I've been trying to Update the following diary but the site seems tangled, or maybe I'm not doing it right. (New at this.)
Original diary:
[http://www.dailykos.com/...]
Update below the fold ....
Some readers questioned the veracity of this diary when it originally posted because it did not have an external link to the print-published story. A different version of this story was published in
The Smyth County News & Messenger on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006, Page A4, below the fold, under the headline, "Different ways for different people." I wrote the story as a freelance Guest Columnist.
I formerly worked as a staff reporter for this newspaper, beginning in 1995.
The powers that be did not publish the Allen Spit story to the newspaper's website (please see link at tail of original diary). The prevailing SCN&M philosophy is to post some newspaper content, but preserve enough material to encourage people to buy the actual paper.
The Smyth County News & Messenger publishes Wednesdays and Saturdays with a circulation of approximately 7,000. SCN&M is a Media General publication. Any Media General news outlet can pick up the column I wrote, via the corporation's news/article sharing system. If you would like to see the story printed in your local or regional Media General publication, you can contact the editor and tell him/her where and when the column published, and the print headline.
Among MG's metropolitan newspapers are The Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, and The Tampa Tribune. To find a Media General newspaper in your neighborhood, please see:
[http://mediageneral.com/...]
I submit this update for those who were hesitant to accept it as truth when it was nothing but one person's account. After the diary posted, other people found similar accounts of Mr. Allen's habit of spitting at women in public while executing the duties of his elected office.
End Update