Tag Archives: #LexingtonHeraldLeader

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The Lexington Herald-Leader does not know how to win friends and influence people

In October of 1936, Dale Carnegie published the self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People. In 2011, it was number 19 on Time Magazine’s list of the 100 most influential books. It is a book that Dr David Shafran has apparently not read.

    ‘Selfish or stupid.’ Rejecting COVID vaccine puts healthcare workers in real danger.

    By David Safran[1]At least as of 2:36 PM, the Herald-Leader spelled the author’s name ‘Safran’ at the beginning of the article, and ‘Shafran’ at the end. | July 21, 2021 | 10:42 AM | Updated: 11:04 AM EDT

    “If you can get the vaccine, and decide not to, then you’ve made your choice: Don’t ask for sympathy or money when you get sick”. Conservative columnist Bret Stephens offered that comment in the NY Times on July 19 as an alternative when referring to President Biden’s ill-received comment about people “killing America” by not getting the vaccine.

    Sounds great, and I agree to a point. But unfortunately, thanks to a federal regulation with the acronym EMTALA, which stands for Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the comment, like our president’s, is empty. The law was passed in 1986 with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed into law by President Reagan. It basically states if the hospital receives payments from Medicare, a person had a right to be seen, or from the other point of view, a doctor is forced to see and take care of a patient, whether or not they could pay the bills. Physicians learned to call EMTALA the Anti-Patient Dumping Act, as they could no longer refuse to see uninsured patients, or more likely “dump them” on a bigger hospital. Private hospitals got around the law by closing their emergency rooms.

    Now, with the environment of healthcare completely different, I would like to rename EMTALA the People’s Inherent right to Selfishness and Stupidity Act. As we are seeing in this country, when it comes to Covid, unvaccinated Americans are either for the most part selfish or stupid.

There’s more at the original, and even more in the last paragraph, but I ended my copying at the most important point. Dr Shafran specifically, and the Lexington Herald-Leader editorially, and Governor Andy Beshear (D-KY) generally speaking, are all trying to persuade Kentuckians who have not yet chosen to be vaccinated to go ahead and take one of the freely available COVID-19 vaccines. But perhaps, just perhaps, calling the people they are (purportedly) trying to persuade “stupid or selfish” might not be a method of which Mr Carnegie would have approved.

Of course, while Dr Shafran was very explicit in expressing his beliefs, Herald-Leader columnist Linda Blackford couldn’t contain her snarkiness:

    The political divide is no help, of course. Tuesday morning, (Louisville Courier-Journal) reporter Olivia Kraus noted that House Education Chair Regina Huff had deleted a tweet in which she compared Dr. Anthony Fauci’s vaccine advocacy to the Jonestown massacre. We used to be a nation of science. Now (as the world burns down around us) we let conservative news shows convince us that the vaccine is depositing microchips into our arms so Google can figure out what you had for breakfast, as though it didn’t already know this from your phone. One in five Americans believe the microchips, according to a new poll by The Economist and YouGov.com.

Mr Carnegie could sell ice water to Eskimos; I have my doubts that Dr Shafran or Mrs Blackford could sell ice water in Hell.

If you want to influence people, to persuade people to your position, the first thing you need to do is not be an [insert slang term for the rectum here.] You don’t need to be Max Boot, saying that the President should order people to get vaccinated, and that those who refuse should be cut off from all social life. You don’t need to be Jen Psaki, saying that the Biden Administration is working with Facebook to censor “misinformation,” or that if you are banned from one social media site, you should be banned from all. The American people don’t take well to censorship.

What you need to do is identify with people, to show them your concern and your respect for their thoughts, feelings and beliefs. You need to demonstrate an attitude that they’ve won if they bought what you are selling, not that you’ve won if they do. And you must show that you respect their choices, and their right to take those choices, even if you disagree with their decisions.

References

References
↑1 At least as of 2:36 PM, the Herald-Leader spelled the author’s name ‘Safran’ at the beginning of the article, and ‘Shafran’ at the end.
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Well, what do you know? The Lexington Herald-Leader finally published a mugshot of a dangerous criminal on the loose

I published this tweet at 8:06 AM this morning:

That was true then; I got the mugshot from another source. But now, the Lexington Herald-Leader has done the right thing:

    Teen escapes Lexington juvenile jail. He faces charges in deaths of his mom, sister

    By Jeremy Chisenhall and Rayleigh Deaton | July 19, 2021 | 7:01 AM | Updated: 3:45 PM EDT

    Officers searched Monday for a teen accused of killing his mother and 12-year-old sister after he escaped the Fayette County Juvenile Detention Center, according to Kentucky State Police.

    The escaped inmate was identified as Luke Craig, 16, according to state police. Craig was charged in September with murdering 33-year-old Tefani Noe and 12-year-old Brooke Goggin in Anderson County, Sgt. Bernis Napier told the Herald-Leader Monday. Noe was Craig’s mother and Brooke was his younger sister, according to family obituaries.

    Craig is considered “dangerous and a threat to public safety,” state police said.

There’s more at the original.

When I found the article, earlier this morning, then dated at 7:01 AM, no mugshot was included, even though several other local news sites had it. Checking the Herald-Leader’s website at 3:48 PM, I saw that the mugshot had been added. The article was last updated around 3:45 PM, but I do not know if that was when the mugshot was added. But, better late than never; the newspaper has done the right thing.

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The Lexington Herald-Leader once again hides a mugshot, this time of a convicted child pornographer.

In our continuing coverage to tell you what the Lexington Herald-Leader will not, we note that, once again, the newspaper won’t show you what a convicted criminal looks like:

    He used app to get images from 7-year-old. Central Kentucky man gets long sentence.

    By Rayleigh Deaton | July 16, 2021 | 10:04 AM EDT

    A Berea man was sentenced to nearly 18 years in federal prison for using a minor to produce child pornography.

    According to the U.S. attorney’s office, in May 2020, 33-year-old Bradley Scott Helton communicated with a 7-year-old via an app called “Kiss Kiss: Spin the Bottle.” Helton’s plea agreement said he sent the victim sexual videos and pictures and requested the victim send sexual videos in return.

Bradley Helton

There’s more at the original. What wasn’t in the original was Mr Helton’s mugshot. That was in WTVQ-TV’s report:

    FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – A Berea, Ky., man,[1]Correction: Mr Helton may be a male, but he is certainly not a man, something which I expect will be made very clear to him in prison. Bradley Scott Helton, 33, was sentenced Thursday to 214 months in federal prison, by U.S. District Judge Gregory VanTatenhove, for using a minor to produce child pornography.

    According to Helton’s plea agreement, on May 16, 2020, he communicated with a 7-year-old victim, via an app called “Kiss Kiss: Spin the Bottle,” according to federal prosecutors.

    Helton admitted to chatting with the victim, sending the victim sexual videos and pictures, and requesting the victim send sexual videos in return, according to court records.

    Helton admitted he persuaded and used the 7-year-old victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct, for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of that conduct, prosecutors said.

    He further admitted the images traveled in interstate commerce when the victim, who was in Texas, sent them to him, in Kentucky, via the app.

    Helton pleaded guilty in March 2021.

    Under federal law, Helton must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence and will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 25 years, following his release from prison.

214 months times 0.85 = 181.9 month, or 15 years and 2 months. Mr Helton could get out of prison when he is still only 48 years old.

Why, I have to ask, did the Herald-Leader not publish Mr Helton’s mugshot? He is not, after all, someone simply accused of a crime and who might eventually be acquitted, but a man male who has admitted his guilt, a convicted child pornographer.

Mr Helton has forfeited all of his privacy rights, and what responsible journalists used to claim was the public’s right to know ought to take precedence.[2]I cannot blame Rayleigh Deaton, the article author, in that she’s an intern, not a Herald-Leader staff writer. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Kentucky Kernel, the University of … Continue reading

References

References
↑1 Correction: Mr Helton may be a male, but he is certainly not a man, something which I expect will be made very clear to him in prison.
↑2 I cannot blame Rayleigh Deaton, the article author, in that she’s an intern, not a Herald-Leader staff writer. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky’s student newspaper, for which I wrote just a few years after Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press.
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Another mugshot missed We publish what the Lexington Herald-Leader will not

Christopher Roberts. Photo by Three Forks Regional Jail, Lee County, via WKYT-TV

WKYT-TV, Channel 27, the CBS affiliate in Lexington, is the news partner with the Lexington Herald-Leader. So, when the Herald-Leader reports a story after WKYT, and WKYT has the mugshot available, we know the Herald-Leader did as well.

    Estill County man charged in connection with woman found dead on rural road

    By Beth Musgrave | July 10, 2021 | 12:24 PM | Updated: 12:42 PM EDT

    A 43-year-old Estill County man was arrested Saturday in connection with the death of a 50-year-old woman who was found on a rural Estill County Road on Wednesday.

    Kentucky State Police have charged Christopher Roberts of Irvine with murder and tampering with physical evidence. Roberts is being held at the Three Forks Regional Detention Center in Lee County.

    Police were called at 10 a.m. on Wednesday to Marbleyard Road after a woman was found lying in the road. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

    The woman was later identified as Cindy Donnela Stevens-Roberts, 50, of Irvine.

The story concluded by saying that there was no other information available, but, of course there was; there was the suspect’s mugshot, which WKYT-TV published at 9:58 AM, 2½ hours before the Herald-Leader story was written. But we all know that publishing the suspect’s mugshot would violate McClatchy Mugshot Policy.

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More poor journalism from the Lexington Herald-Leader Does the newspaper have no editors?

Justin Tyler Ainslie. Source: Oldham County jail, via BustedNewspaper.com Click to enlarge.

In printing his name, the Lexington Herald-Leader enabled search engines to find that with which Justin Tyler Ainslie was charged. Considering the charges, whether he is found guilty or not, in the real world, he’s going to have to change his name, because otherwise, he’s toast. Unlike our ‘local’ McClatchy newspapers, I publish mugshots.

    Lexington man facing federal charges after thousands of child pornography images found

    By Morgan Eads | July 7, 2021 | 7:42 AM EDT

    A Lexington man is facing federal charges of receiving and distributing child pornography after a tip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children led investigators to thousands of explicit images of children on his cellphone.

    Justin Tyler Ainslie was identified as the user of a phone line and Google account that uploaded images of child sexual abuse to cloud-based storage, according to a federal affidavit. The images were noticed in May of 2020 by Synchronoss Technologies, Inc., and the company, which provides storage services to Verizon customers, reported the images to the Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

    Lexington police were notified and obtained search warrants for the Synchronoss account, Google account and Verizon phone number connected to the tip, according to the affidavit. The investigators learned that the accounts were owned by Ainslie. . . .

    On June 21, 2021, a special agent with Homeland Security and a Lexington police detective reviewed evidence found on Ainslie’s cellphone and KIK account. The analysis found about 11,524 image files and 1,501 video files of suspected child sexual abuse, according to the federal affidavit.

Mr Ainslie was arrested on November 10, 2020. The Herald-Leader story noted that he was released after posting a $10,000 bond. The story states that he admitted to detectives with the Lexington Police Department that ha had received, viewed, and subsequently shared child pornography images. Assuming that the LPD detectives recorded Mr Ainslie’s interrogation, the case against him should have been open-and-shut. Despite the courts being seriously restricted, due to Governor Andy Beshear’s (D-KY) COVID-19 restrictions, this should have been a plea deal arranged with Mr Ainslie’s attorney, by telephone, and he should have already been in jail. Instead, he has his first court appearance scheduled for later today.

The Herald-Leader story is, unfortunately, an example of poor writing and poor journalism. Were the Homeland Security agent and LPD detective reviewing evidence seized in November, or did they seize a cell phone he had after his release on bond? My first impression was that law enforcement had caught him again for violations while he was out on bond, but, on second reading — and being able to review things is why print sources are so important to me — I realized that was not what the article said.

Was Mr Ainslie caught a second time? It certainly sounds like it! But it could just as easily have been that the LPD had seized his phone when he was arrested in November, and they were just getting around to reviewing the evidence with the feds in June. The Herald-Leader article is not over long, and Morgan Eads, the reporter, could have clarified that with a single sentence.

More, an editor, a second set of eyes, should have caught the problem. Are there no editors at the Herald-Leader?

Yeah, I get it: newspapers across the country are in difficult financial straits. But the Herald-Leader simply doesn’t have that many new stories to review; a quick look at the newspaper’s website main page shows only six non-sports stories dated today. And it has always been the responsibility of editors to check reporters’ stories for grammar (hah!), spelling and poorly crafted sentences.

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Once again, the Lexington Herald-Leader hides mugshots of two accused murderers who are still on the loose Police say they are armed and dangerous, but apparently not dangerous enough for the Herald-Leader to tell readers how they look

I’ve run enough stories about the journolism[1]The spelling ‘journolist’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term … Continue reading of the Lexington Herald-Leader that I sometimes think I should include a subscription box for them!

The Herald-Leader is bound by the McClatchy Mugshot Policy, which prohibits the publication of police mugshots, unless approved by an editor, for serious reasons. One of those reasons is “is there an urgent threat to the community?”

1 man charged, 2 others wanted by Lexington police in separate murder cases

By Jeremy Chisenhall | June 25, 2021 | 3:33 PM | Updated: 4:33 PM EDT[2]Mr Chisenhall’s article was published at 3:33 PM. I have been refreshing the article during the writing of this article, to see if he has updated it with those mugshots. As of 5:00 PM EDT, he … Continue reading

Lexington police identified Friday suspects in two homicide cases and charged a suspect in another slaying, officials said Friday.The three homicide victims were found outside earlier this month.

Police first announced they were searching for Brandon Dockery, 31, who is accused of killing Raymar Alvester Webb. Webb was suffering from a gunshot wound when police found him in a parking lot near North Mill and West Short streets at about 1:40 a.m. on June 19, according to Lt. Dan Truex.Webb was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital where he later died, police said.

Dockery is considered armed and dangerous, police said.

Armed and dangerous, huh? Certainly seems as though he would qualify under the exception of an urgent threat to the community! And yes, the Lexington Police Department has his mugshot available, on their Homicide Investigation page. If it was available to me, it was available to Jeremy Chisenhall, the Herald-Leader reporter, who is certainly computer-savvy enough to have looked it up.

Kamond D Taylor, from his Michigan arrest record.

Lexington police also charged a man with murder after a fatal shooting outside The Office, which is a gentleman’s club in the 900 block of Winchester Road.Kamond Taylor, 30, was charged with the murder of 43-year-old Ali Robinson, police said. Robinson was shot June 9 outside the club. He was found by police and died at the scene, Lt. Ronald Keaton said.Taylor had already been detained in Detroit on local charges, police said.

Of course, under the McClatchy policy, the Herald-Leader would never publish Mr Taylor’s mugshot, because, already being in custody, he doesn’t constitute an urgent threat to the community. I am not bound by the McClatchy policy, and I do publish mugshots.

But Danzell Cruze certainly does!

Danzell Cruze, from the Kentucky Offender Online Lookup.

Also on Friday, police said a murder warrant had been issued for Danzell Cruse in the death of 38-year-old Jocko Green who was found about 3:50 p.m. June 17 in a parking lot outside an apartment complex in the 600 block of Winnie Street near the University Kentucky Chandler Hospital.He died about 7 p.m. at UK Hospital of gunshot wounds.

Cruse, who is considered armed and dangerous, also faces a charge of possessing a handgun as a convicted felon.

According to the Kentucky Offender Online Lookup, Mr Cruze was convicted on Jaunary 7, 2019, and sentenced to five years in the pokey, plus another year for a second offense. Yet he was released on December 30, 2020, after just two years, or 40%, in the slammer; I guess that the sentences ran concurrently. He is still supposed to be on probation.

If Mr Cruze had been kept locked up for his full five years, he would have been behind bars, and if really is the person who murdered Jocko Green, Mr Green would be alive today. This is precisely the kind of bad guy for whom the McClatchy policy has the listed exception. Did the Lexington Police Department not provide his mugshot to the Herald-Leader? Nope! It is on the Lexington Homicide Investigation page.

It’s simple: in their efforts not to “disproportionately harm people of color,”[3]Quote is actually from the Sacramento Bee, the lead McClatchy newspaper, and the first (as far as I know) to implement the no mugshot policy. the Herald-Leader is sacrificing the public’s right to know.

The paper, of course, has its First Amendment freedom of the press, and can choose not to publish anything the editors so choose. But my freedom of the press allows me to criticize their decisions.

References

References
↑1 The spelling ‘journolist’ comes from JournoList, an email list of 400 influential and politically liberal journalists, the exposure of which called into question their objectivity. I use the term ‘journolism’ frequently when writing about media bias.
↑2 Mr Chisenhall’s article was published at 3:33 PM. I have been refreshing the article during the writing of this article, to see if he has updated it with those mugshots. As of 5:00 PM EDT, he had not.
↑3 Quote is actually from the Sacramento Bee, the lead McClatchy newspaper, and the first (as far as I know) to implement the no mugshot policy.
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This is what happens when the #woke try to think. It usually isn’t pretty. How can anyone apologize for someone else, for people long gone?

I will admit it: I have not always been kind in my coverage and criticism of the Lexington Herald-Leader. But sometimes an editorial just takes the cake!

The Herald and Leader got it wrong. Our apology to the woman who integrated Lexington schools.

By the Herald-Leader Editorial Board | June 25, 2021 | 8:33 AM EDT | Updated: 12:28 PM EDT

In 2004, the Herald-Leader wrote a series of stories about how Lexington’s newspapers had not covered the city’s civil rights movement. The stories described the historic practice of numerous Southern papers that ignored protest in their own backyards because their leaders thought that by doing so, they could minimize the protesters’ impact or make them disappear altogether.

There was much material never before described in these pages that led to many other stories, such as the integration of Rupp Arena, Keeneland’s segregated bleachers, numerous Black students whose achievements were ignored, or the teenage Calvert McCann, whose many previously unpublished photographs documented so many important moments of the struggle here.

1976-77 University of Kentucky mens basketball team.

“The integration of Rupp Arena”? Rupp Arena opened in 1976, many years after integration. If the editors are referring to the integration of UK’s basketball teams, there were several black players on the 1976-77 UK team, including Jack Givens, James Lee, Larry Johnson, Truman Claytor, Lavon Williams, Dwane Casey, and Merion Haskins. This was not the first integrated UK team.[1]It is certainly true that long time Coach Adolph Rupp did not like to recruit black players, but Coach Rupp retired following the 1971-72 season. In June of 1969, he signed his first black player, … Continue reading

But naturally, there is always more to this story, and a reader recently pointed out an entry in the University of Kentucky’s Notable Kentucky African Americans database on Helen Caise Wade, the brave 16-year-old who integrated the Fayette County Public Schools when she attended summer school at Lafayette High School in 1955. The entry notes that the Lexington Herald, the morning paper, reported Caise’s entry, her parents and her home address.

Emphasis in the original.

Newspapers today do not normally report specific addresses, but tend to put them down as block numbers. The editorial makes it sound as though the Herald was trying to get young Miss Caise and her family targeted.

But the obvious question is: what was the Herald’s stylebook at the time? Was this exceptional, or did it follow standard procedure at the time?

Oh, wait, we already have our answer, from the story itself:

Database founder and UK librarian Reinette Jones said newspapers frequently printed people’s addresses back then.

So, the criticism of the Herald’s, and Leader’s, coverage is to judge journalism in 1955 by the standards of 2021. Of course, the Editorial Board apologized, but they were apologizing for treating the Caise family just the same as they treated other families.

The Herald-Leader wishes to apologize to Mrs. Wade. Although hardly anyone who worked at the papers in 1955 is still alive, we think it’s important to recognize the harmful ways that the white power structure as represented in a newspaper did and still can harm marginalized communities.

What, are the Editorial Board apologizing for the people working there 66 years ago not being 21st century #woke?[2]From Wikipedia: Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from … Continue reading

“So, the thing that bothers me is not only the published home address, but the articles gave a minor’s name and other personal information about her, along with her parents’ names and occupations,” Jones said. “There was a disregard and lack of caring on the part of the newspapers for the safety of this African American teenager and her family, regardless of whether that act was intentional or unintentional. It was left to the devices of the Caise family members to ensure that Helen would get to the school and back without being harmed.”

Did the newspapers not do that all the time, regardless of the race of the subject of the story?

UK historian Gerald Smith, whose 2002 book on Black Lexington and research into Lexington’s civil rights protests in the 1960s guided the 2004 series, was more critical of the Herald and the Leader, which consolidated under corporate ownership in 1983.

“Yes, it was that malicious,” he said. “It was another form of intimidation.”

This is poor scholarship. Dr Smith is assuming a malicious mindset on the part of someone who apparently followed then-current journalistic standards, someone he did not ask, because he is judging it by the standards of the 21st century.

The Board complained, in their first paragraph, that “The stories described the historic practice of numerous Southern papers that ignored protest in their own backyards because their leaders thought that by doing so, they could minimize the protesters’ impact or make them disappear altogether.” But they later wrote:

After she went to Lafayette, her father’s business was destroyed, with one client asking John Caise if he was related to Helen, then firing him.

Reading those two together — and this is part of the reason I prefer news in print, because I can go back and take these connections — it would seem as though it would have been better for the Herald and the Leader not to have covered the story at all. Mr Caise, a plastering contractor, would probably not have been fired, nor seen his business fail, had the newspapers not covered the story at all.

The Lexington Herald and the Lexington Leader were part of the community in the 1950s, and it is probable that the writers and editors who worked there then reasonably reflected the norms of the community. They probably did their jobs as they had been trained to do their jobs. The notion that today’s Editorial Board can judge them by today’s standards is as laughable as the #woke trying to change the names of schools names after American Presidents who used to own slaves.

Oh, wait, that’s happening, isn’t it?

Even more laughable is the idea that the Board can apologize for people at least long retired or, more probably, having gone to their eternal rewards.[3]Anyone 20 years old on June 7, 1955 would be 86 years old today. If we assume that the editors, being senior employees, were at least 34, they’d be 100 or older. No one, other than an attorney, I suppose, can speak for someone else, at least not someone else long gone.

References

References
↑1 It is certainly true that long time Coach Adolph Rupp did not like to recruit black players, but Coach Rupp retired following the 1971-72 season. In June of 1969, he signed his first black player, Tom Payne of Louisville, but Mr Payne had a lot of problems, and spent most of his adult life in prison.
↑2 From Wikipedia:

Woke (/ˈwoʊk/) as a political term of African-American origin refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice. It is derived from the African-American Vernacular English expression “stay woke“, whose grammatical aspect refers to a continuing awareness of these issues.
By the late 2010s, woke had been adopted as a more generic slang term broadly associated with left-wing politics and cultural issues (with the terms woke culture and woke politics also being used). It has been the subject of memes and ironic usage. Its widespread use since 2014 is a result of the Black Lives Matter movement.

I shall confess to sometimes “ironic usage” of the term, and I am certainly doing that here. To put it bluntly, I think that the ‘woke’ are just boneheadedly stupid.

↑3 Anyone 20 years old on June 7, 1955 would be 86 years old today. If we assume that the editors, being senior employees, were at least 34, they’d be 100 or older.
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Credit where credit is due The Lexington Herald-Leader does the right thing

I have been critical enough of the Lexington Herald-Leader for not publishing mugshots of black criminal suspects, due to McClatchy’s mugshot policy. I specifically noted the failure to publish the mugshot of Juanyah J Clay, even though Mr Clay, an accused murderer, was on the loose, and publishing his mugshot might have helped the Lexington Police Department to apprehend him. He was apprehended the following day.

McClatchy policy is that mugshots will not be published, save for special circumstances, and an editor must decide whether to make an exception to the policy.

Any exception to this policy must be approved by an editor. Editors considering an exception should ask: Is there an urgent threat to the community?

Well, there is an urgent threat to the community, and someone at the paper took the correct decision:

Updated: FBI seeking man in Lexington after exchange of gunfire with law enforcement

By Jeremy Chisenhall and Morgan Eads | June 24, 2021 | 2:37 PM | Updated: 5:59 PM EDT

The FBI is seeking a fugitive after exchanging gunfire with him in Lexington, the agency announced Thursday afternoon.

FBI agents were in the process of trying to apprehend Antonio “Tony” Cotton on a fugitive warrant in Lexington when the officials exchanged gunfire with Cotton near the intersection of New Circle Road and Eastland Parkway, according to the FBI. Cotton fled the scene.

Cotton was wanted on a charge of interference with commerce by robbery, according to Katie Anderson, an FBI spokesperson.

There’s more at the original.

The image to the right is from the Herald-Leader’s story. Since I have been so critical, I should give credit where credit is due.

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Yup, they did it again! The Lexington Herald-Leader publishes the photos of more white criminal suspects

We have noted, many times, how the Lexington Herald-Leader has eschewed publishing the photographs of criminal suspects who are black, but have not been so reticent when it comes to those who are white.

County jailer in Eastern Kentucky charged with DUI

By Liz Moomey | June 22, 2021 | 9:20 AM EDT

Carter County Jailer R W Boggs. Click to enlarge.

Carter County Jailer Robert “R.W.” Boggs was charged Sunday night with driving under the influence.

A Kentucky State Police trooper responded to a two-vehicle accident after Boggs hit a vehicle at the intersection of Ky. 773 and Lakeview Circle in Grayson.

According to a KSP news release, Boggs hit another vehicle twice while backing into a driveway on Lakeview Circle before stopping. The other driver exited their vehicle to inform Boggs he had hit their vehicle.

After field sobriety tests, police arrested Boggs for allegedly operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol and took him to Boyd County Detention Center.

There’s more at the original.

As the county jailer, Mr Boggs is a public official, and thus fits within the McClatchy mugshot policy for exception to the general prohibition on publishing mugshots. But, to me, so is Jason Lee Sharp, the East Jessamine High School teacher who was arrested and charged with rape, sodomy, and sexual abuse of a “person” under 16 years of age, yet the Herald-Leader not only declined to publish his mugshot, but when I linked his mugshot to their article, the paper removed the comments.

According to the mugshot policy, an editor had to have approved the publication of Mr Boggs’ photograph. Technically speaking, the photo of Mr Boggs is not a police mugshot, but the Herald-Leader used it as one.

Carter County is near the far eastern border of the Bluegrass State, bordering Boyd County and Ashland, one of Kentucky’s larger cities. The Ashland Daily Independent is far more of a ‘local’ newspaper to Carter County than the Herald-Leader, with Lexington being about eighty miles, over an hour’s drive along Interstate 64, to the west. The Daily Independent’s story on the arrest of Mr Boggs was slightly more detailed, but the Ashland paper did not publish Mr Boggs’ photo, or at least there is no photo attached to the story when I found it at 2:20 PM EDT.

Mr Boggs was charged with a relatively minor offense. No one was injured, and he has already been released from the Boyd County jail. The offense with which he has been charged is certainly not as serious as the charges against Mr Sharp.

But, that isn’t all.

Ky. man charged after 4-year-old found walking on a highway at night, deputies say

By Jeremy Chisenhall | June 22, 2021 | 7:46 AM EDT |Updated: 9:05 AM EDT

A Kentucky man was arrested over the weekend after deputies found a 4-year-old walking alone on US-25E at night, according to the Knox County sheriff’s office.

Deputies got a call about the small child walking about 2 miles north of Barbourville around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the sheriff’s office. The caller said the child was walking on the white line of the road and nearly got hit by a car, according to deputies.

Deputies located the child, found out where he lived and went to his home.

“When the deputies went to the residence, they were told by the father that 62-year-old Darrell Myrick of Gray, had been left in charge of the child while the mom was away,” the sheriff’s office said in a social media post.

Myrick was arrested and charged with wanton endangerment, according to court records. He was held in the Knox County Detention Center on a $2,500 bond, according to jail records.

The Herald-Leader got the photo from the Knox County Sheriff’s Department Facebook page. Knox County is roughly 100 miles from Lexington, about an hour and 40 minute drive along Interstate 75 and then US 25E. Mr Boggs is a public official, but Mr Myrick is not; under what part of the McClatchy mugshot policy exceptions did whichever editor of the Herald-Leader who decided to include Mr Myrick’s mugshot justify his choice? He’s not a suspect in a hate crime, nor a public official, nor a serial killer or high profile crime suspect. He’s not an urgent threat to the community, in that he’s already in jail.

The Herald-Leader does, of course, enjoy the complete freedom of the press; the newspaper can print whatever it wishes. But I have to ask: for a newspaper which loves to hold other people accountable, who holds them accountable?