To the editor:

I read with no small interest Richard Shapiro’s commentary, “DA wore down Tanveer Hussain.” From what I gather, at the very least there was blame enough to go around. But then again, stories like this are filtered … usually from the top down. Back in 1979, while a professor at North Country Community College, I was handcuffed by two uniformed state policemen and paraded down the NCCC hallway exactly during the 10 minutes alloted between classes.

The timing provided quite a spectacle for the students crowded around the classroom doors. Next day’s Adirondack Daily Enterprise ran the front-page headline: “Police Say Man Makes Boy a Thief.” Quite an accusation, given a long career as an educator. My biggest surprise came when I was told the grand jury made the charges without my being present. A year-and-a-half later, all charges were dropped.

I had to fly back from Maui, where I was living on MaKena Beach with the rest of the hippies. You’d think over a year’s paid vacation would compensate for the emotional stress. But I have few memories from those idyllic days. What I do remember is the state police opening the seams of my couch with a razor blade and the pile of prized books from my library, leafed and strewn on the floor.

All charges were dropped, and not through any fancy negotiations between my lawyer and the courts. From the time of my arrest to the charges being dropped, no one asked me my version. Had the press done its job and reached out to me, the only damage done would have been to the reputation of the police and how they pursued the investigation. Somewhere in the state police vault there is my favorite knife with rosewood handles, among other things the SP took and never returned.

In these times of Trumped-up allegations, it is so important to live by the belief that anyone is entitled to being innocent until proven guilty. I know from personal experience that punishment begins with the arrest.

Ken Youngblood

Venice, Florida