Friday, April 13, 2007

Charns: More Apologies Needed

Alex Charns notes,
Dear members of the media:
Last spring you or your news organization received an e-mail with the attached Duke Lacrosse Wanted Poster or an e-mail with the same text about "This horrific crime."
Has Cpl. Addison, CrimeStoppers, the Durham Police Department or City of Durham officials apologized to the 46 exonerated Duke Lacrosse players? If so, I haven't heard them. One city council member suggested that Mike Nifong should resign, but who at city hall has asked for a review of faulty Durham police procedures that allowed 46 innocent young men to be vilified as gang rapists or witnesses to a gang rape in a Durham police poster?
I've not seen any reports that anyone at city hall has asked why Durham Police officers e-mailed and posted an incendiary and outrageously false poster last spring (that included an official Durham police header) which read in part: "The victim was sodomized, raped, assaulted and robbed. This horrific crime sent shock waves throughout our community." (I've attached it and included it in the text below.)
I'm still waiting for City Manager Patrick Baker's response to my request last year to make public the Durham police review, if any, of the DPD's Duke Lacrosse Wanted Poster. I've copied Mr. Baker and the members of city council with this e-mail hoping to finally get a reply.
I work in Durham. I live in Durham. I'd like to see my city officials publicly apologize for what city employees did to these 46 students.
By the way, it would be nice if the apology was sent to the same media outlets that received the original e-mail, including: Editor Que Pasa; Herald Sun; WRAL; G105; News and Observer; Saunders, Barry; Time Warner Cable; Triangle Tribune; UPN; WB22; WNCN; WRAL; WTVD; and WUNC.

For purposes of full disclosure, I represent one of the 43 players who was not charged.
Thank you,
Alex Charns

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

The police chief, Steven W. Chalmers, meant to apologize, but since he's never around it simply wasn't feasible.

Anonymous said...

Chalmers was just informed of this case. He plans to start and investigation shortly.

Anonymous said...

Thank you, Alex. There are a lot of people who need to answer questions. Keep on the heat!!

Anonymous said...

Go get 'em Alex!

It will be interesting to see whether Bell, Baker, Chalmers and others in Durham believe that they can get away with a continued stone-walling of the truth.

Anonymous said...

Is the Chief in Jamacia with the broom and the shoe?

Anonymous said...

Maybe Bell can apologize while he's gettin his lackeys to polish his fancy Jaguar.

Anonymous said...

I'm waiting for Thugniggaintellectual to get his head out of his ass, find his balls (which he hasn't seen since 1986) and make a public statement.

Anyone want to bet on whether it will be an admission that the 88 were wrong, or some kind of further defiance?

Anonymous said...

Da mayah's Jag is not that fancy. Actually, it's kind of old. And remember, it is a Jaguar, so his choice in cars is just as poor as his ability to speak clearly.

Anonymous said...

While they're at it, perhaps Patrick Baker, the city manager, can apologize for ordering the responding police officers to keep quiet about what they saw in the early morning hours of March 14. They realized Mangum was an unreliable witness, but that was an inconvenient truth so it had to be silenced. He could also apologize for saying that although a Duke police officer overheard a Durham police officer on the phone saying that the charges made no sense, the statement was meaningless because the Duke officer only heard half the conversation. Just one question: Mr. Baker, what was the other half of the conversation that the Duke officer missed, "Roger that" or "10-4"?

Anonymous said...

Everyone is calling for Nifong's resignation (even the Herald-Sun!) except for Bell, Baker and all other "committee members". Are they scared he may start talking if they turn on him?

Anonymous said...

3:33

Bill Bell is so damned ugly that not even a fancy Jaguar from the public funds allotted to UDI, where he draws his salary, can do much.

Anonymous said...

Keep the pressure on them Alex!
Here is a wonderful apology from Jemele Hill, a black female writer for ESPN.

She asks of Colin, Reade and Dave;
"...who is outraged on your behalf? What justice will you receive? Will the same networks that willingly aided in destroying your reputations now give you airtime to vent your frustrations? Will Jesse Jackson now offer the three of you a free scholarship like he did the "victim," since he helped assist in your battered reputation? http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=hill/070412&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

You are correct, Alex,in asking for a public apology!

It's not surprising that already, two days after the announcement of their INNOCENCE, an ABC, white news reporter, Terry Moran, is asking people not to "...feel too sorry for the Dukies" He complains that the reason these Lax players were focused on was because of the color of their skin and that they will get on with their "priviledged lives."
He seems angered that these boys were able to afford good attorneys.
In a sense,he sees the 3 lax players as priveleged victims...an oxymoron? Or just plain old Terry Moron...uh..Moran?

Anonymous said...

Everyone is calling for Nifong's resignation

Gosh, I missed the announcement from the Duke! All I've seen so far is Brodhead's request that Nifong explain his actions.

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr. Charns,

Apparently some of the legal
experts on one of the other
threads believe that the
Crazy 88s are immune to action
from either the University
or the students who were unfairly
(how small that word
is: "unfairly") castigated as
rapists and kidnappers.

Hope you'll soon let them know
that they're wrong, and on what
basis.

Mac

Anonymous said...

KC

You must be aware of the
rules that govern tenured profs:
there are written rules -
(apparently mostly kept online,
unprinted) -
for behavior expected
of University officials and
Professors etc.

Can you shed any light on the
professional responsibilities
that could hold the 88 (now 87?)
liable and give cause for
dismissal?

Are you going to do a thread
about that?

Mac

Anonymous said...

Thuga.....Neal must be insane at the preorders for KC's book. Neal's last rendering was 619,000 at Amazon. The higher the rating, the less books sold.

JorgXMcKie said...

Is there any chance that a settlement with Duke and/or the administration could include requiring the University president to change his name to "Butthead"?

Anonymous said...

I was in school with Alex a long time ago. We did not agree on politics at all. But he is very right. What has the city done about the police role in this? Mike Nifong has made a number of mistakes, but he could not have made them if the major, police chief and others had not enabled him. Mike will be the fall guy. When will the rest of the responsible parties take any responsibility?

Anonymous said...

Re: Charns' request for Durham police review, if any, of the DPD's Duke Lacrosse Wanted Poster.

Does FOIA apply?

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be good to see Mr. Charns questioning some of these despicable characters in a courtroom, under oath. Inconvenient truths, indeed.

Anonymous said...

Sedition In Durham

Mr Nifong is NOT the only guilty official in Durham! It amazes me how much attention the rape hoax received, meanwhile murders go unsolved, and law enforcement and the courts are to blame!

It will be 2 years this May that my only brother and best friend was murdered in Durham. The Sheriff's Department and Medical Examiner have been not only abusive and negligent, they have refused to give us information under the FOIA, and after a year was sent one report, and it clearly proves not only shoddy and sloppy work, but murder!

Has the world forgotten the deputies own admission to murders for hire, kidnapping women and children to become prostitutes in their bars, counterfeiting, and trafficking in cocaine?!?!?!?!?!

Were the people on the tapes, (taped by undercover SBI) ever notified they were to be killed?! WHO have they killed?! WHAT has become of the petrified victims in their sex slave ring?! WHAT about the counterfeiting and lest we forget, the cocaine?!

Not to mention other unsolved murders, and other unscrupulous officers criminal activities! The FBI, SBI, and every other "I," knows what is going on, but fail in exposing the REAL truths!

I IMPLORE upon the media, and individuals to help me expose these crimes against humanity, and truly bring change!

The REAL crimes committed by our own elected officials, and officers sworn under oath to "Serve And Protect," are only "PROTECTING," themselves!

Someone MUST take a stand for those who cry out from their graves, and poor innocents being stolen and sold for sexual slavery!

THESE without compromise ARE "Crimes Against Humanity," and MUST be exposed, and ALL the guilty punished to the fullest extent of the laws they blatantly used for evil!

Rhonda Fleming Cleveland, Ohio