Apology

DONTA CRADDOCK and Ivan Rodriguez were brought to tears Wednesday afternoon upon hearing that they had been found guilty of four counts of second-degree murder and would spend the rest of their lives in state prison. "Sorry, Mom, for letting you down and everything. Even though I'm going to be in for the rest of my life, I'm sorry," Craddock, 21, softly said from the wheelchair he has been confined to since the fatal car crash he caused while fleeing a robbery scene on June 10, 2009.

A dream had carried the boys so far from home, some 5,000 miles across the ocean to a cramped and dingy apartment in Philadelphia: a hope that ice hockey could change their lives. Ivan Pravilov could fulfill that dream, they were told. He could take them from the daily grind of post-communist Ukraine to the gleaming ice of the NHL. He'd done it before. He'd done if for Andrei Zyuzin, who went on to play for six NHL teams. He'd done it for Konstantin Kalmikov, a third-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1996.

Urban Outfitters Inc. said Monday it never stocked or sold a controversial T-shirt with a pocket patch that resembled a symbol worn by Jews in Nazi Europe, while the shirt's Danish manufacturer said a photo featuring the embroidery on Urban's website "must be an early sample" of a prototype that was never, ultimately, made. The T-shirt's symbol. The Philadelphia-based retailer would not explain how a photo of the yellow cotton Kellog tee with a six-pointed blue star on a chest pocket ended up on its website for $100, but spokesman Ed Looram said the online image would be replaced with a "correct" and pocketless version of the shirt, made by Denmark-based Wood Wood.

"Say you're sorry, Junior, tell the nice man you're sorry. " That's what the anniversary-of-Pearl-Harbor talk of apologies sounds like. If the Japanese apologize for their attack on Pearl Harbor, fine. If not, that's fine too. Coming a half-century later, an apology would have about the same irrelevance as Junior's grudging apology to the nice man. In like vein, we agree with President Bush's decision not to apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Fifty years later, apologizing for the nastiness of war is a waste of time in either direction.

I WOULD LIKE TO apologize to the staff and readers of the Daily News for the plagiarized op-ed that appeared under my name on June 30. I've been writting letters to the Daily News for years, and I feel very bad about misleading the staff. I also feel like I've let the city down. I hope you will accept my apology because I fully and humbly accept my punishment to be banned forever from writing to the Daily News. I've always believed that if a person breaks a rule, he should accept the punishment.

The outrage in both Democratic and Republican circles over Trent Lott's round of apologies for his Strom-Thurmond-shouldabeen-president comments reached fever pitch Friday. After his first apology, which said that he was "only trying to make the old man feel good," which he apologized for with "I'm sorry if I offended anyone," which he followed with the apology, "What I meant to say was that if Lester Maddox had been elected president in '48, we wouldn't have the problems we have today," he issued another apology that read, "For goodness' sake, I was telling a freakin' joke.

The Clarion Suites was proud to be a host hotel for the 1999 "Greek" Picnic. In fact, we were impressed that we had not experienced any of the negativity portrayed so vehemently on television and in the newspapers. So imagine our surprise at the letter (July 28) of Melissa Stuckey of Princeton, indicating horrendous treatment by our staff. A hotel is defined by the quality of service it provides to its guests. Our success is measured by how our guests evaluate our services and facilities.

I was really shocked at your printed apology to anyone offended by your front-page headline (Sept. 25) about John du Pont. I haven't seen an apology to the fans, family or friends of Tupac Shakur. The headline "It's a Rap" offended me and a few of my friends. Shakur is dead, yes, but he was loved by many. He was not just a "gangsta rapper" - he was a survivor, a realist and a young black man trying to make a living. You owe his fans an apology. CRYSTAL M. DOWNING, Philadelphia

President Clinton yesterday left the door open to backing a proposed apology to African-Americans whose ancestors were brought to the United States as slaves. Clinton said he wanted more time to think about the proposal by a dozen white lawmakers for a congressional apology. "But let me say generally on the question of symbolism, an apology under the right circumstances - those things can be quite important," Clinton said on CNN's "Late Edition. " "Surely every American knows that slavery was wrong . . . and surely every American knows that the separate but unequal system we had for 100 years after slavery was wrong," Clinton said.

Temple's John Chaney, his eyes red and his voice weary, publicly apologized yesterday for threatening Massachusetts coach John Calipari and said Sunday's harangue had outraged even members of his own family. The Owls played last night at St. Bonaventure while Chaney remained in Philadelphia, serving a one-game suspension levied by the university on Monday. His voice broke when he discussed the suspension. "It's the first time in my life I've been . . . " he said, halting as tears welled in his eyes.

LEIDSCHENDAM, Netherlands - Convicted war criminal and former Liberian President Charles Taylor said during his sentencing hearing Wednesday that he sympathized with victims of the civil war in Sierra Leone he helped foment, and asked judges to render their sentence against him in a spirit of "reconciliation, not retribution. " He stopped short of admitting any wrongdoing, apologizing for his actions, or expressing remorse. In a landmark ruling in April, judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone found Taylor guilty of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder, rape, and conscripting child soldiers.

WASHINGTON - Mitt Romney apologized Thursday for "stupid" high school pranks that he said may have gone too far and moved quickly to stamp out any notion that he bullied schoolmates because they were gay. His swift response reflected the Republican presidential candidate's recognition that his record on gay rights is under heightened scrutiny after President Obama's embrace of gay marriage. One day after gay rights moved to the center of the presidential race with Obama's announcement on same-sex marriage, a Washington Post report about Romney's high school escapades nearly 50 years ago added a personal dimension to Democrats' contention that he's out of step on the sensitive topic.

What do you want for Mother's Day? I'm a mother of five, and the first wish on my list would be to hear from my own mother, who died of breast cancer seven years ago. To that end, my daughter looked into a meeting with one of my favorite television personalities, Theresa Caputo, also known the Long Island Medium, but there's a three-year waiting list. So now on to number two on my list, which is a little more difficult: I want Susan G. Komen for the Cure's former senior vice president of public policy, Karen Handel, to apologize for ripping through the organization like a tornado to promote her own personal beliefs.

MAYOR NUTTER apologized Tuesday to Daily News columnist Ronnie Polaneczky for a Twitter comment by his press secretary, Mark McDonald, that appeared to question the ethics of her reporting on the Philadelphia Parking Authority. "I want to apologize to Ronnie, who I know, about what was sent out," Nutter said. "It was inappropriate. I want to apologize directly and on behalf of our city government. " In her column on Tuesday, Polaneczky wrote that after a critical column on the Parking Authority, McDonald, who posts as @PhillyPressSec, tweeted: "If reporter has let's say 150 agency violations, do you disclose that as you time after time pound said agency with your commentary?"

This was no apology According to the story "Fla. shooter offers apology" (April 21), George Zimmerman, the man accused of second-degree murder in the shooting of Trayvon Martin, spoke to the parents of the 17-year-old victim in court. He offered what was labeled an "apology" by saying that he was "sorry for the loss of your son. " He went on to say that he did not realize the age of the boy or that he was unarmed. This was not an apology. An apology, according to the Random House Dictionary, "offers remorse, sorrow, or regret for having insulted, failed, injured, or wronged another.

NEWARK, N.J. - Monday afternoon, before the 76ers faced the New Jersey Nets, the NBA announced that Sixers coach Doug Collins was fined $15,000 for verbal abuse of an official after Saturday's impressive 109-106 overtime win against the streaking Indiana Pacers. The object of Collins' ire appeared to be referee Zach Zarba. There was some contact down the stretch that Collins didn't seem to care for, especially an apparent karate chop-type swipe on Jrue Holiday in which there was no call.

Urban Outfitters Inc. said Monday it never stocked or sold a controversial T-shirt with a pocket patch that resembled a symbol worn by Jews in Nazi Europe, while the shirt's Danish manufacturer said a photo featuring the embroidery on Urban's website "must be an early sample" of a prototype that was never, ultimately, made. The T-shirt's symbol. The Philadelphia-based retailer would not explain how a photo of the yellow cotton Kellog tee with a six-pointed blue star on a chest pocket ended up on its website for $100, but spokesman Ed Looram said the online image would be replaced with a "correct" and pocketless version of the shirt, made by Denmark-based Wood Wood.

Remember the Fire Department report that came out earlier this year, the one recommending that labor and management play nice if they want to solve their problems with the city? Bill Gault, president of Local 22 of the International Association of Fire Firefighters, may now be trying to take that advice to heart. But only after he nearly got into another public dustup with City Hall. In the aftermath of the tragic fire in Kensington on April 9 that killed Lt. Robert Neary and Firefighter Dan Sweeney, emotions were raw among members of the department, Gault said last week.

Sidney Crosby instigated a lot of the scrums during the Flyers' wild 8-4 win Sunday, but the Pittsburgh Penguins superstar downplayed the actions after his team's practice Tuesday. Told that some Penguins fans were embarrassed by his team's display, Crosby went on the defensive. "The tough part is, if they were in this room, they would see how much each guy cares," Crosby said. "It's more than one team that's doing that stuff out there. They should have nothing to be embarrassed about.

Suspended Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen's apology tour continued Wednesday, speaking to his players inside the Citizens Bank Park visitors' clubhouse before it was opened to reporters. Guillen arrived at the clubhouse just before 4 p.m. to tell his players he was sorry for saying he admired and loved Fidel Castro in an interview with Time magazine - a comment that angered Miami's Cuban American community. The team suspended Guillen for five games, beginning with Wednesday's game against the Phillies.