CNN’s AC360 ran a story last night about the content of emails (CNN doesn’t have the actual emails) between Tim Curley, Graham Spanier and Gary Schultz in the aftermath of Mike McQueary reporting what he saw in the shower in 2001. There are email discussions about reporting the incident to Second Mile, the charity Sandusky founded to seemingly funnel young boys to him, and about contacting Children’s Welfare. Neither of those things happened. Rather than the emails discussing what will happen if they don’t report the incident, there is ONE email from Curley, that everybody is discussing:
“After giving it more thought and talking it over with Joe yesterday, I am uncomfortable with what we agreed were the next steps.”
That’s it. It’s IMPOSSIBLE to know what that conversation was comprised of. Maybe Joe said ANYTHING. Maybe Curley realized the ramifications after talking to Joe. I mean, it literally could have been anything.
If Joe wanted to cover it up, why did he report it to Curley and Shultz in the first place?
Despite that, CNN inferred that Joe may have talked Curley down and SI ran a blurb from the NY Daily News titled “Emails: Paterno told Penn State to keep quiet bout Sandusky” Well that seems like quite the stretch, even for the most avid haters of Joe Paterno. However, people have latched on and that appears to be the news today.
I never thought this would happen, but I can’t wait until the Freeh report comes out in the coming weeks/months. The news will be bad for Penn State and it’s administration, but at least we will know the truth, or at least a good portion of it.
In the meantime, the speculation will continue to run rampant as though facts and truth are not important when ripping down other humans. I just suggest being cautious when doing so, especially with the deceased. Regardless of what you may think or hope happened during those discussions, you don’t know. Pretending to know is not the answer.
Here is the response to the report from the Paterno Family:
“Some number of email exchanges between former Penn State officials have apparently been leaked to the media. Since the Paterno family is not in possession of these emails, it would be inappropriate to comment on their supposed content. To be clear, the emails in question did not originate with Joe Paterno or go to him as he never personally utilized email.”
“From the beginning, Joe Paterno warned against a rush to judgment in this case. Coach Paterno testified truthfully, to the best of his recollection, in the one brief appearance he made before the Grand Jury. As he testified, when informed of an incident involving Jerry Sandusky in 2001, Coach Paterno, followed University procedures and promptly and fully informed his superiors. He believed the matter would be thoroughly and professionally investigated and he did not interfere with or attempt to compromise any investigation.”