On April 10 and 11, I was involved in two widely reported driving incidents. [Starts with simple narration. Good. We need to be reminded of the events. Yet where is the word arrested? Alcohol? Police? The word involved is no good at all. Involved could mean anything. And note the passive formulation: was involved. Direct statement is important right up front: On April 10 and 11, under the influence of alcohol, I drove erratically and was arrested as a result.] On Monday, I was released from the hospital, after five and a half days of examination for and treatment of possible injuries and for correction of a heretofore undetected, and potentially very serious, heart disorder. [Whoa Nellie. Not only have we leapt cleanly over the stupendous fact that this was about a two-day bender; we have -- in the second sentence -- made a play for sympathy by alluding to a heart thing. SOS is already prepared to say that it does not look good for this man.] It is only at the present time that I am able to return to other tasks and to communicate fully. [That's not because of your heart. It's because of the booze.]


My family and I want to express our gratitude to everyone in the Mary Washington community for their responsiveness at this trying time for UMW. We continue to be overwhelmed by the understanding and steadfastness of the people who comprise the larger UMW family.

I must stress that the events of April 10 and 11 are highly unusual and totally out of character for me. I deeply apologize for any difficulties caused for the institution, the Board of Visitors, or for the people and friends of UMW. [The apology is good, but he might again have made the statement more active: I deeply apologize for the difficulties I caused... We shouldn't have the sense, as we do throughout here, that the man is separating himself from his deeds -- that he is blaming them on medical conditions, or on a freaky break with the person he is. He is the person who did what he did.]

At this time, I am at home with my family, and I would ask that our privacy be respected, particularly for the sake of the children. I must concentrate on my doctors' treatment recommendations, and in that respect, I express great appreciation to the Mary Washington Hospital medical staff for their insights, skills, and personal approach to medicine. [Yick. This series of platitudes thanking the staff is totally out of place. The rhetoric is that of the university president of old, somewhat condescendingly promoting a community institution. This is a broken man whose future is seriously in doubt, not a grandee thanking the local folks for their personal approach to his heart condition. While he shouldn't sound outright pathetic in this statement, it's important that he be honest about the fact that he has, for some time at least, shattered his own life.] I again thank the University and the larger community of Fredericksburg for their kind and extensive support.