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The N&R would do our community a great service by presenting both sides of this issue fairly and impartially without sensationalism.
Your early coverage of this did not do that very well.
I think your comments above and the editorial on 1/21/06 are a better effort, however.

Allen, I am becoming increasingly concerned that we will never know all of the facts on this matter.

Too much of the public's knowledge seems to rest on what people are saying, and less on rigorous analysis, reliable evidence and contemporaneous documentation by the involved parties-- the former Chief, his subordinates, the accusers, the City Manager, the City Council members.

Well, I'll tell you one thing, if I was a public official unjustly accused by someone for a deed I didn't do, I'd be pitching a bitch to whoever wanted to hear or didn't, regardless if legal counsel told me to keep a lid on it. My integrity was questioned and I'd get angry.

Dave Wray had an excellent opportunity to get passionate and go ballistic with some righteous indignation on FOX 8's recent interview, and let it slide by.

There's always two sides to a story, and from a public relations standpoint, Dave's side is coming up short.

I am sure ex-Chief Wray has been circumpect in some of what he says on the advice of his attorney.
But one wonders why he has not addressed more fully the city manager's firm belief that Wray didn't come clean with him on the "black book"?
Also, we won't ever know all we'd like to know about this issue, but the ongoing investigation of the black book should help shed some helpful light on how it was or was not used.

I thought Wray's explanation of the notorious "Black Book" was thorough and clear.
I used photo lineups and "books" often when conducting investigations. Have you not seen TV shows in which victims look at mugshot books, collated by race and sex? If the suspect is a white female, the book contains pictures of white females, etc. Pretty simple and self-explanatory.

Again, you seem to be consumed with getting to the bottom of the "black book" without the same concern for the questions about Hinson. Isn't there a federal investigation still ongoing about Hinson? You don't seem to care. This shows a lack of balance. Don't miss the forest for the trees. If the "black book" was a racial thing, why did it not contain photos from ALL of the GPD black officers?

It seems to me the question regarding the purpose of the book has been adequately explained. No one has come forward with any explanation different from that stated by Wray other than speculation that is not supported by evidence. I agree that the question about what Wray told Johnson about the book needs to be cleared up, but that is not a racial issue.

I thought the N&R was making some progress in the last few days in treating this story in a more balanced fashion. But now it seems you are backsliding again into unsupported racial angles, and unfairly putting all of the unanswered questions in the Wray column while ignoring the unanswered questions in the Hinson column.

Finally, why is this "another opportunity for Greensboro to have a constructive discussion about race" when there is no evidence thus far that it has anything to do with race? It seems to me that what you meant to say is that it is yet another opportunity for the N&R to stir up trouble and create a racial issue from thin air. You continue to make the assumption that if a person on side A is white and person on side B of an issue is black, BANG, we have a racial issue. This is a false logic. Further, just because the person on side B says something is racial, that doesn't make it so. If Wray were black, you wouldn't even be discussing race (well, I'm sure you'd try, but...)

A high ranking officer who happens to be black, was accused of doing something wrong.
Would the supporters of Wray's resignation be happier if this book were filled with white cops pics even though a white cop wasn't accused of wrong doing in THIS particular instance?
Would the "black book" make more sense, or be "ok" if it were filled with white officers pictures?
Fact is, some cops are dirty. They come in all shapes, and colors. Playing race cards just because you "can" does not help anything. Infact, it only makes race relations worse.

A man's reputation has been materially damaged. Officers are being paged with 'we got them..you're next' messages. Whenever Wray attempts to defend himself, the City Manager looks for something else...some process or behavior that every police chief in America probably does. But reporters won't check any more than they did about a photo lineup. Because the Manager was selected by the Council, they cannot admit what an embarrassing mess he has made of what should have been nothing more than a personnel change. His own statements show that he spent little or no time working with Chief Wray to determine the truth before faxing media releases. Wray says he attempted to discuss issues with the City Manager and was refused the opportunity long before all this became public. Wray may not have been the right person for this particular job at this time, but citizens should be far more concerned with the management failures exhibited by the City Manager. N/R editors applaud his openness, but beyond Chief Wray, it is my opinion the Manager has materially damaged Greensboro, and continues to feed the frenzy by his actions.

In defense of Mr. Mitchell Johnson, I believe he has his ducks lined up and the evidence will prove that he made the correct decision. It is not unheard of for locks to be changed when you are about to be fired. Especially in a case as sensitive as this, it was imperative that he not allow Wray back into the office and allow him the time to destroy, possible, evidence. I'm surprised that there are those who still offer support for Wray, because, to me, those officers who immediately retired after their interrogation speaks volumes. If they were not guilty of something, they would have stood firm and let due process take its course, but instead, they got the hell out of dodge, apparently fearing a tarnish to their reputations or quite possibly their freedoms. So if those people who support Wray are quite upset about this situation, then it's more than likely that those people are racist themselves, and a white racist hates it when a black man of any stature is not convicted or detroyed. So just call it like it t-i is, the white man got caught, and must face his punishment, no one is above the law, at least that's what they say. move on to the next issue!

I'm not defending Wray because as of yet, there is nothing to defend against. I am merely pointing out how people are jumping to conclusions that are not supported by evidence thus far; ignoring rational explanations; and how the N&R is more concerned with finding a racial angle than they are 1) questioning those who have raised the race issue to produce evidence and 2) asking more questions about what the initial investigation was about and what evidence is available concerning that investigation. It's like I told John Robinson- it's possible that evidence was planted against OJ Simpson AND he committed the murders.

Don't play the racecard unless you have evidence. The N&R doesn't seem to care, nor do they see how they are numbing people against combating real racism by turning story after story into something racial despite the lack of evidence supporting such a conclusion. It's too early to tell in this story, but it looks like the N&R has found an angle and are sticking with it. Bad journalism.

From today's N&R:

"Allegations of racism have roiled the city’s police department since last summer, when a high-profile black lieutenant discovered special intelligence officers trailing him during his shift". This story fails to say who is making the "allegations" and the evidence "they" have to support them. It's just a straw man that is thrown out there. We are supposed to assume that racism is involved because of all the "allegations."

From the same story:

"The officers association contends that top commanders inappropriately changed the findings of internal affairs investigations into some black AND white officers accused of misconduct." (emphasis added). This little nugget of information will undoubtedly soon be conveniently ignored because it doesn't fit into the N&R race angle. Funny thing is, this little blurb actually cites a specific source - the Greensboro Police Officers Association. All of the other "allegations" contain no such specific sourcing, yet they get the headlines. I know Hinson is claiming racism, but who else is?

Maybe race is involved, but again, at this point there is no evidence of it merely "allegations" by anonymous people. Everyone- but especially the N&R should take a step back and wait and see. And Eric Swenson shouldn't publicize "allegations" in a news story without sourcing them. The straw man is fine for setting up a college thesis, but this is a newspaper.

I believe that in all fairness to ALL people both black and white that ALLEGATIONS of any kind whether it is race, sex or religion be IGNORED unless and until the person making the allegation is willing to press charges using the laws that have been passed to address these problems. In this particular case Lt. Hinson had at the very least 6 months in which to file charges. That he did not leads many to believe that they had no basis in fact. Allegations of Racism are especially divisive and damaging to the Blacks themselves. As I have pointed out before, if an employer has two applications, both of equal experience/education/etc. One however is a David and one is a Davon. Given the current propensity of Blacks to accuse racism at any and all actions taken against them, just who do you think the employer is going to call? No way is it going to be Davon! Not unless the employer wants to chance having himself embroiled in a very public, embarrassing and damaging spectacle if he should have to discipline or fire Davon. Blacks, like women and other minorities MUST use the law if they believe their cause is just, and if not then stop using the race card that will ultimately harm their race.