Thursday, June 12, 2008

Belk story: An 'obvious hack piece?'

After my story on Bill Belk's campaign for district court judge ran Sunday, a friend forwarded this thread from a reader who obviously didn't like it.

The person -- identified only as "frumious bandersnatch" -- is looking for help in writing a letter to the editor. She calls herself a friend of Belk (after meeting him "a handful of times") and wants to correct what she sees a hack job.

So if you want to see how sausage (or a letter to the editor) is made, or if you have some advice for her, check out the link. To help her, leave any advice right here.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jim,
The only problem I can see with your article is that it seems to be a hybrid editorial/news article, which mixes your opinion and factual content with a tone of mockery. Since I can only read it online, I don't know what section it ran in, but if it wasn't run as a 'columnist' or editorial item, I can see how someone would have a problem with it, because it is not straight news reporting.

Making fun of someone who wants to have her opinion heard in rebuttal is a little bit unprofessional of you, however. Shouldn't you be secure enough in your article that you can withstand her criticism without resorting to poking fun?

Anonymous said...

I think she got an earful by the people making the comments. She's disabled her account... perhaps she hates being wrong...

Unknown said...

I fail to see any bias, except on the part of the person who criticized your article. The article you wrote about Belk contained verifiable facts. Belk's own words painted him as a vengeful, rich dilettante who would use his money and power to run a sitting Judge out of a job. Thanks for your good work. ~ John Olsen

Anonymous said...

John,

Bill Belk is taking on a deeply corrupt team of people, namely the Law Offices of James, McElroy and Deihl. You see, The incumbent Judge is a former attorney with said firm. He has been known to repeatedly rule in favor of JMD in his courtroom, instead of recusing himself from any case which his former employer is trying. The Law Offices of James, McElroy & Deihl are also the campaign headquarters for Judge Todd Owen. 600 South College Street to be exact. Bill Belk is about to blow a whistle on the biggest example of white collar crime this country has seen since...lets put it this way...Donald Trump walked away from a deal with these people. One sniff and he was gone. There you have it.

Anonymous said...

Ben Thalheimer ruled over my very contested divorce that later resulted in my filing an appeal. The judge was cited for having over thirty Errors of Assignment in my case. Anyone that has ever observed him on the bench can clearly see he does not have a clear understanding of the law. I know for a fact that it did not help my case when the opposing counsel was the JMD firm. I was financially ruined by this judge and his disregard for the truth and law. Somehow he seems to think he can make the law instead of follow the law. He should be accountable for his actions and the impact he has on peoples lives. We need to get this judge off the bench and replace him with someone that will follow the law. Anyone that say they don't see the bias has obviously never sat in his courtroom.

Anonymous said...

I have also had the dubious distinction of a divorce being presided over by Ben Thalheimer. The opposing counsel in
my case was Horrack Talley. Thalheimer disregarded the testimony of my ex-wife's employer about her income and ruled on post separation support based on my ex-wife's perjured testimony. When we presented her W-2 as evidence, he refused to even look at it. This is only one example of multiple rulings that he made in my ex-wife's favor. We were later told that it was common knowledge that he was dating a member of the Horrack Talley firm. If this is an example of Ben Thalheimer's fair and unbias decisions, then we have a real problem in Charlotte. This judge needs to be unseated.

Anonymous said...

The link to your story does not work so I can't comment on it, but the thread after the Observer's endorsement of Thalheimer is dreadful. The world of family law litigation has become really vicious. Ironic that the criminal law people can get along with each other but not the family law people.