LETTERS:

In fact, both pieces are patently untrue. You owe your readers and me
a front-page retraction and an accurate accounting of the events.

Contrary to your irresponsible assertion, I was present in the auditorium
for the vote and Ms. Kolben was informed of this in writing. I was also
fully prepared to vote and requested that I be permitted to do so after
my name had been mistakenly omitted from the roll call. Ms. Blackshear,
CB2’s secretary, informed Chairperson Shirley McRae publicly via
the microphone of my request to vote. Ms. Kolben should have known these
facts if she was in attendance and responsibly covering the proceeding.

You would have learned these facts had you made the most minimal inquiry
with the board office.

Your baseless assertions are particularly galling since, as the mother
of three young children, ages 5, 3 and four months, I went to great lengths
to attend the meeting. Indeed, recognizing the importance of the vote,
I even left home an ill child — something no mother relishes.

Your malicious and uninformed attack not only got the facts wrong, but
my character as well. Rather than “duck” challenges, I have
spent my entire professional life advocating for those most in need, regardless
of the popularity of my position. As a legal services attorney, a counselor
working with battered women, community organizer and children’s rights
advocate, I am well accustomed to dealing head-on with adversarial and
contentious matters. Further, I applaud the right of dissenters to have
been present an admire peaceful protest. I fully anticipated the presence
of many protestors at the meeting. They did not deter me from being present
or from my duty to vote.

Your reporter had a duty to accurately report the events, which she failed
to do. Regarding Ms. Kolben’s attempt to contact me only on my cell
phone, her generic message merely stated that she was contacting all the
members of the board for general comments on he vote. It did not seek
any specific response to all the unfounded allegations she intended to
assert. Given that I was neither in the hallway during the vote nor “intimidated”
by the protestors, Ms. Kolben’s source was entirely unreliable.

I believe that your paper’s willingness to malign me without any
factual accuracy not only severely undermines your credibility and that
of your paper, but also trivializes the important matters at issue.

Again, I demand that you act responsibly and print a prominent retraction
and correction.