Pubdate: Fri, 19 Apr 2002
Source: Hartselle Enquirer, The (AL)
Copyright: 2002 Hartselle Enquirer
Contact:  http://www.hartselleenquirer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1884
Author: Leada DeVaney

DON'T SHOOT THE MESSENGER

Don't shoot the messenger. That's a phrase that's come to mind often this 
week. It seems that some people in Hartselle are upset with the newspaper 
because of the way it covered the recent incident involving the collapse of 
two students at Hartselle High School. At first, school officials said both 
students tested negative for drugs. Then, the same officials came back and 
said one of the students tested positive for marijuana. There's more than a 
slight discrepancy between the two stories. It came to a head for us here 
this week because the newspaper is working on a special section to honor 
Coach William Booth on the occasion of his 500th baseball victory. Coach 
Booth has received a lot of criticism for his dealings with the city 
council following the incident. We're doing this section because, whatever 
controversy is going on now, Coach Booth deserves recognition for his 
accomplishments. Still, one of our customers said he wouldn't support the 
section because "we didn't write anything positive" about Booth or School 
Superintendent Lee Hartsell. I disagree.

There's no better place to recognize someone for positive accomplishments 
than their local newspaper. When our athletic teams or schools do something 
positive, we are the first ones to praise them. However, it is 
irresponsible for a newspaper to ignore a story because some people don't 
want it covered. It's not positive or negative coverage - it's just the 
facts of the case. In the case involving the students and the board's 
response, there are some major issues that need to be addressed. First, 
Hartselle schools have no policy for handling drug-related situations such 
as this one. It appears that the issue was handled on a haphazard basis - 
no ambulance was called to transport the students to the hospital; no 
official policy was in place for dealing with the aftermath; and 
disciplinary measures were capricious. Second, there are major problems 
when we can't trust our school officials. We shouldn't have to question who 
knew what when or why people said the things they said. This whole matter 
could have been handled - without invading a student's privacy - by telling 
the truth from the beginning. That truth is that one of the students 
involved failed a drug test. That's the bottom line and the messengers 
shouldn't be shot for saying so.
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