[NU Sports] McQueary remains on staff

Fri Nov 11 08:59:48 CST 2011

For the record, it is very easy for me to say what I would have done. I was raised not to look the other way when children are abused. McQueary was raised with some other standard and he can live with that every time he looks in the mirror. I realize that I'm at outlier, but I have challenged authority many times in my life. That's part of the reason I am generally unpopular.

I am not going after him so much as I am attacking Penn State for standing by him. 

Imagine that today the PSU running backs coach used racial slurs in reference to Nebraska players. What would happen? Penn State would immediately suspend or fire the guy because "people who make statements like that cannot represent us." HOWEVER, you look the other way when you see a boy being raped and then stay quite for 8+ years? Sure, stay on the payroll and continue to represent the school. What. A. Joke. 

Jim

PS - I am still at a loss as to how McQueary's father didn't tip off police. That makes me think this cover up gets MUCH bigger in the coming months. 

________________________________
From: SjT (Stephen J. Truog) <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
To: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
Cc: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 11:20 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] McQueary remains on staff

In regards to the whistleblower part, I have absolutely no knowledge if that is the case or not -- I was just saying that it was an interesting possibility when someone else raised it. He may have made a deal with the prosecuting attorney.

And in regards to him going to the police, apparently they were the ones who made Sandusky promise not to take any more showers with children in 1998 -- so again, look at this from his shoes. The cops know and apparently did nothing but have a talk with him three years earlier and no one in the district attorney's office did anything. McQueary told his boss, Paterno, and nothing happened. And this guy apparently has friends high enough in the university framework to have an office and full access after retirement.

State College is a small place and as we've seen the last couple days, it appears a lot of the leaders and authority figures in town and on campus were aware of this and nothing had been done. You're a grad assistant and (as we're seeing now) will probably see as much blame/threats as a whistleblower than anything else.

As others have said, he could have just left town -- but again, that could be viewed as a cowardly act that left this to happen to more children. And if, as reported, he was recognized by Sandusky in the locker room, the protection of an anonymous report would not be there either.

Like I said, I'm not excusing this at all and he's had to live with this for a decade. But it's easy to say what we would have done in hindsight -- I would hope I would have done the right thing, but looking back at my first job out of college, had I seen a powerful figure in a small town doing something illegal and reported it to my boss and nothing was done, I'm not sure how far I'd push it either if it looked like the cops, lawyers, university officials and everyone else were in on the cover-up.

In any case, I think the anger and media frenzy is directed in the wrong place with the talk about McQueary and the team canceling games (which thankfully saw a voice of reason in the media today from NU alum Wilbon who called it absolutely absurd) -- the angry mob has gotten Paterno's head and put McQueary under death threats. Let's shine the spotlight at Spanier and Sandusky for a change.

Stephen

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super
 Bowl XLIV Champions!

________________________________

________________________________
From: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
To: 
Cc: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 8:13 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] McQueary remains on staff

Stephen,

My gripe with McQueary isn't really about him getting a paycheck. It has to do with the University saying "you can represent us" so he may be a small fish but what the University stands for is a BIG FISH. 

Regardless, there is one flaw in your 'whistleblower' excuse. In the traditional sense a whistleblower (say someone working in a baby food factor) has to be an insider and give the inside information that makes or breaks the case. That is not true with a child rape case. The police would be obligated to investigate even an anonymous claim if it was credible. So McQueary could have made an anonymous phone call naming Sandusky and the specific shower location and that would have triggered a police inquiry. When the police showed up he could have played dumb and told them what he saw. 

I think I'm even more angry at his pathetic father who could have easily bailed his son out of that pickle by making an anonymous
 call. 

These two men (Jr. & Sr. McQueary) sold out good judgement. It's shameful. 

Jim

________________________________
From: Stephen Truog <sjtruog at yahoo.com>
To: Michael Vance <michael.vance at att.net>
Cc: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 6:28 PM
Subject: Re: [NU Sports] McQueary remains on staff

Good point - I can understand that. Also a good point that mc query may have whistleblower protection. 

In any case, bigger fish to fry and I do mean dry when it comes to spaniel and Sandusky.

STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com

On Nov 10, 2011, at 3:58 PM, Michael Vance <michael.vance at att.net> wrote:

> Stephen-
> 
> My only problem with that is that he stuck around. If you are correct in your proposition that McQueary was simply too intimidated to say anything, he could have left the program any time in the last nine years. He could have told Paterno that he thought it was the right thing for his career to get some experience outside of the PSU system, gotten a letter of recommendation, and with that, gotten a job anywhere. But instead, he chose to stay among those who hid what he saw. Sorry, I don't have much sympathy for him.
> 
> -Michael
> Sent from my mobile device...
> 
> On Nov 10, 2011, at 5:40 PM, "SjT \(Stephen J. Truog\)" <sjtruog at yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
>> McQueary is not innocent in all this like the players, so I won't defend him with the voracity I used against the absurd suggestion to give the student athletes on the team the "death penalty" ... BUT ...
>> 
>> He's a grad assistant and sees a living legend on campus committing a crime - someone with powerful friends in high places and he is recognized as a witness. He reports it to an even bigger living legend on campus and never hears anything back.
>> 
>> What is he to assume? Either JoePa didn't take it up the ladder or the people up the ladder rejected it -- in either case, the guy is being protected by someone at PSU and who is he? Just some graduate assistant. If he presses the issue, he can assume he will be fired, blacklisted or worse.
>> 
>> It's something he'll have to live with and it's inexcusible, but
 he had to decide whether he wanted to accept what the powers that be had apparently decided or push the issue and become a whistleblower, which takes great risk and usually comes with attacks and questions of its own (just ask anyone who's brought up sexual misconduct charges against a powerful political figure, or an employee trying to expose corruption in corporate America).
>> 
>> It's easy to say what we would do in his shoes - but hopefully we'll never have to be faced with that decision for real.
>> 
>> In any case, he's not the person the media mob of madness should be swarming right now in their search for unquenchable headlines and justice. They need to be on the lawns of Spanier, Sandusky and the AD ... dig into the files of the university and local police, judges and district attorneys who knew of this ... heck, they should be looking into the board of trustees themselves and what type of environment they
 fostered and the type of people they hired (and why they said they were shocked).
>> 
>> McQueary is not the iconic coach who had nothing to fear from blowing the whistle, nor the people in power who knew more and did less -- he's the low man on the totem poll who was too weak to follow up on a report of a crime (though he did at least report it, which a lot of witnesses do not even do) because he saw all of the people in power around him wanting to look the other way.
>> 
>> Not a profile in courage to be sure, but also not someone I want to focus the spotlight on in the search for justice.
>> 
>> - Stephen
>> 
>> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
>> STEPHEN J. TRUOG
>> sjtruog at yahoo.com
>> GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
>> Super Bowl XLIV Champions! 
>> 
>> 
>> ________________________________
>> From: Jim Leonard <jleonard518 at yahoo.com>
>> To: Northwestern Wildcats <nwu-sports at tssi.com>
>> Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 1:46 PM
>> Subject: [NU Sports] McQueary remains on staff
>> 
>> NU Friends,
>> 
>> I am at a loss to understand how Mike McQueary remains on the payroll at Penn State. By his own sworn grand jury testimony he saw a young boy being abused. His only actions were to call his father and later tell Joe Paterno. For years after that he must have seen Sandusky on campus and bowl trips with more young children. I don't know how he can live with himself. 
>> 
>> A) He could have intervened in the shower
 room.
>> B) He could have pulled the fire alarm and then run to a phone.
>> C) He could have made an anonymous call to the police (his father could have too, what's wrong with that guy?)
>> D) He could have made follow-up inquiries to several different people. 
>> 
>> Since 1993 Penn State has been my second favorite Big Ten team. If they allow him to remain on the payroll and represent the school on Saturday, that is over. 
>> 
>> To be clear, my issue with him has NOTHING to do with the law or legal obligations. It had everything to do with being a person of clear conscience and good character. Sadly, I think the reason that he has been kept on staff is that if he is fired he's free to talk and he'll have A LOT more to say. 
>> 
>> Success with Honor - what a joke. 
>> 
>> Jim
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>> 
>> 
>> 
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