Replies

http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/

Hold them accountable

Could someone please tell me why our city officials are not being held accountable for their incompetence? The City of Durham is a joke. You have officials lying about the lead test results. We had a landfill burn out of control for two weeks. And last but not least, we have a district attorney who knowingly withheld evidence in a case that has no merit.

My biggest concern is that no one is being held accountable for these idiotic events that keep occurring in Durham. Why are people not being fired for these things? There's always an excuse.

Maybe if someone was actually held accountable and fired, it would have a positive result and other officials would be less likely to lie or cover up the mistakes that have been made. Just an idea, it works with kids most of the time and since some officials act like kids, let's treat them like kids.

Greg Merritt
Durham
February 4, 2007

http://www.newsobserver.com/559/story/539400.html

Published: Feb 04, 2007 12:30 AM
Modified: Feb 04, 2007 02:24 AM

Name the accuser? Here's your verdict
Ted Vaden, Staff Writer

Most readers don't want The N&O to name complainants in sex crime cases. But most do want the paper to name the accuser in the Duke lacrosse case.
That's the somewhat anomalous reading I got from an informal, unscientific survey of News & Observer readers last week. A number of you responded to my column in which I said the paper should not identify the accuser, unless she herself is charged (That's my opinion; N&O editors have not decided what to do.)

I asked members of the Reader Advisory Panel two questions:

1) Should The N&O identify the accuser if the case is resolved in favor of the Duke lacrosse players accused of sexual offense and kidnapping?

2) Do you agree or disagree with the paper's general policy of not naming complainants in sex crimes?

Of the 177 who answered the first question, two thirds (113) said The N&O should name the accuser. One third (59) said don't name her, and five weren't sure.

snip

"You have officials lying about the lead test results. We had a landfill burn out of control for two weeks. And last but not least, we have a district attorney who knowingly withheld evidence in a case that has no merit."

I'm suspicious of this letter. I think the writer lives in Zimbabwe, not Durham.

Duke should be moved to a new location, beautiful though the existing grounds are. Even though the encroachment of a third-rate town on a first-rate university is slow, it looks to me like Durham has overtaken Duke with its dark underbelly of corruption, incompetence, crime and general immorality and malaise.