Newspapers

There is (yet another) local kid story in the news all week. This time it's not our own community but a nearby, larger city. It also happens to be the city in which the local daily paper is published, and that means it's getting lots of play in the news.

Here's the short version of what has been pieced together and told to the media. Earlier this week a mom who has been in a custody battle for some period of time with the dad of her school-age daughter (...do you see where this is going...?) apparently suffocated her child and then killed herself. The suicide method is a particularly chickenshit method (IMNSHO) that essentially involves getting someone else to do the actual killing for her. When the police went to the mom's house to let her family know of her death--which was quite public--her father had just arrived home from work. When he and the police went to check on his granddaughter, she was in bed, ostensibly asleep.

I just found in this morning's RSS feed that she frequented a restaurant in which I'm sure I've seen her: mother and child were there nearly every day for an extended period of time. I don't go there that often--their bread is VERY good, but pricey--but the last couple of times I've noticed a cute blonde girl coloring or reading while her mom looked at the papers.

This is why I don't read the newspapers. What's worse about the online articles is that people are free to comment on stories. Most of the comments are a) stupid, b) ridiculously 20/20 hindsight-y, and/or c) downright mean-spirited.

And in the back of my mind, I'm wondering if this little girl had been black or Hispanic, would her death have been getting front page coverage all week....

Oh, so cynical. And so sad.