Saugus Parent Offers His Point of View

In Mike Downey’s column on the Saugus-Palmdale football game, he mentions that the principal of Palmdale had heard that Palmdale’s players were being taunted by racial slurs. There is no mention of who spoke those slurs. In fact, there is no confirmation from any other source that such slurs were spoken.

My two sons, as two of the three Saugus team captains, state that they heard no such slurs being directed at Palmdale’s players. Further, they claim that with only minor exceptions, the on-field relations between the teams was good.

Personally, I have heard of only one incident on the sideline where a Saugus player made a racist remark. The remark was spoken, not yelled, and almost certainly not heard by anyone from Palmdale. Coach Dick Flaherty firmly instructed the player that the statement was out of line and the player was benched for the rest of the game.

This is my honest understanding of this issue, but I make no claim to being unbiased. If Downey had based his story only on my information, he would have had a different story. However, he would have been just as guilty of bad journalism, as he was in his column.

DAVID ALBERT, Saugus