If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, perhaps Gary Schultz is from Uranus.
That might explain the former Penn State vice president's allegedly out-of-this world contention that a reported incident between a former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky and a young boy in a university shower room might not have been anything more serious than Sandusky grabbing the boy's genitals.
What planet is Schultz from?
Sandusky has been charged with 52 counts related to alleged sexual assaults of 10 boys. Eight of the boys allegedly were molested on the Penn State campus, including one 2002 incident in a football team shower witnessed by then graduate assistant Mike McQueary.
Sandusky has said he is innocent and no sexual conduct occurred.
McQueary has testified he told then football coach Joe Paterno about what he saw and later provided information to Schultz, who was head of the University Police at the time, and to athletic director Tim Curley. The state Attorney General's Office has charged Curley and Schultz with perjury for testimony before a grand jury investigating Sandusky and with failure to report suspected child abuse.
Both have proclaimed their innocence. Curley currently is on leave, and Schultz retired after charges were filed.
On Friday, prosecutors filed paperwork with the Dauphin County Court to support the charges against Curley and Schultz. Prosecutors claim Curley and Schultz downplayed the seriousness of what McQueary told them to the grand jury.
''The allegations came across as not that serious," Schultz told the grand jury.
Schultz reportedly testified that McQueary offered no details and is quoted in the court documents as saying, "the impression that it was inappropriate. ... I had the feeling that there was perhaps some kind of wrestling around activity and maybe Jerry might have grabbed the young boy's genitals or something of that sort is the impression that I had," according to the Centre Daily Times.
That's beyond stunning.
Reports that a man might have grabbed a child's genitals are a serious matter.
Such an allegation should have sent off so many alarms that a Fourth of July fireworks show would seem like the lighting of a birthday candle. Yet the allegation was never forwarded to child welfare authorities.
Schultz also testified to the grand jury that he was aware of a 1998 investigation of alleged inappropriate behavior involving Sandusky and another boy whose mother called university police. Charges were not brought in that case.
Curley and PSU President Graham Spanier told the grand jury they were not aware of the 1998 allegation, and shortly before his death, Paterno told The Washington Post the same thing.
To be fair, Sandusky, Curley and Schultz have not been proven guilty.
But for anyone to downplay questionable physical contact between a grown man and a young boy, both naked in a shower, leaves us dumbfounded.
It's going to be interesting to see how Schultz explains it.
