Letters to the Editor

Haines' sister Claire Fullerton and Lisa Olsen, the mother of one of Haines' daughters, throw daggers at Hook editor Hawes Spencer, me, and Mark Roebuck (though not at Dave Mathews, curiously enough) and call the article "beyond sloppy" and "recklessly irresponsible" in these letters to The Hook. Others call it "Pulitzer" quality...Go figure.

Claire Fullerton:

When Hawes Spencer called and told me he was writing an article aimed at portraying the influence Haines Fullerton had on The Dave Matthews Band ["Dave, Fame & Haines," September 16, 2004], I spent part of the hour debunking rumor and speculation about who my brother was.

I said to myself, "Finally, someone is interested enough to go to the appropriate sources." Sadly, I waited for the article to appear only to find that Spencer published the piece by Dave McNair as a cover story and wove his hours of interviewing Haines' friends and family into a sidebar.

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Lisa Olsen:

Your cover story about Haines Fullerton ["Dave, Fame & Haines," September 16, 2004] was far from fair, balanced, and accurate. It's clearly no more than the latest installment in Mark Roebuck's public attack on Haines' character.

I was a fairly close friend of both Mark and David McNair in the early '90s, and a very close friend of Haines from '93 until his passing. I speak from grounded experience, not speculation, nor projection-- nor reckless, unfounded attack.

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Sally Honenberger:

Dave McNair's September 16, 2004, cover story, "Celebrity, Suicide and the Etiquette of Envy" raised the writing standards locally to Pulitzer levels. Insightful, deliberate, poignant, and brutally honest, this kind of writing makes me proud to have been published by the same folks. [The author won this year's Fiction Contest.--editor]

The title foretold it all and made me want to turn the pages. The article taught me something about the music industry I didn't know-- in a non-judgmental way-- and gave us all something to ponder. Kudos to The Hook.

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