Duke athletes, coaches gather and stress need for 'excellence'
By BRYAN STRICKLAND, The Herald-Sun
September 11, 2006 11:18 pm
DURHAM -- Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski couldn't recall a time in his 26 years on campus when the entire athletics department -- from veteran coaches and administrators to first-year athletes -- came together under one roof.
Krzyzewski also couldn't recall a time it was as crucial that that happen.
School is back in session, nearly six months after the university first faced what Krzyzewski called the most trying time in his tenure, brought on by still-pending allegations of sexual assault against three lacrosse players.
Monday, the 2006-07 men's lacrosse team -- along with every other team at the school -- gathered at Cameron Indoor Stadium to re-affirm their beliefs overall and their belief in each other.
One by one, former Duke athletes took the stage to unveil a word that spoke to the department's mission going forward. Athletes like former basketball greats Grant Hill and Johnny Dawkins and former football player and Shaw University president Clarence Newsome shared words like "education," "accountability" and, above all, "excellence."
Attendees received Nike-designed T-shirts with a logo featuring the word "excellence" surrounded by the rest of the words -- respect, integrity, diversity, sportsmanship, commitment and loyalty -- and soon all the words will hang off the lampposts in Krzyzewskiville, the grassy area where students await entry to basketball games outside Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But the meeting was also about showing how actions can speak louder than words and underscoring that the alleged actions of a few shouldn't drown out the many.
"Just like every once in a while with your own kids, with your own employees, with your family, you need to look somebody in the eye and say, 'You're really good, you've been good, and you share some amazing beliefs. This is going to be an incredible year.' That's instead of, 'What's going to happen next?'" said Krzyzewski, the keynote speaker at the closed-door meeting of more than 850 athletes and administrators.
"What this situation this spring did was that people wanted to put a cloud over all of athletics and specifically lacrosse, and I don't think that's fair, quite frankly, because we have so many great kids. If somebody did something wrong, then hold them accountable, but don't indict everyone. So tonight was about saying to the rest of the student-athletes, 'Hey, y'all are good. Have a great year. Let's keep pursuing excellence.'"
While saying the meeting wasn't a direct result of the lacrosse situation, athletics director Joe Alleva admitted that the meeting likely wouldn't have taken place if not for it. The athletics department recently got together for its annual beginning-of-school picnic a couple of week ago, but Monday's meeting was an acknowledgement that it's been no picnic for Duke athletes in recent months.
"I would rate morale as low in April and May, but I would rate the morale as back to normal and high right now," Alleva said. "I thought we had already turned the corner, but this really does help. It's a fresh start. We're turning the page, and we're moving forward."
Athletes like Jenny Shull, a junior on the volleyball team, seemed to embrace the sentiment.
"Everyone felt real unified, and it gave us a morale boost," Shull said. "There have been tough moments because it was always, 'Wow, you go to Duke University. They're known for their academics and for their great athletics and for overall excellence.' You were looked at almost as a perfect school, and this thing in the media showed us as not 100-percent perfect, and it was kind of rough.
"We just had to support each other and be there with each other through hard times."
In the wake of both the sexual-assault allegations stemming from a March 13 team party and the numerous examples of bad behavior brought to light in the aftermath, many have called for a more specific code of conduct for Duke athletes. The lacrosse team made a new set of team rules public, and Alleva pointed out that every team has its own rules, but he said that the behavior of athletes first falls under the university's rules for all students and will continue to do so.
"I don't think the university has to strengthen its rules," Krzyzewski said. "If somebody does something bad, they will be held accountable for it. But you can't over-rule a university or a team or whatever, where you stop giving them an opportunity to make choices.
"You have to allow people the freedom to make choices, and if you stop doing that then you hinder the educational process that this university has been great about."
In addition to honoring current athletes, officials took time to honor a couple of former athletes who died in the World Trade Center attacks five years ago, football player Rob Lenoir and former lacrosse player Peter Ortale.
"We're all in the same family and all have a bond. It's great for all of us to sort of reconnect tonight," Hill said. "I think the morale was pretty low in lieu of all that's happened, but I think today was a real positive.
"I think everyone walked out of Cameron today feeling real good about being a Duke student-athlete."
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-768845.html
Debate on suspects' low bonds emotional
By BriAnne Dopart, The Herald-Sun
September 11, 2006 10:48 pm
DURHAM -- Diane Jones says a revolving door in the justice system that allows murder suspects to be put back on the streets has resulted in threats against one parent and caused other relatives to consider suicide.
Jones, the mother of murder victim David "Butch" Bullock, posed tough questions to court officials Monday night, but left the meeting in tears after a tense exchange with Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong.
"My son is dead," Jones told Nifong, Chief District Court Judge Elaine O'Neal Bushfan and Chief Magistrate Chet Dobies. "I am trying as best I can to understand why murderers are being let back out on the streets."
Nifong responded that anyone arrested and charged with a crime is entitled to bond, unless the district attorney is seeking the death penalty in the case.
"The fact is not every case is deserving of the death penalty," Nifong told her, "Nobody whose family has been touched by murder could ever understand that objectively."
The emotional debate took place at Monday night's District 2 Partners Against Crime meeting, to which court officials were invited to respond to community concerns about recent instances in which violent criminals were given low bonds and released from jail.
PAC2 representatives issued the invitations last month after murder suspect Breon Beatty, 17, allegedly shot someone while out on bond awaiting trial.
Jones, who counsels bereaved mothers, said at least three members of her group are considering suicide because they feel unsafe in the community.
Durham is low on magistrates and high on criminals, a mix that, when paired with magistrates' 1970s technology, results in several errors, Dobies said.
The Durham County Jail, according to Nifong, is overcrowded, although its population remains 100 people below its maximum occupancy. While pretrial release programs were intended to take inmates off the hands of the judicial system, they actually create the opposite situation when alleged criminals don't comply with the program, Nifong said.
"This is a reality," Bushfan added. "More people will be on probation than in jail. That's an inevitable result of not having enough jail space. And you never will. So somebody's gonna be out, they always will."
Bushfan, whose position is superior to all magistrates -- although she claimed at the meeting that they do not answer to her -- said the county's 13 magistrates (11 criminal, 2 civil) have no choice but to uphold the law.
"We are charged to uphold the law," she said. "It's not personal. It's not business. It's the Constitution. We can't be swayed by public opinion."
Upholding the law, Dobies said, means setting bonds within legal limits, set by Bushfan and Judge Orlando Hudson.
"We don't let anybody go," he said. "We provide them with their constitutional right to have bond set."
There are some cases in which magistrates can use discretion, both Nifong and Dobies said. For example, if the charged person has a long criminal history or if officers expect the charged individual to be served with warrants from other jurisdictions, court officials can raise bond amounts.
Bushfan recommended that the community look to its legislators to work for more money for Durham's judicial system, which has not received a new judge since Judge Marcia Morey was installed in 1998. The Legislature approved adding one judicial position this year.
Nifong said the attention surrounding the low bond issue was "a testimony" to how well Durham has been handling its criminals.
"There was a time that what you've read about in the paper the past few weeks wasn't an aberration," he said.
URL for this article: http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-768840.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/
Duke lacrosse case has damaged the city's image
As a longtime Durham citizen, I have become increasingly embarrassed by our poor regional image. The latest blockbuster is the Duke lacrosse team's recent criminal charges generating national attention. This poor judgment by our new district attorney, Mike Nifong, brought forth challenger Lewis Cheek to successfully gather the necessary petition signatures for the November ballot.
His delayed decision not to accept if elected left his community and supporters no viable candidate.
Steve Monks, a highly qualified criminal lawyer with 18 years experience, is trying to fill this gap. The fact is our only hope for an elected strong Nifong replacement is the straight talking Monks. If Cheeks wants Durham voters to replace Nifong, he should endorse Monks. As a write-in candidate, strong financial and voting support is required. Anyone voting for Cheek is not voting for "anyone-but-Nifong" because that vote is an "anyone-but-Cheek" vote, should Cheek win. It would require the governor to appoint the Durham district attorney, again. He could appoint Nifong, again. Does Durham want Raleigh to elect our district attorney, again?
"To support Durham or learn more, please contact Steve Monks in Durham, 27717, Box 51666, Telephone 430-0339.
JOSEPH H. COLLIE
Durham
September 12, 2006
http://www.wral.com/news/9825010/detail.html
Ex-Duke Standouts Push Behavior Standards For Student-Athletes
http://www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2006/09/11/News/University.Counsel.Settles.In-2265482.shtml?norewrite200609120624&sourcedomain=www.dukechronicle.com
University counsel settles in
http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-768840.html
Upholding the law, Dobies said, means setting bonds within legal limits, set by Bushfan and Judge Orlando Hudson.
"We don't let anybody go," he said. "We provide them with their constitutional right to have bond set."
There are some cases in which magistrates can use discretion, both Nifong and Dobies said. For example, if the charged person has a long criminal history or if officers expect the charged individual to be served with warrants from other jurisdictions, court officials can raise bond amounts.
Yeah, tell that to the Lacrosse players ($400,000).
And Ms. Bushfan is the one who complained of a vastly over-crowded court docket in February, and then presided over the Evans' noise-violation trial and found him guilty (when another judge--who was about to retire--had the moral fortitude to dismiss another player's case on the same evidence, and chastise the prosecution for wasting the court's time with such things).
Bushfan is another ally of the Durham crowd, who ought to be investigated and tossed from the bench and the legal profession. (Complaints to the bar association welcomed.)