This page will split in half if I don’t write this column.
To the right you’ll see two letters lambasting my reporting of Orion Township and former director of parks and recreation Rock Blanchard parting ways.
It’s said the story in the Jan. 21 edition of The Review should appear on these op/ed pages because the reporting was misleading.
Truth is, the only tidbit of information I personally caught was the fact that the scenario was over, and that the township and Mr. Blanchard were through with each other–amicably, of course.
The rest had already been reported long ago by my predecessors, who I trust wholeheartedly.
The items included in the summarization of the events leading up to Mr. Blanchard’s departure were both discussed at public board meeting and printed between the pages of this newspaper. I never raised a suggestion there was guilt. This is what I looked at:
Was it true there were allegations? Yes.
What were the allegations? I listed them in the story. And allegations, whether they turn out to be true or false, can still create a scandal. And that’s that.
One of the letters is from Mr. Blanchard’s lawyer. We know from a former President who happened to be an attorney about the way language can be twisted. (Anyone remember, ‘Define what you mean by ‘sexual relations???)
This puts us at risk of delving into a futile debate on semantics.
What is a ‘scandal?? How does ‘potentially? change the following phrase: ‘Potentially hazardous materials…?? The word ‘allegedly? was used in reference to the, ahem, alleged misdoings, the definition of which is: ‘accused but not proven or guilty.?
I hate this kind of stuff, which is why I’m a journalist and not a lawyer. If lawyers wrote newspapers, they’d be five hundred pages daily and no one could understand them.
The most important thing we’re losing track of is that both the township and Mr. Blanchard should move on from the…the…hmm, I’m at a loss for words and don’t know what to call it since it’s ‘allegedly? not a ‘scandal.?