Sickening Excuses

Our local newspaper has a very bad habit of writing headlines that take responsibility away from people responsible for any wrongdoing.

This one is just one of a number of such deliberately misleading headlines.

Hot car blamed in 3rd child's death

FOREST CITY — A 4-year old who was trapped in her mother’s car Friday died a heat-related death early Saturday at Mission Hospitals, authorities said.
The girl’s 2-year-old twin sisters, Asia and Bry’asia Shepard, were found dead at the scene by emergency responders. (Sheriff's Lt) Scoggins said Saturday he could not yet confirm how the children got into the car or how long they were inside. Family members said the mother of the girls, Ann Latrice Miller, 26, was sleeping when her unsupervised children climbed into her car in the parking lot of Woodlands Townhomes of Big Island Road near Forest City. They said Miller had been working a late shift at a restaurant the night before. Miller could not be reached for comment Saturday night.

And so, the headline should not read "Hot Car Blamed for Deaths" but "Mother Blamed", or better still, "So-Called Mother Blamed". I have no doubt that in days to come we will have to hear all about the lack of child care; the hard-working "mother"; and the terrible people at DSS -- but nothing about the wasted lives of these poor children.