The Daily Tar Heel, as the campus newspaper, undoubtedly plays an important role in shaping how the "history" of UNC is chronicled.
While it is certainly a good thing that Wendell Williamson is getting the treatment he needs to fight his internal battles, there is no reason for the DTH to elevate him to a higher place in history than he should be entitled to.
More than seven years after Williamson's long-planned deadly rampage on Franklin Street, I was disappointed to read Kellie Dixon's article that, while newsworthy, appears to portray Williamson as merely a former UNC law student who should be afforded legendary status by virtue of his battle with paranoid schizophrenia.
Williamson is not a legend by any means.
Despite the fact that Williamson's story is arguably as tragic as the chaos he perpetrated on Jan. 26, 1995, the UNC community should never forget that two individuals -- Kevin Reichardt and Ralph Walker -- suffered horrific deaths on that day.
Reichardt and Walker, like everyone else who walked on the downtown Chapel Hill streets that day, never imagined that such a horrible event could occur. Countless individuals who were students at the time will always remember where they were and what they were doing when the events of Jan. 26, 1995 transpired.
It was a dark day in the history of this University.
The DTH should not be giving Williamson more notoriety than he is due and, by the same token, should not be referring to Reichardt and Walker as mere footnotes.
