There's no question ongoing coverage of the Jerry Sandusky/Penn State scandal is wearing thin with some readers.
We understand that, and we've tried to be selective in striking a balance with how much is too much.
The problem is this is the biggest local story of our lifetime, and part of being selective includes how prominently to play new angles that develop daily.
Sometimes there are a half-dozen elements from which to choose. Deciding which one or ones should be played on Page 1 and which ones should go inside the A section or in Sports is a daily discussion at our news meeting.
Last week brought significant developments with the removal of statue of Joe Paterno, the anticipation of the NCAA press conference and the harsh sanctions - arguably too harsh - that followed.
If you think the smoke has cleared, unfortunately, you'll have to think again. The story is far from over.
The remainder of the criminal case, including the trials of Tim Curley and Gary Schultz, has yet to take place. Attorney General Linda Kelly has not ruled out further charges that could include former PSU President Graham Spanier.
The Paterno family, outraged by the Freeh report, has pledged its own investigation.
Speaking of the Freeh report that the NCAA accepted because Penn State accepted it - then again, Penn State paid for it - there's no doubt it is incomplete.
Freeh investigators didn't interview several key people at the request of the Attorney General's Office to avoid potentially interfering with further prosecutions.
I'm not a lawyer, but it would seem that several people mentioned in the Freeh report could offer vital information concerning the case and the culpability of the four people, besides Jerry Sandusky, deemed most responsible for being oblivious, looking the other way or both.
Those people are Spanier, Schultz, Curley and Joe Paterno.
But the criminal trial might not bring out the entire truth, either. First of all, Paterno and the district attorney who prosecuted the case, Ray Gricar, are dead.
It would be nice to find out what led Gricar to back off in 1998 when officers investigated reports of Sandusky showering with a boy.
One of Gricar's prosecutors, Karen Arnold, did not speak with the Freeh people. Neither did Wendell Courtney, the university's chief legal counsel for 30 years who also represented The Second Mile simultaneously (2008-10).
In 2011, Cynthia Baldwin, a Board of Trustees member until 2010 and who succeeded Courtney as the university's chief legal counsel, contacted Courtney about his recollection of the 2001 case. Courtney alerted Schultz that Baldwin called but said he didn't ask why she wanted to know and didn't tell her that he had already communicated with Schultz. Who was Courtney protecting?
Baldwin doesn't come off too well, either, since she initially downplayed the severity of the case and advised Spanier not to inform the entire Board of Trustees that high-ranking PSU officials were being interviewed by a state grand jury. She also told the board that the university, despite Sandusky being investigated on serious charges, could not ban him from its facilities.
Now the Freeh people are upset that, apparently to their surprise, their work has resulted in the NCAA piggybacking on the report's findings without doing its own investigation.
Then there's the pending civil suits, more reported victims of abuse coming forward and the story being the central theme surrounding the upcoming football season.
As you can see, this case - and all that's gone with it - is not going away.
Mirror Managing Editor Neil Rudel can be reached at 946-7527 or nrudel@altoonamirror.com.
