'Levee breaker' author defends book's objectivity

The ABC Television feature on its Primetime program about the James Scott case that had been scheduled to air today has been delayed. The new date will be announced after it is rescheduled. Scott was convicted of causing a catastrophe by breaking the Mississippi River levee at West Quincy on July 16, 1993, during the Great Flood of 1993. He is serving a life sentence.
In preparation for the TV show on Primetime, several people were interviewed, including Adam Pitluk, whose book about the case was released in December 2007.
Pitluk’s book is titled, “Damned To Eternity: The Story of the Man Who They Said Caused the Flood.” Career information about Pitluk and the book are on his Web site, adampitluk.com.
People involved in the Scott case also were interviewed by the ABC crew, including Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Tom Redington, who was the prosecutor at  his second trial, after Scott’s first conviction was overturned.
In a Courier-Post article published June 30, Redington was quoted as stating he believed Pitluk had been convinced Scott was not guilty of breaking the levee.
Pitluk explained Monday that this is not true - his book instead presents both sides of the case, and in fact book reviewers have accused him of being too objective “that I didn’t take one side of the story.
“If I were ‘in the tank’ for James Scott, there wouldn’t be a single reviewer anywhere in this country accusing me of being too objective.
“As a journalist I’m objective - I try to tell both sides of the story.”
Also, Pitluk said, “if I were for James Scott, I could have hidden a lot of that damning evidence that I put into that book.” He wrote about things Scott had done that are not public record, Pitluk said, including things he did as a juvenile and as an adult.
“I painted James Scott as the scroundrel that he was for much of his life,” Pitluk said. “I challenge you to read the book and come back and tell me that I didn’t present James Scott with warts and all.”
Pitluk described his book as “a story about a man who broke a levee to keep his wife on the other side. He was convicted twice, so I have no problem with saying he is guilty. Officially, he is guilty. I present the other side of the story.”
Pitluk noted that “when ABC airs that segment, you will hear me say that if in my research I would have found more concrete evidence than Redington found that he broke the levee, or if I would have found even one shread of physical evidence that he broke the levee, I would be the first person calling for the head of James Scott.”
As the book author, he said, “it is my intention that the reader forms his/her own opinion.”
Pitluk was a journalism student at Mizzou during Scott’s second trial, which was in Hannibal. It was televised by Court TV, and Pitluk watched the trial.
He wrote an article about it, and later decided to write the book, because the case was precedence-setting and newsworthy, Pitluk said. It was the first time someone in Missouri had been convicted of causing a catastrophe.
The Scott case was a regional case but he wanted to share the story with the 280 million Americans who are not from Marion County or Quincy, Pitluk said.
“For anybody not from this area, this is in the very least an interesting, compelling story. Missouri is one of 50 states. What happens in Missouri does not necessarily stay in Missouri.”