J. J. in Phila
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with respect, i do not believe that joepa believed "proper" action was taken, although i might, depending on your and joepa's definition of the word.
"proper" in the sense, "will this action protect the powerbase", yes. i agree.
it did that. he probably believed that, to a degree. but i'm sure that sometimes, just every now and then, dark images intruded into the king's thoughts. and he knew, if only for a second (before he pushed them away for a time), that evil had creeped into his house, and that he was responsible for allowing it to grow and fester and thrive.
Legally, there was nothing more that Paterno could do. Point blank.
What authority he did have, was walking into the Curley's or Schultz's office and demanding that, if something did happen, the authorities, generally the DA's Office, be notified. If that failed, he could talk to Spanier. Now, should he have done those things? Yes. Would they have said that there was nothing wrong or that LE found nothing? Maybe. Maybe that would have made a difference.
That isn't a lot. Paterno was not the de facto head of Penn State, or Centre County. His formal authority over Sandusky didn't exist and even his prestige, great as it was, would not carry the day in the absence of any direct evidence on his part. He couldn't ban Sandusky from the campus because Sandusky was a tenured professor. He couldn't arrest Sandusky because he wasn't a cop. He could prosecute Sandusky, because he wasn't the DA.
I can fault Paterno for doing everything he could, but I can't fault him for doing nothing.