DELIVERING NEWS TO READERS

Some readers of today's The Toccoa Record may complain that the front
page is not very "Christmasy."

Well, they would be right. It's not. But, The Record isn't a Chamber
of Commerce newsletter or an outlet of good news only.

It is, the last time I looked, a NEWSpaper, with the emphasis on news
of course and the biggest news around these parts since Sept. 1, has
been the officer-involved shooting of the Rev. Jonathan Ayers.

If I had a $1 bill for every time I've been asked about when the GBI
report of the incident would be available to the public and printed in
the newspaper, then I could have retired by now and spent this
Christmas watching the waves crash against some tropical shore.

Instead, Record news editor Jessica Waters and I waded through 1,100
pages of the GBI report Monday and Tuesday and the result was what you
have to read today.

Our decision was to select - and print - as many sections of the
report as possible.

There's no way, of course, we could have reproduced all 1,100 pages of
the report, but I think what is available to readers in this issue
delivers as much information about the investigation as possible.

Short of the entire report itself, The Record's reporting is the most
comprehensive information of the GBI report made available by any
media outlet.

We have included testimony and interviews from the officers,
eyewitnesses, medical technicians - enough information (if you decide
to read it) - to give you a good idea of what grand jurors were
sifting through during their deliberations.

And, some of the information is very disturbing and uncomfortable, but
because of the case's notoriety, it must be published.

The job of The Toccoa Record is to provide as much information to the
reader as possible and let you make up your mind about the rightness
or wrongness of the situation.

That's what we've tried to do this week. Unfortunately, such
down-to-earth business fell during Christmas week.

Such is the nature of the news business.

As for me, I found the letter by Gwinnett DA Danny Porter to DA Brian
Rickman as insightful, especially the final few paragraphs.

I'll let you read it an make up your mind. It's on Page A10.