Photos
The iconic statue of coach Joe Paterno was removed from Penn State's Beaver Stadium early Sunday.
Meanwhile, the NCAA says it will announce punishment for the university.
Penn State's president released a statement saying the statue has become a source of division and an "obstacle to healing" in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child rape scandal.
The statue will be stored "in a secure location," according to college President Rodney Erickson.
In an unscientific poll, Patch readers were pretty evenly split on whether the statue should stay or be taken away.
About 30 police officers stood guard as workers erected a temporary metal fence before removing the seven-foot statue, which weighs 900 pounds.
A crowd chanted "We are Penn State" as the work was done.
The decision to move the statue came about 10 days after the release of an extensive report, which revealed Penn State's cover-up on Sandusky's crimes. Paterno was part of the cover-up, according to the report of former FBI Director Louis Freeh.
Paterno died in January. His family has continued to defend his actions in the Sandusky case. Paterno's family said Sunday that removing the statue does not serve the victims of the sex scandal.
Lower Saucon Guy
10:16 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
You can build churches your whole life and they'll never call you a Saint, but rob one bank and you're a bank robber forever.
Sandusky is Scum
11:58 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
exactly, when is the catholic church going to start dismantling the places of worship that contributed to thousands of cases of child rapes?
Frank
10:54 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
I think this was a bad decision. Let's not forget that Joe Paterno wasn't the villain here. Joe Paterno gave alot to Penn State as well as his family. He was a decent human being with a big heart. He simply made a mistake.
RIP, JoePa.
Earnest
4:05 pm on Monday, July 23, 2012
Joe Paterno enabled the a very sick man. As the incriminating evidence has pointed to his lack of action was due to having more concern about protecting his football program along with his fellow enablers. He was the parent in the house that knew their spouse was sexually terrorizing and abusing their children and did nothing to protect and save the children.
A decent human being with a big heart would not have chosen to look the other way. A decent human being is someone who would have chosen to do whatever it took to protect innocent children.
In the end Joe Paterno's choice to protect his program and a monster ended up casting a dark shadow over the entire college and destroyed his reputation a reputation that his own children will have to live with.
I'm glad they removed his statue as it would only serve as a reminder of the horror that the man chose to let continue.
slyfox
9:30 am on Thursday, July 26, 2012
WIth all due respect Frank, I must disagree. You called what JoePa did "a mistake".
A "mistake" is forgetting to sign your check or forgetting to put a stamp on an envelope. What he did was certainly more than "a mistake".
Ellen
11:33 am on Sunday, July 22, 2012
I agree with you Frank. I guess they forgot about all the good the man did. Too easily forgotten. Shame.....
Gramma24
1:06 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
They should remove the statue when they remove Corbett from office for sitting on the investigation so it wouldn't 'interfere with his running for office'.....
careless fills
2:54 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Corbett got the case right. His office was the solution and not the problem. If he pressed the case too soon with only one victim, it would have failed given Sandusky's stature in the community. Corbett's office methodically developed other leads that the county prosecutor didn't find. See : http://articles.philly.com/2012-07-19/news/32731243_1_jerry-sandusky-case-ben-andreozzi-serial-child-predator
No one knows what Center County DA Gricar's reasoning was in not prosecuting Sandusky in 1998. Perhaps that will come out in the future investigations. At that point it was a local county matter, and the state Attorney General, whoever it was at the time would not have been involved. As most informed people in PA know, county prosecutors are elected locally like Lehigh's DA Martin and Northampton's DA Morganelli are, and as Center County's Gricar was.
Corbett office picked up the ball after the case entered the state child abuse system when a mother reported a case in 2009 and he then proceded with he grand jury and other investigations which were methodically and effectively completed.
The fault for any delays starts with PSU in 1998 and 1999 with the original county level case, and with PSU in the 2000 case with the janitor witness and the 2002 with the Mc Queary observations, and one could only expect that some PSU had suspicions before 1998.
Louise
1:38 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Paterno is just as guilty as all of the others. Glad they removed the statue.
John Schubert
1:52 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
All of you who think football is more important than the welfare of children..... I roundly disagree. Paterno disgraced the university by encouraging a cover-up. He made it clear that he didn't want to have to deal with this unpleasantness. He was willing to have a child molester in his midst, rather than deal with it. I mean, how more blatant did the sweeping under the rug get than the order to Sandusky to not bring children into the locker room? "We don't want you raping kids HERE." (Hint: Go do it somewhere else so we don't have to deal with it.)
Paterno made himself into a human god by allowing that statue to exist. He didn't live up to being a God. No, not when he decided those boys should take a hit for the team. He's not a god anymore, and he doesn't deserve the statue. Get over it.
Football is just a game. It doesn't build character. At most, it reveals character. Paterno's character is of a man who values a game more than the welfare of children.
I disagree with the anonymous poster who tied removing the statue to removing Corbett from office. Corbett's handling of this case has been at best dubious, and should be investigated as unsparingly as Paterno's role was investigated. But fixing the one problem shouldn't be a prerequisite to fixing the other.
careless fills
3:32 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Football is stupid, and it should be banned from all schools and as a youth activity.
Too many young men have had their health and lives ruined by physical, mental, psychological and social injuries suffered whilst playing this silly game.
All of the so-called life lessons claimed by proponents of football claim can be better learnt through participation in a whole slew of other, more worthwhile activities, including nearly any sport.
tommy toms
3:05 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
They should melt the statue and sell it for scrap money. Then give the money to the men who were raped!
S
4:16 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
All the good he did all he freaking did was coach kids to play football and that isn't hard the kids are the ones with the talent. He didn't do crap but rob these victims of their childhood how would you feel if it were your son,brother,cousin,nephew,grandson that was raped and he knew about it???????
TYPICAL idiots well guess what one day it will touch your lives and although I never would wish it on anyone because I am a victim of child molestation it is something you NEVER forget or get over and when you read about it it tears your heart out and you wish you could help everyone of those kids and rip the hearts out of anyone who was involved with helping it happen.
truth seeker
5:11 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Corbett's campaign reportedly accepted more than $640,000 in donations from people associated with Sandusky's charity, the Second Mile.
In addition, after he became governor, Corbett approved a $3 million state grant to the Second Mile. He did this knowing that a child molestation case was being built that could destroy Sandusky and discredit his charity
http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/163269786.html
Frank
5:43 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
I wouldn't trust Corbett as far as you could throw a stick. I hope his term as governor is limited to ONE.
Dana Grubb
5:50 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
I read the Philly.Com commentary, truth seeker. It seems that in no matter which direction you turn there is tragedy and hypocrisy. And, the most innocent of all suffered the most. Maybe removing the statue will one day be able to be placed in better perspective, but for now it just seems like more knee-jerk reaction to a terrible episode in PSU and Pennsylvania law enforcement history. Far too many adults failed a few children. How sad is that?
Kevin Huff Sr.
5:34 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Melt the statue and make a cage for Sundusky out of it.
Leonor Ann Serfass
6:33 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
too many things are still left unanswered. Our current asshole governor was the Attorney General for PA when the first round of claims came about. Has anyone asked him or made him testify.The general public does not know what the child protective laws are so lest we judge. JoePa was never questioned by police etc..., and unless there is a seance by a credible medium we will never know. Why did McCreary (or however you spell it) wait 24 hrs to report it to anyone plus the fact he has changed his story at least 4 times. Come on people wake up and smell the coffee- JoePa is the scapegoat here
truth seeker
6:44 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Anytime a reporter brings it up Corbett has a tantrum. I think he is a tough guy.
careless fills
7:41 pm on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Leonor, you have your facts wrong.
While Corbett was an appointed AG to complete a unexpired term in 95-97, that was before the first allegations against Sandusky came out in 98. By then, Mike Fisher (now a Federal judge) was elected AG.
Corbett was not elected to be AG until 2005, long after Center County DA Gricar dropped the case in 1998.
Corbett's office was the solution to this problem after it came to their attention in 2009 when new allegations surfaced.
WILFREDO G. SALCEDO, Sr.
6:58 am on Monday, July 23, 2012
Statue is gone...Consummatum est, done...We learned another lesson...All is well (I hope)...We move on, without football for a while...We are-----PENN STATE!
louis kootsares
11:40 am on Monday, July 23, 2012
along with this the ncaa got involved wow i am waiting to see what is done to the catholic church for its thousands of cover ups there are alot of statues to remove
Pat
7:37 am on Thursday, July 26, 2012
Instead of removing it they could have just covered it up for 14 years..
matt
9:07 am on Thursday, July 26, 2012
ZING! Great comment Pat!!