I’m still angry about the adulation and deference being given to the
Penn State hero, the late Joe Paterno

I’m still angry about the adulation and deference being given
to the PennState
hero, the late Joe Paterno. And I’ve sided with critics calling for PennState to remove the big statue to
Paterno that stands in front of the school’s football stadium.

So it was curious to read, this morning, not one but two columns suggesting
that PennState
keep the statue right where it is. Both columns – by the D&C’s Leo Roth and Times guest columnist Ta-Nehisi Coates – argued that the statue would remind
people of PennState’s
child-abuse scandal, that it would be a tribute to the children Jerry Sandusky
abused.

Ya think?

If Penn State needs a tribute to the victims of child abuse, how about
statues of children?

This article appears in Jul 18-24, 2012.

Mary Anna Towler is a transplant from the Southern Appalachians and is editor, co-publisher, and co-founder of City. She is happy to have converted a shy but opinionated childhood into an adult job. She...