The famous film director Cecil de Mille and industrialist Henry Ford both affirmed the Hindu principle that you cannot break the Law of the Universe; you can only break yourself against the law by trying.

Penn State trustees Mark Dambly and Karen Peetz have proved, similarly, that you cannot destroy the reputation of an honorable man like Joe Paterno; you can only mar your own by trying.

Peetz recently said, “We’re not planning to make any statements about the guilt or innocence of any of the parties involved” in the Freeh Report (Penn Stater magazine).

In September, Dambly said, “The four people spoken about most in the (Freeh) report, we’re certainly not going to take a position on their guilt or innocence.”

Peetz said in July, however, “I think our reaction is that the clarity that’s come out of the report would show that 61 years of excellent service that Joe gave to the university is now marred. And we have to step back and say, ‘what does that mean?’ “

Her colleague Ken Frazier then explicitly said that Paterno and three Penn State administrators failed to protect children.

The effort by Peetz and her fellow trustees to mar Paterno’s record has therefore achieved nothing but to put her and Dambly on record as telling a self-proven falsehood to the Penn State community.

William A. Levinson

Wilkes-Barre