While we continue to argue that "role models" have no real effect on children’s behavior, the state of athletics grows a fungus on its public and private sectors. So far, the Pennsylvania General Assembly cannot decide if they are arm-twisted by lawyers or lobbyists. They cannot decide on campaign finance reform.

Especially hard on them is the question of who should come and who should go. Speaking of coming and going, has anyone noticed the widened entrance roads to the Capitol? I guess they need those big cars paid for by taxpayers at about $650 per month, their lease allowance not voted upon by citizens. They also need the mileage, the hotel rooms, and the meals. They have important work before them. They must decide important issues like is an overdue parking ticket a good reason to boot someone? Should they wait, for example, until a member is accused of a fatal hit-and-run accident? Maybe polluting streams is sleazy enough to warrant the boot. Stealing a generator is bad, but is it as bad as, say, as cheating on your per diem expense report? Deciding what’s punishable or not is like prunes — is one enough, is six too many?

Ah, but the General Assembly can find time to reform the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA).

Unlike too much money running around on the Hill, the PIAA is thought to be major threat to the Keystone State’s well being. They now face what every large organization fears — the wrath of pissed off elected leaders who, according to stale rumors all over town, simply didn’t get things their way. And as an example to us of their real priorities — primo referee assignments for themselves and friends — they’ll legislate a solution to achieve what simple talk couldn’t.

Meanwhile, in nearby Happy Valley, students again riot at Penn State’s showcase arts-festival-turned-beer-bust. Some students, like Rashard Casey, allegedly go out of town for fun. After a weekend of fun gone mad that involved an arrest, Casey returns to a campus ready to turn every legal screw and to mimic all bad excuses for being a thug. Why not? Millions of dollars are at stake.

In contrast, Michael Byrne, one of the allegedly drunken rioters, gets the boot for one semester. Unhappy in Happy Valley over his fate, Byrne does what everybody does. He plays the legal lottery and appeals his decision to university officials. Regarding Casey, university officials complain that the Hoboken, New Jersey chief of police Carmen LaBruno, where Casey’s alleged criminal behavior took place, isn’t providing enough information for them to properly decide their disciplinary course. LaBruno told the Associated Press that he "drew the line at producing witnesses" because that could jeopardize the criminal case against Casey. Sounds like Joe Paterno is asking LaBruno to tell him now if Casey looks guilty, even though Casey says he’s innocent, so that Paterno doesn’t start a kid who ends up guilty later under the testimony of witnesses.