PATERNO: Good man done wrong

Concerning the recent events involving Joe Paterno and his family. I am finding it difficult to write this as my emotions are bouncing from outrage to shame for the people responsible for one of the most obvious distortions of the truth that I can recall. This is at incalculatable damage to the reputation and good name of Joe Paterno and his family.

It is my understanding that when Mr. Paterno became aware of abuses taking place in the Sports Department of the University, he reported it to his employers at the University. Was this not the proper thing to do? Would it have been proper for him to circumvent his employers and go directly to Law Enforcement? One can only imagine what his fate would have been for that action. He would have been shown the back door of the University many years ago. Instead, the University turned the other way and chose to ignore his report.

It is absolutely essential that we give Mr. Paterno credit for reporting the abuses to the proper channel. The University's sweeping the problem under the rug instead of taking proper action was not the fault of Mr. Paterno. If one has ever worked for an organization as I did for many years in the food industry one would know that if you detect wrong doing or abuse of food safety regulations and go directly to FDA or other regulatory agencies, but circumvent your superiors and/or Board of Directors you might as well start packing your brief case and go job hunting.

The shame of it all is that when the University felt the heat coming on they did the most cowardly and despicable thing possible. (a) they fired a sports icon who was an honorable gentleman both off and on the playing field, who had been a positive influence on young people by the thousands if not millions, not only in his immediate area, but nationwide. (b) They dirtied the name of not only this honorable man, but his family as well. By the way, the University also knew he was terminally ill when they did this to him. Apparently, this meant nothing to them, as long as they kept their miserable backsides under cover.

One can only hope that the Paterno family retain a dedicated and determined Law Firm to restore their good name and identify those responsible for this obvious miscarriage of justice.

After that, it would be proper to levy substantial punitive monetary damages against those that were willing to let this happen.

JIM SELZLER

Post Falls