Former Penn State President Graham Spanier has been charged with several counts

[nittanylioness234]

More Spanier speculation that he may have had connections to a Nebraska pedophilia group:


http://americanfreepress.net/?p=5335

 

[BigCat]

I just finished listening to the press conference held by Spanier's attorneys. There was nothing really new. Just more talk about "horse play."

The very first question was the obvious one concerning why was Spanier concerned about the downside of not reporting a "horsin' around" incident. The attorneys stated Spanier would have to put that email in context at a later date. So basically, it was a waste of time, in my opinion.

(At the end, some guy who claimed to be a prostitute in the 1970's was pestering the attorneys with questions I couldn't understand. Not sure if it was that Bucceroni guy or not.)

 

[wfgodot]

Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker:

Former Penn State president Graham Spanier speaks

A lengthy conversation with Toobin.

 

[Rlaub44]

I just finished listening to the press conference held by Spanier's attorneys. There was nothing really new. Just more talk about "horse play."

The very first question was the obvious one concerning why was Spanier concerned about the downside of not reporting a "horsin' around" incident. The attorneys stated Spanier would have to put that email in context at a later date. So basically, it was a waste of time, in my opinion.

(At the end, some guy who claimed to be a prostitute in the 1970's was pestering the attorneys with questions I couldn't understand. Not sure if it was that Bucceroni guy or not.)

I was surprised to read that another trustee, besides Lubrano, was at the PC:

Also at the news conference, which Spanier did not attend, was longtime trustee Al Clemens, who agreed that Lewis' comments further shake his confidence in the Freeh report. . .

"There's a lot more to come out about this. The Freeh report I think is questionable in a lot of areas," Clemens said. . .

"I know if Joe Paterno knew anything sexual was going on, he'd report it. He did. I think Joe has been the fall guy in this whole thing. I can't make any statement on Graham Spanier but I think Joe is being made the fall guy and he is the most moral, ethical guy I ever met. For him, to have this whole thing dumped on him is a travesty."

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/in...tate_trustees_offer.html#incart_river_default

We know Lubrano and McCombie were dissenters (they were part of the three newly elected Trustees) but Clemens is a new name. I find it interesting that he has his doubts based on what Spanier's attorneys say about the Freeh report - did Clemens not read it critically enough for himself?

 

[StellarsJay]

Spanier has told the New Yorker:
“Never in my sixteen years as president of Penn State did any individual ever suggest to me that there was child abuse, sexual abuse, anything criminal.”
That's from September 1995 to November 2011.
So when after the investigation into Victim 1 began did Spanier hear of that? Cynthia told the Board Sandusky was being investigated on May 12, 2010.
Spanier can't even be bothered to be precise in a national interview. He'd rather tell the flashy lie.
Next comment self-censored.

 

[BigCat]

Spanier will be interviewed on Nightline tonight. Some video is already up on the ABC News website:

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier Cites His Own Child Abuse

http://abcnews.go.com/US/penn-state-president-graham-spanier-cites-child-abuse/story?id=17060668

Spanier insists when an assistant football coach reported seeing Sandusky acting suspiciously with a boy in the team showers in 2001, he was only made aware that Sandusky had engaged in "horseplay" with a child.

Horsin' around with a child....nekkid...at night....alone....a second time! Spanier's a family therapist. He should have known something was not right, but he won't even admit that because he's too busy covering his own backside.

 

[believe09]

Spanier will be interviewed on Nightline tonight. Some video is already up on the ABC News website:

Former Penn State President Graham Spanier Cites His Own Child Abuse

http://abcnews.go.com/US/penn-state-president-graham-spanier-cites-child-abuse/story?id=17060668



Horsin' around with a child....nekkid...at night....alone....a second time! Spanier's a family therapist. He should have known something was not right, but he won't even admit that because he's too busy covering his own backside.

My sympathy for his abusive childhood. It is a sad story and awful to read. However, it seems like a remarkably transparent attempt at provoking sympathy and trying to get the public to believe that if he had an inkling, he would have gone to the mat for the victims.

He chose not to. He has to not only live with that, he has to face the music for it. And, I guess at the end of the day I find it even worse that with his background he didnt opt to champion these children.

I thought the Freeh report was pretty restrained, but maybe that is me. I didnt see any wild allegations that were pulled from thin air. I think Spanier should simply say he blew it, he wasnt hands on enough yada yada. He could spin it that way rather than telling the world that with his background he would have known if there was anything to it.

Sheesh.

 

[StellarsJay]

"I've never met anyone who has had a higher level of awareness [about child abuse,]" Spanier said in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Josh Elliott.

[Higher than me] says Spanier. What a teflon, icy and brass-balled ego.

Believe09 says, " I guess at the end of the day I find it even worse that with his background he didnt opt to champion these children." Agreed.

What he's not saying is whether he trusted his henchmen to tell him/or/not to tell him if anything was more than business as usual.
Spectrum: I don't need to know... I don't want to know... I need to know... it's better if I don't know... Don't leave any proof that I knew...

 

[passionflower]

So old 'blind eye' GS is to now work with national security....I feel so much safer now.....NOT!

This really makes me ill..................
Sorry why???
Who hired this creep?

 

[wfgodot]

I tried to read Spanier's interview in The New Yorker with an open mind but was left only with a strong sense of disbelief and subsequent revulsion.

 

[believe09]

[Higher than me] says Spanier. What a teflon, icy and brass-balled ego.

Quote of the day Stellarsjay...

 

[Reader]

I tried to read Spanier's interview in The New Yorker with an open mind but was left only with a strong sense of disbelief and subsequent revulsion.

I had it saved to read today...thanks for saving me the trouble....I can't stand to even look at him...he makes me sick!

 

[wfgodot]

Now I find myself just waiting for the on-campus investigation to dovetail with the Gricar mystery.

 

[Reader]

Graham Spanier’s PR offensive in wake of Jerry Sandusky sex-abuse scandal not a wise decision for the former Penn State president

Spanier seems to be floating a couple of defenses - the Sergeant Schultz 'I see nothing,' along with another standby: 'Do you really think I would be that stupid?'

.......While Spanier and his counsel were able to grab the headlines for a day, he may have talked himself right into an indictment and could be joining former Penn State administrators Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, who are charged with failing to report suspected child abuse, as well as perjury, and are set for trial in January........

There are other statements made that will surely come back to haunt Spanier if he is indicted, including his bizarre claim that he has never met anyone with a higher awareness of sexual issues than himself.

Prosecutors may have considered indicting Spanier along with Schultz, Curley and Sandusky, but without Curley or Schultz confirming that Spanier was told the 2001 incident was more than horseplay, the indictment would be problematic. Because of emails uncovered during the Freeh investigation, and Spanier's own statements, that may no longer be a problem.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/c...ate-president-article-1.1142949#ixzz24PK9PTVc

 

[nittanylioness234]

I tried to read Spanier's interview in The New Yorker with an open mind but was left only with a strong sense of disbelief and subsequent revulsion.

Some of his comments were absolutely unbelievable, especially his statements about testifying at the grand jury. How completely clueless can a person be? He thought he was going to the grand jury to talk about Sandusky "horsing around???" He sounds completely idiotic. I can't understand how so many clueless people involved in this scandal rose to such high positions of power.

 

[nittanylioness234]

Like Sandusky on Costas, I don't think Spanier did himself any favors by participating in these media interviews.

 

[Reader]

Spanier media offensive in Penn State scandal raises questions about his account of own role

http://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...dde7f4-ecd8-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html

HARRISBURG, Pa. — The story being told by Penn State president Graham Spanier as he defends himself against accusations that he covered up a sex abuse allegation runs contrary into his own reputation as a detail-oriented manager.

But experts in university governance also suggest that if Spanier truly didn’t know what was going on, he showed a willful ignorance and a disturbing lack of curiosity about a scandal that stood to ruin Penn State’s reputation...........

“You can say I didn’t know. You can say I was distracted. You can say they didn’t tell me — up to a point,” said Stephen Trachtenberg, who spent three decades as president at the University of Hartford and George Washington University.

“But from what we have heard about what transpired, his vice president, his director of athletics, his coaches allegedly were concealing this bad news from him for such an extensive period of time that I find the story implausible,” he said.............

But even that should have raised red flags, said Mary Gray, an American University math and statistics professor with an expertise in university governance.

“If he was told that, I would think if I was the university president, I would ask, ‘What do you mean by horsing around?’” said Gray. “He should have assigned somebody to look into this in more detail and get back to him.”............

Yarnal [Penn State geography professor Brett Yarnal, chair-elect of the school’s faculty senate.] said Spanier’s description of his reaction to news of the grand jury struck him as disingenuous.

“I read that and thought, ‘Now come on, Graham. If you hear the junior VPs and your football coach are called before a grand jury, you’re not going to show some sort of curiosity about what’s going on here?’” Yarnal said. “I don’t care how busy you are.”

 

[J. J. in Phila]

Some of his comments were absolutely unbelievable, especially his statements about testifying at the grand jury. How completely clueless can a person be? He thought he was going to the grand jury to talk about Sandusky "horsing around???" He sounds completely idiotic. I can't understand how so many clueless people involved in this scandal rose to such high positions of power.

If you formulate a plan that involves calling in DPW to investigate, you must be considering the possibility that it is something more than "horsing around."

 

[Reader]

If you formulate a plan that involves calling in DPW to investigate, you must be considering the possibility that it is something more than "horsing around."

The statement Spanier himself wrote about the possibility of their getting in trouble for not reporting the incident if JS did not get the message also shows he knew it was more serious than he is saying now....why worry about that if it was only horsing around? And now he is even saying the message WAS heard?? So, explain why JS is in jail and you are in the situation you find yourself....

After that original plan was altered, apparently after Curley discussed it with Paterno, they also formulated a 'follow up plan' if JS did not cooperate but failed to follow up with that too, knowing what happened in 1998 and that JS had agreed then to stop bringing kids to the showers but continued to do so...so why did they trust him to 'hear the message' this time?

Nothing any of them have said has explained to me why they made such a horrible decision to leave children and their own jobs vulnerable.

Just unreal....

 

[BigCat]

If you formulate a plan that involves calling in DPW to investigate, you must be considering the possibility that it is something more than "horsing around."

But he didn't know Sandusky was sexually abusing boys, that's the mantra he keeps repeating in his interviews. What he doesn't say: by having Tim Curley investigate the allegation, he was certain to never know Sandusky was sexually abusing children.

It's infuriating. I agree with nittanylioness that he would have been better served to keep a low profile.