Poll: Pennsylvanians support Paterno's firing

A new poll shows Pennsylvanians support the firing of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno following child sex abuse allegations against one of his former assistants.

   The Quinnipiac Poll released Friday says 52 percent of Pennsylvania voters support Paterno's firing while 43 percent oppose it.

   Paterno and school President Graham Spanier each lost their jobs after former assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with assaulting young boys.

   Prosecutors say alleged on-campus assaults were not immediately brought to the attention of authorities even though high-level people at Penn State apparently knew about them.

   The poll says 74 percent of respondents support Spanier's dismissal.  The poll of 1,453 registered voters for the week ending Dec. 5 has a sampling error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

Paterno's firing has evoked passionate response from many people. The Associated Press reported that nearly two dozen people face charges stemming from the off-campus riot that broke out after Penn State fired Paterno.

   State College police on Thursday released a list of 23 people now charged in the Nov. 9 riot and authorities said charges are pending against 16 other rioting suspects.  Four of those charged are accused of tipping over a WTAJ-TV news van.

In the meantime, a branch of the Penn State Alumni Association has initiated an effort to wish Paterno a happy birthday later this month. The Baltimore chapter said it's trying to get a stadium's worth of birthday cards sent to Paterno on Dec. 21, which will be his 85th birthday.

The association is also asking members to drop Paterno a card to his home address in State College. The group's goal is 109,000 cards, one for every seat at Beaver Stadium.