EdCone.com

I agree with many of Jerry Bledsoe's criticisms of N&R articles about November 3, 1979, including the importance of the previous confrontation at China Grove, the responsibility of the CWP for the location and nature of its rally, and the motives and success of the CWP's union organizing mission. I've said so in print, and the TRC report supports these arguments.

But for Jerry's long and detailed article dealing largely with the police, the march, the contested nature of the relationship between police and CWP, and omissions in media coverage to omit any mention of the police informant riding with the Klan that day, and to  gloss over the lack of police presence at the site of the deadly shootings...well, it's a bit odd, don't you think?

UPDATE: Bledsoe did mention in the previous installment of the series that CID officer Rooster Cooper "had an informant in the Klan, Eddie Dawson, who led Klan members to Morningside Homes."

Also, the October 31,1999 article he cites by Ahearn was accompanied by a sidebar and a map, which between them contain much of the information discussed:

FAST-FORWARD COUNTDOWN TO AN 88-SECORD DISASTER...AND A SLOW, 20-YEAR - RECKONING FOR GREENSBORO

Date: October 31, 1999   Page: A6

MILITANT COMMUNISTS ON THE LEFT

In the late 1970s, a group of hard-core Marxists...is agitating for its vision of social and economic change in Greensboro.

...In 1979, the established textile union decertifies and seizes control of locals organized by Communists. Their labor efforts thus stymied, the leftists seek confrontations with the most sensational symbol of racial division between the black and white working class: the Ku Klux Klan...

...(PHOTO) The Associated Press - Forsyth Nazi leader Wayne Wood strikes a kung-fu pose during a confrontation with leftists in China Grove on July 8, 1979. Police prevent violence, and as leftists walk away with clenched fists, white supremacists vow revenge.

...(PHOTO) A CWP flier for the Nov. 3 march likewise uses provocative rhetoric to taunt the Klan. A flier, posted in black neighborhoods, asks residents along the parade route to stand on their porches with shotguns to defend the march.

RED FLAGS As the march draws near, local and federal investigators have several indications of potential violence...Dawson tells Cooper the Nazi-Klan contingent has guns. Cooper and a police photographer, in plain clothes and an unmarked car, tail the Nazi-Klan caravan all morning and are still following as the cars arrive at Morningside.

...STICKS AND STONES: WORDS TURN DEADLY The demonstrators, despite their violent words, are not heavily armed as they assemble the morning of Nov. 3. One shotgun is placed in a truck but never fired by the Communists. Four others carry low-caliber handguns, including a derringer and another gun that jams.

N&R: [T]hree retired commanders who worked under Wray but were not involved in the scandal differed sharply with Wray's explanation of why he stepped down under pressure while Hinson was reinstated.

In a recent interview with the News & Record, former Deputy Chief Tony Scales, former Assistant Chief Bill Stafford and retired vice-narcotics Capt. Rick Ball said Wray's demise was self-inflicted.

The veteran commanders cited missteps they blamed on Wray's inexperience in basic police investigative work, unwillingness to listen to dissent and reluctance to discipline or fire a prominent black officer he believed to be unfit.

On the alleged multi-jurisdictional investigation: "We were specifically told that James Hinson was not a target," Ball recalled of the meeting with the U.S. attorney's staff, "and that what we would do administratively was a police department matter."

More: The commanders agree that the allegations against Hinson "absolutely" needed to be investigated — either to charge him or to clear him.

Where they think the Hinson case ran amok — and brought about the very backlash Wray sought to avoid from the local NAACP and some black clergy — was when the accusations weren't substantiated but the investigation kept going.

On the "black book": "Once (Wray) found that book, he had an opportunity to say, 'Look what I found,'" said Scales, who retired as deputy chief in 2004. "How do you not do that and still keep the trust of your supervisors?

Three former senior people, pretty much backing up the RMA report.

Read the whole thing.

Make no mistake about this Willow Oaks business: the long knives are out for Mitch Johnson, and the Wray fray is the reason.

The twist is that City officials aren't just sitting back and taking abuse from the blogs, they're fighting back online.

The stakes are high, as Johnson and Co. seem to realize. The Manager's enemies are making their case, but that case is itself under attack.

If the whole billing thing turns out to be not a very big deal, the Wraysters lose credibility and their sure-to-come follow-up attacks are compromised from the start. If the billing stuff sticks, Johnson is weakened.

Somebody is going to get hurt in this fight.

Un film de Troublemaker, talking some Wray and Hinson.

Hoggard says he's suffering from "serial fatigue": After months of hurrying to get my copy of the Rhino every Thursday to read the latest in Bledsoe’s ongoing saga about David Wray, Officer Hinson and the rest, I haven’t yet taken the time to read last week’s nor this week’s installments...Best as I remember from where I left off three weeks ago, former chief Wray was doing everything right and everyone else was all screwed up.

A humorous overstatement, that last part, but with a point. Jerry has made a strong case that the culture of the GPD was seriously messed up, and he's detailed allegations of bad behavior by Lt. Hinson that demand some public response (hello, N&R, anyone home?).

Important stuff, no doubt. Yet beyond it, Bledsoe has not really addressed the things that the City (and John Hammer) have said cost Wray his job, or the specifics of the two reports that informed the City's decision, which sometimes diverge sharply from Jerry's own reporting.

Maybe we're getting there, but the journey grows a bit tedious.

David Wharton writes about his personal experiences with Mitch Johnson and David Wray. Thoughtful and helpful stuff.

Who knew what, when?

Bledsoe: "Wray knew that several things in this [June 15, 2005 N&R] article simply were false. Beverly Hinson was not under surveillance by the department."

RMA report: Corporal Webb did an admirable job in trying to ascertain the facts surrounding the identity and reason for the private investigator being so close to Mrs. Hinson's residence. The fact is that he had three days to conduct his inquiry and was called in on his day off to hastily conclude the investigation by Captain Lojko...despite Webb's protests that he had some loose ends to clear up, when other internal investigations were taking months and in some cases years to resolve...Webb wrote in part that he felt he "was rushed and not allowed to conduct a proper or true investigation of the incident."

...The Webb investigation had to be cut short so that the Chief could use what appeared to be predetermined results of the investigation in his press briefing at 3:00 PM on June 17, 2005. The fact that the Chief had a hand in this hurried and incomplete investigation is evident in an e-mail sent to Corporal Webb at 12:19 PM on June 17, 2005, by Captain Lojko...

So Jerry says Wray knew in mid-June that GPD was not involved in surveillance of Mrs. Hinson, but the RMA report says he could not have known that for sure, yet said he did, a few days later.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Previous Bledsoe pieces in the Rhino linked here; previous Wray Fray posts and columns by me here.

Interesting Bledsoe piece in today's Rhino (as yet unposted). For one thing, it says Lorraine Ahearn came to Wray in 2003 with concerns about an allegedly dirty cop who sounded a lot like James Hinson. I'd love to hear Lorraine's side of this story.

Bledsoe also spends a lot of time detailing Wray's surprise at the nickname "secret police" for GPD's Special Intelligence Division.

Bledsoe: "Police departments have many divisions, many functions, many types of jobs, and all the people filling those jobs are engaged in protecting the public, Wray later noted. An officer investigating another officer for wrongdoing is protecting the public just as much as a patrol officer answering a call."

Well, sure. But there are rules that govern the use of these different divisions, and both the RMA and CA reports say that in Wray's department, the SID was being used improperly. From the widely-available reports, which Bledsoe's piece does not mention:

RMA: The police unit assigned to conduct this on-going criminal investigation of Hinson was a part of Special Intelligence Division of the GPD...This unit did not follow the established procedures set forth in the policies and directives established by the GPD to regulate the investigation of police misconduct...This investigative unit often purported to be a part of a federal investigative effort into police misconduct, operated outside of the normal chain of command, and became known by the rank and file of the GPD as the "secret police."...Wray knew of the use of this unit and knew or should have known the details...

The CA report says the use of Special Intelligence was part of a "consistent pattern of failure to follow departmental directives [that] developed under Chief Wray's administration." Those directives said to be violated included:

1. Undertaking a Criminal Investigation Rather than Intelligence Gathering.

2. Undertaking an Administrative Investigation Rather than Intelligence Gathering.

3. Failure to Complete Proper Reporting.

If the name "secret police" was a surprise to Wray, the activities of the unit weren't, or should not have been, according to the two reports. And the reports say those activities were not right.

Joe Guarino writes about the other leaked document in the Wray fray, the City Attorney's report.

Amid plentiful verbiage dedicated to the proposition that the report just maybe possibly might not be all true, Joe slips in this little nugget: The City Attorney's report makes a series of allegations, including the inappropriate alteration of documents; the applying of pressure to alter evaluations or disciplinary measures; disparate treatment of white and black officers; selective targeting of black officers; intimidation; and procedural violations.  For each of these allegations, at least several examples were provided. Numerous officers were mentioned, and significant detail was furnished.  Some of the allegations were more serious than others, and some were of questionable significance.  But if the main thrust of these allegations was true, then Wray and all those implicated were engaged in serious wrongdoing. [emphasis added]

Well, yeah. Multiple allegations of bad stuff, with supporting evidence. That's why people who don't doubt that Jerry Bledsoe has uncovered all kinds of wrongness at GPD aren't marching on the Melvin building to protest the mistreatment of David Wray. Jerry has provided a lot of context and raised a lot of questions that demand answers, but he has not yet offered a paragraph aimed at the direct exculpation Wray in light of the case made against him by the City.

Joe also finds it strange that the City Attorney should expose alleged wrongdoing, rather than defend the City against any such charges. "[P]erhaps some type of political imperative dictated how this had to be handled," he sniffs. Seems to me that the imperative is justice for all, even if it comes at a cost. I don't want my city or its lawyer to cover things up when they go bad. If things at GPD were as broken as this report says, we needed to know about it. And as Joe himself says, if the main thrust of these allegations was true, then Wray and all those implicated were engaged in serious wrongdoing.

Maybe the report and its serious allegations and documention are not accurate. If that's true, then everyone associated with it should be gone with a quickness. And no matter what, Bledsoe's reporting raises issues that need to be addressed. But the whole notion that this is as simple as choosing sides between Wray and Hinson seems just flat wrong; it's not, to coin a phrase, black and white.

Dianne Bellamy-Small says she didn't leak the RMA report. From the N&R article: "Although RMA determined this week that the copy originated with Bellamy-Small, it's still unclear who gave the report to Greensboro101.com or who leaked the document to the News & Record in the spring."

Nobody "gave the report to Greensboro101.com." Somebody uploaded it to the site.

Also, this earlier N&R article says "copies of consultant RMA’s report appeared Oct. 16 on a local blog, Greensboro101.com, and then on some other local blogs." On what other sites has the report appeared?

Finally, saying "it's still unclear...who leaked the document to the News & Record in the spring" in an article that appears in the N&R demands a bit more explanation about who at the paper does know how they got it, and why the reporter and the public do not. I know it's been discussed before, but the reference begs for context.

RMA document specialist says the copy of the investigative report issued to GSO Councilwoman Dianne Bellamy-Small is the source of leaked copies.

N&R coverage. RMA statement to City , supporting chart both (PDF documents).

City Manager Mitch Johnson (via that troublemaking Ben Holder) says Wray misled him about the existence of an ongoing multi-jurisdictional investigation and the existence of the so-called Black Book; that he asked Wray to explain the discrepancies between versions of the story; and that Wray then resigned instead of doing so.

Here we have a series of straightforward statements that should be verifiable or disprovable via documents and sworn testimony. We've been told a lot in the last several months about alleged misdeeds by cops and the atmosphere of the GPD. Those things matter, greatly. But if Johnson's version is factual, then Wray needed to go.

UPDATE: For those keeping score at home, this is consistent with Johnson's case all along.

N&R: "Investigators are examining unique photocopy patterns to ferret out who leaked a controversial report on former police Chief David Wray to reporters and bloggers. Hired by the city of Greensboro, these 'forensic document analysts' are comparing a copy scanned and posted on a Web site to versions once held by City Council members and city employees.

"Find the copy with the same distinct marks as the one posted on www.greensboro101.com, and you may find the leaker, City Manager Mitchell Johnson said."

Talk about unintended consequences...

Full Bledsoe series to date is up at the Rhino site. My links here.

Ben Holder unpacks Hinson's lawyer's press conference.

Related: I said this today to a commenter about Jerry Bledsoe's ongoing Rhino series: He has compiled a lengthy and disturbing list of allegations against Lt. Hinson, and he has identified what seem to be some serious problems in GPD culture.

He has yet to address Wray's alleged transgressions.

Far to go, we have.

Statement by Lt Hinson's lawyer, posted by Cara Michele, who writes about the press conference here.

N&R coverage here.

I'm working on a Unified Theory of the GPD Meltdown.

It involves alleged bad behavior by the former Chief...and by officers he targeted.

And credulous media coverage from both the N&R and the Rhino.

And years of festering racial politics within the department.

And a lot of hard-working cops, and citizens who depend on them, who have been ill-served by all of the above.

More TK.

I will be on WUNC's The State of Things just after noon today, talking some RMA report. 91.5 on your FM dial, streaming at the site.

Update: Listen here.

N&R on City Manager Mitch Johnson: "He has the unwavering support of the City Council, the majority of whose opinions range from 'people will look back and say he’s one of the best city managers we’ve ever had' (Tom Phillips) to 'I feel affirmed every day in my decision to hire him' (Florence Gatten).

"Johnson says he gets regular affirmation from police officers, who he thinks are quietly displaying loyalty to him."

Roch Smith Jr on the resignation of four Greensboro 101 boardmembers after the publication of the RMA report: "I'm sorry that my enthusiasm for seeing this document come to light led me to poorly communicate with the board and I'm sorry for my insensitivity to their concerns. It is a lesson learned. Even in their leaving, the four departing board members provided a final instructive contribution for how to do things better in the future--and I will."

My newspaper column is about the leak of the RMA report and the host of issues raised by leaks in the age of the Internet.

I don't have the latest Rhino handy, and the current installment of Bledsoe's series isn't online yet, so maybe someone can remind me: does Jerry's account of the H.E.L.P. House mention that David Wray and then-District Attorney Stuart Albright attended a fundraiser for the project? That information was reported by Lorraine Ahearn when she wrote about H.E.L.P. in March of this year. UPDATE: Cara Michelle says the original report on a H.E.L.P. fundraiser was incorrect.

In any case, it's interesting to compare and contrast the reporting by the N&R and Bledsoe on a variety of Wray-related subjects, including the Hinson-Turnbull connection. Some readers seem to be hearing about this stuff for the first time in the Rhino, and to assume the N&R never mentioned it.

One characterization unique to used by Jerry, emailed to me by an alert reader, deals with the November 1979 killings in Greensboro, which Bledsoe calls "a clash between Nazis, Klansmen and Communist Workers Party (CWP) members, in which CWP members attacked a caravan of Klansmen and Nazis at the staging area of a 'Death to the Klan' march" (emphasis added). That one might win an award for Technical Accuracy in Defiance of the Larger Truth.

A valuable contribution to the GPD saga at Plead the First: a timeline of events involving Wray, Hinson, and the RMA report.

As others see us: Xark on the "Cat 5 storm in Greensboro."

Ben Holder: "Let me make one thing really clear. I did not post the RMA report online. Yes it is true that I got the report before any other blogger did. N&R got it, then WFMY got it, then WGHP, then I got it. After that it just gets really confusing.

"I will also say that I did share it with a few folks. However, I told the people I gave it to I did not want to see this posted online or published in any form."

I would very much like to see a News & Record article about the alleged misconduct of Lt. Hinson and other GPD officers, and about the racial politics at work in the department. Bledsoe's work in these areas has people concerned, and for good reason. The paper of record should address it all.

If Wray done wrong, let him bear the consequences. Alleged wrongdoing by others, and a sick GPD culture, would not exonerate him for any breaches of trust with his bosses, but they are part of the same large and important story.

Spoke by phone with Ron Coleman, general counsel for the Media Bloggers Association. He obviously cannot and does not offer specific legal advice on the publication of the RMA report, but after our conversation it seems to me that a successful lawsuit for libel or defamation against a website publishing the report is unlikely.

Killian: "[J]ournalism isn't easy. It isn't easy when it's being done by professionals in newspapers and on television and it isn't easy when it's being done by citizens with blogs. It isn't easy because even professionals who've spent their lives in journalism can't always agree on what it is and what it should do. But most good professional journalists do agree on a few ethical points - and a situation like the one with the RMA report had to come down to citizen journalists making a decision like this for that very reason."

Good post, read the whole thing. I don't know that there will be lasting, meaningful fissures in the local blogging community over this thing, but then again I'm not a big believer that a unified blogging community exists or should exist here in the first place.

Now, read Lex. "I think a lot of local bloggers who got involved with the RMA report really got their first taste this weekend of how excruciating some of these decisions can be. I've never argued that journalism is rocket science, but I've also been struck by the number of people who seem to think that pro journalists do without a second thought the kinds of things we often actually sit up nights over."

N&R front-pager by MMB: "Anyone with Internet access can see parts of a controversial, closely held report that alleges insubordination and possible criminal wrongdoing by former police Chief David Wray.

"So will the Greensboro City Council finally talk about the report's contents?

Depends on who's talking."

Councilman Mike Barber is quoted: "'The demand for pure, honest, concise information has been escalated. We have an obligation to clarify and to elaborate what we can within the law."

Jordan Green of Yes! Weekly has read the RMA report, and he files this story on the mess at GPD.

The report seems to confirm the allegations of bad behavior on the part of Lt. Hinson detailed by Jerry Bledsoe in the Rhinoceros Times. Bledsoe's reporting limns the damage done to the GPD under former Chief White, and (along with the RMA report) paints a convincing picture of the department as a snakepit of political and racial factions.

But none of that would excuse the alleged misrepresentation by former Chief Wray of the Hinson investigation, which he reportedly linked to a multi-agency drug investigation that the RMA document claims did not exist. If true, this alleged behavior alone would seem reasonable cause for Wray's bosses to lose faith in him.

Green: "The report calls into question Wray's alleged description at a June 17, 2005 press conference of a wide-ranging investigation involving multiple agencies and the former chief's alleged statement that he had only recently been given approval to 'move on' information that had developed during an investigation of Greensboro police officers...'At no time did the US Attorney's Office for the Middle District of North Carolina nor did an OCDETF (organized crime drug enforcement task force) investigation ever prevent or impede the Greensboro Police Department in its efforts to investigate Lieutenant Hinson for any criminal or administrative malfeasance,' the report concluded. 'Contrary to insinuations made by Chief Wray, the fact is that Lieutenant Hinson was never under investigation by the US Attorney's Office or the target of an OCDETF investigation.'"

Inside Scoop: "Four members of the Greensboro101 advisory board have resigned over the posting of the RMA report on the Web site."

Jay Ovittore: "I have officially resigned from my Editorial Board position at  Greensboro101.com effective immediately."

Sue Polinsky: "I resigned...The RMA report was posted on Greensboro101 anonymously this morning without any input from or knowledge of the editorial board. I believe the board should have been included in a decision that could be interpreted as our approving the report’s being posted online."

Having spoken with two people close to the situation, it sounds like 101 might have handled its internal politics more deftly -- but I think the site's management has reason to be proud as well.

Carmany: "I view the posting of the RMA report on line and the feature placement on Greensboro101 with no names blacked out to be totally irresponsible on the part of the person or persons who did so."

Greensboro101's Roch Smith Jr, via Inside Scoop: "I regret that the result of the city's failure to adequately respond to the public clamor for information is a personal attack towards me from a council member."

Will the News & Record print the RMA report tomorrow, now that it has been made available online?

If not, why not?

Locke Clifford is David Wray's attorney. He is now reading the RMA report for the first time.

A copy of the RMA report is now available at Greensboro101.

Morning update on RMA:

Sean Coon says it's worse than it appears...

Joe Guarino reinforces his preconceptions...

And Potato Stew has a cartoon.

I've contacted Bob Cox at the Media Bloggers Association and requested advice from counsel on any possible online publication of the RMA report.

There are multiple issues in play here. One involves the legality of publishing the report. Another is the threat of a lawsuit by David Wray's lawyers, which was discussed yesterday at ConvergeSouth. And there is also a balance between the public's right to know, and the responsiblities that come with access to information.

UPDATE: Read this.

Carmany: "Needless to say, city officials have been a bit stressed the last week as it became apparent that the confidential RMA report had publicly surfaced in the hands of various media and individuals in the community."

So far, bloggers have shown restraint and respect for the individuals named in the report -- nobody seems to have posted an unredacted copy online. That's an interesting, and encouraging, subplot to the larger drama.

Mr Sun asks one of the best questions I've heard about the whole GPD mess.

My take on the RMA report, which I have now read, is that it makes John Hammer look prescient for saying in January of this year: This story is about honesty and trust, and it can be summed up simply: City Manager Mitch Johnson, Mayor Keith Holliday, and [the rest of the Council members] didn't trust former Police Chief David Wray and don't believe Wray was honest with them...

Ben Holder says he has been told by people with inside information that certain specifics in the report are inaccurate. That may well be so. But it is hard to see how any such inaccuracies would outweigh the public statements and known facts that appear to be at the heart of the City's case against Wray, and that seem to validate Hammer's original analysis of the situation.

Jerry Bledsoe's series in the Rhino Times has provided valuable detail on the disastrous Chief White era, and the reality of big-time drug dealing in Greensboro, and alleged bad behavior by some cops. All of which may provide some context for the actions Wray is alleged to have taken, but does not, given the record as I understand it, seem to excuse them.

I am puzzled at the City's reticence in discussing some elements of this matter, and will try to find out more about the reasons for remaining tight-lipped as the day goes on.

Hoggard on the RMA report: "What I can tell you is the report is complete, disturbing and damning and city manager Mitch Johnson did what had to be done."

I urged the bloggers at ConvergeSouth to think very hard before posting the report online. The ability to do so comes with a responsibility. The City has withheld the report for a reason.

Or so I'm told...I won't get a chance to read my copy until after dinner tonight.

Troublemaker posts contents page of the RMA report, says he's got the whole thing.

Read more here.

"We at the Troublemaker would be worried about Wray's actions if we thought the RMA report was true. However, we are not under the assumption that it is accurate."

Hey, I work in the media, why can't I see a copy of the RMA report?

Troublemaker points to WFMY's claim that they've seen it.

JR sez he didn't give it to the TV guys.

Guarino on the City's Wray press conference: "The real objective of this news conference was to keep the local news media on board with respect to the city's approach to this situation in the face of Jerry Bledsoe's reporting in the Rhino Times. Mayor Holliday opened the session by warning the local media not to become too aggressive or confrontational with their questioning."

He doesn't think much of the City's mythbusters website, either.

Previously, and also, and aggregated.

UPDATE: More here, and here, where MMB says she was "embarassed" by Willy Hammer's presscon question about Mitch Johnson's love life. It certainly is rare to hear officials erupt in derisive laughter at a would-be tough question.

People have asked me for a while now what I think about the Wray/GPD story.

My answer has been: I don't have enough facts to make a determination.

This morning, over at the Style & Cut Shop on Georgia Street, the question had a new dimension: What do you think about it in light of the Bledsoe series in the Rhino?

My answer is the same. I still don't have enough facts. The series has been fascinating, but has yet to offer any direct insight about the events that got Wray locked out, and squeezed out, of his job.

One presumes this stuff is coming, and that the version of events will be highly sympathetic to Wray, who has been cast thus far as a paragon of virtue in a dirty world. And one supposes, given the emphasis to date on race, and the title "Cops in Black and White," that Wray will be shown as the victim of racial politics.

Perhaps he was. We'll see what we see, from Bledsoe, and from the City and various investigations.

So far, the series has lined up with the broad public perception that Wray was not a racist, and that he was a decent hard-working local boy made good. It has provided detail into some of the problems -- many of them already well-known -- at GPD under former Chief White. It has shown a lurid side of police culture that probably exists in pockets of every department at some time, but is no more acceptable for that, and in doing so has gotten the word "dildo" into the Rhino Times. It has outlined some bigtime drug-running in our town, and limned a demimonde that may be news to some readers. And it has shown that James Hinson may well have merited the surveillance that cracked this story open.

It has also traced some of the history between Wray and other City officials, not always in ways that make Wray look good. Certainly Wray's decision to move Project Homestead documents to the FBI would have pissed off a lot of bosses. There have been passing mentions of discontent among black officers dating back to the days of Chief Daughtry, but no evidence or judgment on the validity of any such concerns.

Some questions about Bledsoe's methodology are also beginning to emerge. The City, for example, says there are dangers in naming some of the names in the series.

Meanwhile, an alert EdCone.com reader says the public pushback against one anecdote in the series includes an "incredible admission" in Bledsoe's response to the threatened libel suit from Morton's attorney.

In that article, Bledsoe says, "I relied on the memories of David Wray, one other officer and a news story about Stacy Morton's arrest for much of my account about the incident involving Morton. David Wray says that the version of the story he told came from the officers who investigated the case and he stands by it.

"I talked with a source at the district attorney's office at the time of the trial who told me that the case had been dismissed after the victim testified in a bizarre and confusing manner. That person was in a position to know, and I had no reason to doubt what was told to me. That memory obviously was faulty. I should have checked the court records. That was my oversight and I apologize for it."

Says my reader: "He based this incident, which took up most of a week's story, on the second-hand memory of the key character in this drama -- some might say the hero -- and another anonymous officer, whose authority, involvement or point of view are not described. He didn't check the public record [or ackowledge different versions of the story]...To me, that's stunning. I think this peek under the tent of his methods is telling and shines a great deal of light on this series."

Maybe. I hope not. Jerry is very, very good at reporting and writing complex and controversial stories, we would all be best off if his work is otherwise bulletproof.

And the real controversy, the stuff we haven't gotten from the City or anyone else yet, is still to come.

City page on Wray case. Hoggard says it's not enough, but still "a stab at more governmental transparency and rumor control which are two things that are desparately needed down at City Hall."

City statements and related documents.

N&R: "Police have launched an investigation into who copied sensitive internal files and transcripts from highly restricted federal drug cases and fed them to a local weekly newspaper."

N&R press con coverage here.

N&R coverage archive, including audio of yesterday's City press conference. Nice to hear local bloggers, including Greensboro101 and Troublemaker, representing...

Updated with links to new Rhino site

Jerry Bledsoe: Cops in Black and White

Part 1, Wray: An Ambitious Farm Boy
Part 2, The White Choice
Part 3, The White Reign
Part 4, Chief Wray Takes Over
Part 5, Homestead Hits the Fan
Part 6, Shifts Rotate, Police Irate
Part 7, Hinson Takes Center Stage
Part 8, Police and Prostitutes (includes "Morton's Version," a retraction and correction on an incident previously cited by Bledsoe)
Part 9: Hinson Dodges Snare
Part 10: Hinson Lands in the Dog House
Part 11: Hinson HELPs Hooker House
Part 12: Bird Dogging Wayward Cop
Part 13: Hinson Finds the Tracker
Part 14: N&R Invents Secret Police
Part 15: Kitchen Aids Wray's Case
Part 16: Wray Takes on Ahearn
Part 17: Wray Helped by Daughtry
Part 18: Hinson Gets Suspended
Part 19: The Truth Behind SID
Part 20: N&R Sides With CWP
Part 21: Embroiled in Scandal
Part 22: Police Info Up for Sale
Part 23: Nabbed at McDonalds
Part 24: Brian James Questioned
Part 25: City and RMA Distort Facts

I understand Willy Hammer's flinty-eyed view of the web: the Rhino will make a serious move online when someone shows them the money. Willy would rather invest in a cash-spinning real estate insert and let others pioneer local online publishing.

It's a reasonable play in the short term, yet there are risks to being overly cautious. The move to online sites of local classified ads, along with real estate and entertainment ads, is a question of when and not if; this won't be the death of free weekly print pubs, which will still have great utility, but the price pressure on print ad rates may be nontrivial.

All of which is to say that in late 2006, the Rhino's website reflects its business strategy, and even though they are publishing a series that is making significant local news, they don't bother to collate links to it so people can read from the start. That makes it harder to follow, and to blog about, so I've done it here, and will update this page through the end of the series. (Joe Guarino has been doing yeoman work summarizing the series -- maybe he'll collate those links, too.)

Jerry, meanwhile, has been promising a blog of his own for a couple of months now...

Fecund Stench on Bledsoe on Wray,

or,

Chapter the First, in which Our Hero is Discovered to have been a Young Man of Virtue and Character.

Which I'm sure he was. However, that's not really at issue, and one assumes that Jerry has more than stenography-unto-hagiography up his sleeve.

I look forward to upcoming chapters, in which Wray presumably will be shown dealing with more recent events, and the culture of the GPD shall be examined.  Interesting as well to see how the series squares with John Hammer's own analysis of Wray's abrupt departure.

This is important stuff, and we don't know nearly enough about it.

Strange days indeed in Greensboro, with the City Council set to polygraph itself to find an alleged leaker. Not good on many levels, although it does make a newspaper columnist's job easy...

My newspaper column is about the public's need to know more facts about the David Wray case and the mess at the Greensboro Police Department. There are constraints on the release of detailed information, but the City should be looking for ways to get as much as possible out in the open.

From John Hammer's front-pager (unposted) in today's Rhino:

The Police Chief David Wray resignation story isn't about a black book, although there is a black book in it. It isn't about Greensboro Police Lt. James Hinson or drug dealers, although they are in it. And most importantly it isn't just about race although there are some racial factors that cannot be ignored.

This story is about honesty and trust, and it can be summed up simply: City Manager Mitch Johnson, Mayor Keith Holliday, and [the rest of the Council members] didn't trust former Police Chief David Wray and don't believe Wray was honest with them...

...If everything was on the up and up then why did two of Wray's top officers resign when faced with questions about their activities? If the black book was simply put in the trunk of Bradley's car for safe keeping, why was its existence kept a secret?

According to Occam's Razon, the simplest answer is usually the correct one. In this case the simplest answer is that Wray was, for whatever reason, not honest in his dealings with his boss, City Manager Mitchell Johnson. Any other explanation involves huge coincidences and for people to do things that don't make any sense.