Letters: Cowardly actions at Penn State

Your headline, "After multiple threats, McQueary won't be at game" [Sports, Nov. 11], says it all. Penn State did not relieve the 6-foot-4 former graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, of his coaching duties because he says he witnessed the rape of a child and allegedly took no action to stop it. [There were reports on Wednesday that McQueary did claim to have intervened.]

No, the Penn State brain trust decided instead that death threats made to McQueary were a more palatable reason to temporarily remove him from the university's precious football team. Wow. A winning college sports program causing the total breakdown of all things decent and moral at almost every level throughout a university and its surrounding community is astonishing, but not surprising. Money talks, morality walks.

Bob Bascelli, Seaford
 

I'm a former Penn State student who attended the school while coach Joe Paterno was early in his career, creating his legacy. Even in those early days, he was almost deified on campus. I left campus simply impressed with his football prowess but not as enamored of him as today's students.

Well, Paterno's house of cards tumbled just days after he achieved the honor of being the longest tenured and winningest coach in Division 1 football history. I guess pride comes before the fall.

I find it inexcusable that Paterno was allegedly presented with eyewitness information from an employee and simply passed the problem to another tier of empty suits.

Why is it that the district attorney who dropped the case against Jerry Sandusky because of insufficient evidence disappeared shortly afterward? Why didn't a strapping ex-quarterback come to a 10-year-old's rescue and apprehend the perpetrator?

Nothing happens for years, and more assaults are allegedly committed by Sandusky, who formed a seemingly innocuous foundation called the Second Mile, apparently designed just for his own prurient interests under the guise of helping children.

Maybe McQueary could conveniently forget this heinous incident to smoothly keep his career on track? Isn't that the motive for all the suits who turned a blind eye? This is a plot similar to the Catholic Church's cover-up. Reputation always trumps reality.

Anthony J. Frascino, Swedesboro, N.J.
 

What a disgraceful public showing the students at Penn State demonstrated to America, being more concerned with a coach's firing than the emotional scars of sexually abused children. The alleged cover-up by many over 10 years was all in the name of winning and protecting a school's image.

Instead of rioting and overturning cars over the firing of Joe Paterno, who allegedly knew of atrocities all along, the students should be encouraging a massive rally for students to transfer out, and for those considering applying to Penn State to go elsewhere.

These demonstrating students showed no class or moral concern.

Jeff Kirby, Sea Cliff