Accountability? What To Do With Those That Help To Create Heinous Crimes

For all too many today, it's an old, obscure story.

Millions who were born in years following the 1978 massacre have but one momento -- a cliche about somebody "drinking the Kool-aid."

Stumbled upon this clipping recently, showing Jim Jones as he was beginning his rise in Indianapolis in 1953.  That's one of the pages out of the sociopath's playbook; working with the needy and the downtrodden.  Looks so damn impressive that these predators can't help but win over the public.

And that's when they begin laying out their blueprint for the real work at hand.

Here's a more recent story, with some interesting parallels.

Think we're all well-versed with this other predator who just the other day got caught, a decade after having published this touching book.  One Amazon reviewer the other day commented it was "100% false advertising by Mr. Sandusky.  Not a single page in this book 'touches' on how to appropriately gain the trust of young, at-risk boys, and then use that trust to perpetrate horrifying sexual assaults on the very children who turned to you for guidance and support...."

No, Jerry seemed of have left out those little details.  But now we at least have been informed of the shocking & outrageous reality of the "Sandusky Story."

So what could this tale of a twisted football coach possibly have to do with a twisted, murderous cult leader, besides them both having savage predatory personalities?

Actually quite a bit similar in another very significant respect.   Have a look at the chronology of events in the Sandusky case, as reported by writer Sara Ryley:

1977: Sandusky starts The Second Mile, a group foster home for troubled young boys that grew into a statewide charity serving hundreds of young boys.

1998: Victim 6 tells his mother that he was lathered and bear-hugged by Sandusky in the shower. His mother tells Penn State campus police.

Serial Pedophile Jerry Sandusky

May 13 and 19, 1998: Police eavesdrop on a phone conversation during which Victim 6’s mother confronts Sandusky and tries to make him promise never to shower with a boy again. Sandusky will not promise. She asks if Sandusky’s “private parts” touched Victim 6; Sandusky responds, “Maybe,” and tells her, “I wish I were dead.”

June 1, 1998: Sandusky is interviewed by investigator Lauro and campus detective Schreffler, and admits to hugging Victim 6 naked in the shower, saying that he knows it was wrong. He is told to stop showering with children.

District Attorney Ray Gricar

Schreffler and Gricar, the district attorney, decide against criminal charges. A similar incident with a victim referred
to as B.K. was also investigated.
Schreffler testified that Harmon,
then campus police director,
told him to close the case.

May 1999: Paterno tells Sandusky he will not be the next head coach of Penn State. Sandusky retires but negotiates emeritus status, giving him an office and access to facilities.

Fall 2000: Calhoun, the janitor, observes Sandusky in the shower of the Lasch Building performing oral sex on a young boy pinned up against the wall, and tells other janitors and his supervisor. Fellow janitor Petrosky later testifies they were afraid they’d lose their jobs if they told anyone what they saw.

March 1, 2002: McQueary enters the locker room at Penn State’s football building at about 9:30 p.m. and hears the shower running and “rhythmic, slapping sounds.” He sees Sandusky having anal sex with Victim 2, who appears to be 10 years old. McQueary goes to his office and calls his father.

March 2, 2002: McQueary shows up at Paterno’s house and reports what he saw.

Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno

March 3, 2002: Paterno calls Curley to his house to report that McQueary saw Sandusky doing something sexual in the locker room showers.

Schultz testifies that he was then called to a meeting with Paterno
and Curley, during which Paterno reported “disturbing” and “inappropriate” conduct in the shower by Sandusky.

Penn State Asst. Coach Mike McQueary

Approx. March 13, 2002: McQueary is called to meet with Curley and Schultz, and reports what he saw. Curley and Schultz say they will look into it. Curley later testifies that McQueary only reported “inappropriate contact,” not anal sex. However, Schultz testifies that he had the impression that Sandusky grabbed the boy’s genitals.

April 2002: McQueary hears from Curley, who says that Sandusky returned his keys to the locker room and was prohibited from bringing youths on campus, and that the incident was reported to The Second Mile executive director Raykovitz.

July 2009: Victim 1’s mother calls the high school to report inappropriate behavior. Sandusky is barred from the school and police are called.

September 2010: Sandusky retires from The Second Mile.

December 2010: McQueary testifies to the grand jury.

Nov. 5, 2011: Sandusky is arrested.

Nov. 9, 2011: Paterno and Spanier are fired.

So, happy ending, now that Sandusky is behind bars and these two spineless wonders Joe Paterno & Graham Spanier have been sacked?

Not quite.  There's of course the life-long destruction of the mental health of those abused boys.  But something else and this is where it rings a sickening echo with the Peoples Temple saga--WHY didn't the powers-that-were act to stop this crime rampage at Penn State?

Maybe for just the very same unforgivable reasons that California's powers-that-were did nothing to stop the Jim Jones crime rampage,  which of course took far more casualties.  Sandusky could and should have been stopped.  Just like Jones, who would murder everyone of the children in this picture and many, many more.

But no.  The "authorities" in Pennsylvania and California who we counted on to be responsible, conscionable, to do the right thing in the face of evil, instead embraced it, covered up the crime, and let it go on and on and on until it was too late.

Perhaps now, with this appalling Penn State scandal, the people not old enough to remember Jonestown will now be able to grasp its real causes, the ones our mass media still will not owe up to.  Today's print and broadcast reporters that sing the same story line, year after year, one anniversary after another, do so because they're far more comfy playing stupid, lazy, and frequently arrogant.

Now that this Penn State tragedy has demonstrated the horrifying byproduct of inaction, people might just reexamine the cult tumor that was the Peoples Temple.  It won't be difficult to find out about all those "honorable" politicians, police officials, clergy and journalists that were not only cowardly and ineffectual but aided & abetted Jim Jones.

September 1976 testimonial dinner honoring Jim Jones;  Willie Brown, Jr. (far left) and Jones (far right).

There were so many of them lining up to cheer Jones on.  Then-Assemblyman Willie Brown was one of the worst.

  "I have had the great pleasure of knowing a leader with tremendous character and integrity," declared Brown, who would be rewarded by going on be San Francisco's mayor, "Rev. Jones is regarded among government officials, civic and religious leaders, and particularly the black community and working class people, with utter respect for what he has done to upgrade the quality of life in our area and to bring greater health and well-being to thousands of poor, minority, and disadvantaged people."

Another big Jones cheerleader was Rev. John Moore.  Two of his daughters, Carolyn and Annie, committed suicide at Jonestown--that is, after they had brutally murdered babies, children, elderly, and others held at gunpoint by Temple thugs.

Rev. John V. Moore (Right) and his mass murderer daughters, Carolyn (Left), Annie (Center) 

Rev. Moore, who officiated at the May dedication of the Jim Jones Memorial Wall, had earlier proclaimed that the cult was a "model for other churches."  Much like, say, Sandusky was a model for a youth leader?

This begs another question:  Besides Jones, why should the names of ANY of the other mass murderers, such as Carolyn and Annie, as well as others like Jonestown death doctor Larry Schacht, be on this new memorial?

These blood-thirsty beasts have no more right being honored with the defenseless children and adults they butchered than does Jim Jones.  What next, adding the names of the "victimized" Nazi SS executioners on the Auschwitz memorial? 

Frankie Fountain, murdered by Jim Jones

Jewel Fountain, murdered by Jim Jones

This memorial is for those that couldn't defend themselves--not Jones, not crazed killers like Schacht, or the Moore Sisters, the armed guards, and airport assassins such as Thomas Kice, Sr. and Ronnie Dennis, who shot to death a U.S. Congressman and three journalists.

Take off these murderers' names.  Stop this horrendous desecration of the real victims of a senseless massacre that could have easily been avoided, contrary to the myths still promoted by cult apologists and media alike.

Or just leave them on.  Let the revisionists and cult apologists win so that Santayana's grim prophecy will prosper.