The Confused Lancaster Story Yesterday
We got mail from Darlene Umble, who was misquoted in a story yesterday at Lancaster Online, which she says put 1 and 1 together and got 4 about who was present at the time of The Call.
Boy, am I learning about the power of the press and how misinformation sure can spread. This has to do with the article yesterday in the Lancaster Newspaper. I'm in Ohio right now so I read the article online. I immediately sent an email to the reporter to let him know that he had made a mistake. However, since that article was linked on TBV the information was spread to DPF where they are now questioning Floyd's testimony.We're sorry for the confusion caused by our quotation, which we will annotate with the clarification above.
I never told the reporter that we were in the same room as Floyd and Will when the phone call was made. I told him that we often went to the hotel and ate dinner with everyone there. I also said that we had dinner that night and that Floyd was sitting across from us. But I said that we had probably left before Will made the call because we didn't know anything about it. I know the Garretts were still there so I don't know when they left or what Mr. Garrett told the reporter. According to the article it seemed to indicate that Paul and Arlene had left. However, Paul and Arlene traveled with us so if they had left, we were not there also.
What I feel badly about is that according to Floyd's testimony he had indicated that it was only Floyd and Will in the room. Now the article indicates that there were lots of other people in the room which contradicts Floyd's testimony. All I know is that we had dinner at the hotel that night. Floyd and Will and others were still there when we left. I knew nothing about a phone call until I heard about it in the courtroom.
5 comments:
I'll add in a comment to add to the confusion, but i don't have time to verify it right now.
Wasn't Floyd's testimony that he and Will were the only ones at the table...not the only ones in the room. He testified that others were going in and out of the room all evening, and that he didn't know who else was in the room, but that it was only he and Will at the table.
I could be wrong...maybe someone can correct me.
Thanks...
You're correct, according to TBV's coverage:
"Confirms he was in the room Weds night, at ends of table; 6:53. Who else was there? Kay walked in, only people at table were Will and Floyd. On call back, he heard, "Greg Lemond is calling me back" and Will didn't answer. "
Did Darlene get it wrong then, huh ?
Reader that want to know, go to http://mslcc.courtroomconnect.net/mslCC/Catalog/?cid=d33e1139-e914-46c6-8ed2-9e9a4903c657 (sorry, don't know how to create links) and choose the 05/22/2007am presentation. Grab the play bar and move it over to the 78:00 mark to hear the start of the cross about “the call”. Move it to 80:25 for the start of Landis’ recollection in the dining room. Pommi’s quote of TBV above is accurate with the clarifier that Landis and Geohegan were at separate ends of the table.
Today I rewatched both the direct & cross examination of Floyd about the incident. Here is a summary taken from my post on DPF earlier.
On Saturdays direct testimony Floyd said:
* They were at the hotel in a room at which they ate.
* He & Will were sitting at opposite ends of a table.
* (My comment) There was no question or answer on who else was there.
In Tuesdays cross Floyd said:
* Correcting Barrnett who said he had said they were on opposite sides of the table, that he was on the same side but at opposite ends.
* No one else was sitting at the table at the time.
* There were a couple of people getting food at the banquet table.
* Somewhere in the process Mr. Kay had walked in.
What this confusion shows is that when one doesn't realize that the events going on around them are important then they tend not to pay close attention to the details of the who, what, when and where around them, especially when lots of it is "routine" activities like phone calls, conversations one is not a part of, etc. On top of this, I'm sure everyone's thoughts were focused on the events of the hearings, not who Will was calling and why.
Heck, I can't tell you how many people my wife talked to on the phone today in my presence and there was no one else around to distract me, just my normal activities on my computer.
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