Germ lab story questioned

The City Beat screwed up. I got this letter on Monday:

On Wednesday April 26 I attended the public forum regarding UND's pre-proposal to bring a Bio Agro-Defense Facility to our community. After reading Mr. Tu-Uyen Tran's description of the event in "Germ research lab critics voice their displeasure" (Thurs.April 27) , I, too, have concerns to voice and feel a clarification of facts is in order.

I agree with Mr. Tran in that the major issue at the meeting was the proposed location of the facility, however, I disagree in his assessment that "the majority of the crowd expressed support for the lab."

Of the eighteen people from the crowd of 250 who spoke, most did not share their personal opinions about the lab. Only two people favorably addressed the issue of the lab itself, while a greater number expressed their concerns and/or spoke in opposition to inviting a facility such as this into our community. The question of support for the facility turned out not to be the major issue, so to state that the majority present were in favor of the lab misrepresents what actually happened at the forum.

I am concerned with the issue of accuracy on several fronts. One, this article gave the Grand Forks Herald readers an incorrect description of what actually occurred at the meeting, and, two, I begin to question the general accuracy of the Herald and Mr. Tran.

For over two decades I have trusted the Grand Forks Herald and its writers to be fair and impartial intheir reporting. As our community's newspaper I have expected and believed it to be an advocate for our community. I admit I am disappointed with Mr. Tu-Uyen Tran's misrepresentation of facts and perhaps this letter will serve as a reminder to the Grand Forks Herald to be as accurate as possible in their reporting.

In the words of the Herald's founder, George Winship: "It will be the people's paper, run strictly in their interests, guarding jealously their rights and maintaining boldly their cause." These are high ideals to live up to, but I am confident the Herald can do so.

Respectfully,

Melanie Crawford

Melanie's right. I definitely was wrong about "the majority" supporting the lab. I was in a rush that night, had another story I'd written, got sloppy and didn't read my notes carefully.

You're probably wondering how a person at an event can remember something that didn't happen. I'll try and explain what I think happened.

I had expected some opposition to the idea of a germ lab, as opposed to its proposed location. That there weren't any struck struck me as interesting and, in my haste, I misconstrued the lack of opposition as support. In my mind, at the time, writing that "the majority the majority of the crowd expressed support for the lab" wasn't too far different from "the majority of the crowd didn't opposed the lab."

I sincerely apologize. If I'm wrong again -- and I'll try not to be -- I hope readers will let me know.