I love BYU! Only at BYU could a simple crime story generate such a prolific response on both sides of the issue. Owing to the many e-mails and letters to the editor that NewsNet has received, I decided it was time to explain how this story came to be.

Just like the undercover bust, the story of two students arrested on drug charges began with a student tip.

It was the journalistic opportunity of a lifetime, the chance to scoop all the major news organizations in Utah with a big story. Yes, I realize at other universities this would be a "so-what-story," but at BYU, as BYU spokesman Michael Smart said, this is an anomaly.

I spent all day Friday at the first felony hearing, calling BYU officials trying to get a response, talking to University Police and interviewing one of the defendants and his roommate. This was not a story I wrote in a hurry, but one I spent a lot of time on, trying to get several sources and accurately portray the facts.

Like all crime stories, however, there are always two sides to the facts. That's why we have trials -- so both sides have the chance to be heard and a judgment is determined. The newspaper's job is not to pass judgment, but to report on both sides, which I tried to do by interviewing both the police and one of the defendants.

I would also like to clarify the Ecstasy/date rape drug mix-up. It is true Ecstasy is not "the date rape drug." I believed what University Police told me, not having any reason to question their information. I have since done research on this subject and have learned that while Ecstasy is most commonly taken at raves, in rare instances a liquid form of it can be given as a date rape drug.

Many have written asking me why it was important that we printed the story; or if we were determined to print it, why use the men's names and "besmirch their reputation."

When determining to run stories such as this one, it is important to weigh the public's need to know versus the harm that will be done to the people in question. If I were living in Deseret Towers, I for one would like to know that possible drug dealers were living and making drugs in my building.

My brother will be a freshman at BYU next year. I would want him to know that he needs to be careful with whom he associates, and that all is not perfect, even here in "Happy Valley."

I honestly tried to be very fair to the suspects in question. I interviewed one of their roommates and did not print any accusatory or pejorative material. It's important to remember that by writing this story I did not harm their reputations. That effect happened at the time of the arrest. All I did was write what are public record, the court proceedings and the police information.

It was a simple crime story, the facts were told, and both sides were presented. Now it's up to the readers to determine their views on the situation and the court to decide guilt or innocence. That, after all, is the purpose of a newspaper -- to give the public the information necessary to form their own opinions.