Ruth Sheehan's Opportunity

Readers Note: Last Spring Raleigh News & Observer news columnist Ruth Sheehan wrote columns attacking white male Duke students for simply following their parents' and attorneys' advice.

Sheehan later apologized in a column she said she hoped would be her last on the Duke Hoax.

I admired Sheehan for her apology; and thought she was smart to "exit" the Hoax case on a graceful note.

But this past Monday, Sheehan was back writing about the case.

She told readers Duke Senior Vice President John Burness drove her past the house on N. Buchanan Blvd. where the party was held. They both sighed, according to Sheehan, and Burness expressed regret Duke hadn't years ago taken his advice to purchase the house, renovate it and sell it to a "first-time homebuyer." If Duke had done that the "Duke lacrosse case might never have happened."

Sheehan said they again both sighed .

You'll find a link to Sheehan's column and my comments in this post.

I've just written Sheehan the following email.

___________________________

Dear Ms. Sheehan:

When I began reading last Monday's column, "Lacrosse house ... what if?," I thought to myself: "Sheehan's finally going to do it. It's about time."

I really thought you were going to tell readers John Burness pulled the car into the driveway beside the house and the two of you got out so you could enter the house and inspect that bathroom where Crystal Mangum claimed it all happened.

But you and Burness cruised right past the house.

You didn't say whether the two of you discussed stopping so that you could finally tell readers something first-hand about the bathroom instead of, as you disclosed in It's Not About the Truth relying on what Mike Nifong told journalists at the N&O who then passed on to you the "material" you used for your "Teams Silence is Sickening" column (See posts here and here).

Surely you must have thought about asking Burness to stop and let you have a look in the bathroom. That would be a legitimate news requests.

The N&O works very hard to show readers pictures of alleged and actual crime scenes. The N&O typically describes the scenes in great text detail. Often you include a map of the scene.

Did you ask Burness to stop? If yes, what did he say?

If not, why not?

For some reason the N&O has never shown pictures of the bathroom, published its dimensions or a photo with four good sized people all squeezed in there.

Why not?

People who've been in the bathroom say if the public could see how small it is, they'd know there was no why Mangum could've fought a 30 minute brutal battle with three big athletes in there and then emerge without a sprain or a cut requiring even one stitch.

The N&O published a picture of the anonymous "Vigilante" poster after Duke said doing so would add to the danger the players were already facing.

You published the tax value of Reade Seligmann's parents' home and told us there was a Godiva Chocolate Shop in the town near where he went to high school.

So what's the problem with publishing a photo of the bathroom, preferably with four people in it and the door shut, which is how Mangum said things were that night of her "ordeal?"

You could accompany the photographer to the house and ask Burness and Duke's President Dick Brodhead and Mike Nifong to join you.

Then the photographer could take pictures of you, Burness, Brodhead and Nifong in the bathroom; and you could ask the three men to explain why they think news organizations have been so reluctant to report on the bathroom's size and when each of them first realized Mangum's story (stories really) was just what David Evans said it was: "fantastic lies."

You have quite an opportunity to educate the public about how news organizations actually work. It's also an opportunity to help people in Durham who genuinely wish to get along with each other better understand why Roy Cooper said, "innocent."

I hope you take advantage of the opportunity. It's the least you and the N&O owe the community.

I'll publish your response in full at my blog.

In closing, I hope your husband is continuing to make a good recovery from his recent open-heart surgery. From here on out, I hope the wind is always at his back.

Sincerely,

John in Carolina