Hi Brett-

Thanks for sending in your views on my article. It is always a positive thing to get feedback. I acknowledge your point of view and your concern for the entire DU lacrosse team and the actions of its individual players.

I added an attribution to every sentence of my article and simply restated the facts that can be found at http://www.denvergov.org/apps/newcourt/court_select.aspx under the court case numbers 09M02271, Brendan Deblois and 09CR00571, Ilija Gajic. Check those out!

Also, I would love to get the other side of the story. I really would like to know what happened from eyewitnesses who observed the altercation. If you or other eyewitnesses would like to share your observations on what occurred and which you have told to the authorities, I certainly would like to know them.

Obviously, the two players charged with assault cannot discuss it on advice of their attorneys.

Nevertheless, I spoke with Ilija on the phone before publishing my article, and he declined due to his involvement in the current court case.

I gave him a fair warning of the fact that I was still publishing the article. I also contacted Denver media relations to get an interview. They also declined.

I also waited until enough time had passed with the court cases so that there was sufficient information to show that there were actually court cases being pursued by the prosecution. I have known about this incident since January and have been getting the facts sorted out since then.

In any case, I appreciate your input about this. I would love to get another perspective after you checked out the online court information.

Hope this helped give you a better understanding of my article and my effort to contact both sides.

Thanks,Laura Hathaway

Editor’s note: As always, if anyone has information about a story published in the Clarion and would like to contribute, they can send an e-mail to du.clarion@du.edu or call 303-871-3131. There is also a Clarion story drop box on Facebook and a fan page that is checked regularly. If you’d like to contact a specific section editor, e-mail addresses can be found at duclarion.com.