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Gallion demands retraction by ESPN Thursday, August 12, 2004 MIKE PERRIN News staff writer The ESPN commentator who already has issued one on-air clarification of statements he made about college sports in Alabama has been asked to retract another of his editorial comments. Montgomery attorney Thomas Gallion has sent ESPN's John Saunders a letter demanding a retraction for comments he made on last Sunday morning's "The Sports Reporters" panel discussion show. Commenting on Tennessee football coach Phil Fulmer's decision not to attend SEC Media Days, Saunders said Gallion's clients in a lawsuit, former Alabama assistant coaches Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams, had sued Fulmer and that the lawsuit was like "a bank robber suing the witnesses who testified at his trial." Fulmer is not a defendant in the Cottrell-Williams lawsuit, which targets mainly the NCAA, and Gallion's Aug.6 letter asks for a retraction of that misstatement and of the bank robber analogy. "(Y)ou stated that Coach Cottrell and Coach Williams had sued Coach Fulmer," Gallion's letter says. "This shows how little you researched your subject matter. Neither Cottrell nor Williams have ever sued Coach Fulmer or any other coach. Both of these men are anxious to get back into major college coaching and your false statements have done them great harm." Auburn trustees Bobby Lowder and Jack Miller called for a retraction from ESPN after a Feb.16 comment by Saunders on the same show that implied the trustees were behind a fire that destroyed the office of a Tuskegee newspaper published by a critic of the trustees. Saunders had quoted Paul Davis, the Tuskegee News publisher, as saying "the Klan is nothing compared to the trustees at Auburn." Davis later said he had told Saunders that he'd received more death threats covering Auburn than when he was writing about the Ku Klux Klan. Saunders did read a clarification of his statements, saying he had not intended to link the trustees to the fire and that they were not "associated with or sympathetic to the Ku Klux Klan." Gallion said his demand for a retraction is a requirement under Alabama law in order to sue for punitive damages. Gallion's letter states that ESPN has five days from receipt of his letter to issue a retraction in the same forum, or face the possibility of punitive damages. Mike Soltys, vice president of communications at ESPN, said that neither Saunders nor anyone else at ESPN had seen the letter and could not comment. ______________________________________________________ RollTideFan - The University of Alabama Athletics Discussion List "Welcome to RollTideFan! Wear a cup!" To join or leave the list or to make changes to your subscription visit http://listinfo.rolltidefan.net
