News-Record.com

Mr. Coman is said by many in the law enforcement community to be a professional of the highest order. For that reason alone his comments concerning the black book should carry great weight in any discussion about public disclosure of its content. Hopefully a time will come when the black book content is divulged to the public.

What city government can do without restriction is release a factual and coherent rationale for the forced resignation of former police chief David Wray. So far this has not been forthcoming, in spite of numberous calls for full disclosure. The new City Council should insist that this information be made available for public consumption; this is one of the healing steps that must take place in order for the city to move ahead.

Unless the city can provide substantive reasons to the contrary it must provide legal defense to David Wray for the time he was a city employee. I find it shameful that David Wray, along with one or more other officers, was confronted with reduction of retirement benefits for no apparent valid reason, and as added insult must bear high legal costs. As far as I know the city has always afforded legal protection to its employees.

If sufficient grounds exist for the treatment accorded David Wray, I call on the city to make itself heard on the matter. Does the city continue to accept the Risk Management Associates (RMA) report as basis in fact, and does the city believe it - RMA - superceds the findings of the SBI and subsequent Grand Jury actions? We need to know where the city stands.

The city should make a point-by-point rebuttal of the entire Jerry Bledsoe/Rhinoceros Times series once and for all time. As it stands, if only a fraction of the series is truthful, that is sufficient grounds for wholesale cleansing in city management.

Bill,
Your comments are well written, clear and concise. I regret both the defeat in your run for council as well as the situation our present council has been left to reconcile. Hopefully, due process will help to clarify this entire matter, the responsible parties being held accountable and those who have been stigmatized, exonerated of wrong doing. Upcoming litigation should shed a great deal of light on the reality of the past. This is the only course available in our system of justice. My fervent hope is for our city to move forward, beyond the the negative impact this brings to our front door.

Thanks for the information, Margaret. Who is Martin Erwin?

Also, about your the title of this post, it might be more accurate to add "yet." The black book can become publicly available under the following circumstances:

1. A judge applies the state law that says that just because public documents become part of a criminal investigation, they do not lose their status as public records subject to disclosure.

2. The "evidence" is presented at trial, at which point it becomes public.

3. The prosecution of the case ends and Coleman's objections become moot.

Sure thing, Roch.

Martin Erwin is an attorney at Smith Moore. He works with Alan Duncan, and I believe Erwin has also consulted with the city about matters related to the police stuff. I don't know what Erwin's specific responsibilities are, though.

That's a good point, Roch. Just because it's not public now doesn't mean it won't ever be. And I certainly hope the public will get the chance to see it one day.

Thank you Bill for your well spoken and oh so accurate comment above. If only those in power shared your views as much as we who have been speaking out on this outrage from the beginning.

I didn't know David Wray from Mitch Johnson from Joe Blow when this whole thing started. Of course I knew their titles, but nothing about the men. I did however see the false accusation of racism that Johnson first used to justify his treatment of the Police Chief, and this got my attention. What the true circumstances actually were I did not know and still do not. Now for two years we have been treated to an ongoing tragedy of errors by those who are charged with seeing to the operation of the city for the residents. I say tragedy of errors because the harm done by these people will scar Greensboro for years to come regardless of what they do. This being the case the truth should finally and at long last be admitted to no matter what that truth is or what the repercussions are. BB

the truth will definitely be established... by the courts and it will be expensive to the city with all compensation claims & legal fees. a bullseye is on mr. johnson as the agent of the city of gboro.

I see the whole black book issue as a non-issue, just more smoke and mirrors to detract from the real problems our city faces that incidentally haven't been addressed since the election. Of course a line-up book has members of the same race and build as the suspect. This whole thing has no more effect on the real problem than talking about the weather and subsequently deciding nothing is to be done about it. Where are the solutions ? where are the demands for leadership ? Not from our new council. It's a sad state of affairs .