Aw man.  I am seeing how this issue is one that doesn't fall along traditional conservative/liberal lines.  I have long been a Joe Paterno fan.  Good man, great coach, old school, etc.  Based on the facts that I have read or heard about, he did report the molester to the A.D.  What was the context of the situation?  I don't know, and I'm not sure how many people in the public know all the details.  It does bother me that so many people rush to judgment, as if they know exactly what went on and exactly who is to blame and exactly the degree to which people are to blame.  I am of the opinion that if we do not have all the facts, we should without judgment.  So, not that I support rioters, but I definitely feel for people who don't like it that this is the way JoePa is going out.

I admit that I haven't read the Grand Jury report yet.  However, I do know that there is a tendency in the world (mostly coming from the left) which wants to assign blame in indirect ways, possibly as a means of conquering their political enemies.  Not saying that is necessarily going on here, but that is what I have noticed generally.  I am also opposed to “arm-chair moralizing” which seems to run rampant on the internet (e.g. comments on news web sites).  It's as if everyone on the internet knows exactly how people should have acted all the time.  The judgments fly based on news reports which don't always contain all the facts, or only one side of the story.  This bothers me quite a bit, which is why I am hesitant to immediately hop on statements which are overly sure that XY and Z should have been done. 

I don't think we need a lynch mob, we should let the courts work it out now.  I just cannot understand how it never came to the attention of the police.  There are several incidents highlighted in the Grand Jury report that should have wen to the police but did not for one reason or another.  I cannot see any rational explanation for why the suspected conduct was not reported.  The only reason I can think of for people not reporting, and it is not a good reason, is that even allegations of this nature tend to destroy people even when they are proved false.The only people I feel sorry for in all this are the kids who were molested needlessly because of missed opportunities ten years ago.  It is not as though child molesters don't know that what they are doing is wrong is it?Here is a very good analysis piece from the Washington Post: Penn State Coach Joe Paterno reaches a sad conclusion

I agree, but that's not the case here.  Paterno knew about it by his own admission, and Paterno also knew that the pervert ran a daycamp for underprivilaged children, which to me makes it twice as disgusting that Paterno chose to not go to the PROPER authorities.

I just read the Grand Jury report, and I hold the same position I did at the beginning; on the outside, we cannot claim to know everything that went on, or how everyone should have acted.  According to the testimony, Paterno heard about the incident second-hand; he reported it to his supervisor; the supervisor reported it a VP who actually had some role in overseeing the university police, and so on.  There are plenty of facts that are not mentioned that could make the case more or less condemning to each of the parties involved.  Paterno might have assumed that it was being handled by the proper people.  Paterno might have thought the assistant who reported it to him might not have been an entirely credible source.  Who knows?  I don't, and only few people do.  Yes, someone should have looked into it, but the person in authority does not seem to have been Joe Paterno.