Whitlock contends that had Vegas police been more vigilant the number of arrests would have increased tenfold. “They were there solely for decoration and to discourage major crimes,” he wrote in his AOL piece. “Beyond that, they minded their own business.” However, the numbers simply don’t bear that out. Two hundred and thirty-nine of the 403 arrests were for vice-related activities. Sure, that’s a crime but not exactly “major” — or atypical — in Sin City.

Of course, the larger issue here is the duplicity. Whitlock wrote two separate articles on the same event with two entirely different tones that led readers down two entirely different paths. If the weekend was a “walk in the yard at a maximum security prison,” as he wrote for AOL, was it appropriate for Whitlock to be writing a “humorous diary” for the Star that made no mention of the mayhem? The comments his column received on the Star’s Web site, by readers who had apparently seen both pieces, reveal a level of anger and distrust. How, some readers wondered, could Whitlock’s take on the All-Star weekend have changed so dramatically from Monday to Wednesday? Even after asking him directly, their answer is still unclear.

• 1
• 2