Letter: Story cast negative light on already tragic situation

I am writing to express my disgust in an article you published in reference to a recent accident and the subsequent deaths of two Prosser men; I found the headline “Prosser firefighter’s death attributed to driving drunk” wildly inappropriate, insensitive and inaccurate.

While in no way do I mean to condone drinking and driving, a blood-alcohol content of .002 over the legal limit is hardly worthy of a story, let alone the headline of “drunk driving.” Also, this accident occurred on an icy mountain road in the middle of a snowstorm. To claim these deaths can be objectively attributed to this amount of alcohol is unfounded, and void of compassion for those involved.

I understand that it is not my place to determine what is newsworthy, but I implore you to take into consideration the effect of what you chose to report on, and how you chose to report it has on our community. These families have been through enough, without your casting a negative light on an already tragic situation.

This story was originally published April 30, 2017 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Letter: Story cast negative light on already tragic situation."