Good morning, George,

Maybe I have been reading different papers but I don't see the coverage as being biased or sensational. The topic itself is very controversial and sensitive but it has to be reported. It can't be censored to make some people happy.

I thought the article in the Washington Post this morning was very even handed. I don't see any articles that paint CHS as an "inner city" school or demean the student body as a whole because of the acts of a few students.

What I know about CHS as a parent their is no racial hatred (or at least very little) at CHS. Some people have said that there are socio-economic divisions at the school as opposed to racial and I believe this is true though I think I would use the term cultural differences For example most black teenagers like rap where more white teenagers like rock. If you have a dance where the DJ is playing mostly rap, you are going to have mostly black students attending the dance.

I think the community has responded well to the incident. Students and community leaders from both the University and city have met to discuss the issue, identify problems, and try to reach any needed remedies. I have been impressed with how our new police chief has handled himself and I think we are very lucky to have such a good chief and police force.

Downing Smith (electronic mail, February 27, 2002)