Editor:

Shannon Harper’s vicious Oct. 30 opinion column, “If You Love Justice, Vote Against David Young” illustrates the undiluted power of ignorance, bias and plain old-fashioned gossip. Since when is Redbook magazine a reliable source for informed commentary? How intellectually responsible is it to accept without question accusations against judges from attorneys and defendants who may have lost cases in their courts?

I know Judge Young very well, and assert he respects women and men equally and treats all people with warmth and courtesy. To claim Judge Young says or even implies anything at all about his own beliefs in court is downright laughable to anyone who knows anything about him.

The case that uninformed people say about Judge Young’s bias in questions of religion is actually about the problems of joint custody and the commitments parents make when they request it. Judge Young would have made the same ruling no matter the religious background of the parents. Of course, Harper wouldn’t know this because she obviously hasn’t read the case for herself, but has simply accepted the media version which has been, as usual, grossly distorted.

To understand the quality of Judge Young’s judicial work would require reading many cases and comprehending the intricacies of the law. Better-informed people have a great deal of respect for Judge Young.

Responsible research is the special enterprise of universities? thus, it is particularly disheartening to read such unreliable and even contemptible “evidence” in The Chronicle. In response to the headline of Harper’s editorial, I reply, “If you love truth, do your own investigation.”

Patricia C. Dahl

Associate Instructor, Undergraduate Studies