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by justdrew » Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:39 pm
by AhabsOtherLeg » Sun Jul 22, 2012 11:21 pm
by bks » Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:26 am
I still can't get my head around the fact that college-age kids felt justified in staging a riot to defend the good name of a self-confessed paedophile, and that the victims and their families were and are being targetted by the parents of other students and football players for bringing the college into "disrepute." It's just unreal.
by Luther Blissett » Mon Jul 23, 2012 2:09 pm
Penn State fined $60 million, wins vacated from 1998-2011
INDIANAPOLIS — Penn State football was all but leveled Monday by an NCAA ruling that wiped away 14 years of coach Joe Paterno’s victories and imposed a mountain of fines and penalties, crippling a program whose pedophile assistant coach spent uncounted years molesting children, sometimes on university property.
The sanctions by the governing body of college sports, which capped eight months of turmoil on the central Pennsylvania campus, stopped short of delivering the “death penalty” of shutting down the sport. But the NCAA hit Penn State with $60 million in fines, ordered it out of the postseason for four years, and will cap scholarships at 20 below the normal limit for four years.
Other sanctions five years’ probation, and the NCAA also said that any current or incoming football players are free to immediately transfer and compete at another school.
NCAA President Mark Emmert announced the staggering sanctions at a news conference in Indianapolis. Though the NCAA stopped short of the “death penalty,” the punishment is so harsh it’s more like a slow-death penalty.
“The sanctions needed to reflect our goals of providing cultural change,” Emmert said.
The NCAA ruling holds the university accountable for the failure of those in power to protect children and insists that all areas of the university community are held to the same high standards of honesty and integrity.
“Against this backdrop, Penn State accepts the penalties and corrective actions announced today by the NCAA,” Penn State President Rodney Erickson said in a statement. “With today’s announcement and the action it requires of us, the University takes a significant step forward.”
The Big Ten also announced that it would weigh in with sanctions of its own during a teleconference at 11 a.m. EDT, and the NCAA reserved the right to add additional penalties.
Sandusky, a former Penn State defensive coordinator, was found guilty in June of sexually abusing young boys, sometimes on campus. An investigation commissioned by the school and released July 12 found that Paterno, who died in January, and several other top officials at Penn State stayed quiet for years about accusations against Sandusky.
Emmert fast-tracked penalties rather than go through the usual circuitous series of investigations and hearings. The NCAA said the $60 million is equivalent to the annual gross revenue of the football program. The money must be paid into an endowment for external programs preventing child sexual abuse or assisting victims and may not be used to fund such programs at Penn State.
“Football will never again be placed ahead of educating, nurturing and protecting young people,” Emmert said.
By vacating 112 Penn State victories from 1998-2011, the sanctions cost Paterno 111 wins. Former Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will now hold the top spot in the NCAA record book with 377 major-college wins. Paterno, who was fired days after Sandusky was charged, will be credited with 298 wins.
The scholarship reductions mean Penn State’s roster will be capped at 65 scholarship players beginning in 2014. The normal scholarship limit for major college football programs is 85. Playing with 20 less is devastating to a program that tries to compete at the highest level of the sport.
In comparison, the harsh NCAA sanctions placed upon USC several years ago left the Trojans with only 75 scholarships per year over a three-year period.
The postseason ban is the longest handed out by the NCAA since it gave a four-year ban to Indiana football in 1960.
Bill O’Brien, who was hired to replace Paterno, now faces the daunting task of building future teams with severe limitations, and trying to keep current players from fleeing to other schools. Star players such as tailback Silas Redd and linebacker Gerald Hodges are now essentially free agents.
“I knew when I accepted the position that there would be tough times ahead,” O’Brien said. “But I am committed for the long term to Penn State and our student athletes.”
Penn State’s season starts Sept. 1 at home against Ohio University.
The sanctions came a day after the school took down the statue of Paterno that stood outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., and was a rallying point for the coaches’ supporters throughout the scandal.
Emmert had earlier said he had “never seen anything as egregious” as the horrific crimes of Sandusky and the cover-up by Paterno and others at the university, including former Penn State President Graham Spanier and athletic director Tim Curley.
The investigation headed by former FBI Director Louis Freeh said that Penn State officials kept what they knew from police and other authorities for years, enabling the abuse to go on.
There had been calls across the nation for Penn State to receive the “death penalty,” and Emmert had not ruled out that possibility as late as last week — though Penn State did not fit the criteria for it. That punishment is for teams that commit a major violation while already being sanctioned.
Penn State has already agreed to not fight the sanctions.
Emmert said the university and the NCAA have signed a consent decree, essentially a pact signing off on the penalties.
“This case is obviously incredibly unprecedented in every aspect of it, as are these actions that we’re taking today,” he said.
by Project Willow » Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:06 pm
by Luther Blissett » Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:11 pm
Project Willow wrote:^^ It's really extraordinary. I was not expecting that, at all.
Could you imagine similar institutional sanctions administed in the various other pedophilia scandals, Franklin, the Catholic church? We would be living in a different world.
by Saurian Tail » Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:51 pm
by Project Willow » Mon Jul 23, 2012 6:13 pm
Luther Blissett wrote:[quote="Project Willow
There are some people out of their minds with anger over this.
by Saurian Tail » Mon Jul 23, 2012 6:31 pm
Project Willow wrote:ST, I don't follow college sports enough to be aware that there is a similar precedent. Is there one?
How do the list of punishments for the Nittany Lions from the NCAA stack up to the USC punishments regarding the Reggie Bush case? While the Penn State punishments look harsh (even compared to the SMU death penalty), it still is surprising that their pain will be even comparable at all.
- Two year postseason ban for the Trojans, compared to four years for the Nittany Lions.
- 30 scholarships lost for the Trojans over three years compared to 40 scholarships lost for Penn State.
- A national championship vacated for USC, as well as Pac-10 championships from 2004 and 2005. Penn State has lost all their victories from 1998 to 2011, and their Big Ten championships from 2005 and 2008).
- Four years of probation for USC combined to five years of probation for Penn State.
In both situations, players under probation periods could transfer immediately. It might be harder to expect Penn State players to stick around compared to USC players, and you have to imagine the recruiting restrictions are going to hurt.
http://www.pacifictakes.com/2012/7/23/3 ... tions-2012
by LilyPatToo » Mon Jul 23, 2012 11:52 pm
In fact, I'm avoiding the subject with family and friends from back there, since I'd not be able to speak to anyone who griped about it ever again.
by bks » Tue Jul 24, 2012 1:53 am
The acting president of the university, Rodney Erickson, signed a consent decree that was highly unusual, according to ESPN's Lester Munson:
When Penn State president Rodney Erickson signed the consent decree imposed by the NCAA, he and the school agreed not only to the punishments but also to the monitoring, the supervision and to an enforcement process. This is not just a settlement contract. It is the document that governs enforcement and provides for penalties if Penn State screws up.
These agreements are typically negotiated by two organizations in the middle of a dispute. There is no indication of a negotiation or even a minimal role by Penn State or its president and his lawyers. A typical decree would say that Penn State neither admits nor denies wrongdoing. This decree is all about wrongdoing with Penn State admitting everything.
Consent decrees are ordinarily sterile legal documents, but this one expresses outrage. The decree states the evidence against Penn State "presents an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity leading to a culture in which a football program was held in higher esteem than the values of the institution, the values of the NCAA, the values of higher education, and, most disturbingly, the values of human decency."
Penn State did not negotiate this document. Penn State surrendered to the terms of this document.
It is possible for a wealthy alumnus, a season-ticket holder, a coach, a taxpayer or even a student-athlete to file a lawsuit challenging the sanctions and the consent decree. But any lawsuits are doomed to failure. Erickson's signature on the consent decree means that the university has agreed to the sanctions and to be bound by them for five years.
No one has the standing or the authority to challenge what Erickson and the university have agreed to do. Penn State expressly agrees that it cannot be challenged with "judicial process." Anyone who files a lawsuit would face not only an early dismissal of the case but also the payment of the legal fees incurred by the NCAA and Penn State as they obtain the dismissal. The lawsuit would be an expensive failure.
http://espn.go.com/college-football/sto ... ating-1998
by bks » Tue Jul 24, 2012 2:30 am
Former PSU President Graham Spanier says he was a child-abuse victim, wouldn't have 'turned a blind eye' to others
Published: Monday, July 23, 2012, 3:50 PM Updated: Monday, July 23, 2012, 6:58 PM
CHARLES THOMPSON, The Patriot-News By CHARLES THOMPSON, The Patriot-News
Disgraced former Penn State President Graham Spanier has sent a new letter to the Penn State trustees in which he expresses "great regret about the situation that the entire university finds itself in."
But Spanier, in his three-page letter dated today, also seeks to make clear to the board -- which quickly ousted him after Jerry Sandusky's arrest last November -- that he believes they are getting a biased view from the Freeh Report of his involvement in the scandal.
A copy of the letter was obtained this afternoon by The Patriot-News.
In it, Spanier continued to maintain, as he did in his grand jury testimony in early 2011, that he "never heard a word about abusive or sexual behavior" in the limited, mostly second-hand reports he received about Sandusky.
In 2001, Spanier said, his agreement with a plan to handle a shower-room allegation against the former defensive coordinator came only after receiving reports from Athletic Director Tim Curley and then-Senior Vice President for Business and Finance about "horseplay," with no mention of sex.
The Freeh report, commissioned by trustees to look at how the allegations against Sandusky were handled internally over time, paints a different picture, accusing Spanier of working with Curley, Schultz and former head football coach Joe Paterno to "actively conceal" accusations about Sandusky from authorities.
"It is unfathomable and illogical to think ... someone who experienced massive and persistent abuse as a child," Spanier said in a reference to himself, "... would have knowingly turned a blind eye to a report of child abuse."
Unlike Curley and Schultz, who face perjury charges for allegedly lying to the grand jury about what they knew of and did about allegations againt Sandusky, Spanier has not been charged.
But the investigation is continuing and it is widely believed Attorney General Linda Kelly's investigators have been taking a harder look at Spanier's role since receiving e-mails indicating he was involved in the decision to keep the 2001 incident from police.
In those one of those e-mails, Spanier endorsed that move, adding that the only problem would be if Sandusky did not cooperate with the university's guidance and it would then become vulnerable for not reporting.
Sandusky went on to molest multiple victims in the years that followed. He was convicted on 45 criminal counts after a trial in Centre County last month and is awaiting sentencing.
Spanier, in his letter, also attacked the Freeh report for misrepresenting his handling of the grand jury probe and not giving the full board more comprehensive briefings as it progressed.
Spanier said he "was guided by and followed all instructions from the University's General Counsel," former state Supreme Court justice and former Penn State trustee Cynthia Baldwin at the time.
Baldwin, he said, told him three or four times that "there appeared to be no issue for the university" from the investigation.
Spanier closed by asking for a chance to meet with the board or any designated representatives to answer any other questions or concerns they might have.
by AhabsOtherLeg » Tue Jul 24, 2012 4:51 am
bks wrote: just to be clear: those college kids rioted to defend the name of Paterno [who no one has said is a pedophile, least of all he himself before he died], not Sandusky. And Sandusky, vile POS that he is, hasn't even admitted anything I don't believe.
) but this was a whole new ball game to me.by LilyPatToo » Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:44 am
Carried to extremes, it gives us fascist police and gung-ho civilian-shooting soldiers, but it's pretty repellant here at home during football season too. Makes me wonder if the impulse isn't so deep in our DNA that we'll never eradicate it. by Nordic » Wed Jul 25, 2012 3:27 am
On November 11, 2011, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania radio talk show host Mark Madden dropped a bombshell during an appearance on Boston’s WEEI when he told radio talk show hosts John Dennis and Gerry Callahan, “I hear there’s a rumor that there will be a more shocking development from the The Second Mile (TSM)—and hold on to your stomachs, boys, this is gross—that Jerry Sandusky and the Second Mile were pimping out young boys to rich donors.”
Now, further evidence that Jerry Sandusky’s TSM was being used to traffic underage boys to wealthy donors took a major step forward via a July 19 interview with Greg Bucceroni, currently employed as a school police officer in the Philadelphia, Pa. school district while also volunteering with the District Attorney’s office.
Bucceroni told this reporter, “In 1979 and 1980—when I was 13 and 14 years old—a well-connected pedophile named Edward Savitz took me on trips from Philadelphia to TSM fundraisers. I knew the minute I got there it was a breeding ground because of Savitz’s involvement. While [Jerry] Sandusky interacted with wealthy donors, the other men were sizing-up kids. I felt like a cheap whore because I was in these naked pictures that Savitz was passing around.”
When asked how certain he was in regard to these claims, Bucceroni replied, “I’m sure of it. Savitz talked about taking kids from Philly to TSM and introducing them to men—soliciting them to ‘his friends.’ They exchanged and swapped kids like baseball cards. It was a feeding frenzy. I felt like a prostitute or a go-go dancer at a bachelor party. I felt dirty, used and cheap.”
When it came to TSM’s founder, Bucceroni didn’t overplay what happened. “Savitz introduced me to Sandusky on two separate occasions, but he didn’t come across like a pedophile. The other guys at these functions, though, were different. I could tell from their body language what they had in mind. When I met him, Jerry was a like a movie star. Everyone called him ‘Coach.’ After Savitz hand-delivered my enrollment forms to him, Jerry grabbed me by the shoulder—not in a sexual way—and said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take care of you.’ Savitz told me that Jerry would take kids to football games.”
Sexually abused victims who testified at the Sandusky trial in Bellefonte, Pa. confirmed this point.
As questioning turned to other individuals at these get-togethers, Bucceroni remarked, “They were obviously wealthy—like doctors, attorneys, politicians and businessmen—and I could tell some were married from their wedding rings. But their body language gave away their intentions. On my second trip to TSM, I went with Savitz, another pedophile, and a boy my age. Savitz mingled with the other adults, discreetly showing them child porn pictures that he’d brought along. These are the kinds of places where guys from New York, Jersey and Pa. interact. Plus, with all the Penn State hoopla, TSM promoted itself as an alternative to jail or juvenile hall. They said it was the best thing since peanut butter and jelly. But Sandusky is just one in a handful of them. I hope you shine a light on this society of pedophiles.”
On July 16, nearly a month after Jerry Sandusky’s conviction on 45 counts of child sex abuse, Sara Ganim of Harrisburg’s Patriot-News revealed, “Sources close to the Jerry Sandusky case say that three men have come forward and told police that they were abused in the 1970s or 1980s by the convicted pedophile.” She continued, “If found to be credible, [they] would directly attack the 68-year-old’s defense argument that a person doesn’t become a pedophile in his or her 50s.”
The Story’s Beginning
During our July 19 interview, Greg Bucceroni described himself back in the mid-to-late 1970s as “a young tough John Travolta-type kid with a New York accent—a poster boy for juvenile delinquency that got in lots of trouble.”
In 1976 he met Edward Savitz, a “youth advocate,” Democratic political booster, and big donor to then-Philadelphia District Attorney Ed Rendell. In a July 17 article for the New York Daily News, Christian Reid wrote, “Savitz was finally arrested in March 1992, charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sex abuse of children, indecent assault and corrupting the morals of a minor. He died of AIDS in a hospice days before his trial was to begin in April 1993.”
Reid also noted, “Like Sandusky, Savitz met and groomed many of his alleged victims through his work with at-risk youths.” In this context, Reid continued, “…Savitz would engage in oral sex with Bucceroni and other victims. Savitz’s attorney, Barnaby Wittels, told the Daily News Savitz paid his victims in exchange for them performing deviant acts.” Lastly, “There were over 5,000 photos of Savitz’s many alleged victims recovered by authorities from Savitz’s apartment, including many of Bucceroni,” Reid wrote.
Bucceroni continued this narrative. “Instead of going to juvenile jail, Savitz pushed me toward TSM. My stepfather had already filled-out the paperwork, so when we drove up there [32 years later, Bucceroni can’t recall the exact location], Savitz said he’d keep me out of jail if I ‘treated his friends right.’ Back in those days I didn’t know anything about Penn State or Jerry Sandusky. My whole goal was to stay out of jail, so I went along with it. Afterward, Savitz gave me and the other kids money and gifts and alcohol, but a couple of months after the TSM trip I beat him up when he tried to molest me. That’s what caused him to call the police.”
Prompted to describe what Savitz did to him, Bucceroni explained, “He liked me to defecate on him, perform oral sex on me, or else he’d take naked pictures and masturbate while other juveniles had sex. Savitz also wanted me to introduce him to other kids. Savitz had an entire photo album from TSM. Over the decades, I’d say he probably had hundreds, if not thousands, of victims until his arrest in 1992. Time magazine even wrote about him.”
Indeed, an April 13, 1992 Time magazine article entitled “Uncle Ed’s Ugly Secret” began, “To the teenage boys who visited his apartment near Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square, Ed Savitz was an easy client who paid $15 for oral sex and had a fetish for soiled underwear and socks. Health and law-enforcement officials fear that Savitz was also a walking AIDS time bomb.”
Fast Forward
In November 2011 when the Sandusky scandal broke, Bucceroni spoke of his reaction. “After I told the Philadelphia police about Savitz in 1980, I tried to bury my past for the next 30 years. But everything I heard about TSM really hit home. There were all these allegations about TSM and their well-connected donors. So, I decided, since all of this stuff from my youth screwed up my life, maybe I could help other kids.”
But, Bucceroni insists, the process has brought about many hardships. “It would’ve been easier to get in the ring and fight Mike Tyson than come out and talk about this stuff. I don’t have an agenda, Eddie Savitz is dead, and I don’t plan on suing anybody. All I know is that if the Philly police had listened to me in 1980 and done their work, there’s a chance that the Penn State sex scandal could have been avoided. But the police did nothing.”
On a final note, Bucceroni added, “There are a lot of politicians that take money from these wealthy pedophiles. That’s why the Freeh Report didn’t go very deep. He kept the focus limited. Similarly, the mainstream media hasn’t—for the most part—touched this story either.”
The big question now is: will local and national TV stations, news reporters, and radio talk show hosts investigate this hidden angle, or will they continue to provide cover for a network of perverted pedophiles that prey on vulnerable children at supposed “safe havens” like TSM? If they continue to stay silent, they’re as guilty as all the others who’ve covered up this atrocity.
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