http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/hsletters/
Paper helped Nifong
How ironic that the editors quote approvingly those from the CNN forum who want to "move on" in the Duke lacrosse case. Mike Nifong, acting almost single-handedly, created this embarrassment for Durham, and The Herald-Sun became his co-conspirator, fanning the flames of the current unpleasantness.
By supporting him while he moved forward with these baseless charges, The Herald-Sun not only abdicated the duty of the press to speak truth to power, it helped Nifong give Durham its current reputation. Are you suggesting you are actually surprised that Durham now finds itself where it is? Will you make this mistake again?
DOUGLAS L. BROOKS
Atlanta
January 23, 2007
DA election plan?
North Carolinians, Durhamites, wake up! The Republican Party recently took a big hit nationally and perhaps deservedly so. On our watch we got involved in a troublesome war and were beset with scandals. We lost credibility and many people lost faith.
This is exactly how we Republicans feel about what the Democrats are doing in North Carolina and in particular, Durham. There has been scandal after scandal, our finances are in an abysmal state and our taxes are pathetically high. We in Durham continue to shake our heads in bewilderment at the level of service that we receive from our government.
The district attorney debacle further evidences this complete lack of accountability. Why wouldn't the Democratic DA believe they were untouchable in Durham? These problems occurred while the Democrats were in contol. I ran for DA against Mike Nifong because I believed it was the only way to wrest away the corrupting power of the absolute power-hold that Democrats have in our community.
A Democratic political appointee would not do that. The Democrats were scared of losing power to a "clean-house" Republican and so the power-hungry Democrats came up with a plan to ensure that a Republican would not serve. Ironically, it appears now that Nifong's victory at the polls may, in fact, be his undoing.
We need a change. Just think before you pull that straight Democratic lever next time.
The writer is chair of the Durham County Republican Party.
STEVE MONKS
Durham
January 23, 2007
Kudos to K.C. Johnson
I'm afraid Orrin Starn [Forum, Jan. 17] picked on the wrong blogger when he showed us one of "many" gaffes the bad K.C. Johnson supposedly published. The African-American Studies Web site lists 14 professors, assistant professors and associate professors. Let's get Starn to list a few more of Johnson's mistakes and one-sided "stories." Starn's example was silly and irrelevant. Loved the KC and the Sunshine Band reference, though.
Johnson has apparently exposed too many weaknesses involving the non-rape case. His common sense is a little too extaordinary for the Group of 88 to stomach as well. It is only natural that Starn would try to discredit Johnson. Starn should try separating the wheat from the chaff. I can do it with a high school education. But since you want to play silly with us, Johnson is the wheat. The chaff are the uneducated racists who email Group of 88 members with the uncalled-for or ugly diatribes. Or the almost-but-not-quite racist Group of 88.
CRAIG HUNTER
Greensboro
January 23, 2007
The sensitive professor
How sad that Professor Orin Starn has been subjected to name-calling on the Internet [Herald-Sun, Forum, Jan. 17]. One blogger even referred to him as a terminal part of the anatomy. Ouch. Professor Starn is equally sensitive to others involved in the Duke lacrosse case who have been called names. The accuser, who was found to have the semen of four different men in her bodily cavities, was actually said to be a "whore" by one blogger.
Of course, it would be easier to engender Starn-style sympathy for the accuser if she had not tried to destroy the lives of three men she falsely accused of rape, kidnapping, and sodomy. Nor would bloggers and others who have followed this case be so inclined to denigrate Starn and his colleagues had they not so publicly assumed their own students to be guilty of a crime which anyone with a grade school education could tell never happened.
GRAHAM HAYES MARLETTE
Durham
January 23, 2007
http://www.emorywheel.com/media/storage/pa....emorywheel.com
Discontent in Durham
The real victim in the Duke Lacrosse scandal? Forget the players or the dancer. It's the judicial system.
Andrew Swerlick
Posted: 1/23/07
Amid much criticism, a lack of DNA evidence and inconsistent eyewitness testimony, Durham District Attorney Michael Nifong has finally dropped the rape charges against the three Duke lacrosse players accused of assaulting an African-American exotic dancer at an off-campus party. The students, all three of whom are white, still face a number of serious charges - including kidnapping and other sexual offenses - but these charges may be dropped as the prosecution's case continues to unravel. In fact, it's becoming clear that there never really was a case at all.
Poor police procedure, suppression of evidence and constant media baiting allowed Nifong to stir up a press frenzy that led to protests, expulsions, firings and other disciplinary actions even before the boys went to trial. What was it that allowed Nifong to get away with this? Why was it that the media went wild over a case with little evidence, with no substance and all style? Ultimately, it was because the case became a symbol for something far beyond itself - a symbol of race and class relations in a divided town.
The city of Durham is 44 percent black and has a poverty level that surpasses the national average. As Salon.com put it, "The median income of a Durham household is roughly equal to the annual tuition for a Duke student (about $44,000)." Tensions between the wealthy, mainly white, university students and the town's working-class residents have always been a problem. Raucous off-campus parties disturb the neighbors who respond by calling the cops, which leads students to accuse the residents of being out to ruin their fun.
Tensions in Durham run high between Duke and nearby North Carolina Central University, the alma mater of the victim with a primarily black student body. Given the somewhat rocky social history of the two schools, it's no surprise that the rape case caused an explosion in the town. Last April, two Duke students were assaulted while off campus. Their assailants were yelling that the Duke students were on "Central Territory."
snip
Steve Monks had the balls to write than crap?