If you knew a dear friend was committing an unspeakable crime, what would you do?

Joe Paterno was faced with the choice to do the right thing many times in the case of his friend and former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

He didn’t.

He allowed children to be abused repeatedly. Those kids needed help, and no one stepped up for them.

As with most heinous crimes, the darkness has come to light.

In November, when Paterno was fired, students took to the streets, screaming, stamping, flipping news trucks and marching for Paterno’s reinstatement.

I wonder how those students feel now.

In the Freeh report (an independent investigation by Freeh Sporkin & Sullivan LLP), it is revealed that Paterno made no effort to protect the children, and instead focused his energy on concealing Sandusky’s crimes from the authorities, the campus community and the Board of Trustees.

Sandusky was allowed unrestricted and unsupervised access to campus and to these children, even after learning of assault after assault.

From 1998 to 2011, Sandusky, a known molester, was left in charge of his Second Mile Program and granted free reign to assault children.

How long could you bear to keep your mouth shut?

The innocence of a helpless child has to come before any friendship you have with anyone.

If I saw a friend or role model of mine assaulting a child in a shower, I would knock their head clear off of their shoulders and call 911.

Mike McQueary, Penn State assistant football coach, had his shot to do so, but went home and called his dad about it, who told him to tell Paterno the next day, which he did.

Paterno turned the other way.

The shock of the moment has to conjure some sort of reaction in a sane person.

But why not in Paterno?

Before this incident, I saw him as a nice old man who had accomplished so much in his coaching career.

Now, I hope they rip his statue down.

Did he assault children?

No. Sandusky did. But the cover-up is just as bad as the crime.

How on Earth do you enable someone to do something so evil?

There are violent criminals locked away from the world, and I bet even they would look at Sandusky and Paterno with disgust.

Head Eastern volleyball coach Kate Price, a former Nittany Lion, describes it all as a “very heartbreaking situation.”

I see it the same.

As a little kid I always had someone to protect me.

Without those people, who knows where I’d be or what condition I’d be in?

Imagine the helplessness that Sandusky’s victims felt.

Children, who often were from troubled social backgrounds in the first place, had their faith in people shattered and burned. That psychological damage just doesn’t go away.

If only someone would have done something.

Mike McQueary, Joe Paterno, former president Graham Spanier, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Senior Vice President Gary Schultz all did nothing.

Five grown men knowingly let a monster have his way with 10 boys, if not more.

I’m not sure where we are in society today, but if those so-called “men” can attain positions of power that high, then any real man should be capable of becoming “King of the World.”

The problem I have with Joe Paterno in particular is his speeches of leadership and strength over the years.

Even the Penn State fight song contains the lyrics: “Penn State forever, molder of men.”

If he even tried to pretend to live up to that statement, he’d have done something for those kids besides leaving them with an irreparable childhood.

Tear his statue down. Or if you want to make a mockery of it, turn it to face the other way, because that is exactly what he did.

Joshua Bryant can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].