Word Spreads About Steeles’ Tragedy
Every now and then, I’ll run a simple Twitter search for any post that mentions Highland Park. And as of early Wednesday evening, all but one Texas user on the list was Tweeting about the morning’s grisly stabbing.
Many of these were media sites, of course, including our own — but word’s obviously flying fast. To boot, a Google search for any recent news with the words “Highland Park” only generated articles about the Steele family.
Stay tuned.
By Georgia Fisher
Jul. 12, 2012 | 7:02 am | 51 Comments | Comments RSS
51 comments to "Word Spreads About Steeles' Tragedy"
The first one should not be published by anyone.
I also would like to initiate a petition to have the Park Cities People recant the unfortunate title they choose for their front page article reporting this tragedy. If you cannot recall it, I would hope that you publish an apology ASAP to the Steele family acknowledging your thoughtlessness.
I believe that as a neighborhood newspaper reporting on a tragedy of this magnitude, where children are involved, it is your duty to exersized better judgement, show more grace and even compassion in situtations like this.
As a family friend, I voice the opinion of many close to them that this family is and has been an integral part of our comminuty for years. They are and will always be very well regarded, loved and respected. They deserve our prayers, support, and care.
I am surprised and frustrated by what I see as a total lack of judgement by this paper’s managing editor.
I agree with everyone else – they should not be published!
1. I regret printing the Steeles’ son’s name.
2. I regret not removing the Yard Candy feature from a front page dominated by not only the Steele incident but also the death of James Harrison. Such a bright, happy story looks completely out of place surrounded by all that tragedy.
But the headline complaints have me rethinking that decision too. I don’t have the Morning News’ Metro section in front of me, but I recall its headline being a quote about how surprising the incident was. The first paragraph of Andrew’s story went in that direction too, so we certainly could have written a headline reflecting the community’s shock. After all, it’s not like our headline was breaking the news to anyone; everyone in the Park Cities was aware of the story 24 hours before our papers started landing on lawns.
But please believe me when I say that our headline was not an attempt to be “sensational” or “harsh,” and certainly not “sinister.” As with all headlines, we were just trying to be accurate.
Thanks Dan for your reply above. Adding some sensitivity to your quest for accuracy would be good in the future.
So, while coverage of this story was expected, the Park Cities People’s sensationalism and “rush to judgement” mentality was in extremely poor taste and showed complete insensitivity to family members who have already suffered enough from this tragic event. I do feel that an apology to the family and the community are warranted, and hope that future findings and toxicology reports will be handled with much greater sensitivity and professionalism by the newspaper which proudly refers to itself as “the best weekly newspaper in Texas.”
Someone ought to consider starting a new paper for this area – that meets the old standards of neighborhood reporting.
Whether he is criminally responsible or not is a moot question because A> he’s dead and B> it’s not a question of criminal responsibility it’s a question of what happened. He DID try to kill her, whether he succeeded or not. He then committed suicide.
To soft-pedal this type of thing because he was an HP resident/”upstanding citizen” is exactly the kind of protectionism/bubble-behavior that people criticize the park cities for.
b. For those of you who want a “community” paper, the obvious answer is to have the Community League start a paper.
Remember when we all laughed at the rabid pro-EDS commenters over at Preston Hollow People during the Jane Doe trial – you know, the ones who told Claire and the rest of the PCP folks they were being sensational, unfair, shouldn’t be covering it at all, this is our house, etc. etc.? Don’t become the people we were mocking nine months ago.
**Direct quote from the wife’s 911 call: “‘My husband is trying to stab me with a knife,’ Mrs. Steele told the dispatcher. ‘And then he tried to stab himself with the knife. Please hurry.’”
You know, like when a crackhead robs a 7-11 to feed his addiction, and the public lets him off the hook and blames the substance or his mental condition.
I will not be purchasing a Park Cities People again.
Oh wait
Their two children need to be respected and enough is enough with comments, although some are kind and considerate, the others will only do damage to the family as they are all trying to pull together as to what happened that night.
Please out of respect for the Steele family, close this blog.
Here is some information regarding the “Ambien defense,” which has been used as an excuse for various types of “criminal” conduct by those under the influence of the drug: http://weeksmd.com/2010/12/the-ambien-defense-getting-away-with-murder/
To be fair, it is too early to condemn the man. But it is also inappropriate to withhold information based upon the assumption that he was incapable of wrondoing simply because he appeared to be a pillar of the community or was a member of a particular church or organization.
The last comment by Andrea Dz bothers me. It is just this “protect its own” policy that encourages violence to continue unchecked in the darkness.
I look for something positive to come from any situation. Maybe others who are in violent relationships will have the courage to get out of the violence.
It is the “protecting its own” mind set that allowed the Penn State abuse case to go on for years. It is the “protect its own” mindset that allowed violence to continue against children in cases like the Omaha Boys Town child sex ring. People protected their own and the ones that lost were the victims who could not protect themselves.
Those children should harbor no shame. The son showed great courage in saving his mother.
Violence grows in silence and darkness.
When the Park Cities had requests go out for ideas for topics for smaller groups in the PCP singles group, one of the most requested smaller groups was one addressing domestic violence.
I applaud the PCP for addressing this tragic event.
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