[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Thomas accepted the dismissal. "They were terminated from their jobs," he said, noting that Chalmers fired Lee and Tanner after an internal-affairs investigation of the incident. "It all happened so fast, and I did have a part in it. It was fair, in a way."

Based on the statement, who is the one with character? Not the Blinco cops or the judge.

[abb]

I missed this article earlier. My apologies to the board...

http://www.newsobserver.com/339/story/504654.html

Challenging assumptions

Sharon Swanson, Correspondent
"I am Colin Finnerty's mother." Mary Ellen Finnerty wrote in response to last month's Our Lives column where I admitted to a prejudiced reaction to male teenage lacrosse players staying at a sports camp next to my 12-year-old daughter. Finnerty's son Colin is a defendant in the Duke lacrosse case.

"It is so important for you to see what kind of man my son is -- as a mother I am sure you know what I mean."

When this case first made national news, I judged Colin Finnerty and the Duke Three based on my own particular brand of prejudice. While others were debating whether these charges represented issues about race, class or the divide between the haves and the have-nots, I was viewing the scenario through the prism of white liberal guilt. I felt somehow responsible that young black women were still being exploited by affluent young white men in the South. I stereotyped the entire Duke lacrosse team.

But then I talked to Colin Finnerty's mother. Mary Ellen Finnerty caught me on my cell phone in the parking lot of Kmart, where I stood for 20 minutes, moved by her story of how this incident has affected her family. I flew to New York two days later to meet her, her husband and their five children.

Yes, it's true their home is spacious, well-decorated and situated on an immaculately groomed golf course in a lovely part of Long Island. But the Finnertys weren't born into the life of the proverbial silver spoon. Kevin Finnerty, Colin's father, who went to college on a swimming scholarship, borrowed the money to buy Mary Ellen's engagement ring. "He's always had to work hard, he was working seven days a week when I met him," she said.

Still, Kevin acknowledged that they are more fortunate than most because they are able to provide the legal resources his son's defense has required.

I don't need to tell you that this incident is tragic for everyone involved. For the Finnertys, they say it has had the effect of making them even closer. I haven't sat down to dinner with the accuser and her family; they are no doubt victims too, no matter whose rendition of the event you choose. But spending the day with Colin's family raised questions about everything I have heard and read about them.

I asked Colin about a story I'd heard about Emily, his younger sister, a petite 12-year-old. He told me that when he first returned home from Durham, Emily spent her nights sleeping on a couch in her big brother's room, wrapped up in his Duke blanket.

"She'd never talk to me about it," Colin said. "It was just her way of being protective, I guess. I don't know if she even understood it completely."

It seems that Emily Finnerty isn't the only one who doesn't completely understand this situation. Like a lot of other folks, I was quick to assume that I knew who the Finnertys were. Stereotypes, like monsters under the bed, tend to dissipate when you shine a light on them.

I wonder now if a 12-year-old girl may be the best judge of the character of Colin Finnerty. And she's the only one not expressing an opinion.
Sharon Swanson can be reached at sk_swanson@earthlink.net.