Letter: Bluffton Police honor deserves more attention

You should be ashamed. On Tuesday, June 28, the paper’s front page was covered with the story of the pig sculpture stolen from Bluffton BBQ. The story included bold print and several large colored pictures, along with a detailed history of the event.

On Page 4, under a small headline, was the story of Lt. Joe Babkiewicz, who had just been honored as one of the top 40 law enforcement officials under the age of 40 in the whole world. Not just South Carolina, not just the United States, but the entire globe.

The award was given to the best of the best, and we are lucky enough to have one of those exceptional individuals working in our little town of Bluffton. And what did we learn about Lt. Babkiewicz? Nothing. The paper did not think it was appropriate to include any details of his extraordinary performance or expand on his background.

Now, does anyone wonder why our law enforcement officials suffer from a lack of respect? The underlining message here is that bad news sells papers while good news is boring. We can degrade the good news form law enforcement, while highlighting those events that go wrong.

As much as we like the barbecue, I think the paper’s priorities were misplaced. It had a chance to do some good here, but blew it. Hopefully, next time the paper will do better, if there is a next time.

This story was originally published June 30, 2016 at 6:17 PM with the headline "Letter: Bluffton Police honor deserves more attention."