Bitterness Remains After Removal Of Joe Paterno's Statue

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- The statue of Joe Paterno is gone from Beaver Stadium, but hard feelings remain.

Eddie Lauth, a Centre County businessman who donated $25,000 to fashion and install the statue, tried unsuccessfully to halt its removal when a judge denied his request for an injunction.

KDKA's Andy Sheehan spoke with him Tuesday afternoon on the phone.

"The other people like myself who were the donors of the statue with the understanding that it was a permanent tribute for Joe and all the contributions he's made to Penn State, to our community," Lauth says, "and I felt that as someone who was just one of many that gave this, it would have been nice to have a reason or cause and exactly what that cause was."

Like many Penn State boosters and alumni, Lauth accuses the Penn State administration and now the NCAA of a rush to judgment, basing their actions solely on the basis of an investigation by former FBI Director Louis Freeh and not waiting for the legal trials to play themselves out.

"I have read the Freeh report," Lauth said. "I personally think it is a lot of hearsay, innuendos and assumptions and I believe that if and when Tim Curley and Gary Schultz get their day in court that there'll be more facts that will come out and I think that would have been the proper time to have waited."

Lauth concedes that with the statue gone, there is a little chance it will be returned to its former place outside Beaver Stadium. He, however, would like the university to tell him what they intend to do with it.

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