Water leaks from crippled Japanese nuclear plant

This Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) shows leakage from a purification device at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo. The nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from the purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean. The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing TEPCO as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year's end. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

This Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) shows leakage from a purification device at the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo. The nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from the purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean. The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing TEPCO as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year's end. (AP Photo/Tokyo Electric Power Co.) EDITORIAL USE ONLY

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's crippled nuclear power plant leaked about 45 tons of highly radioactive water from a purification device over the weekend, its operator said, and some may have drained into the ocean.

The leak is a reminder of the difficulties facing Tokyo Electric Power Co. as it tries to meet its goal of bringing the tsunami-damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to a cold shutdown by year's end.

A pool of radioactive water was discovered midday Sunday around a decontamination device, TEPCO said in a statement on its website. After the equipment was turned off, the leak appeared to stop. Later, workers found a crack in a concrete barrier leaking the contaminated water into a gutter that leads to the ocean.

TEPCO estimated about 300 liters leaked out before the crack was blocked with sandbags.

Officials were checking whether any water had reached the nearby ocean.

The leakage of radioactive water from the Fukushima plant into the Pacific Ocean in the weeks after the March 11 accident caused widespread concern that seafood in the coastal waters would be contaminated.

The pooled water around the purification device was measured Sunday at 16,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-134, and 29,000 bequerels per liter of cesium-137, TEPCO said. That's 270 times and 322 times higher, respectively, than government safety limits, according to the Citizens' Nuclear Information Center in Tokyo.

Cesium-137 is dangerous because it can last for decades in the environment, releasing cancer-causing radiation. The half-life of cesium-134 is about two years, while the half-life of cesium-137 is about 30 years.

TEPCO is using the purification devices to decontaminate water that has been cooling the reactors. Three of the plant's reactor cores mostly melted down when the March 11 tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling system.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-05-AS-Japan-Nuclear-Plant/id-1b226fb9ed5d4fb29f0ece808b0012e9

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Real estate crisis: America underwater (The Week)

New York ? Millions of Americans owe more than their homes are worth, creating a dangerous drag on the economy

How many homeowners are underwater?
Nearly 29 percent of U.S. homeowners with mortgages owe more on their homes than their properties are worth ? the definition of "underwater." That's about 14.7 million borrowers, and they collectively owe $700 billion. The problem is particularly acute in states where the housing bubble sent prices and new construction soaring in the 2000s: In Nevada, 60 percent of mortgaged homeowners are underwater; in Arizona it's 49 percent, and in Florida, 45 percent. After the housing bubble popped in 2008, home prices plummeted, and are down an average of 33 percent from their peak. They continue to fall. "What can we do?" said Charles Mills, who purchased a Las Vegas?area home in 2006 for $308,500 and has watched its value drop to $106,000. "Nobody's going to buy it. Nobody's going to rent it. If we walk away, my credit's shot. We're stuck."

What happens to homeowners like this?
Some 6 million of them have already lost their homes to foreclosure. Another 3.5 million are in the process, and millions more are one job loss, illness, or other financial shock from joining them. Refinancing is often impossible because they owe too much, so three quarters of underwater homeowners are locked in to "above market" interest rates. Even those who are managing to make payments are a drag on the U.S. economy, because they can't afford to spend much of their income on consumer goods and can't move elsewhere to pursue new jobs. Underwater homeowners are the "most desperate population in the country today," says Barry Bosworth, an economist at the Brookings Institution.

SEE MORE: Buy a house, get a visa?

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What options do they have?
None of them are good. Underwater homeowners can keep making mortgage payments and hope the housing market eventually improves. They can try to get a rare loan modification. They can attempt a "short sale," in which the house is sold by the bank for less than the mortgage. Or they can walk away from their mortgage, and surrender the home to the bank. Jon Wittenberg still owed $300,000 on a Southern California home that had lost more than half its value when he walked away. "We looked at how much my home was underwater, how much I'd lost thus far, and how much I would continue to lose," he says. The decision wrecked his credit, but in the long-term, "it was a no-brainer."

Why do home prices keep falling?
With millions of homeowners looking to sell, and far fewer people wanting to buy, it's a simple matter of supply and demand. A normal U.S. housing market has an inventory of about six months' worth of unsold homes; the inventory today tops 14 months. With such a glut of properties, few new homes are being built ? home construction is down 75 percent from the bubble's peak ? but the supply of available houses remains stubbornly high. That's partly because the bad economy prevents new households from forming. Cash-strapped young adults are moving in with their parents or living in group houses and apartments. The housing glut is also caused by banks tightening their mortgage standards; even people who want to buy a house in this market are often denied loans. Still other would-be buyers are staying on the sidelines, even with the benefit of rock-bottom interest rates, out of fear that they'll buy a home whose value will continue to fall.

Is the worst behind us?
It might not be. In October, there was a 31 percent decline in foreclosure notices compared with last year. But that may be because banks are now moving more slowly against delinquent borrowers. In 2010, several major lenders, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and GMAC Mortgage, temporarily halted foreclosures after it was revealed that they had engaged in what's known as "robo-signing" ? mass approvals of foreclosure documents without reviews of individual cases. That scandal led to new checks on the foreclosure process. But there have recently been signs that the banks have adjusted, and are once again picking up the pace.

Can government do anything?
That's debatable. President Obama recently announced the expansion of a program to help underwater homeowners refinance their mortgages, which in theory would free up money for them to spend elsewhere in the economy. But just 1 million homeowners might qualify, a fraction of those who need help. Some housing experts argue that the only way to truly revive the housing market ? and the wider economy with it ? is to reduce all underwater homeowners' principals, or the amount they owe on mortgages. Banks are understandably reluctant: Forgiving a percentage of mortgage debt across the board, they say, would undermine their balance sheets and create "moral hazard," by undercutting borrowers' obligation to pay back their loans. If nothing is done, however, housing prices are expected to fall another 8 percent by 2013, and prevent a strong recovery from taking hold. "Until that negative equity recedes, the housing market is not going to recover," said Sam Khater, an economist at real estate data firm CoreLogic. "It's a giant anchor that's holding back the economy."

A desert city underwater
Las Vegas was one of the nation's biggest boom towns in the last decade, as tens of thousands moved there for cheap housing and warm weather. That, it turns out, was a bad bet. In some parts of north Las Vegas, where neighborhoods developed so quickly that city services couldn't keep up, four out of five homeowners owe more than their homes are worth. Many of these neighborhood blocks have become ghost towns, hit by a foreclosure epidemic so severe that in some ZIP codes, 80 percent of sales are of foreclosed homes or of homes sold "short.'' As people flee, abandoned homes sit with broken windows, swimming pools filled with fetid water, and overgrown yards with signs that say "For Sale: Bank Owned." Steve and Gay Shoaff, whose $187,980 home is now worth $99,220, have watched their neighborhood empty but can't afford to move. "This house won't be worth what we paid on it until after we die," Gay says.

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Democrats to pursue protections for voting rights (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Democrats say they are planning an unprecedented effort to protect voting rights in the 2012 election after several states passed voter identification laws and restrictions on early voting and same day registration.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz says the party will oppose obstacles "essentially designed to rig an election when Republicans can't win these elections on the merits."

Party officials say they will try to overturn some of the measures, educate voters on the types of documents needed to vote in the states and pursue lawsuits if necessary.

Voter ID laws have passed this year in states like Wisconsin, Tennessee and Rhode Island. Efforts to restrict early voting have been approved in Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Supporters of the laws say they are necessary to eliminate voter fraud.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_el_ge/us_voting_rights

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Ladder-climbing robot brings us one step closer to extinction (video)

Will finding high ground save you when SkyNet becomes self-aware and Terminators annihilate the human race? Doubtful, thanks to Japanese robotics company Muscle Corp., which has built a robot that can climb ladders...and other stuff. "Dream Robo" certainly isn't the first wall-climbing robot, but its eerie anthropomorphic shape is guaranteed to send its victims into paroxysms of terror when it slowly, inexorably make its way up the side of a building to sate its hunger for human blood. Muscle Corp. President Hirofumi Tamai says the robot only took three months to build, with 15 companies collaborating to create the vertical killing machine. The device incorporates five motors: two in the shoulders, two in the legs, one in the back, all of which can be seen in action in the video above. No word on the specs of the beams that rain hot, fiery death from its chitinous, soulless black eyes, but we'll be honest -- our fear wouldn't allow us to inquire.

Ladder-climbing robot brings us one step closer to extinction (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Dec 2011 17:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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UK media inquiry a lesson in tabloid skullduggery (AP)

LONDON ? Hacking into celebrity phones was just the sleazy tip of the iceberg.

Britain's media ethics inquiry, set up in response to illegal eavesdropping by a Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid, has turned out to be a masterclass in skullduggery that has exposed the murky practices of the U.K.'s muckraking press.

This week, witnesses described how Murdoch's company had destroyed their lives and that of their families, with reporters targeting critics for spying and negative coverage, and sullying the name of an innocent man.

"We have a press that has just become frankly putrid in many of its elements," Alastair Campbell, former tabloid journalist and longtime communications aide to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, told the tribunal this week.

Few would disagree after listening to the nationally televised testimony describing the excesses of a callous, sometimes criminal, press.

The judge-led inquiry was set up after it emerged that Murdoch's News of the World had for years illegally eavesdropped on the voicemail messages of celebrities, public figures and crime victims. The scandal forced Murdoch to shut down the 168-year-old tabloid. A dozen Murdoch employees have been arrested in the case, which also cost the jobs of several of his top executives, two senior police officers and Prime Minister David Cameron's communications chief.

The inquiry has put Murdoch's empire on trial, as witnesses described their treatment at the hands of an organization they viewed as unassailably powerful, ruthless and feared.

Former child singing sensation Charlotte Church described how she was invited to perform at Murdoch's wedding on a yacht in New York when she was 13. She said she was offered a 100,000 pound (roughly $160,000) payment, but was told if she waived the fee that Murdoch's papers would look favorably on her.

Church, now 25, told the inquiry that she really wanted to take the money, but was told by her managers it would be worthwhile to give up the fee ? which would have been her highest payment ever then ? to cultivate Murdoch's support.

She said she was told "that he was a very, very powerful man" who could do her career a world of good ? if he wanted to.

But any tabloid goodwill she earned was short-lived. Church said media scrutiny increased to unbearable levels as she entered her teens. As she approached her 16th birthday, she said Murdoch's The Sun tabloid featured on its website a "countdown clock" timed to the day when she would be able to legally have sex ? an allegation the newspaper denies.

Later, a tabloid reported that Church was pregnant before she had even told her parents, news she felt had to come from reporters hacking into her phone. On another occasion the News of the World reported on her father's extramarital affair under the headline "Church's three in a bed cocaine shock." Church said her mother had attempted suicide partly as a result of this invasion of privacy.

Murdoch's News International has denied Church's version of events surrounding her performance at Murdoch's wedding, and her agent at the time, Jonathan Shalit, said she was not offered a choice between a fee and good press.

He said Church was not offered a fee and performed for free, as she had done for Prince Charles and President Bill Clinton. But he said publicity from these appearances helped launch her career in the United States, which was his plan.

"When you sing for these people you get added benefits for your career," he said.

Church was one of a slew of celebrities, including actor Hugh Grant, "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling and actress Sienna Miller, who have sat in the witness box at London's Royal Courts of Justice and described stakeouts and snatched photos, leaked medical details and midnight pursuits ? all justified, in the tabloids' eyes, because the people they were pursuing were famous.

Ian Hargreaves, professor of digital economy and former director of the journalism school at the University of Cardiff, said the hearings have had a profound impact on the public psyche ? and on Britain's political class ? by revealing so much about how part of British press works.

"It's been a process of revelation, based on firsthand testimony," he said. "A lot of journalists feel it has been one-sided, but processes that have been known about and talked about in private are suddenly being talked about on a big public stage."

Hearings continue into the new year, and justice Brian Leveson and his panel hope to issue a report by late 2012 that could recommend major changes to Britain's system of media self-regulation.

So far, the most strident defense of tabloids ? and the week's most jaw-dropping testimony ? came from unrepentant former News of the World journalist Paul McMullan. He described chasing celebrities' cars as "good fun," called phone hacking "a perfectly acceptable tool" of the trade and dismissed privacy as "the space bad people need to do bad things in."

He also said celebrities should stop complaining and be grateful for the attention of paparazzi.

The inquiry has also shown that it's not just celebrities who find themselves in the tabloids' sights. The parents of 13-year-old Milly Dowler, who was abducted and murdered in 2002, described how the News of the World's hacking of Milly's phone, and the deletion of voicemail messages, had given them false hope that their daughter was still alive.

This week Christopher Jefferies, a retired teacher arrested on suspicion of murder in a high-profile case a year ago, described how his life had been wrecked by "smears, innuendo and complete fiction" in articles that painted him as a voyeuristic eccentric, or worse.

Jefferies was released without charge, and another man has been convicted of the killing. Jefferies successfully sued eight newspapers ? including Murdoch's The Sun tabloid ? for libel, but said he would "never fully recover from the events of the last year."

"There will always be people who don't know me who will retain the impression that I'm some sort of weird character who is probably best avoided," he said.

The inquiry has also heard claims the Murdoch empire used negative articles and even espionage against its critics. Former TV host Anne Diamond recounted how she had asked Murdoch during a 1980s interview "how could he sleep at night" knowing his newspapers ruined people's lives.

She said after that "there were consistent negative stories about me in Mr. Murdoch's newspapers."

One glaring example was a story in The Sun headlined "Anne Diamond killed my father," about a fatal road accident she had been involved in years before. The same newspaper took pictures of Diamond carrying the coffin of her infant son at his funeral, despite her plea for the press to stay away out of respect for the family's grief.

Mark Lewis, a lawyer who has represented high-profile hacking victims, testified that he was put under surveillance by a private investigator working for Murdoch's News International. The surveillance, apparently in search of material to discredit him, included following and filming his 14-year-old daughter.

"That was truly horrific, that my daughter was videoed, was followed by a detective with a camera," Lewis said. "That shouldn't happen to anybody's child."

___

Associated Press writer Robert Barr contributed to this report.

Online: http://www.levesoninquiry.org.uk

Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_en_mu/eu_britain_phone_hacking

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Texas Court Rules Pets Have Sentimental Value, Not Just Market ...

In what could be a landmark decision, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a Texas court has ruled that pets not only have market worth, but that they also have sentimental value in the court of law.

The lawsuit came about after an incident involving Texas residents Jeremy and Katherine Medlen and their family dog, Avery. Avery, who was well-loved and adored his human pet parents, wound up escaping from their home two years ago after being spooked by a thunder storm. He was scooped up by animal control, and was found at the local animal shelter the next day, where the whole situation should have been resolved.

But due to an unfortunate series of events ranging from Medlen not having enough cash in his pocket at the moment to cover Avery?s pick up charge that day, and having to wait three days for the vet to place a microchip into Avery's ear, the dog was placed on the shelter's euthanasia list and put down. Katherine said, "It was a horrible time for us. I've never lost a family member or a pet before."

Hoping to prevent a situation like this from ever happening again to anyone's pet, the Medlens took their case to court.? The astounding result of their action was a ground-breaking ruling made this month by the a panel of Judges of the Texas Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth; for the first time, the court ruled that pets have just as great a sentimental value as their market worth. In this writer?s opinion, the decision showed that these judges have hearts as big as all of Texas. It is an especially significant decision given that historically, lawsuits involving animals were ruled by Texas courts based only upon the animal?s market value, never taking into consideration its sentimental value.

The ruling from the Texas Second Court of Appeals read: "Dogs are unconditionally devoted to their owners. We interpret timeworn Supreme Court law to acknowledge that the special value of 'man's best friend' should be protected.?

Hopefully the Texas Second Court of Appeals ruling will have a strong impact on other courts across the country in order for judges to make more heart-felt decisions. Since pets are considered family members by the majority of pet owners, their sentimental value must also be honored.

However, some people are concerned that this ruling, which may be appealed, could adversely affect veterinarians, dog sitters and kennels by paving the way for indiscriminate suits by owners in the event that something happens to their dogs.

What are your thoughts about the Texas Court decision? Share them in a comment.

Source: http://www.petside.com/article/texas-court-rules-pets-have-sentimental-value-not-just-market-worth

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Amazon reports record-breaking Kindle sales on Black Friday (Digital Trends)

The first Black Friday for the Kindle Fire was a good one, according to Amazon.

While the company didn?t provide exact sales figures, Amazon issued an announcement this morning that it sold four times as many Kindle products this year than on Black Friday 2010. ?And last year was a great year,? the company added.

The Kindle Fire also remained the ?bestselling product across all of Amazon since its introduction 8 weeks ago,? according to Amazon?s official statement, which simply reported ?millions? of Kindle Fire tablets sold thus far.

Amazon also reported that the Kindle Fire was the bestselling tablet at Target stories on Black Friday ? beating out Apple?s iPad in total sales.

Without any specific numbers to go on, it?s difficult to determine how much of a threat the popular tablet poses to Apple?s category-defining juggernaut, but it seems safe to say that the Android-powered Kindle Fire is off to a good start.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Jerry Sandusky: The 'great pretender' (The Week)

New York ? Before the former Penn State assistant coach was accused of molesting children, he boasted of living in a make-believe world

THE COLLEGE FOOTBALL world knew him as the "Dean of Linebacker U," the defensive coach who helped Penn State win two national championships. But Jerry Sandusky saw himself as a "Great Pretender." It was a name he adopted while performing in a band at his annual summer football camp for children.

"Pretending has always been a part of me," Sandusky, now 67, wrote in his autobiography, Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story. "I've loved trying to do the right things to hopefully make a difference in kids' lives and maybe make things better off for them. I'll never regret being called a 'great' pretender."

SEE MORE: The New York City Marathon: By the numbers

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Two weeks after prosecutors charged him with sexually molesting eight boys he befriended through his charity, some of Sandusky's friends, fans, and former players are wondering: Did the Great Pretender fool us all? They are combing their memories for missed signs, clues that could have tipped them that the coach they once assumed was Joe Paterno's heir apparent may not have been who they thought he was. His book provides a glimpse of a man who is not very introspective and admits to his own immaturity.

"He talks a lot in that book about hugging kids, about loving to be around kids," said editor David Newhouse, whose newspaper, The Patriot News, broke the Sandusky story. "There's some chilling things in that book, and it's only when you put them together with the allegations that you can see, perhaps, what he meant."

SEE MORE: Labor dispute: Will the entire NBA season be lost?

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Sandusky has denied the charges outlined in a 23-page grand jury report and insisted he is not a pedophile in an interview last week with NBC's Bob Costas. But he also said he enjoys being around kids, always has. He says he has helped hundreds, if not thousands, through his charity, The Second Mile.

Beyond the sex acts and assaults, the grand jury report portrays Sandusky as both controlling and needy. He called one boy more than 100 times after the boy started avoiding him, according to phone records examined by authorities.

SEE MORE: The couple who got married while running the New York City Marathon

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Sandusky describes himself as a harmless, overgrown kid. He writes that even beyond his drive to win and perform good works, he has a tendency to push too hard, go too far, and get himself in trouble with his pranks. "I believe I live a good part of my life in a make-believe world. I enjoyed pretending as a kid, and I love doing the same as an adult with these kids," he writes.

SEE MORE: Mike Krzyzewski: Greatest basketball coach ever?

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WHEN A PERSON rises to great heights and then crashes, the search for answers begins with a look at his childhood. Sandusky demonstrates an exceptional fondness for the years he spent as a boy in Washington, Pa., a small mining town tucked in the state's southwestern corner, about 30 miles from Pittsburgh. His parents, Art and Evelyn, ran a recreation center, and the family lived in the upstairs apartment.

The center was known as the Brownson House, taking its name from a benefactor ? a local judge. Sandusky called it "the Bug House" because of the colorful characters who came by. He was an only child, but at the Bug House he never lacked for company. One of his constant companions was a mentally challenged boy everyone called Big Ern. "I used to take Ernie to the movies or we'd go swimming together, and I taught him how to play basketball," he recalls in the book.

SEE MORE: Sex abuse scandal: Should Joe Paterno resign immediately?

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His father coached football, basketball, and wrestling and worked hard to embody the slogan on a sign in his office: "Don't give up on a bad boy, because he might turn out to be a great young man." He tutored neighborhood children and took in troubled kids, giving them chores and making them feel important. "Artie had strength and leadership and charisma," says Larry Romboski, who became a local basketball star under Art Sandusky's wing.

Jerry Sandusky was "not a leader-type guy" as a teenager, says his boyhood friend Bill Lindsay. He remembers Sandusky as somewhat aloof. But high school football provided his ticket to Penn State, and Sandusky headed off to Happy Valley to play defensive end for the football team. He married Dottie Gross in 1966, the year he graduated from Penn State. He'd met her at a picnic the previous summer, and although he was shy and awkward around girls, his mother pushed him to pursue the relationship.

SEE MORE: Remembering Joe Frazier

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After brief coaching stints at Juniata College and Boston University, Sandusky returned to Penn State for good in 1969 and stayed through 32 seasons. He and Dottie bought the house they live in today and were happy to settle in State College. It seemed the perfect place to raise a family. When the couple learned they could not have children of their own, they were heartbroken. They soon turned to helping other people's kids. They adopted six: Kara, the only girl, and boys E.J., Jon, Jeff, Ray, and Matt.

Three of the children arrived as infants, three were foster children ? at least two of whom came through The Second Mile. Jon and E.J. played for the Nittany Lions. Matt was a team manager, and Kara graduated from Penn State and worked there.

SEE MORE: Joe Paterno's firing: Are Penn State students wrong to protest?

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Sandusky's two big passions ? football and kids ? came together in 1977. That year, he was named Penn State's defensive coordinator. And, with the proceeds from his football book, Developing Linebackers the Penn State Way, he established The Second Mile.

It began as a group foster home for eight boys, but grew over the years into a statewide program with an annual budget of more than $1 million, offering after-school programs, mentoring, and ? according to the charity ? free camps to 100,000 children.

SEE MORE: The Penn State cover-up: Is homophobia to blame?

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"I was happy beyond my wildest dreams to be known as a Penn State football coach," Sandusky writes, "but I wanted to do something similar to what my parents did in that recreation center when I was a kid; how they reached out and extended themselves to so many people."

The children from The Second Mile became known around campus as "Jerry's Kids." He brought them to training table dinners, introduced them to Penn State's coaches and players, took them to games and picnics, bought them gifts, and wrote them letters.

SEE MORE: Jerry Sandusky's 'damning' NBC interview: 5 takeaways

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Before every home game, the coaches and players loaded onto buses at the practice facility and rode to the stadium as fans stood by and cheered. Sandusky always had a Second Mile boy with him.

"There aren't many programs that would put up with that," he told the Centre Daily Times, the newspaper in State College, in 2002. "I will always be grateful for that."

SEE MORE: Penn State's unfolding sex abuse scandal: 5 predictions

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Despite the 32 years he spent roaming the sidelines with Paterno, Sandusky's references in his book to the legendary coach seem to lack any measure of intimacy. He does say that Paterno yelled at him a lot, noticing his penchant for practical jokes early on. Sandusky recalls how Paterno summoned him to his office in the late 1960s to scold him: "I would like to be able to recommend you for future coaching jobs, but I don't want to recommend a guy who's going to act like a complete goofball."

Except for his wife and daughter, Sandusky hardly mentions women and girls in the book. Instead, he refers time and again to "special" boys he has grown close to over the years. They meant as much as, if not more than, football. Sports fans often say Sandusky is the best coach never to head a team. Indeed, the Great Pretender turned down opportunities to become head coach at Marshall University, Temple University, and, in 1991, the University of Maryland. He says he couldn't bear to part with his foster children or leave his Second Mile kids behind.

"I am tough and competitive with the kids," he writes, "but the one thing that has never been pretend or make-believe about me is my genuine love and care for the kids."

NFL Hall of Famer Franco Harris, who served as an honorary board member for The Second Mile, said, "We all believed in what Jerry was doing."

THE NEWS OF the Sandusky investigation first surfaced last spring. The Patriot News in Harrisburg reported that a grand jury was looking into allegations of abuse, mentioning just two boys. Sandusky, it appears, attempted to do some damage control. According to the grand jury report, he called one young man ? he had not spoken to him in two years ? in the weeks before his accuser was to testify. His wife and a family friend phoned, too; the calls were never returned, the report says.

Matt Hahn, who played for Penn State from 2004 to 2007, recalls seeing Sandusky around a lot, though the coach had retired in 1999. He usually had young boys with him, but nobody suspected a thing. Hahn had a strong reaction to a suggestion by Sandusky's attorney that hugging in the shower was what "jocks do."

"Let me make one thing clear," Hahn says. "There's no hugging in the shower between any guys, and nobody is rubbing my back and I'm not rubbing anybody's back, I can tell you that. You hear a 60-year-old man is showering with a 10-year-old boy, that's enough for me to say, 'Whoa, that's not a good thing.'"

SANDUSKY'S OLD FRIENDS back in Washington, Pa., are having trouble reconciling the boy they knew with the man many now consider a monster. The brick rec center once run by his mother and father remains on Jefferson Avenue. The Brownson House still serves the community, but not to the extent it once did. Mines have closed; families have moved on. Residents who revere Sandusky's father were proud to see Art's boy grow into a leader at Penn State.

Now, this.

It brings Larry Romboski, who was mentored by Sandusky's father, to tears. "The big question is: Why? Why? Why would he do this?" he says. "His parents have such a great reputation, and why would he in any way try to ruin that?"

The ruins extend far and wide: The scandal tarnished Paterno's legend and cost him his job. Penn State's longtime president was ousted, and the athletic director and the financial officer stand accused of perjury and failing to report what they knew to authorities. The Second Mile has announced that it is considering three options for its future, one of which is dissolution. More potential victims have come forward.

The man at the center of it all, the Great Pretender, reveals little of his psyche in his book. But there are legions now searching his words for answers.

"At the times when I found myself searching for maturity," the coach writes, "I usually came up with insanity. That's the way it is in the life of Gerald Arthur Sandusky."

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By Ann O'Neill and Wayne Drash. Sarah Hoye and Jessi Joseph contributed to this article. ?CNN. Reprinted courtesy of CNN.

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