Gricar's death.
A report written in 1998 on the charges levelled against Sandusky decided the claims were 'unfounded' - even after the DA had the mother of an alleged victim confront the football coordinator while police listened in.
Revealed: Prosecutor who failed to nail Penn State coach for 'sex abuse' vanished in 2005 and was declared 'legally dead' this year
Laurie Whitwell and Louise Boyle
11th November 2011
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2060027/Ray-Gricar-disappeared-2005-tried-bring-sex-abuse-case-Penn-States-Jerry-Sandusky.html
Friday, November 18, 2011
Joe Paterno and the Sick Logic of College Football
Dave Zirin
After 46 seasons coaching at Penn State University, Coach Joe Paterno now faces a crisis that could burn the storied football program to the ground. And if recent charges are true, his legacy deserves to burn to along with it. For those who haven’t heard, longtime assistant Jerry Sandusky, 67, who coached the vaunted Nittany Lions defense for 23 years, has been charged with 40 sex crimes against boys dating from 1994 to 2005. All of the minors were under the care of Sandusky’s charity for impoverished youth, “The Second Mile Foundation”, which Sandusky founded in 1977. As the grand jury presentment stated: "Through The Second Mile, Sandusky had access to hundreds of boys, many of whom were vulnerable due to their social situations." Sandusky is denying all charges through his attorney, but the grand jury report is a damning and detailed account of a man exercising his power and authority rape young boys.
On one level, it’s a horror story we’ve heard before: vulnerable children become targets for the very people trusted with their care. But this case is far, far worse, because it could have been stopped in time to spare many other victims. It could have been stopped, but it wasn’t, because the image of Joe Paterno Nittany Lion Football was deemed more important than the children at risk.
The grand jury summation describes one scene where Sandusky was caught raping 10 year old “Victim Number 2” in the Penn State football team shower. The graduate student who witnessed it was “distraught” and “traumatized”. Did he go to the police? No, he went directly to Joe Paterno’s home. Paterno immediately turned the matter over to Athletic Director Tim Curley, and for reasons I don’t understand, Gary Schultz, the senior vice president of finance and business. Curley and Schultz conferred and acted. According to the grand jury report, they sat Sandusky down and said that he could no longer use Penn State football facilities while accompanied by Second Mile children. That’s it. Pennsylvania state law requires Curley, Schultz and Paterno to report the charges to the police. They didn’t. [Curley and Schultz are being charged with perjury and obstruction. Paterno is not.]
Curley even admitted to the grand jury that he "advised Sandusky that he was prohibited from bringing youth onto the Penn State campus from that point forward." Yet as Deadspin.com reported, even this “punishment” was fictional. As late as 2009, Sandusky was on campus running a sleep-away camp for boys as young as nine years old. One alleged victim told the grand jury that Sandusky had tried to impress him by bringing him to a Penn State's preseason practices in 2007—a full five years after Paterno was made aware of the shower rape. This is why it’s hard to take seriously Paterno’s statement on Sunday, where he said, “If this is true we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers.”
We are past prayer and into the realm of criminal negligence – [and the major players are circling the wagons. Sunday night, after an emergency meeting of the Penn State Board of Trustees, Curley requested to be placed on administrative leave so he could defend himself full time. Schultz also announced he would be retiring, effective immediately.] I agree with the Washington Post’s Mike Wise, who wrote, “They would all be party to a worse crime than any crooked, pay-for-play booster at Miami, Ohio State or even SMU ever committed: guilty of protecting a program before a child.” But at the same time I would argue that the connective tissue between benign booster scandals and this monstrous state of affairs are more substantial than people want to say. It’s connected to the Bowl Championship Series, “conference realignment” and all the ways in which college football has morphed over the last generation into a multi-billion dollar big business. This isn’t about Sandusky. This is about about a culture that says the football team must be defended at all costs: a culture where the sexual assault of a 10 year old is reported to Paterno before the police.
This is what happens when a football program becomes the economic and spiritual heartbeat of an entire section of a state. The Nittany Lions football regularly draws 100,000 fans to Happy Valley. They also produce $50 million in pure profit for the University every year and has been listed as the most valuable team in the Big 10 conference. Another economic report held that every Penn State game pumps $59 million into the local economy: from hotels to kids selling homemade cookies by the side of the road. It's no wonder that Paterno is revered. He took a football team and turned it into an economic life raft for a university and a region. When something becomes that valuable, a certain mindset kicks in. Protect the team above all over concerns. Protect Joe Pa. Protect Nittany Lions football. Protect the brand.
Penn State has never been an “outlaw program”. It's what every school aspires to become. Think about that. Every school aspires to be the kind of place where football is so valuable that children can become collateral damage. If the allegations are true, if the school in fact knew this was going on, then the program should be shut down. If the allegations are true, Joe Paterno should be instructed to take his 46 years and 409 wins, and leave in disgrace. It’s tragic that it’s come to this for a legend like Joe Paterno. But it’s even more tragic that protecting his legend mattered more than stopping a child rapist in their midst. Damn Sandusky. Damn Paterno. Damn Penn State. But above all, damn the fact that the billion-dollar logic of big-time college football leads to decisions as monstrous as those made in Happy Valley.
Dave Zirin is the author of “The John Carlos Story” (Haymarket) and just made the new documentary “Not Just a Game.” Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.
After 46 seasons coaching at Penn State University, Coach Joe Paterno now faces a crisis that could burn the storied football program to the ground. And if recent charges are true, his legacy deserves to burn to along with it. For those who haven’t heard, longtime assistant Jerry Sandusky, 67, who coached the vaunted Nittany Lions defense for 23 years, has been charged with 40 sex crimes against boys dating from 1994 to 2005. All of the minors were under the care of Sandusky’s charity for impoverished youth, “The Second Mile Foundation”, which Sandusky founded in 1977. As the grand jury presentment stated: "Through The Second Mile, Sandusky had access to hundreds of boys, many of whom were vulnerable due to their social situations." Sandusky is denying all charges through his attorney, but the grand jury report is a damning and detailed account of a man exercising his power and authority rape young boys.
On one level, it’s a horror story we’ve heard before: vulnerable children become targets for the very people trusted with their care. But this case is far, far worse, because it could have been stopped in time to spare many other victims. It could have been stopped, but it wasn’t, because the image of Joe Paterno Nittany Lion Football was deemed more important than the children at risk.
The grand jury summation describes one scene where Sandusky was caught raping 10 year old “Victim Number 2” in the Penn State football team shower. The graduate student who witnessed it was “distraught” and “traumatized”. Did he go to the police? No, he went directly to Joe Paterno’s home. Paterno immediately turned the matter over to Athletic Director Tim Curley, and for reasons I don’t understand, Gary Schultz, the senior vice president of finance and business. Curley and Schultz conferred and acted. According to the grand jury report, they sat Sandusky down and said that he could no longer use Penn State football facilities while accompanied by Second Mile children. That’s it. Pennsylvania state law requires Curley, Schultz and Paterno to report the charges to the police. They didn’t. [Curley and Schultz are being charged with perjury and obstruction. Paterno is not.]
Curley even admitted to the grand jury that he "advised Sandusky that he was prohibited from bringing youth onto the Penn State campus from that point forward." Yet as Deadspin.com reported, even this “punishment” was fictional. As late as 2009, Sandusky was on campus running a sleep-away camp for boys as young as nine years old. One alleged victim told the grand jury that Sandusky had tried to impress him by bringing him to a Penn State's preseason practices in 2007—a full five years after Paterno was made aware of the shower rape. This is why it’s hard to take seriously Paterno’s statement on Sunday, where he said, “If this is true we were all fooled, along with scores of professionals trained in such things, and we grieve for the victims and their families. They are in our prayers.”
We are past prayer and into the realm of criminal negligence – [and the major players are circling the wagons. Sunday night, after an emergency meeting of the Penn State Board of Trustees, Curley requested to be placed on administrative leave so he could defend himself full time. Schultz also announced he would be retiring, effective immediately.] I agree with the Washington Post’s Mike Wise, who wrote, “They would all be party to a worse crime than any crooked, pay-for-play booster at Miami, Ohio State or even SMU ever committed: guilty of protecting a program before a child.” But at the same time I would argue that the connective tissue between benign booster scandals and this monstrous state of affairs are more substantial than people want to say. It’s connected to the Bowl Championship Series, “conference realignment” and all the ways in which college football has morphed over the last generation into a multi-billion dollar big business. This isn’t about Sandusky. This is about about a culture that says the football team must be defended at all costs: a culture where the sexual assault of a 10 year old is reported to Paterno before the police.
This is what happens when a football program becomes the economic and spiritual heartbeat of an entire section of a state. The Nittany Lions football regularly draws 100,000 fans to Happy Valley. They also produce $50 million in pure profit for the University every year and has been listed as the most valuable team in the Big 10 conference. Another economic report held that every Penn State game pumps $59 million into the local economy: from hotels to kids selling homemade cookies by the side of the road. It's no wonder that Paterno is revered. He took a football team and turned it into an economic life raft for a university and a region. When something becomes that valuable, a certain mindset kicks in. Protect the team above all over concerns. Protect Joe Pa. Protect Nittany Lions football. Protect the brand.
Penn State has never been an “outlaw program”. It's what every school aspires to become. Think about that. Every school aspires to be the kind of place where football is so valuable that children can become collateral damage. If the allegations are true, if the school in fact knew this was going on, then the program should be shut down. If the allegations are true, Joe Paterno should be instructed to take his 46 years and 409 wins, and leave in disgrace. It’s tragic that it’s come to this for a legend like Joe Paterno. But it’s even more tragic that protecting his legend mattered more than stopping a child rapist in their midst. Damn Sandusky. Damn Paterno. Damn Penn State. But above all, damn the fact that the billion-dollar logic of big-time college football leads to decisions as monstrous as those made in Happy Valley.
Dave Zirin is the author of “The John Carlos Story” (Haymarket) and just made the new documentary “Not Just a Game.” Receive his column every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
W.Va. University tops party school list
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070820/ap_on_re_us/party_schools
W.Va. University tops party school list
By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press Writer
8-20-7
To the disappointment of school administrators — and the pride of some students — West Virginia University is No. 1 on The Princeton's Review's annual list of the top 20 party schools.
The school has made the list seven times in the past 15 years, despite efforts to curb underage drinking and rowdy behavior.
But not since 1997 have the Mountaineers taken the top spot. Last year, WVU was No. 3, bested by the University of Texas at Austin and Penn State, both of which remain in the top 10 this year.
Senior Katie O'Hara, 22, said WVU is No. 1 because "no matter what kind of party you want it's here — bars, fraternities, house parties. ... If you want to take shots all night, there's a bar; no matter what you want to do, it's there."
Still, O'Hara said her friends "know how to manage their time. They know when to party and when not to," which wouldn't explain the school's No. 1 ranking in the category of Their Students (Almost) Never Study.
The rankings are contained in the 2008 edition of "The Best 366 Colleges," which is going on sale Tuesday and is based on a survey of 120,000 college students at those schools, mostly during the 2006-07 school year.
No. 2 on the party list was the University of Mississippi, followed by the UT-Austin, the University of Florida and the University of Georgia.
West Virginia's No. 1 ranking is just speculation, said West Virginia sophomore Stuart Sauer.
"I think there's no way to measure that," said Sauer, 20, of Richmond, Va. "Every school's a party school."
Incoming WVU President Mike Garrison focused on the positive rather than the rankings, saying the students he met over the weekend and on the first day of classes Monday are more concerned with their futures "and with the great year we have ahead" than with partying.
"I'm focused on the way this university changes people's lives, the research that we do and the service we provide to the state of West Virginia," said Garrison, who officially replaces David C. Hardesty Jr. on Sept. 1. "This is a special place, and the whole state is proud of it."
The Princeton Review says the guide to the best schools is intended to help applicants who can't visit every school in person.
Guide author Robert Franek said each of the 366 schools "is a 'best' when it comes to academics.
"But as anyone visiting colleges can attest, their campus cultures and offerings differ greatly," he said. "It's all about the fit."
At the other end of the partying spectrum is Brigham Young University, claiming the top spot in the "Stone Cold Sober" category for the 10th straight year.
The book has 62 categories in all, including: Best Campus Food, Virginia Tech; Most Beautiful Campus, Sweet Briar (Va.); Dorms Like Palaces, Smith College (Mass.); and Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians, Hampshire College (Mass).
This year, WVU finishes among the Top 10 in several other categories: No. 4 in Students Pack the Stadiums; No. 5 for Best College Library; No. 6 for Lots of Beer; No. 7 for Lots of Hard Liquor; and No. 8 for Best College Newspaper.
The Princeton Review, which is not affiliated with Princeton University, is a New York company known for test preparation courses, educational services and books. It published its first survey findings in August 1992.
___
On the Net:
The Princeton Review: http://www.princetonreview.com/
West Virginia University: http://www.wvu.edu/
W.Va. University tops party school list
By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press Writer
8-20-7
To the disappointment of school administrators — and the pride of some students — West Virginia University is No. 1 on The Princeton's Review's annual list of the top 20 party schools.
The school has made the list seven times in the past 15 years, despite efforts to curb underage drinking and rowdy behavior.
But not since 1997 have the Mountaineers taken the top spot. Last year, WVU was No. 3, bested by the University of Texas at Austin and Penn State, both of which remain in the top 10 this year.
Senior Katie O'Hara, 22, said WVU is No. 1 because "no matter what kind of party you want it's here — bars, fraternities, house parties. ... If you want to take shots all night, there's a bar; no matter what you want to do, it's there."
Still, O'Hara said her friends "know how to manage their time. They know when to party and when not to," which wouldn't explain the school's No. 1 ranking in the category of Their Students (Almost) Never Study.
The rankings are contained in the 2008 edition of "The Best 366 Colleges," which is going on sale Tuesday and is based on a survey of 120,000 college students at those schools, mostly during the 2006-07 school year.
No. 2 on the party list was the University of Mississippi, followed by the UT-Austin, the University of Florida and the University of Georgia.
West Virginia's No. 1 ranking is just speculation, said West Virginia sophomore Stuart Sauer.
"I think there's no way to measure that," said Sauer, 20, of Richmond, Va. "Every school's a party school."
Incoming WVU President Mike Garrison focused on the positive rather than the rankings, saying the students he met over the weekend and on the first day of classes Monday are more concerned with their futures "and with the great year we have ahead" than with partying.
"I'm focused on the way this university changes people's lives, the research that we do and the service we provide to the state of West Virginia," said Garrison, who officially replaces David C. Hardesty Jr. on Sept. 1. "This is a special place, and the whole state is proud of it."
The Princeton Review says the guide to the best schools is intended to help applicants who can't visit every school in person.
Guide author Robert Franek said each of the 366 schools "is a 'best' when it comes to academics.
"But as anyone visiting colleges can attest, their campus cultures and offerings differ greatly," he said. "It's all about the fit."
At the other end of the partying spectrum is Brigham Young University, claiming the top spot in the "Stone Cold Sober" category for the 10th straight year.
The book has 62 categories in all, including: Best Campus Food, Virginia Tech; Most Beautiful Campus, Sweet Briar (Va.); Dorms Like Palaces, Smith College (Mass.); and Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians, Hampshire College (Mass).
This year, WVU finishes among the Top 10 in several other categories: No. 4 in Students Pack the Stadiums; No. 5 for Best College Library; No. 6 for Lots of Beer; No. 7 for Lots of Hard Liquor; and No. 8 for Best College Newspaper.
The Princeton Review, which is not affiliated with Princeton University, is a New York company known for test preparation courses, educational services and books. It published its first survey findings in August 1992.
___
On the Net:
The Princeton Review: http://www.princetonreview.com/
West Virginia University: http://www.wvu.edu/
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