LEDGER COLUMNIST
Maybe reading about a wreck will save a life
CODY SOSSAMON Publisher

An 18-year-old Clemson University student died this weekend from alcohol poisoning, according to a coroner's report. His blood-alcohol level was .38 percent, almost five times above the legal limit for driving, which is .08 percent.

By all accounts from friends, teachers and family members, the young man was a model student and genuine "good guy." He had perfect attendance in 12 years of school. A bright and promising future was his.

A tragic death, yet all too common.

We read with regularity accounts of deaths due to excessive drinking or about fatalities in automobile accidents in which drinking was a factor. Though deaths from alcohol and drug abuse occur in all age brackets, it's the ones who die young that seem to impact us the most.

Many's the conversation I've had with my peers about our younger days and how we could have suffered the same fate as this young Clemson student or the person who died in an alcohol-related crash.

Every parent's nightmare is THAT call. I can't imagine the agony a mother and father endure anytime a child dies, but it must be especially hellish when the cause is one that seemingly could have been avoided - if only...

This newspaper, its reporters, editors and I have been challenged many, many times over the years for including in fatality reports that alcohol was a cause.

"Why did you have to put that in the paper?" we're asked, sometimes angrily and sometimes sadly. "That's all anyone will remember. They won't remember the good things."

Why DO we include it?

For one thing, it's a pertinent fact of the story, just like if the person was wearing a seat belt, speeding, suffered a heart attack while driving or was run off the road by another car. It's what newspapers do. We report the facts. We have policies and procedures we follow to determine what we publish and where in the paper it is placed.

A newspaper records the history of the area it serves by publishing the news of the day - good or bad. We act as a mirror of the community.

Can you imagine the story about the Clemson student dying NOT including the cause of death?

If it's good, we print it. If it's bad, we print it. And we play no favorites - friends, business associates, or family members - if it falls under our guidelines for publication, it'll be in the paper. The cause or factor in a death is a pertinent fact and including pertinent facts is one of our guidelines.

There's another reason for publishing news that is questionable to some. That picture of the horrible auto accident or tragic story about an alcohol-related death just might help prevent something similar happening to someone else in the future.

Maybe, just maybe, a teenager who reads about a college student drinking themselves to death will think about it at the next party he attends. Or the picture of the mangled car will come to mind when he gets behind the wheel.

I'm realistic enough to know that most young people think they are invincible and bullet-proof. They're going to do what they want to do.

But there's always the chance that their decision-making will be influenced by something they read, saw or heard. That's why parents always say "Be careful" when their kids leave the house. And that's partly why we won't sugarcoat the news.

Another is you wouldn't want it any other way, would you?

Cody Sossamon (cody@gaffneyledger.com) is publisher of The Gaffney Ledger.