Yesterday I pointed out that neither The News & Observer nor The Herald-Sun had written anything about the UNC professor arrested for indecent exposure in a restroom in the Atlanta airport, a story that originally ran in Atlanta on Jan. 19. My concern was the lack of coverage only. I did not assume guilt in my post. (If you want to check, it’s here.) After the Duke lacrosse rape hoax debacle we should all know better. Well, The N&O finally ran the story today. I still can’t find it on The Herald-Sun‘s Web site, though.

Radio talk yesterday in Raleigh, in my opinion, did assume guilt, and focused outrage on the alleged crimes as if Dr. Hugh Tilson had committed the offenses. Even if “alleged” was used in the discussion, the tenor was clearly outrage that some pervert would be allowed to continue working at UNC.

Again, after the Duke lacrosse case, we should all know better. Consider: You’re a traveler in Atlanta and you need to go to the restroom. You enter a restroom that, unbeknownst to you, is a meeting place for flashers, pedophiles, homosexuals and I don’t know what all. You do your business at the urinal and suddenly an undercover cop decides you have not only relieved yourself but pleasured yourself. He also thinks you have exposed yourself.

First of all, anyone at a urinal in a public restroom technically is exposing himself. If you turn to the left or right before zipping up does that mean you have flashed your neighbor at the next stall? Would an undercover cop, arriving at this suspicious restroom, be programmed to see even innocent behavior as evidence of the kinds of crimes that usually go on there? Possibly.

I’m just saying, let’s let the facts come out before we assume guilt.