Son tells paper his father is dead; father disagrees
A Tallahassee Democrat story spotted by Romenesko:
Don Spille said he lost almost everything in Hurricane Katrina, including his home in Kenner, La., and his father, who lived in coastal
Mississippi.
The Tallahassee Democrat even ran a front-page story about Spille and his family Tuesday to coincide with the one-year anniversary of Katrina. But there was at least one big problem with Spille’s story – his father, Ed Spille Sr., isn’t dead. He’s alive and well and living in Central Florida.
“Well, I’m talking to you,” Ed Spille Sr. said Thursday when contacted by a reporter. “I’m a hell of a ghost, my friend. Believe me, I’m not dead.”
Don Spille had said his father had been killed when storm surge wiped out his home in Pass Christian, Miss. His dad, however, said that while his home and several others he owned were destroyed, he waited out the hurricane with relatives in Baton Rouge, La. He later moved to Florida.
Ed Spille Sr., who will be 80 later this month, said he doesn’t know why his son would have made up the story.
When contacted Thursday, Don Spille initially claimed that although his biological father was alive, another man whom he considered to be his father had died in Katrina. He later admitted that he had lied, and he apologized.
He said that in the days after Katrina, he couldn’t contact his dad.
After the storm, he was talking about Katrina to someone who got the mistaken impression that Ed Spille Sr. died. Don Spille never cleared up the confusion, and he continued to lie about his dad…
Project H.O.P.E., which helps Katrina victims, put Don Spille in touch with the newspaper for the anniversary article. Julie Chahboune of Project H.O.P.E. said she was shocked to hear that Spille’s father is alive. She said Don Spille had told her the story about his father.
“And he cried while telling it,” she said.
The Tallahassee Democrat learned about the fabrication after receiving an anonymous phone call Thursday…
Ed Spille Sr. displayed a sense of humor about the situation.
“I might be dead to him,” he said. “At 80 years old, I’m dead to a lot of people.”
Original story here.
Report an error