Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Butler Awarded

A richly deserved journalism award for the incomparable Kristin Butler.

22 comments:

Debrah said...

Congratulations Kristin!

"Butler's winning column, "Soaking the Poor: With All Deliberate Speed" discussed the ethical concerns of hospital policies that charge uninsured patients more for service."

Such a significant issue at present as well as into the future.

Please stay tethered to this subject!

Anonymous said...

Congrats to Kristen Butler. That my day!!

Observer

Anonymous said...

Such a significant issue [Hospital billing of the uninsured]at present as well as into the future.

Please stay tethered to this subject!

I'd prefer a young woman like her not devote herself to the concerns of us "greedy-geezer" boomers, but instead worry about the problems facing her generation and our nation's long term health. Such as, say, out-of-control PCism.

Of course she'll probably surprise us both.

Anonymous said...

Well deserved, indeed! Compare Kristin Butler to the rest of the current staff at the Chronicle, and you find that she is incomparable. This is very good news.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Kristin. Your columns are always must-reads, and always a cut above. You pick great subjects of merit, and you know how to Make a Point! Your classmates at Duke respect you for your lucid writing on things that matter. Easy to predict that the "real world" will employ you quickly. Thanks for making each of your columns in the Chronicle count for something. Your firm voice and clear eye made a difference in a season when many adults regrettably lost their way. As the parent of a 2009er who deeply loves Duke, I sincerely hope Duke has been a great place for you. Your record at the Chronicle is simply stellar, and was bracing in a season that has been very demoralizing. ALL BEST.

Anonymous said...

Congrats Kristin! You're very deserving of the award and recognition! Keep up the good work!

-----------------------------
Speaking of the Chronicle...anyone seen *this* article by Kevin Lincoln?

http://www.dukechronicle.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticle&ustory_id=0f00f381-92fa-4e16-8685-527e85733831

Suit, lax case fade from voter minds

Although a lawsuit against the city of Durham continues to weigh on the minds of city officials, the case that brought Durham national infamy has begun to lose its hold over city politics, professors said.

"I do not think that [the lawsuit] will greatly impact Durham's reputation any more than it already has," Professor Thomas Metzloff of the School of Law wrote in an e-mail. "People's impressions of Durham around the country were negatively impacted by the entire case and its handling by [former Durham County district attorney Mike] Nifong, but most people do not directly associate his misconduct with the city, even if it turns out that the city was more culpable than most people now believe."

James Coleman, a professor of law and frequent commentator on the case, pointed to last week's county-wide election as proof of the case's decreasing influence on voters.

"I see nothing that indicates that [lacrosse] was a factor," he said. "I think the contest was about personalities and partisan politics."

The re-election of Mayor Bill Bell and City Council members Eugene Brown and Diane Catotti could be interpreted as a show of approval by Durham's citizens of city officials' handling of the case, political science professor Paula McClain wrote in an e-mail.

"Every incumbent who ran has been re-elected," McClain said. "Therefore, there appears to have been little or no political fallout from the situation. In fact, the citizens of Durham have given their leaders a vote of confidence."

Kerry Haynie, associate professor of political science, added that lacrosse's time as an everyday issue in Durham has passed.

"It will be an issue that will get some news coverage, but the actual effect on the politics of Durham will be very little," he said. "I think it's an issue that will come and go."

The federal civil rights lawsuit, filed by the three former men's lacrosse players falsely accused of rape in 2006, could cost the city as much as $30 million.

Though it is possible that Durham will have to pay a considerable amount of money, Coleman said the sum would most likely not be as high as is being asked.

...(go to link to see the rest of the article)


This article seriously needs some rebuttal. KC? Anyone?

Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Kristin Butler! Your columns have been a joy to read- always well-written and thought provoking. I look forward to the day when I will see your byline outside of the Duke Chronicle and I will enjoy being able to say "I knew her when."

This young woman is a credit to her family, her professors and her community.

TexasMom

Anonymous said...

Ode to Kristin Butler
---------------------

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou hast too oft been proclaimed incomparable, so sadly nay.

The End

Anonymous said...

I am certain Kristin Butler suffers a great deal of grief for standing up for what's right ... I also think every positive thing that happens will help sustain her. She deserves awards, praise and much more.

The new leadership at the Chronicle makes me appreciate her all the more.

Her name will forever linked to the Duke Hoax but as with Professor Johnson it will be a positive link. Much better than being Nifong, Brodhead, CGM, Gang of 88.

Dan Kurt said...

re:"Butler's winning column, 'Soaking the Poor: With All Deliberate Speed' discussed the ethical concerns of hospital policies that charge uninsured patients more for service."

There may be less sinister reasons for the "price gouging."

During the late 1960s and early 1970s when I was a Resident at an Ivy League Medical Center the City Hospital adjacent to the University and covered by the University Residents had a policy of wildly overcharging any one not on Welfare. I asked an attending physician why this over charging was being done. He said that none of the fees really covered the over head of the Hospital. Even if people paid the fee the hospital still lost money. The high fees were done to discourage people from using its services.

A few years later the hospital was razed and the land was given to or bought by the university where now stands a series of new university hospitals.

Dan

Debrah said...

H-S:

Area lawyers join fight vs. lacrosse suit

By John Stevenson : The Herald-Sun

DURHAM -- Some of the area's heaviest-hitting civil attorneys this week joined two high-profile national litigators to fight a federal lawsuit arising out of false sex-assault allegations against three young men in the Duke lacrosse case.

Area lawyers new to the defense team are James B. Maxwell, Reginald B. Gillespie Jr. and Joel Miller Craig of Durham and Patricia P. Kerner and Edwin M. Speas Jr. of Raleigh.

In addition, Chapel Hill lawyer David Rudolf -- who has high name recognition for his unsuccessful defense of novelist and homicide suspect Michael Peterson four years ago -- is entering the fray on behalf of one of the falsely accused athletes: Reade Seligmann.

Rudolf will collaborate on Seligmann's case with New York City attorney Barry Scheck, a DNA expert and a member of O.J. Simpson's legal "dream team" in the 1990s.

"We certainly intend to pursue this case vigorously," Rudolf said Tuesday. "Reade's primary interest is changing the way business is conducted in the Durham Police Department."

Rudolf declined to say how much money Seligmann wants, insisting police reform is more important than cash.

"Our negotiations with the city will be focused equally on reform as on compensation," Rudolf added. "We're not interested in compensation without reform."

Along with Scheck, the other nationally known attorney involved in the lacrosse civil litigation is Brendan Sullivan of Washington, D.C., who gained fame in the 1980s with his representation of former Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North. His clients in the lacrosse litigation are David Evans and Collin Finnerty, who were falsely accused along with Seligmann of sexually attacking an exotic dancer.

All three Duke athletes were declared innocent by the state Attorney General's Office in April.

Maxwell, Gillespie, Craig, Kerner and Speas didn't officially enter the litigation until Monday and Tuesday.

Maxwell, a past president of the North Carolina Bar Association and the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, is representing newly promoted Durham police Sgt. David Addison in the federal litigation.

Addison is accused of conspiring to wrongfully prosecute Seligmann, Finnerty and Evans.

Other civil defendants include the city, former District Attorney Mike Nifong and a private DNA laboratory.

Maxwell's past clients have included the Durham school board, Duke University and the Triangle Transit Authority.

According to Maxwell, "immunity" to being sued will be claimed for certain government employees named in the lacrosse litigation.

He predicted some of them will file motions to be released from the suit in mid-January.

Gillespie has practiced law in the area for decades, privately working for the city in roughly 100 cases over the years.

He will represent the city in the lacrosse matter, along with Washington, D.C., lawyer Roger Warin, a medical malpractice and libel specialist brought in by the city's insurer.

Craig has done extensive work for the city.

Craig represents Durham police Officer Benjamin Himan in the lacrosse civil action.

Kerner joined the defense team this week on behalf of former Police Chief Steve Chalmers, Deputy Chief Ronald Hodge and other officers. She helps run the Raleigh branch of a huge Atlanta-based law firm.

Finally, former assistant state attorney general Speas is defending Durham police Sgt. Mark Gottlieb, a lacrosse civil defendant.

Debrah said...

LAX lawsuit lengthy process

Debrah said...

Gaynor on Rojstaczer

Hope someone sends this to poor Roj.

LOL!!!

Anonymous said...

Finally, someone in Durham getting an award who actually deserves one.

Congratulations to Kristin Butler for her consistent excellence.

Anonymous said...

"Maxwell, a past president of the North Carolina Bar Association and the N.C. Academy of Trial Lawyers, is representing newly promoted Durham police Sgt. David Addison in the federal litigation."
----------
I don't understand: under these circumstances, Addusib has been promoted?This can happen only in Durham..

Anonymous said...

"I don't understand: under these circumstances, Addusib has been promoted?"

One possible explanation:
If you assume that the whole frame was not a screwup perpetrated by corrupt beat cops & one crazy DA, but was rather official city policy, commanded by the mayor and executed by everyone on down the chain of command, with Nifong eventually allowed to join a party already in progress, then it makes sense that Addison continues to be rewarded for following orders.

Anonymous said...

Follow-up question to ralph phelan's one possible explanation @ 11/15 1:22 PM:

Would the point of such official city policy be to create or use investigations, indictments and convictions in order to pressure Duke for more "community investment" or "reparations" to compensate for its run-amok students?

In this light, could one view the Duke scandal as a civic shakedown meltdown?

dave

Anonymous said...

Is Butler a columnist?

Anonymous said...

Is Butler a calumnist?





("Yes," said the evil person)

mac said...

It's easy to see why Kristin Butler is worthy of a journalism award. All you have to do is to put her work next to Rojstaczer's petulant and childish little review of UPI, or next to any of the NY Times' columns (Salmonella Roberts', for one) on the Hoax. And Hurled Scum's Ashley could only hope to inherit her writing skill and personal integrity through some metaphysical lottery and personality transplant.

What contrasts!

Keep it up, Kristen!
You're gonna go far!

Anonymous said...

Well Done Ms Butler.

Unfortunately we live in a world in which logical, independent, and clear thinking is not always rewarded.

I hope you never have to sacrifice these principles as your career progresses. I look forward to reading your columns wherever they may exist.

Anonymous said...

As Jack Kennedy said "Life is not fair." Welcome to the real world.