STATE COLLEGE, CENTRE COUNTY - Thousands have signed a petition online to get Joe Paterno's iconic statue back six months after it was taken down.
Joe Paterno died 374 days ago. His iconic statue outside Beaver Stadium came down exactly six months later. Now a group of Paterno supporters are trying to get the statue back,
One click at a time, more than 2,000 Joe Paterno supporters have signed an online petition. The petition demands that Penn State's Board of Trustees give Joe Paterno's iconic statue back to his fans. Cody and Ben Monarch are brothers at Penn State. They just found out about the petition, and Cody says they want to see Paterno back on campus.
"It would mean a lot; it'd be great, especially if it came back in my tenure here"
His brother Ben says it doesn't have to be at Beaver Stadium.
"I think they should have put it up in the library or something like that. It is still the Paterno library, but it was becoming a source of conflict and because of that I understand why they took it down."
Penn State took the statue down after Paterno was linked to the Sandusky scandal. The threat of looting and vandalism played a role in their decision. After Paterno was linked, many "Penn Staters" like Lonny Burkland demanded that the statue come down last July.
"I thought it should have been taken down, because no one's going to look at it the same way again, it's no longer to be associated as a good attribute of this university to have he statue there."
The petition also demands that he NCAA sanctions against Penn State get reversed. It claims Paterno's legacy's been unfairly tainted.
For the Monarch brothers, who grew up rooting for their beloved "Joe-Pa", They think it should be up to Penn State's student body, not the school's Board of Trustees.
Here is the Facebook link to petition.
