Sunday, February 24, 2008

Trust and Betrayal



My dearest friend, of twenty years standing, doesn’t trust me. She’s quite open about it. It hurts and frustrates me at times, because during those twenty years I’ve never broken faith with her: I’ve kept her secrets, supported her in the hard days of raising teenagers and losing her mother. I’ve held her in my arms in the days after her melanoma was diagnosed. She and her adoring husband are like family to my husband and me. But she doesn’t trust me. It hurts and frustrates me…but, you know what? I understand.

Years ago, she had a FIRST Best Friend and a FIRST “Adoring” Husband…her college sweetheart, the father of her three little boys. This First Best Friend was her tennis partner and confidante, shopping buddy and shoulder to cry on. They shared a little motor home the two families vacationed in together and babysat each other’s infants. This First Best Friend kept her secrets and supported her in those hard days of raising toddlers and losing her father, and she held her in her arms when, at age thirty two, her breast cancer was diagnosed. This First Best Friend was a true “forever friend” for sure.

A year later, my friend walked in on her First Best Friend entwined in the embrace of her First “Adoring” Husband. There was an uproar, and divorces, and heartache, and gradually a kind of healing. Eventually there was a wonderful new husband and devoted new friends. All should be behind her, right?

Sadly, even after all these years, she doesn’t trust any of us. Even though she tries, she says, "You never really recover from that kind of betrayal. It’s always with you. It becomes a lens you see the world through. And the betrayal of those you trusted most is a burden THEY put on YOU that you never get to put down."

Likewise, my husband knows a man who helped his down-and-out buddy get a job at his firm. My husband’s friend was on the fast track, but a few years later he became the target of some nasty office politics. Luckily, he thought, his buddy (that was so eternally grateful to him)…. had the “evidence” to back him. But, instead, “old buddy” chose to use that moment to advance his own best interests in lieu of the truth. It’s been many years, but a few too many glasses of wine occasionally brings this old betrayal bubbling to the surface of this now very successful man’s consciousness.

He’s still bearing that burden of old betrayal too.

Now, suppose you were eighteen or nineteen. You go to a party and overnight you become the target of racist hate groups, frenzied feminists, angry activists' marches and vigils, Wanted posters, and CASTRATE! signs. An unrelenting media camps out on the family lawn, while Nancy Grace, Georgia Goslee, and Wendy Murphy enrage a nation NIGHTLY with endless ERRONEOUS details and outright lies. An ambitious, immoral prosecutor repeatedly tells the world you are either a savage rapist or a liar protecting savage rapists, and everyone believes him.

EVERYONE BELIEVES HIM.

You are helpless.

This is impossible to get your mind around, because you’ve never been hated before, really hated. You’ve never witnessed a lie with such FORCE. A lie SO MANY PEOPLE WANT so desperately to be true.

You’re a kid.

And this is happening not just in your school, or city, or state. You stand, despised and disbelieved, on a world-wide stage.

Think of it!

You need to take exams, but it’s not safe to sleep in your rented housing. In some cases, though the local papers run photos of palatial homes, your parents are just hard working people who cannot afford to house you elsewhere. So maybe you sleep in the car or stay on a couch. They stick your home address on hate sites, and you're terrified for your Mom and Dad and your siblings. What if some crazed stranger thinks your little brother is you? There are lawyer fees, and long distance trips, in some cases doctors' bills, and (I’ve heard) an average of over $10,000 per innocent family just in the early days. People hate you. Really hate you.

To those who claim the unindicted players didn’t suffer much, I ask you: Have you ever endured a worldwide, day and night, UNRELENTING, hellacious witch-hunt like this? Have you ever been its target? Has your child? Can you imagine the FEAR? Have you ever been the victim of just an average lie? Remember the frustration? Remember how it felt? Remember your helplessness? Now..imagine…imagine... being the target of a vicious lie on this scale. A lie that brings life destroying consequences and lunatic death threats. A lie that some folks love so much that no facts…. NOTHING… can convince them of its fallacy. This lie is like a sports team with ardent fans cheering it on, needing it to win FOR THEM!

Can you imagine?

You’re a kid. You’re afraid. But you don’t completely despair. Why? Because you KNOW the truth, and you believe in the truth, and you believe in the integrity of those who can help you GET THAT TRUTH out into the public. You believe in the police, the professionals, your professors and the top people at YOUR University. You believe in Duke. It’s what you hold on to…you believe in Duke.

You believe these are honorable men and women, Duke men and women, who will surely want the truth exposed as much as you, as much as your Mom and Dad. These are honorable men and women you can rely on in this maelstrom of malice, because surely they would not have risen to such positions of authority at such a fine school if they did not each possess moral courage and profound integrity.

They are your trusted port in this terrible storm.

If they tell you, “Don’t tell your parents”…you don’t. If they tell you, "This lawyer is all you need "….it must be true. If they tell you, "Meet with Gottlieb"...they are looking out FOR YOU. If they tell you, "We believe you, your championship season won’t be canceled, this will all go away"…. if they tell you, when they tell you…..whatever they tell you, you TRUST.

Until you walk in on the stunning realization one day that every last one of those at Duke you mistakenly trusted have been, from the beginning, entwined in the slimy embrace of Durham’s "rogue prosecutor" and its derelict police department.

If the facts in this third lawsuit are true, Duke was no wallflower, content to just avoid the terrified families and the inconvenient truth. Nope, no more than shy, soft-spoken Crystal Mangum was “new to dancing” and lost her shoe fleeing these hooligans in virginal despair. No, Duke was a deceiving hussy…forcing its own police force to change witness statements to prop up Pole Dancer's and Rogue Prosecutor's lies. If true, Duke was cunningly aware of the medical discrepancies that Duke Hospital nurse Tara Levicy was allegedly re-creating to suit whatever contingencies Nifong needed. If true, Duke was smug and silent while the “Blue Wall of Silence” smear might have been readily and truthfully debunked. If true, Duke was giving a knife-in-the-back on background, while appearing on the record always so demure and distressed by its own widdle, biddy, Dukie burdens it had to bear. If true, the leadership of Duke evidenced the duplicity of a Platinum Club pro, hidden behind the Dukiness of their own privileged Top-Guy positions. They did nothing as their activist faculty relentlessly and publicly attacked their own students. They allowed it, like some cheap date enjoys a drunken brawl in a bar. And these supposed paragons stood silent, passively watching the terrible mistreatment of their students, while, at the same time, they had irrefutable facts proving THEIR STUDENTS WERE INNOCENT.

If true, how incredibly shameful. How despicable.

Harvey on our Board suggested the lawyers ask the jury if they personally had ever been betrayed, even in the more common, more usual way. Had they ever been the target of a lie? Like my dearest friend, had they ever had to face the awful reality that those you trusted and respected and even revered had sold you out for their own needs and selfish gratification.

Had they endured the betrayal of:

The malicious lying neighbor.
The boss who steals credit for your work.
The co-worker who sabotages you.
The spouse who cheats on you.
The so-called friend who sells you out.

Betrayal.

Make that jury own the frustration, the helplessness. They’ll get it. Big time. They’ll understand. We all do.

Duke University, it is alleged, had to choose between exposing an inconvenient truth or embracing and enabling a life-destroying LIE. Like that lying neighbor, that underhanded boss, that treacherous co-worker, that cheating spouse, that turncoat friend…. they knowingly betrayed these kids in a cold-hearted way we can all feel in our gut.

If true, it was the ultimate betrayal, the most horrific treachery of Duke’s responsibility and trust, and if the evidence should reveal them naked in bed, entwined with Nifong,…. every alumni, donor, parent and decent human being needs to open the door, look hard, and see them exposed.

Joan Foster

59 comments:

Anonymous said...

No doubt these boys and their families were very outgoing and "diverse" people before all this happened.

Now I bet they will think twice before voting for a liberal Democrat any time soon.

Who could blame them?

Something like this stays with you a lifetime.

Anonymous said...

Thanks JOAN,

In a few weeks, some of us will observe Easter. An innocent man, a betrayer ( actually several best friend-betrayers), and angry mob, dishonest officials, and a cruel sentence.

Some say that it was not the nails that broke his heart, but the betrayal of friends.

I'm not so blasphemous as to equate the Lacrosse players, or their families, or even myself and some of my own betrayal experiences with that of the Easter Man.

But I do know this. NOTHING hurts worse than being falsely accused, having your friends turn their backs on you, and suffering the loss of the friends you most trusted.

Money won't bring it back. Nothing will bring it back.

We become sadder but wiser.

But hopefully one of the best lessons we can learn from it all is to absolutely swear to ourselves that we will never do that to anybody else.

Justice MUST be demanded in this case because we have gone too far down the road to turn around. Too much is at stake in Higher Education in this country, and a respect for the rule of law and justice demands it.

But on a personal level, it is my deep belief that the players themselves have had an experience that can for their character for great good and positive purpose in life.

They MUST persist, and they MUST prevail in this case.

And then, they must make a difference in the world.

Those of you who have persistently pursued this case have bought that for them. They owe it to themselves, their parents, and those who care to make it all worth it.

dsl

Anonymous said...

They were not "KIDS". They were 19,20 and 22. Their families had the means to hire the best lawyers in the state and they never spent a second in jail, except Evans who waited an hour(not in a cell) for a Judge to finish lunch. Most of the parents could afford a hotel room for these men. The millions from Duke has got to have helped get past this bad experience. The Essay is romantic but not in relationship to the ADULTS involved. This is why this thing won't play before a jury.

Anonymous said...

This "Essay" is the usual damned Oprah Winfrey hausfrau junk.

Hope the boys' mothers are still praising Joan for keeping this exaggerated stuff aiive. She obviously lives for that.

Anonymous said...

At least Joan had the grace to say all the allegtions are alleged. We are all waiting for the truth to come out. Remembering that many of these guys had drunk violations is not going to help their cause.

Anonymous said...

No doubt it's a cold cruel world.

But how much better it would be to live in a world where civil rights were respected. Where authority figures told the truth. And where the police and elected officials did not frame people for crimes.

If the world was going to get an enema Durham, NC, would be "ground zero."

Anonymous said...

dsl - In the real world lots of things hurt worse than a betrayal. Like death - physical abuse - starvation and so on.

Anonymous said...

Many people have become obsessed with things beyond this case. Their obsession began with this case and sprouted more obsessions.

Some have become enamored with the sound of their own words. KC has become a cult hero or at least he and Debrah the diva are obsessed with each other, or something's going on there.

Liestoppers has become a magnet for obsessed people who want to try their own cases on this blog that have nothing to do with lacrosse.

People need to know that after this case is over many more cases just like it happen every day to those outside the spotlight.

Anonymous said...

12:22 are you so ignorant that you don't even understand that this lawsuit was not brought by those who have received settlement from Duke?

Do you know the 38 young men and their families involved in this lawsuit? Obviously not if you believe them all wealthy... Since you don't know them and obviously haven't read the lawsuit perhaps you should refrain from commenting...

Do you have "kids"? At what age did your "kids" become adults? At what age did you cease to be their guardian, their protector, their advisor?

Read the lawsuit (its written in language most anyone can understand). Put your adult child in the shoes of these young men. Imagine your child being villified by the media, the police, city officials, Duke professors, Duke students, Duke officials, the nation.... Would you not seek to have the whole truth told -- to expose those who not only supported the lies but hid the truth for so many months?

What Duke and Durham (allegedly) did and didn't do in this case is frightening...

My hope is that these families don't settle -- that they force the case to trial. That they expose those who continue to lie and hide the truth of their own actions.

1:15 -- Are you saying the guys deserved a year of hell because of prior (misdomeanor) drinking violations? Or maybe that Duke/Durham were justified in what they did because the guys drank on previous occasions?

Compared to what is alleged in this case against Duke/Durham, some minor drinking and noise violations won't carry much weight.

Anonymous said...

"People need to know that after this case is over"

Duke and Durham keep hoping that it's over but it's not. Not by a long shot.

Move along.

Jim in San Diego said...

Interesting set of anonymous reactions. The same (?) writer - tell us, "No big deal".

I proudly live in a different universe from "anonymous".

In my universe, everyone is entitled to due process, including the presumption of innocence. What about in yours?

In my universe, it is a bad thing to attempt to convict innocent people of crimes they did not commit. It is a good thing to search for the facts, whereever the search might lead. What about in yours?

In my universe, people in positions of responsibility who fail to meet those responsibilities are held accountable. What about in yours?

In my world, people who commit felonies like obstruction of justice by changing evidence to convict innocent people of crimes they did not commit, pay the price. What about in yours?

It is unlikely, though not impossible, that in both the Cooper and Ekstrand lawsuits, plaintiffs attorneys, two of the top litigators in their fields, have "made it up". I don't think so, but we shall see.

A better guess is that the facts will turn out to be even worse than have been alleged. Thank goodness for civil courts.

Jim Peterson

Anonymous said...

I agree Jim.

Anonymous said...

Fortunately, the "KIDS" are not on trial.

Duke and Durham ARE.

The "KiDS" were judged "NOT GUILTY". I know that galds some of you. But people with more sense and evidence called it so. They were not accused of drunkness. They were accused of rape. And they are NOT GUILTY.

We'll see about DUKE and DURHAM. Have you read THEIR charges? Do you think they are "NOT guilty"?????

Sometimes I think this whole thing is boiling down to a showdown with the ignorant and bigotted majority who have no regard for the rule of law.

Last time I looked it was not a crime to have money, be white, or be male. Of course, of some of you idiots have your way, you will have some of your idiot buddies introduce such as prospective law. But be careful, when idiots make laws, they often get caught in the jaws of their own idiotic laws.

If the gene pool in Durham doesn't have more brain cells than some of these "contributors" we just ought to get on the horses and ride out of town. It is HOPELESS.

Let them have it. Let them just rot together.

Anonymous said...

I'd like to add one point to 2:26 -

The "KiDS" were declared "INNOCENT" - not merely "NOT GUILTY"

Anonymous said...

I didn't know AS THE WORLD TURNS was in rerun phase.

Anonymous said...

Thanks jim2. I was having a sleepless night and didn't exactly put it right. There IS a difference. But it is slight enough in the idiot's minds that they probably don't care what we say, and everybody else already knows. You are RIGHT.

Kids= INNOCENT

Duke and Durham= ????? Shall we just say we are waiting until proven innocent. With 200 pages of accusations !!!!! ?????

Gary Packwood said...

Anonymous 2:02 AM said...

...Many people have become obsessed with things beyond this case.
::
No, many people have become aware that this case is much larger than we first thought.

We have become aware that Anonymous posters such as yourself are trying your best to divert us from getting at the truth.

We are becoming aware that there is a small group of Duke/Durham people who were ready to sacrifice the lives of high energy white male athletes to move their agenda forward.

And, we are becoming obsessed about alerting other parents that clearly there are groups at other universities who wish to harm college students in order to change the university culture to meet their needs.

When parents become aware and take action we will rest a bit and watch this case and other similar cases across the country play out in front of millions of parents who will be the ultimate jury and who ...Vote.

If you can't get obsessive about a group of college kids trying to grow and learn, what else is there?
::
GP

Anonymous said...

You guys are not looking for the truth but a way to burn Duke, Durham and other named defendents at the stake. It ain't happening.

Anonymous said...

To the anonymous posters that think this lawsuit is rubbish I have a very sincere question for the ones that have actually read the suit. Do you disagree that Duke did the things alleged in the suit? Or do you think that even if the things alleged in the suit are true, there was no damaged done to the players? If the later is true, would you feel the same if the team in question was the Rutgers Women’s basketball team? Just curious.

JVJ

Anonymous said...

Injustice anywhere is a threat to

justice everywhere

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Anonymous said...

Excellent as always.

I do believe you were too kind with the "if true" refrain. But I realize, you just are kind.

This is not a criminal case, there is no presumption of innocence.

The betrayal these young men and their families suffered is a fact. A very public fact, for all the world to see.

It is too bad the only way those responsible can be held accountable is through lawsuits. But, that's our system.

Anonymous said...

I do believe we have some Duke and Durham employees commenting today. They have a "special" lens through which to view the world. Too bad it is so distorted.

Anonymous said...

"People need to know that after this case is over many more cases just like it happen every day to those outside the spotlight."

That's the point. This happens every day in America, to people who lack the means to defend themselves and who can never be cleared because our system presumes guilt. Beyond that, our society continues to presume guilt in cases where innocence has been established beyond any possible doubt.

This crime was infinitely worse than rape, and to tell the boys to just get over it is the height of sadism. You need to learn some basic morality and start supporting the victims instead of the criminals and their accomplices.

Anonymous said...

2:02, you are correct. Many of the posters on these blogs have become so myopic that conversation is nearly impossible. They have become lacrosse groupies rather than lacrosse supporters. Many believe that they are anointed to be the bearers of the only truth in this case.

Anonymous said...

There is only one truth in this case, and Crystal Mangum is on the opposite side of it. Feelings do not cancel out facts, gentlemen.

Unfortunate that some are less zealous in pursuit of facts than the politics of class and gender warfare.

The Watchbird said...

The Duke/Durham groupies cannot dispute the ugly facts of this Frame. So they are left with no recourse but to attack those that are illuminating the Frame. The more threatened they are, the emptier their defense of Duke/Durham's actions, the more they flail about, trying to change the subject, redirect the conversation, talk in generalities.

They can't discuss the truth because it's never been about the truth.

We watch for it now. It's a sign of their angry helplessness. They want this to STOP so their shame and embarrassment can stop, their ugly agenda driven metanarrative can patch itself up. The closer we hit to home, the more obvious their tactics.

Anonymous said...

10:50 am

ESAD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Crystal Mangum is unfortunately not on the opposite side of this lawsuit. I don't hear anyone here defending Duke/Durham as much as I hear the constant drumming of the lacrosse groupie metanarrative (and believe me there is one). When we read essays about Bob Steel and the thesis paragraph begins with a reference to a murderer of a woman and her unborn child you really have to wonder who is in touch with reality. There are some serious allegations being leveled at Steel and if true, cry to heaven for vengence. That said, I think some posters need to lighten up a bit with their sappy outpourings.

Anonymous said...

I'd rather read something by an arrogant bitch like the diva than this sappy junk.

Anonymous said...

Who exactly forces you to read here?

Anonymous said...

Kelly: well said.

I wish that the lie supporters would just do themselves a favor and post somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

Kelly, you are making points for several posters here who believe the site is no longer about discussion but about doctrine. I don't detect any members from behind enemy lines here, only posters who have a right to express a different opinion. I am assuming that free speech and thought is still allowed here, right?

Anonymous said...

3:31 cont. And by the way, just because someone expresses an opinion that is not accepted as a universal truth here does not make that person an "enabler", or a troll or a member of the "let's move on" crowd. Some people, believe it or not, can think for themselves.

Anonymous said...

There really isn't any reason to continue discussing the morality of framing these young men on rape charges. That's a no-brainer.

Sure, there's still free speech. You can even start your own blog where you can minimize this and other crimes to your heart's content.

Anonymous said...

Well, well, I see that the Durhamites and Duke faculty members are well-represented on this board. Too bad the Duke faculty members are hiding behind anonymity.

The posts I read tell me that these lawsuits are necessary, since Durham and Duke have fought against the truth from the first minutes. We are dealing with criminal conduct, falsifying police reports, falsifying medical documents, and the like. All with the stamp of approval from the "leaders" of Duke and Durham.

That people still approve this lawbreaking makes me laugh. Yes, the same people who scream at Bush for lawbreaking are advocating lawbreaking themselves -- when it fits their politically-correct agenda.

Anonymous said...

Speaking for myself having logged several posts, I can assure you that I do not reside in Durham and I am not on the faculty of Duke. I also do not support the framing of innocent people nor any of the alleged conduct of this latest lawsuit. I think several of us have responded only to the highly emotional hype and pap with which this case is often presented here. The facts speak for themselves. One does not have to shroud them in tales of betrayal or an even more ludicrous comparisons to the murder of one's wife and unborn child.

Jim in San Diego said...

It would be positive, if those who disagree about issues, argue from verifiable facts. This applies to everyone, yours truly included, of course.

The tone of anonymous ad hominem "You did", "No you didn't" messages is cathartic, perhaps, but does not lead us anywhere useful.

Suggestion: Anonymous posters do something to distinguish themselves from other anonymous posters, so we can follow a real dialogue. Initials or numbers would be sufficient, while still maintaining anonymity.

Reasonable people can reason together.

Jim Peterson

Anonymous said...

4:55 pm

You've hit the nail on the head.

Anonymous said...

Again, it's your choice to read here or not. It's somewhat strange that you expend so much energy and disdain discussing "pap" that by your definition should not be effective or even merit your notice.Why bother? Make other choices.

By doing so, it appears you "protest too much." Amusing and very telling.

Anonymous said...

LOL! The emotional depth of these anon. posters is such that they read here to be literary critics. That's all they can express outrage about. Meantime none of them displays any great talent or any insight only their own shallowness. The IPS could tell a lot, right, Mods?

Anonymous said...

Let's just be honest here ....
one time ALLEGED victim, CGM, has been totally, thoroughly DISCREDITED by ALL (AG and MSM), and more reliable sources
as a "drug-addled" very disturbed woman. WHO/WHY would any sane, logical person support her 2 yr old (spur of the moment/get me out of detox) claims?
Her "witness" is totally and thoroughly discredited by these suits ...though, perhaps defendants will wish/NEED to call CGM as a witness to why they chose to .....................
(fill in the blanks)

IMO Plaintiffs do not need precious, though
Defendents will .....

Anonymous said...

Joan -

Very well said.

Anonymous at 11:43 AM hit the nail on the head with the quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Jack in Silver Spring

Anonymous said...

"I think several of us have responded only to the highly emotional hype and pap with which this case is often presented here."

The only reason you're saying this is because you think that this crime was somehow less outrageous than rape or attempted murder, although the harm done to the victims certainly reached that level.

Why would we who care about this case be less emotional in our advocacy than, for example, people discussing the O.J. Simpson case?

Anonymous said...

Another great post Joan as the analogies clarify the need to keep this saga on the front burner. Thank you and DIW for not sweeping this under the rug as Duke and Durham would like. It was mentioned by Rush last week so it's not just the blogs at attention. Have to check Vegas odds on when the lights go out in Durham and Duke becomes a community college. Stay with it.

Anonymous said...

This isn't over by a long shot, and it never will be until the perps have been sentenced appropriately.

Anonymous said...

Is that what you Dukies want - your school to become a Community College??

Anonymous said...

Is that what you Dukies want - your school to become a Community College??

Anonymous said...

You might want to see somebody about that stutter.

Anonymous said...

these anti-truth commenters don't even read these articles of info. they just attack the pro-truth commenters.

my suggestion to them, shut up, who cares what you think!

my suggestion to pro-truthers, respond to the article and not respond to their comments, it's not interesting reading. i value so many of your comments because i have learned so much of the case from you and it is very interesting read, so please quit responding to the anti-truthers comments and lets continue this interesting discussion of facts.

Anonymous said...

Well said, southernsue. Don't feed the troll.

Anonymous said...

To contact me directly, please send SERIOUS media and legal inquiries to:

justice4all2005@yahoo.com

Rhonda Fleming
Cleveland, Ohio
Sister of Allen Jackson Croft Jr, murdered in Durham on May 11, 2005 fighting for JUSTICE!

Anonymous said...

Southern Sow,

From your comments about Barack Obama on JinC, you're just a garden variety RACIST and only hurt the lacrosse case cause.

People like you help the Klan of 88 for when they read what you write they use it as an example of all pro-lacrosse people.

You're the last person who should be talking about comments.

Frigging RACIST!

Anonymous said...

Getting back to the point, I definitely feel what Joan is trying to get across. What the boys went through and will continue to go through for years to come is the American nightmare; a system and society so out of control as to be blind to the truth.

All people need to strongly support the boys' efforts to get justice for this CRIME. And that's what this was. Not a mistake, not negligence, but a deliberate conspiracy to destroy innocent lives.

Contrary to what the news media seems to think, justice has not been served in this case. Nifong is getting fat on his pension; Mangum is enjoying the attention. The 88 have not been humbled in the slightest.

And every day in America, another innocent life is being destroyed by a corrupt, fanatical justice system.

Anonymous said...

The analogies in Joan's article are merely transportation modes for the essential facts, many of which are not yet known but will be soon.

The discovery process in this suit should likely be by far the most embarrassing to the defendants yet. Brodhead, Steel, DUMC, and the various City of Durham defendants are most likely about to have an absolutely terrible summer.

In the end, it is entirely believable that when the documents are produced much of the senior Duke administrators and some of the Board resign (board) or are fired (administration).

Any experienced attorney reading the complaint can tell you that what is revealed is probably only a fraction of what is known or strongly suspected. The real question is whether what is revealed by the defendants is ever made public or covered by another confidentiality clause.

Duke's reputation hundeds or thousands of miles away is in tatters. The entire incident has destroyed the most valuable asset it had (not the endowment) but a formerly generally held perception that DU was an elite institution.

No amount of money can ever restore that, and without an incredibly difficult battle to discharge the most egregious malefactors in the Gang of 88, those 88'ers will simply have to move/retire/quit before Duke can start the climb back to respectability.

They and each of them are a cancer on the body of Duke.

Anonymous said...

My name is Rhonda Fleming, and I am writing this letter and posting it on every news and blog site possible, to seek recognition, aid, and to educate the masses to the unfathomable abuses and crimes that are allowed to be continued without ANY help from our government concerning the murder of my brother in Durham, North Carolina in 2005, and many other crimes involving a very long list of injustices committed by Law Enforcement, and not just in the Carolina's.
The media and world have focused too much attention to this one case, as countless other cases have been completely left at the wayside! During the three years I have spent gathering evidence that they have completely ignored, have made numerous official requests and complaints to countless officials in NC, and Washington DC, all to no avail.
The focus is on one case by a city that is totally corrupt, yet the Department Of Justice, Administrative Office Of The Courts, Congress and many other official legislative, and judicial branches sits idly by, watches and does nothing!
The lawsuit made by the Duke LAX team will shed a bit of light onto the deliberate attempt and conspiracy of many, to care less about the lives, laws, and rights of citizens, and instead use them and us as political pawns on their nefarious road to perdition.
What is the big shock here? The families have every right to sue the city for negligence of an entire political system that failed miserably! This is by far NOT the biggest case to be media worthy, but one that has brought to the light of day a sample of what people in power do every single day and nobody even knows or cares!
Well, I am here to tell the WORLD and every entity watching, that As God is my witness I will not go to my grave without speaking out about the same system that has not only covered over my beloved brother's murder, but have mocked us, threatened us, and continue to deny us the right to know not just how my brother died, but everything that was done and NOT done!
I have contacted EVERY person their is imaginable, excluding the President, and still have been denied not just documents, but the right of a family to know how their loved one met their death, and to know what was done, and not done to his body!
We have been lied to and threatened by the Durham Sheriff's Department, have been shuffled through 3 years and 3 District Attorneys, countless complaints filed to numerous governmental agencies, even our own Congressman Dennis Kucinich, and STILL NOTHING!
We have sent our documents that we have been able to glean from the system to Mr. Ekstrand, but due to his obligation to the LAX team is unable to represent us but would if he could. I have sent him, the FBI, and several others copies of the BLUE blood coming from an entrance wound, none from 2 exits wounds, a inconclusive and actually negative GSR screen, proof of fraud and collaborative deception, and have been to hell and back in this maddening chase to expose this city and system for allowing crimes against humanity to go unannounced, while innocent people suffer from the hands of the very powers who took oaths before God and man to protect and serve!
So, here my family and I are coming forward to beg the media to help us to solve my brother's death, and expose a system of debauchery and evils that not only baffle the mind, but leaves you breathless and speechless! I have tried and done all that I can alone, and now have 2 months before the state can be held liable for not just one mans death, but expose a system that feeds off the helpless, then leaves them for dead!
So, I will say the purpose of this letter now is to also gain attention to the enumerable failures within the system, to right a countless injustice done to a plethora of lives that have been left completely devastated, and to make our government be held responsible and accountable for FAILING us the citizens, and the dead who have no voice but scream beyond their graves! The truth is worse than a nightmare because it is REAL and more HORRIFIC than you could ever
have imagined!
Never could I have guessed such wickedness by not just individuals, but extremely organized and calculated, and failed by the very country and leaders we so blindly put our hopes and faith into! My heart bleeds for the truth, and mourns those who have been so wickedly tortured! My brother and countless others did NOT die in vain, and I will be damned if I will let fear keep me from Justice For Jack, but JUSTICE For ALL!
Imagine instead, your child or loved one MURDERED, and not only does it take Law Enforcement over a YEAR to send ONE single report, they LIE to you from the beginning, and not only REFUSE to do any investigating, but fail to adhere to ANY role of conduct and protocol, then threaten you and LAUGH at you?!
Yes, I have the utmost sympathy for the team, but let us not forget just how many OTHER cases have been corrupted by the exact same system! WHAT has been done to answer and solve the murders of my brother, Janet Araboa, and Michelle Young?! What voices have they now they are dead?!
Where is the outrage, and public and media attention for our families?!
Nifong is by far the only knave on the long list of miscreant marauders who care nothing about rights of citizens, and care only for what is in "their" best interest! Wake up people and ask why the Department of Justice has not intervened, and why do our nations leaders just watch and do nothing about an abjectly corrupt and politically ran city?!
I never would have imagined what I now know, and am sick that nobody has taken our pleas, and heard our cries! Our loved ones not just dead, but murdered, and we will never see them hear them, or feel their touch ever again! Unfair?! Unjust?! Impossible?! The cesspool of corruption flows deep into a murky quagmire of wickedness that should expose our own government for allowing it to continue!
True and REAL crimes against humanity ranging from organized crime and drugs, to kidnapping, slavery, prostitution, and murders for global sale of body parts! Google human trafficking in organs, and learn exactly what is going on behind closed doors "the powers that be" never want to see opened! The reality is not only horrific and unimaginable, it IS happening every single day across the world, and Durham is just one of the many links in this chain of the grisly, dark underworld!
I have fought for nearly 3 years to restore my beloved brother, and best friend's respect, and JUSTICE he, and all of the others desperately deserve, and will never quit until something is done and things are changed! NOBODY deserves what mine and countless other families have endured, and for us I am begging the people and media to make a difference and care about all of the other serious matters that have fallen to the wayside for needless years!
Where IS the SBI report on my brother? Where is the details of what was done to his body and organs after he was killed? What was done to investigate his death? What was done to provide the family with documents and reports we should not just have public access to, but to every iota of information, as they closed his death as a "suicide" yet did no autopsy and lied they did?
What was done to my brother is so horrifically twisted and unreal that the city has gone out of it's way to not only deny him an investigation, but to hide facts, alter reports, and fail to adhere to any semblance of protocol?!
Where is the OUTRAGE for our family and others of unsolved and purposely neglected murders, just from 2005?!
Does anybody out here give a damn for us?!
Something MUST be done, and I have come forward to beg the media and government to hear what I have to say about my brother's case, and the crimes being done to many innocent victims that MUST be acknowledged, reported, investigated, and DESERVE action and resolution!
To contact me directly, please send SERIOUS media and legal inquiries to:
justice4all2005@yahoo.com
Rhonda Fleming
Cleveland, Ohio
Sister of Allen Jackson Croft Jr, murdered in Durham on May 11, 2005 fighting for JUSTICE
For legal reference please refer to Mr. Ekstrand for personal contact:
Robert C. Ekstrand
Firm: Ekstrand & Ekstrand
Address: 811 Ninth Street, Suite 260
Durham, NC 27705
Phone: (919) 416-4590
Fax: (919) 416-4591

Anonymous said...

One wonders if Durham was holding out the prospect of approving the zoning for Central Campus in exchange for some of this?

Anonymous said...

You keep wondering, and while you are rubbing your head waiting for the light to turn on, do some research on Tom Mellown and the SUICIDE in Durham County Sheriff's Jail, who just so happened to be the "INVESTIGATOR" of my brother's death, and is the man who walked Mike Owens, you all remember him right, the deputy jailed for COCAINE, yet NOTHING done about the tape admitting murders for hire and sex trafficking?????

Some more of Durham's FINEST?!?!?!

Rhonda Fleming
SURVIVOR to the END!!!!!

Anonymous said...

http://www.heraldsun.com/durham/4-931447.cfm

Jail suicide prompts no policy changes
BY BRIANNE DOPART : The Herald-Sun
bdopart@heraldsun.com
Mar 8, 2008

DURHAM -- Despite claims by inmates that a Durham County Jail prisoner spoke openly of suicidal tendencies and a discovery of suicide notes, officials say they received no such indications before the 27-year-old man ended his life.

And there are no plans for policy or structural changes at the jail, where fellow inmates found assault suspect Brian Lashand Rollins hanging from part of a window frame in his cell about 4 p.m. on Feb. 9. That was about 30 minutes after he'd last been seen alive, according to the report of his autopsy.

Days after the hanging death of Rollins, county leaders told The Herald-Sun they'd await the outcome of the Sheriff's Office investigation to determine if additional safety precautions were needed to ensure the jail was a safe place for its inmates.

According to Deputy County Manager Carolyn Titus, it is routine procedure for the Sheriff's Office to investigate a jailhouse death, ensure no foul play was involved and then recommend any adjustments that need to be made to the facility.

Titus said that the Sheriff's Office made no such recommendations and expressed confidence in the safety of inmates housed at the jail.

Rollins, a father of eight, was without a pulse when he was discovered. He was taken to Duke University Hospital, where he was declared brain dead the next morning and died a short time later.

He was found hanging from a window frame in his cell. But the Sheriff's Office says there is no need to adjust cells by removing items from which an inmate could be hanged. Sheriff's Office Investigator Tom Mellown, who investigated the case, said suicidal individuals can hang themselves from anything, so long as they can apply enough pressure to the neck to block the passage of air.

Yet in the past, the Sheriff's Office has requested money from the county to rid cells of vents based on the argument that the vents present a safety threat and an opportunity for hanging. Mellown, who as investigator has no part in budgeting, could not comment on those past requests, he said.

Mellown's criminal investigation into Rollins' death determined there was no foul play. From conversations with guards, jail employees and four or five inmates, Mellown determined there were no indications that the 27-year-old inmate was suicidal, he said.

One inmate did tell the investigator that Rollins never responded to him when he tried to chat with him from an adjacent cell. Another inmate told the investigator Rollins talked to him about wanting to end his life. But according to Mellown, the inmate said he never told any jail guards or officials of Rollins' intentions.

One inmate who was in the jail at the same time as Rollins told The Herald-Sun that, contrary to the Sheriff's Office's investigation, the troubled inmate told anyone who would listen that he wanted to end his life. But the guards, he claimed, were either too busy or didn't care and ignored Rollins' repeated pleas for help.

Rollins was distraught, the source said, over relationship issues involving a woman. Rollins was being held in the jail on a charge of assault on a female. His bond was $50,000. It was unclear whether the assault victim was the same woman with whom he was romantically involved.

According to the Sheriff's Office, no red flags arose during a 10-question psychological assessment that Rollins, like all inmates entering the jail, was subject to when he arrived at the facility Feb. 6.

Jail procedure calls for inmates to be administered the test only upon arrival, regardless of how long they are to be held in the jail. But if an inmate reaches out for help or if jail employees notice an inmate acting in a way that demonstrates his or her psychological state has changed, they will be referred for reassessment.

Rollins was not referred for any such assessment.

THIS is the SAME man who "INVESTIGATED" my brother's death, and you all still think HE and LE are to be trusted at all?!?!

AND, again, NO autopsy was done for my brother, AND we were LIED to and told one was done, plus threatened!!!!!

For the love of God people, DO SOMETHING!!!!

Rhonda Fleming
Durham SURVIVOR

Anonymous said...

MORE proof of the denial of the Sheriff's Office to take our complaints and requests! My God, they CANNOT get away with this!!!
Undeliverable: Mr Croft's death
"System Administrator" ..


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Where is our civil rights?!?!
Rhonda Fleming
Durham SURVIVOR