Lee pro-police letter uses passages from Kentucky publication
A letter to the editor, purportedly written by Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee and published in a local newspaper, contained several passages taken from a letter published in a Kentucky newspaper in May.
The letter, signed by Lee, was written in support of police and published Sunday in The Marietta Daily Journal. It was also submitted for publication to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Aug. 20. None of the phrases lifted from the Kentucky newspaper was attributed to another source.
“Please remember not only the good works done by police in our community but that for every badge, there is a person, family and friends behind it who care,” Lee’s letter says.
Mary Lynn Houlihan, director of victim services at the Fayette (Ky.) Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, wrote a nearly identical passage in her letter, which was published May 11 in the Lexington Herald-Leader.
“Please remember not only the good works done by police in your community but that for every badge, there is a person, family and friends behind it that care,” Houlihan’s letter says.
Three other passages in Lee’s 13-paragraph letter have sentences or paragraphs that are nearly identical to Houlihan’s letter.
About the Author
Dan Klepal is editor of the local government team, supervising nine reporters covering county and municipal governments and metro Atlanta. Klepal came to the AJC in 2012, after a long career covering city halls in Cincinnati and Louisville, Ky. He has covered Gwinnett and Cobb counties before spending three years on the investigative team.
