[same story at http://www.foxnews.c...
and at
http://www.forbes.co...]
This looks like the start of the Allen counteroffensive to his three teammates' charges in the Salon http://www.salon.com... article. Bob Lews reports for AP that:
A former teammate of Sen. George Allen during his years as a University of Virginia football player said Allen frequently used a racial epithet to refer to black people.Allen vehemently denied the allegation in an Associated Press interview Monday.
Dr. Ken Shelton, now a radiologist in Hendersonville, N.C., made the claims in an article published Sunday in the online magazine Salon.com, and in an AP interview Sunday night.Shelton said Allen used the N-word only around white teammates when they played for the Cavaliers in the early 1970s. Allen was a quarterback; Shelton a tight end and wide receiver.
During a deer hunt with Allen in the early 1970s, Shelton said, Allen asked whether black families lived in the area and stuffed the severed head of a female deer into a black household's oversized mail box.
"George insisted on taking the severed head, and I was a little shocked by that," Shelton said.
"This was just after the movie "The Godfather" came out with the severed horse's head in the bed," Shelton told the AP.
Allen called Shelton's claim "ludicrously false."
"The story and his comments and assertions in there are completely false," Allen said during an interview with AP reporters and editors. "I don't remember ever using that word and it is absolutely false that that was ever part of my vocabulary."
Four other Allen teammates also defended Allen and rebutted Shelton's comments in statements Allen's campaign released.
"I never heard George Allen use any racially disparaging word nor did I ever witness or hear about him acting in a racially insensitive manner," said Doug Jones, who said he roomed with Shelton at Virginia.
We'll see soon where this all leads...
I wonder if anyone has searched the local police records for the time period during which the deer head incident allegedly took place. Not only the police records, but also the post office records.
Though I like Allen's mother because of her irreverence, she seemed like an angry person, not someone who taught tolerance. (Or, she may have preached tolerance, but practiced hostility towards others.)
Jennifer's book says Etty prided herself on being "un-American." p, 14. Okay, so she felt displaced from her homeland. But she really seemed to hate most everyone outside of her family. When a neighbor complained of the fact that the Allen's dog barked all night (which echoed down into the canyon where they lived) she suggested the neighbor shoot himself. pp.16-17 The family was so unpopular that Jennifer says when their dad was fired from the Rams the neighbors were happy to see them move. Etty called the neighbors "vultures." p. 17
This was the same word Etty used for those passing the collection plate the one time the family went to church. p. 42. (George clearly was not raised a Christian, though he said he was. It's all on pp. 41-41.) Etty called the preists hypocrites.
When they moved to Virginia, they rented at Merrywood-on-the-Potomac in McLean. p. 102. Soon thereafter a letter was sent to them by a collection of neighbors because of the family's behavior (letting the dogs run loose -- one of the Allen's dogs had just killed a neighbor's dog and dumped it in the trash.) p. 101. Soon the neighborhood hired an attorney who served them with eviction papers! P. 102. (They managed to last there four years.)
I guess my question is this. Is a family that was so disliked really steeped in "tolerance?" It's hard to see that the family was raised to "love their neighbors." They seemed to disregard others' feelings, and societal rules (e.g., Etty apparently ran red lights st whim). Just my opinion -- and I'm no psychologist.
In addition to supporting a Democrat through financial contributions, which Salon acknowledges, evidently Shelton didn't tell Salon of his role in starting Tobacco Free For Life.Why that might matter is because Allen opponents have criticized the Senator for being friendly to the tobacco lobby. Senator Allen, (R-VA), has accepted a whopping $33,000 from tobacco political action committees in just the 2005-2006 election cycle. Thats more than any other member of congress has taken from the tobacco companies in the past year.
Tobacco Free for Life (TFL) is a grass roots volunteer coalition of educators, health care professionals, survivors and victims of tobacco-related illness, and concerned individuals. Our mission is to prevent and reduce underage tobacco use through education, awareness and community efforts on a "cost free" basis to the youth and community of Henderson County.
TFL started in 1996 by Dr. Ken Shelton of Hendersonville Radiological Consultants and is currently operating out of an office on the Pardee Hospital campus. Pardee Hospital Foundation acts as TFL's fiscal agent and provides TFL with 501c3 nonprofit status.
Interesting that Shelton claims that an Allen Presidential candidacy is what made him so suddenly concerned as to begin writing down recollections several months ago. Exactly how much prodding did his memory require if this was so significant at the time?
I don't buy the criticism. The guy's a radiologist, for god's sake, and has likely seen more than his share of cancer-ridden patients. I haven't met one doctor in the last ten years that wasn't outspoken on the subject.
I do thank that blogger for reminding us of George Allen's tobacco industry support. Good ol' pro-family George Allen.
Note: here's the group that named George Allen "Big Tobacco's Friend of the Month:
Big tobacco has been a big supporter of the GOP. Groups like Grover Norquist's American for Tax Reform have gotten lots of their seed money from big tobacco. Why? Tobacco companies are anti-tax because they fear being taxed out of existence. Raising cigarette taxes lowers demand. And states with budget problems find it easy to be persuaded to raise "six" taxes. The alcohol industry also is a significant GOP supporter (and Norquist supporter). (The elasticity is .4 for those of you who are interested in such arcane topics.) Quite a few Virginia state legislators have been bought by the tobacco companies. That's the main reason the cigarette tax in Virginia is among the lowest in the nation.
To a large extent, it doesn't even matter that much if it is true or not. What matters is that by what people know about G. Felix Allen's character, he could have used the n-word and committed the hate crime.
Check the closing quote of the story to convince yourself:
""I never heard George Allen use any racially disparaging word nor did I ever witness or hear about him acting in a racially insensitive manner," said Doug Jones, who said he roomed with Shelton at Virginia."
BUT WAIT! He just did so a few weeks ago!
The noose in his office makes it very clear that he can do a grossly insensitive, racist gesture.
The story is believable because of his poor character.
Doug Jones is co-chair of the George Allen campaign in Fairfax County.
Joe Gieck is a poor sport and a thug.
Reverend Ham leads Operation Breakthrough in Newport News and is the recipient of Federal payments to his church - for faith-based services.
Charlie Hale was appointed to a State Board of Mineral Mining Examiners by Governor Allen, and he replaced Jerry Kilgore on the State Board for Community Colleges.
Sabato gives a big endorsement to Ken Shelton
Will there be pictures?
Bet not!