Plagiarism Claim Called Ridiculous
Regarding the column “Can’t We All Just Get Along, or at Least Be Civil?” published June 14: As a Bristol Herald Courier reader of many years, the idea of J. Todd Foster committing plagiarism is absurd. I’ve never known the Herald Courier or its staff to do anything dishonest or improper. These kinds of attacks are over the line.
The Jef Roberts case is a good point. The facts are Roberts was drunk, had a long record as a belligerent drunk, was in poor health, got into a bar fight and died by accident. There was no intention to kill him. Yet the conspiracy theories and unfounded attacks on the Herald Courier are irrational. They owe Mr. Thatch and the BHC an apology.
I’ve accused the Herald Courier myself in this column of bias on several issues, but in no manner do I suggest any dishonesty. It’s a cultural bias that many educated white-collar professionals share. The BHC staff and reader advisory panel seems to lean progressive overall and I don’t believe that is an accident, but they are still decent people.
Progressives believe environmentalism (a social/religious movement) is good for us regardless of cost, science or anything else. And they seem to believe the totalitarian nanny-state is better than individual freedom. Progressives don’t represent blue-collar working class values and seem to hold them in contempt. Progressives are not mindless robots nor do they agree on everything.
What right do progressives (or the Religious Right) have to impose their cultural beliefs on the rest of us? That is where a lot of the tension and anger stems from. When a newspaper inserts itself into politics and takes sides on issues they often know nothing about, is it unfair to call them on it or question their motives? It’s equally unfair to expect to agree 100 percent on most issues.
Mr. Foster is right, at least we can be civil. For the record, I’m a liberal and proud of it.
Lewis Loflin
Bristol, Tenn.
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Chester as a follower of the racist’ Rev. Right is missing a lot of things, mostly in his head.
After visiting the Bristol TN police today and getting a runaround, hostile stares, plus based on information I got from two other people, there’s something wrong with this Jef Roberts case. It seems those crying foul in this case might have a point. So I owe it to Jef to try to get to the bottom of this and present everything I can find.
When I said “The facts are Roberts was drunk, had a long record as a belligerent drunk..“ I believe this was unfair. Jef had a drinking problem, but I can’t find a shred of proof he was violent, etc. and two others claim he was not. I believe them. This is not going to be over by any means and I think the Herald Courier needs to look into this issue again.
The Herald Courier also needs to get a working search engine for this website.
Victor,
I believe Lewis missed the bus on your post.
To Allen Brown:
Since I’m putting an article together for my website on this I offer you a chance to give your/other side of this.
First question: were you there? If not there isn’t much you can add.
You said: And with all due respect Mr. Loflin, the reporting of the Jef Roberts case has been one-sided and biased
Yes it has because of the way the other side has reacted. Give me your side and what evidence you have. The last thing I want is to disrespect Jef if he is innocent in this.
You said “Your opinion that Jef had a long history of being a belligerent drunk is based on what?“
What I asked on the the police I knew. Do you want me to get his police record and post it on the internet? I will if I have to.
But if other wise and I was wrong, then you will see a written apology on the web.
But the facts are he was drunk, his autopsy proves it. He had medical problems, it seems he was at least party responsible for the fight and this is what happens when tanked-up idiots get into bar fights. There’s no evidence at all to prove this was intentional. Unless you can produce real proof as to who started this fight then the grand jury was right in what it.
Remember the Johnson case where where the black kid shoot the Bristol TN cop? I knew his mother, she contacted me directly and she is still convinced he is innocent. I really feel for her is a wonderful lady, but she wasn’t there and the evidence was overwhelming.
You said “the BHC’s reprinting of police reports in articles that Mr. Foster himself has said he regretted should not be your only source of information.“
The same thing can be said in the Johnson case. (I’m not comparing the two cases.)
Here is your chance. My email is lewis@sullivan-county.com
If you claims check out I will publish them and I get a lot of web traffic.
As for being critical of the Herald Courier, you bet I am and will continue to be. But I found out long ago simply resorting to personal attacks, etc. gets one nowhere. The ball is in your court.
But I will warn you whatever you give me you will have to put your name to it.
Well! It seems the “Bristol Herald Courier Editorial Board” has struck letter to the editor gold. A frequent critic defending Mr. Foster, poking at friends and family of Jef Roberts, and stirring up knee-jerk reactions all at once. Nice one. And in no way the decision to print this particular letter was meant to be inflammatory, right? Ridiculous.
And with all due respect Mr. Loflin, the reporting of the Jef Roberts case has been one-sided and biased from the beginning and the BHC itself has asked questions regarding the investigation that have not been followed up on. These are very valid questions. And Jef’s friends who are closer to the sources of information have valid questions. In other words, the police “botched” this investigation and the outcome is still unresolved. For example, the eyewitness statement which directly contradicts the police’s premature conclusion of self-defense was never heard in this newspaper or at the grand jury hearing and was said by police to “corroborate” the very thing it refutes. And that’s just for starters.
Also, there are many assumptions made by readers of the BHC in regard to Jef himself. Your opinion that Jef had a long history of being a belligerent drunk is based on what? Only Mr. Foster claimed such knowledge and that was based on his irrefutable source of “anyone familiar with the downtown party scene”. Of course, he would claim this WAS an opinion article not reporting facts. Jef had no violent history, Mr. Loflin. No one is perfect, but if your judgment on Jef’s past behavior is to have an honest perspective, the BHC’s reprinting of police reports in articles that Mr. Foster himself has said he regretted should not be your only source of information.
And you also have my respect, sir, for using your name to post comments and not hide behind your screen.
Hi guys. Good post Victorg423. By the way I live in Bristol VA, not Tenn.
Some individuals suffer from a malady called “delusional disorder” illustrated by “bizarre delusions”.
Delusions of this sort involve situations that would be impossible in reality. For example, say, if a man feared he would become pregnant by sitting on a dirty toilet seat in some lazy person’s bathroom.
Other individuals suffer from a “delusional disorder” where there are “non-bizarre delusions”. This is when the delusion may be ‘theoretically’ possible, perhaps (for the sake of argument), but nevertheless untrue as indicated by any objective scientific scrutiny.
No matter how unlikely, or impractical, or far-fetched something is, if there is any ‘hypothetical’ chance at all of it occurring, the ‘non-bizarre delusional person’ will stick to his fantasy no matter what evidence - or how much evidence - indicates otherwise.
Consequently, some of these types of sick people will ramble on about about how the ‘government’ is intercepting their mail or spying on them somehow, or how ‘aliens’ are reading their minds, or how some ‘conspiracy group’ is acting against them, or talk about how ‘my religion is bigger than your religion’, for example.
In turn, these disturbed people will develop an entire world view based around their delusions. Consequently, their mistaken beliefs appear ‘logical’ to them although the bases for these beliefs are completely “improbable foundations”. They will seek justifications for their delusions wherever they can find them - both reputable sources and not - and deliberately ignore all facts contrary to their delusional assumptions.
Then, these types of people go on to create various notions which include such mythologies as ‘the Holocaust never really happened’, or that circumventing ‘climate change’ is a waste of time because some faith-based ‘rapture’ is going to occur before mankind actually has the opportunity to affect any improvement, or that some racial categories of mankind are ‘better’ than other categories, or that certain people can personally promulgate stereotypical so-called ‘right wing’ fanatical ideologies on their web site (or at any other location they can find) for years and then ignore those facts and claim that they are miraculously ‘liberal’.
Hilarious and pathetic simultaneously, is it not, that some individuals will choose to project their intense & overwhelming bitterness (caused by family health problems, perhaps, or whatever) onto the majority of people who do not share their delusions? It’s more than hypocrisy. It’s more than inaccuracy. It’s mental illness, and all good people would benefit by recognizing the reality of the situation and by analyzing the ‘products’ accordingly.
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