Chronicles of a Baby Daddy: Wesley Mack vs Penn State

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It’s actually pretty rigid to write/blog about something like this- as a ‘normal’ person my mind just doesn’t begin to think like Jerry Sandusky and for that matter the poor executive leadership at Penn State.  As I’m sure most of you have seen the round-the-clock news coverage of this story, from CNN showing 2000 super charged college kids chanting ‘Joe Pa’ and turning over a media truck to ESPN running seemingly endless loops of Joe Pa’s career and the football legacy he leaves behind, to story after story of cover-ups- and here’s the thing, I wasn’t there, I would venture to guess none of Austin Moms Blog readers were there- but I think all of us ‘normal’ people can agree what is alleged to have happened in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania is absolutely, positively DISGUSTING. A quick timeline and what has come out about this scandal (this might change by press time):

In 1977 – Jerry Sandusky founds The Second Mile. It begins as a group foster home dedicated to helping troubled boys

From 1994 – to 2011 – Multiple victims are identified and all report meeting Sandusky through The Second Mile program and are physically assaulted in various places including Sandusky’s home basement, while traveling to Penn State football bowl games and the Penn State football locker rooms, specifically the showers.

In the fall of 2000 – A janitor named James Calhoun observes Sandusky in the showers of the Lasch Football Building with a young boy, known as Victim 8, pinned up against the wall, performing oral sex on the boy. He tells other janitorial staff immediately. Calhoun was a temporary employee and never makes a report. Victim 8’s identity is unknown.

March 1, 2002 – A Penn State graduate assistant enters the locker room at the Lasch Football Building. In the showers, he sees a naked boy, known as Victim 2, subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky. The following morning, the graduate assistant calls Coach Joe Paterno and goes to Paterno’s home, where he reports what he has seen. The next day Paterno calls Tim Curley, Penn State Athletic Director to his home the next day and reports a version of what the grad assistant had said. Later in the month the graduate assistant is called to a meeting with Curley and Senior Vice President for Finance and Business Gary Schultz. The grad assistant reports what he has seen and Curley and Schultz say they will look into it.

March 27, 2002 (approximate) – The graduate assistant hears from Curley. He is told that Sandusky’s locker room keys are taken away and that the incident has been reported to The Second Mile. The graduate assistant is never questioned by university police and no other entity conducts an investigation until the graduate assistant testifies in Grand Jury in December 2010.

Nov. 5, 2011 – Sandusky is arrested and released on $100,000 bail after being arraigned on 40 criminal counts.

If you took the time to read the above you’re probably just as disgusted as I am. Of course, we are looking back in time and in hindsight we know vision is always ‘20-20’. The real issue every ‘normal person’ has with this story is that the monster was allowed to continue preying on these young at risk kids, and that people of seemingly high character found ways not to alert the proper authorities. I’m going to say it for all of us- WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE???

Whether you’re a at risk child’s mother, a friend of a family with kids, a extremely successful football coach, or a janitor at a high school- YOU ALL HAVE THE MORAL OBLIGATION TO ALERT THE PROPER AUTHORITIES if you are witness to sexual misconduct with a child. Not all children for whatever reason are going to say no to strangers, not all children can defend themselves in every situation- it’s up to us the ‘normal people’ of this world to stand up for them when they need us. I could go on and on about all of the ridiculous things that have been reported, but again the most important item that every single parent reading this blog should come away with is that it is up to YOU to protect your children, to put them in proper situations, to talk to your children regularly about what they experience in life outside of the home, and most importantly be willing to ask the tough questions and stand up for our children. Would you have simply told your boss- ‘Hey I saw Fred in the shower with a young boy’? These people actually thought it was more important to protect their collegiate brand than to do the correct moral thing and stop this sick individual. College football was more important to these idiots than exposing a child raping monster. I’ve heard all the pro Joe Pau arguments this week- the bottom line (regardless of what has come out and what will come out) Anyone who knew or witnessed this type of behavior should have called 911 and filed a police report that very moment in time. PERIOD.

I heard a stat yesterday that floored me- 1 in 11 people in the United States have been sexually abused. Considering there is somewhere around 300 million people in the US- if my math is correct here that’s around 27 million people that have been sexually assaulted as a child. 27 MILLION PEOPLE! This is obviously a problem- and it shows that we as ‘normal’ parents have our work cut out to protect our children. We’ve all heard the saying – ‘it takes a village’ – I am asking each and every one of you to step up and take responsibility to protect our children. It’s up to ‘us’… Please feel free to forward this blog on to any parents you know. 27 Million people…