Penn State Tries to Pick up the Pieces, Kansas City Star, November 11, 2011

Penn State Tries to Pick up the Pieces

Kansas City Star
November 11, 2011

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/10/3259650/penn-state-tries-to-pick-up-the.html

Family sues USA Swimming The family of an Indiana teenager filed a civil lawsuit against USA Swimming and others Thursday, saying officials didn’t do enough to protect the girl from the sexual assaults by her coach. The suit, filed in Marion County Superior Court in Indiana, levels accusations against the umbrella group for U.S. amateur swimming, Indiana Swimming, the Metropolitan School District of Lawrence Township and others. All are listed as defendants along with Christopher Wheat, the former coach. Wheat was a coach for the Lawrence Swim team, a club sanctioned by USA Swimming. He was arrested in October 2009 and was jailed after pleading guilty last year to two counts of felony sexual misconduct with a minor and one count of felony child solicitation. Several similar lawsuits have been filed around the country alleging USA Swimming covered up wrongdoing and allowed a culture of abuse to exist in its coaching ranks. USA Swimming said it investigates misconduct complaints and revokes membership if behavior was inappropriate.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. | Just because coach Joe Paterno is gone doesn’t mean the child sex-abuse scandal at Penn State is over.

Many questions remain unanswered — from how much Paterno actually knew to whether there will be any repercussions for assistant coach Mike McQueary, who told Paterno but not police about seeing former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky in a shower with a young boy in 2002.

Defensive coordinator Tom Bradley, Paterno’s lead assistant on the field for the last 11 seasons, was introduced Thursday as the interim coach.

A few hours later, Gov. Tom Corbett told reporters that he supported the board of trustees’ decision Wednesday to oust Paterno, who holds college football’s record for victories, and president Graham Spanier because they didn’t do enough to alert law-enforcement authorities.

“Their actions caused me to not have confidence in their ability to continue to lead,” said Corbett, who is on the board.

Paterno’s firing sent angry students into the streets Wednesday, where they shouted support for the 84-year-old Paterno. Police estimated that the crowd totaled as many as 4,000 to 5,000 people and that officers made numerous orders to disperse but eventually had to use pepper spray. About 100 police officers were downtown, many wearing helmets.

Crowds toppled a television news van and kicked in its windows, and at least one photographer was pelted with a rock. Officers used pepper spray at times to control the crowd.

“The crowd initially was a peaceful demonstration against coach Paterno’s firing. The crowd quickly turned from a peaceful demonstration to a riotous mob,” State College police said in a statement. “The mob attempted to light vehicles on fire, and tore down light posts and street signs.”

Police say they have identified numerous suspects and people are under investigation for crimes such as riot, attempted arson and other counts. Investigators are also reviewing video footage. They would not say how many arrests were made.

A University of Nebraska regent called for safety assurances from Penn State, saying he fears for the Cornhuskers’ football traveling party and fans at Saturday’s game against the Nittany Lions. Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman is confident the team and fans will be safe and said the game will go on as planned.

Penn State said McQueary won’t coach Saturday because “multiple threats” have been made against him.

Corbett also asked Penn State students on Thursday to refrain from violence, and a group that advocates for the rights of people abused by Catholic priests released a statement cautioning Paterno’s supporters to think about the consequences of their actions.

“As for the students who are rallying around Paterno, we hope university officials will ask them to consider the anguish their actions are causing the victimized children as well as other members of their community who are victims of sexual violence,” BishopAccountability.org said in a statement.

Sandusky has been charged with molesting eight boys in a 15-year span. McQueary, who is Penn State’s wide-receivers coach, told a state grand jury that in March 2002, he saw Sandusky sodomizing a boy of about 10 in the Penn State football building.

McQueary later told Paterno, athletic director Tim Curley and a university vice president, Gary Schultz, about the incident, though it is not clear how detailed his description was. Schultz, in turn, notified Spanier.

Curley and Schultz have been charged with perjury and failure to report the incident to authorities, as required by state law. Curley is on temporary leave, and Schultz has retired. Through his attorney, Sandusky has denied the charges.

Paterno is not a target of the criminal investigation. But the state police commissioner called Paterno’s failure to contact police or follow up on the incident a lapse in “moral responsibility.” McQueary has not spoken publicly.

Sandusky had long been considered the likely successor to Paterno. But Paterno told Sandusky around May 1999 that the assistant wouldn’t be getting the top job. He announced his retirement the next month.

Sandusky cited as reasons for his retirement his desire to spend more time with The Second Mile, the charity he founded in 1997 to provide education and life skills to almost 100,000 at-risk kids each year, as well as taking advantage of a generous retirement package that included continued use of an office and access to the Penn State athletic facilities. Several of the alleged assaults took place on Penn State property.

Penn State’s trip to the Alamo Bowl in 1999 has attracted the interest of Texas authorities. San Antonio police Sgt. Chris Benavides said Thursday that his department is “looking into the possibility that an offense may have happened” while the football team was in town.

A grand-jury report says Sandusky took one boy he allegedly molested to the game and threatened to send him home when the victim resisted his advances. The Alamo Bowl was Sandusky’s last game at Penn State.

Bradley will be interim coach for the rest of the season, but there is no timeline of when a new coach will be in place. It’s not even clear who will do the hiring, with Curley on leave and provost Rodney Erickson serving as interim school president.

“We’re obviously in a very unprecedented situation,” Bradley said. “I have to find a way to restore the confidence.”