Damage Beyond Control

The impact of the release of the Freeh report on the Sandusky sex abuse scandal at Penn State is beyond devastating. It reveals a complex web of coverups and lack of concern for the welfare of children that were systematically abused for more than a decade.

It was obvious that Jerry Sandusky was guilty when he gave the well played interview late last year and could not help grinning when he talked about the way he abused boys for his own pleasure. He could not deny that he done it with any plausibility whatsoever. The obvious was confirmed when the jury convicted Sandusky on 45 counts of sexual abuse.

What has been a second sickening element of this scandal is the way people have stood behind the legend and the reputation of Joe Paterno. They have rationalized and backpedaled and fooled themselves into thinking that the great coach could not have known and would certainly not have condoned what was going on in the mind of Jerry Sandusky and the showers of Penn State.

Today's report blows that point of view away. Joe Paterno had full knowledge of Jerry Sandusky's activities and was ultimately the only person who was in a position to take definitive action. But he failed to do so, and no matter whether he was more concerned for the football program or his own legacy, the one thing he was not concerned with was the welfare of the children who have been forever scarred by Jerry Sandusky's actions.

There have been reports of taking Joe Paterno's name off various structures and removing his statue from the Penn State campus. All of them should be done post haste. Penn State will be reeling from the consequences of the failure of their great coach to take proper action for years to come, and he deserves no place of honor in the history of a great academic university.