Saturday, July 28, 2007

One-Year Anniversary of LieStoppers

Today marks the one-year anniversary of LieStoppers. It is fitting that on Thursday of this week we witnessed the disgraced, disbarred, and former DA Nifong issue an apology to Reade, Collin, and Dave along with his statement that they were totally innocent. LieStoppers was started by a group of posters on Court TV, who seeing the injustice that DA Nifong was planning, became determined to do something about it. We formed a group and began recruiting members for our efforts. Our first post was the wanted poster.

Our early works were satirical and aimed at the power structure in Durham. We quickly followed the wanted poster with a parody of the Duke 88 "We're listening ad."

Along the way we pick up some stellar members and thus began our journey to stop the lies that were being spread. Our goal has always been the search for the truth and the exposing of lies. It was a group effort and we spent thousands of hours scouring newspaper articles, watching the TV Pundits, and doing our own independent research. We read NC Statutes, court decisions, and learned how DA Nifong and the Durham PD were abusing the system. Individually we all played a role in creating LieStoppers. Some of us acted as editor, writers, proofreaders, cartoonist, researchers, and as moderators in the LieStoppers Forum we formed. In total we created 976 posts in one year. We posted the "castrate" photo and detailed how activists move the local story to a national frenzy. My fellow Liestoppers were tireless workers. Always it was a joint effort with egos left at the door. It was always about the guys and their Moms.

We created the LieStoppers Forum and enlisted the help of the Blog Hooligans. A finer bunch of Hooligans you couldn't find anywhere. We joined in the effort along with the work of other fine bloggers and columnists like the incredible KC, John In Carolina , Bill Anderson, Michael Gaynor, Right Angles , Johnsville News, Crystal Mess, Jason Trumpbour of FODU, and others. Technical experts on the Forum, like Kethra & Kathleen, dissected the forensic lies in this case. Many of our LS Forum members were attorneys, retired police officers, nurses, college professors, housewives, and from every walk of life. We have close to 1000 registered members and they all brought their common sense & wisdom to the forum. They inspired many of our posts.

From LieStoppers came the effort to recall DA Nifong, which was led by our incredible Beth Brewer. If ever there was a heroine it was this woman, who with no political experience decided someone had to stand up to him and removed him from office. She fought him to the very end with her §7A-66affidavit and indeed saw him resign from office when the end became apparent.

We were lead by our editor, Philip Wood, who demanded we fact check and wrote many of our best articles including Occam's Razor I & II.

In many ways our original goal was completed Thursday. The Families won. We all won. The truth won and the lies lost. We will continue to report on this case and follow the wheels of Justice as it slowly moves through Durham. We will continue to fight for Lady Liberty.

It is summertime and frankly the crew of LieStoppers are going on a reduced schedule. The guys are declared innocent and it's time for us to get on with our lives. Don't worry we are not going away. We will continue to push, probe, make jokes, and report what we see! We will demand the Durham City Panel do a thorough investigation and those than need a criminal investigation will be pursued.

We wish to say to Reade, Collin, and Dave go live your life. Go work, study, have fun, walk on beaches, go to a ball game, and love your families and friends. You deserve it.

24 comments:

wayne fontes said...

It seems Wayne gets the first chance to congratulate the Liestoppers crew.
I hope you draw a huge measure of satisfaction in what you have achieved. The players are exonerated, the battle for public opinion has been won and Nifong hangs his head in humiliation. Job well done. I personally think what you have done validates the idea that individual citizens in a democracy can make a difference.

I'm guessing that with civil suites and the discovery they yield we won't see the end of the story for another two years. Far too long to cover the story with the intensity that you have to this point.


I hope that in the next few weeks you spend some time celebrating your posters (polls for best researcher, poster, funniest poster etc) and reveal a little bit more about the liestoppers crew. I'd be curious about how you came together and the connections between the various blogs, the defensed team and the lacrosse families.

Anonymous said...

All I can promise you is the Nobody Awards will be held to celebrate the Hoax's Best of Worst!

You have been a good Blog Hooligan Wayne, now if your Lions win the Super Bowl it will really be a Merry Christmas for you.

Baldo

Anonymous said...

To Baldo & the Liestoppers Crew:

What a marvelous experiment in Justice. It was an honor to read your pages and laugh at your jokes. The combined talent of your crew could get us back to the Moon this weekend, drunk or not!

I'm reminded of the citizen Framers who got together so many years ago to fight that day's tyranny, to right some wrongs, all the while doing so with grace and wisdom. I'll keep watching.

Your Friend and Admirer, Gregory

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all you have done and thanks for letting me jump on board. It has been an incredible ride.
Texas Mom

Anonymous said...

Congradulations fellow HOOLIGANS!
Today is also Jack's birthday, I am certain he would be glad so many people spoke up to confront the corruption in office, and there are still cases of unethical legal tactics to be exposed!
There is still a lot to be done, and this board has proven just how much power WE the people DO have!
God Bless America, and Durham too!
Respectfully,
Rhonda Fleming aka Justice4Jack

Anonymous said...

To Phil, Joan, Baldo, LSC et al.:

Before this case I didn't even know what a blog was! I've made the journey from CourtTV to Talk Left and then to Liestoppers Forum. Along the way I have learned a lot, not only about the Duke hoax/frame-up, but also about the legal system, politics, the media and a host of other topics.
I have been inspired by the writing on the main LS blog and the LS Forum-- the posters are intelligent, informative, and witty. This truly arehas been a "cyber community" in which we laugh (thanks, TS) and mourn (svolich, rest his soul)and learn.
We know from the LAX defendants and their attorneys that we DID make a difference-- that there were hundreds of people across the country supporting their cause, even in the dark days last fall after Nifong's election. SO thanks to the LS crew, both those we know such as Phil and Joan, and those who have chosen to remain anonymous
(Baldo, LSC, etc). You have started a great movement for justice.

Best wishes,
sceptical

Anonymous said...

Most of us hope to leave the world a better place--Liestoppers has done so. Thank you for the privilege of "free riding" your excellent work. I too followed the long and winding road from CourtTV to TalkLeft to Liestoppers. Thank you all for providing some sanity in an insane world.--Buddy

Anonymous said...

Dear Liestoppers:

I also want to thank you for your blog. When the NY Times printed Duff Wilson's "substantial body of evidence" story last August, I felt like it was over. I had only in the past few weeks come to my own conclusion that the players were being prosecuted for something they did not do. However, that August morning, as I was walking out of a coffee shop I saw the front page article. When I read it I felt almost sick -- not because I suspected the article was was wrong, but because I thought a great newspaper like the NY Times would not print such an important story unless the paper was privy to strong evidence suggesting the players really might be guilty. As I finished the article, I had about resolved to stop spending any more time following these cases. Then, as a closing act, I decided to check out how the people at Liestoppers might be handling the bad news. Instead of a hang-dog reaction, what I found was a detailed and compelling analysis of the many weaknesses in Wilson's story, and I was reinvigorated to continue to follow these cases until the end.

Thanks again.

Ken Duke
Attorney at Law
Durham, NC

Nicole68 said...

Congratulations to all of you at LieStoppers. I read you and KC's blog only for the last couple of months. You did a very important job in bringing out the truth. Best wishes to you from,
Nicole in Hamden

Anonymous said...

Dear Liestoppers,
Congratulations on your one year
anniversary and all that you have accomplished in that year! I have been reading your posts almost from the beginning....you are the first thing I would read in the morning and the last thing I would check at night. All of you, with your determination, perseverance, insight, dedication, and brilliance have made a significant difference and brought some semblance of justice to a situation that, at times, seemed hopeless and inconceivably unfair. Through all your efforts you were able to continue to focus attention on an outrageous miscarriage of justice and hold some of those responsible accountable for their actions. Congratulations to all of you on a most impressive accomplishment!!
My best wishes to the boys and their families as they move forward with their lives. I wish them all much happiness, success, and peace in the future and hope they know how many of us were so proud of them and the admirable way they conducted themselves throughout this horrific ordeal.
Another Duke Mom

Anonymous said...

Thank you LieStoppers for an outstanding job and congratulations on your one year anniversary.

Duke07 Mom

Anonymous said...

Thank you for getting me through March 2006 until last Thursday. You were a life line and a source of sanity when I thought none existed. Lives have been changed but you helped to clarify why things happened. You all will be missed. KC, Joan you made me laugh when I thought the worst.

Anonymous said...

Carolyn says:

LieStoppers, you deserve all the praise for seeing that justice was done. I do not denigrate for one instant the awesome work of the defense attorneys when I say that a huge part of the forces compelling AG Cooper to issue his 'innocent' statement was because of the incredible work you did. Thank you and God bless!

Anonymous said...

Thanks, Liestoppers. In a way I'm a little sad the case is over, because there has really been a "we are family"(the old Pittsburg Pirates) feeling . It was a special coming together that I doubt will ever be duplicated. But in the end it was still only one battle won against determined well-positioned foes. So don't go anywhere.

Sweetmick

Anonymous said...

Well done!

Anonymous said...

Thankyou Liesoppers.....I have been a faithful reader everyday since you have started the blog...I was also one of the lucky ones to have met some of you at the WaDu after a lax game. Your insight to the case has kept some of sane when there was this constant insanity in our lives. There really are not enough words for how you have helped so many....

Thank you....
Duke Lax Mom AND SO VERY PROUD OF IT !!!!!

Anonymous said...

Outstanding job, day after day, week after week, month after month. Those of us at Duke particularly thank you for it --- you rescued us when we proved unable to rescue ourselves.

Anonymous said...

Thanks and a big congratulations to Liestoppers for job well done.

Liestoppers was a busy year for all of you on the team, but we can't forget you had been busy 4 months before that.

Listoppers is still THE SOURCE that can be counted on for accuracy. I never second guessed anything Philip allowed to be posted on this blog.

Thanks so much!

Kent

p.s. The board that allows links is great too!!! ;)

Unknown said...

You were a beacon of sanity in a sea of chaos. Well done on all your efforts. It is back in the hands of Durham now.

Anonymous said...

Re: my 4:17 comment:

"I thought a great newspaper like the NY Times would not print such an important story unless the paper was privy to strong evidence suggesting the players really might be guilty."

After re-reading my 4:17 post, I think I sound like I was a babe in the woods, and I'd like to say something to restore a bit of my "street cred." I knew that the Times had had a few problems recently with accuracy (e.g., Jason Blair's fabrications, Judith Miller's unskeptically accepting government assertions regarding WMD in Iraq.) I had hoped the Times had learned something from those experiences, and would have been especially careful to make sure the source material on other important stories was solid.

Oh, well...

Ken Duke

Anonymous said...

Liestoppers:

Congratulations to a year's long hard effort. You have earned a well desereved break.

Although justice has been served for the three lacrosse players and the DPD will need to answer some hard questions, a larger problem is still unaddressed. The institution of Duke has been shown to be both unethical and corrupt. They threw their students under the racial bus and never had the integrity to own up to their mistakes. Instead, they have bought off some of the bad publicity.

The light of truth needs to be directed at this school. No parent of any student should spend thousands of dollars to send their children to this corrupt institution.

Ken
Dallas

Anonymous said...

Three thousand cheers for LS!! Love you guys.

Observer

Anonymous said...

I do not have the words to express how indebted I feel for all of your hard work over the last year.

Thanks from the bottom of my heart,

A 2005 Duke Lacrosse Mom.

Anonymous said...

There is NO time to cheer, there is PLENTY left to expose, and I have faith this year SHALL be the year these TRUTHS are brought to light, and FINALLY have FEDERAL INTERVENTION!

If another year goes by without it, we KNOW which side of the bread is buttered in Durham, and it is a crusty lot!

Rhonda Fleming
Durham SURVIVOR