Hornets Owner Says He Is Committed To N.O., Takes Shots At Press

Shinn (r) Upset With How Local Media Portrays City

Hornets Owner George Shinn yesterday "once again affirmed that his team is committed to playing a role in the recovery of New Orleans and will not be fleeing to a more lucrative market," according to Andrew Vanacore of the New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE. Shinn yesterday at a luncheon said, "We came back here to succeed. And if you don't think we can succeed how can we do it? This community needs all of us to embrace it, to believe in it, to lift it up and to quit pulling it down." Shinn had "few kind words for the press, suggesting negative news coverage of post-Katrina New Orleans has had a damaging psychological impact and even hurt his team." Shinn said, "Our own newspapers, our own media, writes garbage. Our athletes did not want to come back. They did not want to come back to New Orleans because of everything they read:  It's not safe, the educational system is bad. There's potholes. I'm mean, there's potholes everywhere! I had players coming to me and saying 'Mr. Shinn, I don't want to go back to New Orleans'" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 10/8).