Meet the Dobs

[Democrats_win]

http://westword.com/Issues/2005-08-25/news/message.html

Relatively speaking: Viewers who caught an August 13 report on Channel 9 about the bust of a Commerce City chop shop can be forgiven for thinking the criminal enterprise was a family affair. Reporter Andrew Resnik identified a trio arrested in the case as "Chao Vang Dob," "Jason Cheng Dob" and "Yang Vue Dob." The word "Dob" (which Resnik pronounced "Dobe") wasn't included with the names in on-screen graphics, but it appeared throughout the text version of the story on the station's website.

Turns out, though, that none of the suspects in question was christened a Dob. The syllable is actually an acronym for "date of birth" that was used on the press release issued by the Commerce City Police Department.

Resnik, who was briefly suspended by the station after a 2003 arrest for buying three Ecstasy pills outside a Phil Lesh concert (insert your own joke here; he's heard them all), learned about the gaffe from yours truly, and initially speculated that the release must have been "poorly written." The documents themselves show that he's got a portion of a point, if not an entire one. The first page of the release displays mug shots with information displayed beneath them like so: "Chao Vang Dob 05-21-82." Because only the first letter of "Dob" is capitalized, instead of all three, as is the case with most acronyms, some confusion is possible. Then again, the digits that follow immediately thereafter clearly stand for a day, a month and a year, and the second page of the release explicitly spells out the meaning of each letter -- for example, "Chao Vang, Date of Birth 05/21/82."

Within hours of my call, the website article about the chop-shop case had been stricken of every last "Dob," and the streaming video screen had vanished. In a subsequent e-mail, Resnik wrote that while the release was "just a bit misleading," that was "no excuse for making this type of mistake. It was my error, and it was embarrassing." Channel 9 news director Patti Dennis adds that Resnik talked things over with the Commerce City officer who wrote the release, and with her, too. As she puts it, "We had a conversation."

At least Denver car owners can relax. They no longer have to worry about having their rides stripped by at-large members of the notorious Dob clan.

[LunaSea]

1. You know....

I think the turning point was when a journalism degree became easier to get than one in theater.

I'm reminded of the story told by a social worker in eastern Kentucky about several women she came across with the same unusual name that they said was given to them by the hospital.

Female
(Pronounced Fee Ma Lay)