Bob Ford: Sandusky trial the easy part of meting out justice in scandal

But the forces that conspired to allow Sandusky free rein on the campus of Pennsylvania State University for way too long are just as guilty as Sandusky. If prosecuted and convicted, they will be found guilty of different crimes, but had they acted differently fewer children would have been molested.

That's about as clearly as it can be put. If people had done the right thing, fewer children would have been hurt. Getting that side of the equation brought to justice will be the difficult part, however, because the walls of power are high, and those who inhabit them have resources that enable them to remain inside.

As the commonwealth pursues criminal charges against Penn State administrators Gary Schultz and Tim Curley, and very possibly against former school president Graham B. Spanier, it will become increasingly difficult to obtain convictions from a local jury.

While Sandusky can be easily put away as a rogue freak who passed among us, Schultz, Curley, and Spanier were the very cloth of the community, and if that can be rended, what does it say about the community? If the all-encompassing influence over the region - Penn State - can be demonstrated to be morally bankrupt at its core, then what about the rest of us?

A jury can slam the door on Sandusky, who was willing to answer fully to Bob Costas but not to the people of the commonwealth, but what will happen when Schultz, Curley, and Spanier ask their peers to understand how difficult it is to steer this large ship that carries so much that is good?

Yes, that will be the difficult part, and twice difficult because it will once again take the conversation in the vicinity of Joe Paterno, a place where emotion has trumped common sense in the past.

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