Yesterday we noted a post at Daily Kos from John Bolton accuser Melody Townsel, in which she admitted committing plagiarism while working at the Abilene Christian University student newspaper, the Optimist.

The ACU Optimist has a report on this today, with the revelation that Townsel was also involved in another plagiarism incident at the University of Texas at Arlington: Former student acknowledges past plagiarism.

Townsel left ACU soon after being removed from the Optimist to continue her undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she worked for the student newspaper, the Shorthorn. Marler said he received a call from UT-Arlington several months after Townsel left ACU regarding another situation of plagiarism with Townsel.

John Dycus, former adviser of the Shorthorn, recalled the event.

“I remember Melody as being very bright,” said Dycus, adviser of the UT-Arlington Shorthorn when Townsel worked for the paper. “I remember thinking she didn’t have to do this. She was bright enough; her mechanics were good enough; her research skills were good enough. This wasn’t necessary.”

UPDATE at 4/27/05 8:58:11 am:

In the post at Daily Kos, Melody Townsel wrote:

Months later, while working for another college newspaper, I wrote a review for a local play that tracked closely in format to another writer’s review — and, although it was not plagiarized, it made my editors, who had become aware of my recent past, very uncomfortable, and we mutually agreed that I would no longer submit stories to them.

But that isn’t how the paper’s former editor in chief remembers it: Ex-editor key to Bolton debate. (Hat tip: Ward Cleaver.)

Theo Carracino, who had been editor in chief of the paper that previous semester, said he had read several news stories in other publications on the issue, and when he read a few of the first paragraphs of Townsel’s story, many of the paragraphs seemed familiar to him.

“I knew I’d read them and read them recently,” Carracino said.

With his interest piqued, Carracino said he researched back issues of Time and Newsweek magazines, which had run stories regarding the famine.

He compared Townsel’s story to an article titled “An African Nightmare,” published in Newsweek on Nov. 26, 1984, and found many similarities.

About 80 percent of Townsel’s story was plagiarized, Carracino said.

“I had to overcome my disbelief,” he said.

The realization that The Shorthorn had a case of plagiarism to deal with quickly became apparent, he said.

“This was major plagiarism,” he said. “Not the case of copying some sentences.”