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?