{"id":670,"date":"2011-11-10T17:39:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-10T17:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/11\/how-could-i-not-talk-about-it-the-penn-state-sex-offender-thing.html"},"modified":"2011-11-10T17:39:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-10T17:39:00","slug":"how-could-i-not-talk-about-it-the-penn-state-sex-offender-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/11\/how-could-i-not-talk-about-it-the-penn-state-sex-offender-thing.html","title":{"rendered":"How Could I NOT Talk About It? The Penn State Sex Offender Thing."},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

It’s worth discussing.  And since I have to come up with 30 days worth of material for this month’s NaBloPoMo<\/a>, this presented itself at an opportune time.<\/p>\n

The web world is all aflutter with the Penn State Athletics Sex Scandal.<\/a>  Or whatever you want to call it. <\/p>\n

This makes me ashamed for all the times I’ve called Florida State’s mascot the “Criminoles”<\/a> and equated red sweater vests with “Liars”<\/a>.  What Penn State’s leaders have done makes all those NCAA violations child’s play.<\/p>\n

Via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook, I’m commiserating with my PSU classmates.  We’re convincing each other that the university will dust off, move on and continue to move forward.  We’re pondering amongst each other what the leaders must have been thinking to cover up something like this, whether JoePa<\/a> will receive any traditional retirement benefits, and all those great Linebacker U players who regarded Sandusky as a mentor<\/a> right up through this year! The alumni association is pleading with their membership to continue support<\/a> to the association and university.  Ironically, we received an Penn State Annual Gift letter on Tuesday.  We typically give a modest amount every year, specifically targeting the meteorology department and AFROTC.  This likely won’t change…those departments still need support.<\/p>\n

But other thoughts have entered the mothering side of my brain.  I had these same thoughts in 2008, which is when we learned through our local TV station that Jacob’s soccer coach in Apex, NC was arrested on sexual misconduct charges<\/a>.  Thoughts like “How can I trust any other athletic coach?” and “How do I know that ANY adult my child interacts with isn’t a sexual offender?”<\/p>\n

So now I’m getting nervous thoughts about my kids going off to school each day, going off to college in the future, headed out to Boy Scout camp — without the parents — by the time they’re in 5th grade.<\/p>\n

I won’t want to go through life like this.  I want to trust people.  After all, I trusted a 19-year-old with my sons for a few days in September while Dave and I traveled to Omaha on AF business, right?  I trust my sons on a school bus every day, I trust them at birthday parties, at school, and at those occasional trips they take with friends’ parents.  Other parents trust me with their kids. <\/p>\n

I’m not happy with how one guy’s evil, and the witnesses who did nothing about it, turned into a huge Joe Paterno drama.  Joe Paterno may be part of the cover-up problem, but he is NOT the child rapist.  Last night CNN was airing stock footage of JoePa while discussing the graphic descriptions of those terrible things Sandusky did.  I call foul on that, CNN!<\/p>\n

JoePa was fired first, while even Sandusky continues to receive benefits from the university for his defense, since he’s “innocent until proven guilty”.<\/p>\n

Pardon the babbling here, pride in my alma mater has been shattered just a little.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s worth discussing.  And since I have to come up with 30 days worth of material for this month’s NaBloPoMo, this presented itself at an opportune time. The web world is all aflutter with the Penn State Athletics Sex Scandal.  Or whatever you want to call it. This makes me ashamed for all the times […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[],"tags":[167,616],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-aO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":444,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2010\/07\/4000-miles-part-3.html","url_meta":{"origin":670,"position":0},"title":"4000 Mile Road Trip: Part 3","date":"27 July 10","format":false,"excerpt":"The next stop on our trip was our alma mater, Penn State University! The Department of Meteorology had a 75th Anniversary celebration weekend, and Dave and I took advantage of our time without the kids to have a good old fashioned party weekend! 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What WILL They Think of Next?","date":"30 November 11","format":false,"excerpt":"Took this picture yesterday at the Commissary. \u00a0I'll let the picture speak for itself. \u00a0The subtitle below says \"Creamy taste and texture of pumpkin pie flavored with natural cinnamon & ginger\".I don't know what to say about this pie-ish product. \u00a0Many times you guys have known me to whine about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"dear husband\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-rkMGglMzkck\/TtWPiXMQneI\/AAAAAAABb2A\/69AXylAUZqg\/s400\/IMG_6247.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":159,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/06\/about-to-explode.html","url_meta":{"origin":670,"position":3},"title":"About to Explode","date":"08 June 08","format":false,"excerpt":"No...not me. My poor husband.He's at T-6 days and counting till his PhD dissertation defense. I won't even TRY to explain what he's up to, but let me just refer you here if you also have a 100lb. brain and would like to learn more. He last updated the homepage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"dear husband\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":207,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/08\/criminy-pete-woman-whereve-you-been.html","url_meta":{"origin":670,"position":4},"title":"Criminy Pete, Woman, Where’ve You Been?","date":"12 August 08","format":false,"excerpt":"\"So, besides the photo of a fire and an announcement about your weather station being back, you've been pretty incognito!\"Yeah, I suppose I have.\"Are you okay?\"Yes, I'm finally coming down from the incredible stress of this move. The car accident on August 2nd didn't help, either. 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