In 1958, they were simply the “rites of passage.” I had smoked my first Marlboro, drank my first scotch on the rocks, fallen madly in love with my future wife, and found a great new use for the backseat of my parent’s 1956 Chevy.
Needless to say, I also started reading the New York Times.
I don’t smoke, drink, use that back seat, or read the Times any more.
The rear seat of our car eventually became the domain of our two young children and a poodle.
Smoking and drinking?
Gave them up years ago.
The New York Times was long ago replaced by the Wall Street Journal.
Only my wife of 51 years still puts up with my nonsense. But what baffles me most of all, is how could the New York Times, that incredible liberal icon, turn into such a financial and ethical train wreck?
Her name was Tawana Brawley.
In 1987 her feces-clad body was found upstate and she claimed that two white men had abducted her, dragged her into the woods where, “four others brutalized her there for four days, raping her 33 times.”
She accused Fishkill police officer Harry Christ Jr. and when Steven Pagones, the Dutchess County prosecutor, provided an alibi for his friend, he too was accused of being a part of that mob.
The media outcry for “justice” was instantaneous.
According to her supporters, this wild tale was not a tale at all, just a statement of fact. One thing was certain. If you questioned the validity of her story, you were, pure and simply, a racist, sort of a precursor of criticizing President Obama today.
The flames of racial hatred were also exacerbated by the usual suspects, all giving Ms. Brawley’s account, the verification that certainly wasn’t justified. Bill Cosby posted a $25,000 reward, Don King promised $100,000 for Brawley’s education and Spike Lee defended her in one of his 1989 movies.
Of course the three new guys on the block, without ever verifying Tawana Brawley’s story, couldn’t resist the instantaneous publicity.
Flushed with their newfound notoriety and fame, attorneys C. Vernon Mason, Alton Maddox as well as the newcomer, Rev. Al Sharpton, jumped at their chance for notoriety, even though they were trampling on the careers and reputations of two very innocent men.
Giving valuable print space to these preposterous allegations was that sacrosanct, holier than thou, editorial board of the New York Times.
They transformed their newspaper into a philosophy of “editorializing the news,” instead of accurately reporting it.
To their radical left-wing supporters, practically all of the mainstream media, and to most of the African-American community, the Tawana Brawley case was just another chapter in our country’s racist history.
Even after the grand jury had listened to 170 witnesses over a period of seven months, they still did not acknowledge that a total miscarriage of justice had occurred. “All the news that’s fit to print,” had convicted both Steven Pagones and Harry Christ Jr., before any jury had even heard the case.
So now, as a favor to the few readers who still shell out $2.50 each day to read the Times (yes, that’s what it costs) I will bring you up to date on the Tawana Brawley case.
You will never find it in the Times! Try the New York Post instead. By the way, did you ever notice how readers of the Times just love to ridicule the New York Post?
Condescending? Of course. The Post a tabloid? You bet ya.
But investigate Benghazi, Obama’s radical acquaintances or any other issue which would reflect poorly on their “favorite” icon? These have long been absent in that legendary newspaper.
First the bad news:
1 – Police officer Harry Christ Jr., committed suicide three days after being accused. (The causes are still not clear)
2 – Prosecutor Steven Pagones’s marriage ended in divorce and he was forced out of his job.
Now the good news (if you can call anything about this case good):
1 – Steven Pagones is a principal in a New York based private investigation firm and has still kept his law license.
2- In 1998, Steven Pagones won a defamation lawsuit against everyone who had libeled him. That’s everyone of course, except the first amendment protected New York Times and the rest of the media who abrogated their obvious literary responsibility.
Tawana Brawley was ordered to pay Steven Pagones $431,492. What a settlement.
And guess what? Her salary has been garnished and she was forced, by a Virginia court, to pay $627 each month to Mr. Pagones. Wow. The first installment of $3,764.61 was delivered last month.
Even though she will be paying this for the rest of her life, I am sure you will not read in the mainstream media that Mr. Pagones has offered to forgive the entire penalty, all $431,492 , if Tawana Brawley just tells the truth. Wow, what a mensch.
Alton Maddox was found liable for $97,000. His law license was suspended in 1990.
Vernon Mason had to pay $188,000 and was disbarred in 1995.
Rev. Al Sharpton was ordered to pay $66,000 in restitution. Unfortunately, these three characters didn’t learn their lesson because their fines were paid by celebrity lawyer Johnnie Cochran and their other supporters.
The New York Times has continued to distort, selectively print, and editorialize their news coverage, all the while wondering why their circulation, advertising and political clout is at an all time low.
But God seems to have a way of punishing those who have deviated from the path of honesty and truth. After purchasing the Boston Globe for a staggering $1.1 billion in 1993, the Times was forced to sell it last month to John Henry, part-owner of the Boston Red Sox, for a minuscule, $70 million.
Five days after our beloved President Kennedy was assassinated, my wife and I stood before his grave site at Arlington, stared at the eternal flame, and wept.
The many thousands on line, that cold, wintry day were of every race, religion and creed.
As on 9/11, we were all Americans. But lies and innuendoes, distortions and selective censorship, always fan the flames of racial bigotry and prejudice rather than eradicate it. Facts and truth will always bring us together.
I remember the days when newspapers like the New York Times had the courage to actively uncover the truth behind stories like the Tawana Brawley case.
Now they never let the facts get in the way of their own agenda.
Dr. Stephen Morris DDS
North Hills
