I just came across a tweet that directed me to this post on KSR. It's a short post, so I won't quote any of it here, but it essentially states that Patrick Patterson's mother, Tywanna, is suggesting that Jerry Tipton made this up:
For Patterson, the fun figured to continue as he climbed in his new black truck and drove away.
Folks, I am not a Tipton hater. Not at all. But I will say that if what Patrick's mom has said is true (and I have absolutely no reason not to believe her), then Jerry Tipton should be in a whole lot of hot water with his employer, regardless of his reputation and longevity. Reporters can't go making up things to make their story better. That isn't just wrong, it is downright unethical, and I don't know of any journalism outfit worth it's salt that would allow such a thing to occur.
I admit, I am absolutely shocked about this. Jerry Tipton is no hero of mine, but I always thought of him as a straight guy, if a little negative and curmudgeonly. But if he has been making up events and misquoting people, particularly Patrick Patterson's parents, that's where he and I part ways big time.
I understand from this tweet by Jones that something will be in the paper tomorrow about this, and Tipton has put up this blog post, which quite frankly, is as clear as mud to me. So what happened? Did Tipton make up the above comment? Did he just make an honest mistake writing two articles at once and not catch it? Did he mistake some other black truck and some other 6'8" guy for Patrick Patterson, since his mother said he was with her and her husband? Is this all we get? Who the heck is on first?
I can't wait to read about it in the paper pixels tomorrow. I sure hope this is all just some big misunderstanding. Sometimes, things look really bad, but there is an innocent or at least understandable explanation. I sure hope so.