Ignorance, cowardice fuel ‘pathetic’ action

Letter to the editor
Published: August 14, 2008

Editor:

I have resided in the town of Madison for nine years and thoroughly enjoy living in our community. I enjoy reading the paper to catch up on news and events as well as to read the “human interest” features and stories.

As a former law enforcement officer, the “Meet Your Deputy” feature is one that is especially interesting to me. As I came to that feature in last week’s paper, I was appalled at what I saw. The well-written content on Deputy Andra Jackson was overshadowed by alterations to his photo and name.

This pathetic attempt to disgrace and humiliate Deputy Jackson obviously stems from ignorance and cowardice. The responsible party is either an ignorant racist or a lowly coward who has a grudge against this deputy, who puts his life at risk for the community when he goes to work. This person (who must work at your printing location) does not deserve to have the responsibility of ensuring the accuracy of the printed content of your paper. He or she should be held accountable in every way for these actions.

I have two requests, one of the editor and one of the community. To the editor, please step up and do the right thing and remove this person from your payroll. It should not be difficult to figure out who did this despicable act. You should be ashamed to retain this person with your staff. Doing so would send the clear message that you condone such abhorrent behavior.

And to the community, as a former law enforcement officer and a proud resident of our community, I urge you to publicly voice your concern not only to the editor, but also to each other. We all should be outraged at this heinous act. Simply printing an apology should not be considered sufficient action.
I have reviewed the guidelines for letters to this paper, and I hope that the content of this letter will not be “conveniently” edited to fit the available space. Or, worse yet, edited with whiteout.

Sara J. Hall
Madison