Reporter Reflects on Penn State Riots; Psychologist Weighs In
By: Brad Haller
Updated: November 10, 2011
(State College, PA) -- Former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno says he's disappointed that he's been fired.
In a statement, Paterno says of his termination, quote, "I have to accept it."
However, students on the Penn State campus were outraged.
"We were stuck in the middle of that riot last night," says Andy Mehalshick, lead investigator of the Eyewitness News I-Team at WBRE in Pennsylvania. "Penn State has a reputation of when they riot, they riot in a big way."
(Click the video to watch his live talkback with Kate Stacy and Jeremy Stevens on Ozarks Local News at Nine.)
"Paterno is Penn State. That's why many students come to Penn State, to get that on their resume. It's one of those schools that rank up there -- they say 'bleed blue and white' -- they look at him as a grandfather figure."
However, students on the Penn State campus were outraged.
"We were stuck in the middle of that riot last night," says Andy Mehalshick, lead investigator of the Eyewitness News I-Team at WBRE in Pennsylvania. "Penn State has a reputation of when they riot, they riot in a big way."
(Click the video to watch his live talkback with Kate Stacy and Jeremy Stevens on Ozarks Local News at Nine.)
"Paterno is Penn State. That's why many students come to Penn State, to get that on their resume. It's one of those schools that rank up there -- they say 'bleed blue and white' -- they look at him as a grandfather figure."
Paterno made an appeal for peace on campus Thursday, saying "everyone should remain calm and please respect the university, its property and all that we value."
His firing was prompted by the child sex abuse scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
Sandusky has been charged with 40 counts of molestation of young boys.
As we talk about the ramifications of the alleged crimes, the victims at the center cannot be forgotten.
Sandusky allegeldy engaged in sexual abuse with a handful of boys as young as seven or eight, which lasted over several years.
Dr. Glenna Weis, a licensed child psychologist with the Forest Institute, says victims are often sexually groomed over time.
She says the longer the abuse lasts, the greater impact it can have on a child's development.
This can create a distorted view of boundaries for future relationships and even parenting.
"Sexually abused kids I see as older kids or adolescents or even young adults are often immature, irrational, have poor responsibilities, things that would occur with younger kids," says Dr. Weis. "But they seem to have it. Now, cognitively they're fine but what's impacted on them is the sexual abuse does kind of interfere and stop the development in that one area."
If a child reports any abuse to a grown-up, Wise encourges the adult not to question the child's judgement, just show support. Then report the indicent immediately.
Comments
Spell check is a marvelous thing. Last graf: indicent? I assume you meant incident.
Roger R.
November 12, 2011 at 2:33 am
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