Father finds story unbalanced and hurtful
By William Englund
Article Last Updated: 08/16/2008 04:21:52 PM CDT
In the July 16 Local section of the Pioneer Press, the blunt headline read: "3 students killed in house fire were drunk." Our precious daughter, April Englund, was one of the tragic victims of that fire in Menomonie, Wis.
We are writing to express our disappointment and anger at the way our daughter, Amanda Reif and Scott Hams were unnecessarily characterized in a demeaning fashion in the article.
We find the reporting and editing of this story unbalanced, and the headline hurtfully misleading. It is distressing to us that the headline, particularly with its use of the word "drunk," seems to imply that the students' use of alcohol was to blame for the fire or their deaths. This despite the fact that in the article itself, officials are quoted as saying, "We can only speculate if this fact contributed to the fire or the victims' ability to self-rescue."
The stated cause of the accidental deaths was the lethal effects of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Our daughter had done nothing illegal. There were the usual Friday night activities in the neighborhood surrounding the college campus. She had walked from a party earlier that evening with some friends. She was back at the house in bed and probably asleep for hours before the carbon monoxide built up to deadly levels.
The paralyzing and debilitating effects of the fumes released by the fire overcame the students and killed them. It was the toxic level of carbon monoxide found in their bloodstreams — not the
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alcohol level — that most likely made their physical escape impossible from the second floor of the house.
We realize this is only one story among many other sad stories you report each day. But it is the major tragedy of our lives. We have suffered and continue to daily suffer the agonizing grief of the death of our beloved daughter. We don't feel that we should be victimized again, nor should we have to bear reporting that so diminishes the memory of our daughter and the others who lost their lives.
Be mindful and pause to consider the effects of this kind of reporting on parents, grandparents, siblings and friends.
William Englund, of West St. Paul, is the father of April Englund |
