Posted by garrettdw01 (anonymous) on January 26, 2010 at 9:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I'm not in the area at the moment, but can someone look into putting a light at that intersection. I know this is not the first accident at that spot, but it needs to be the last. Four lanes, a curve, and big trees add up to too many blind spots. I remember when it was a 2 lane, you had to jump out there and go to keep from getting run over.

Posted by SeminoleJack (anonymous) on January 27, 2010 at 8:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I still have the scars from an accident there in the late 70s. It is a terrible corner and I agree something needs to be done. I remember someone being killed shortly after my accident and there were more. There always should be money in the DoT's budget to save lives.

Posted by RHONDA (anonymous) on January 30, 2010 at 1:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)

You should be ashamed of yourself for printing this picture.Did you not think of how this would make the family feel. news is news. but this was not acceptable, The town of Donalsonvill showed great respect to this beautiful family and so should you!!! take note of the Dothan eagle news paper and learn to report on the beautiful life's that were lost, instead of showing graphic photo of there loss.

Posted by gina (anonymous) on January 30, 2010 at 11:36 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Your a newspaper and you are suppose to print news but, somewhere along the way you forgot that the people who buy your paper look for you to show respect to your community by using good judgement. This was truly the most horrific accident that took the lives of two people and you didn't care that the families didn't need to be reminded of this by seeing where their loved ones lost their lives and how bad it was!!Now they have the mental picture of it that will be forever embedded in their mind. Where is your Moral compass? Would you like your family to suffer like you have caused these families to suffer ?

Posted by SeminoleJack (anonymous) on February 1, 2010 at 10:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I think this photo honors the memory of the accident victims by giving a graphic warning to all their readers. Everybody who saw this image will be careful at this intersection from now on and, who knows, it might save lives in the future.
This was local news, which is sometimes just as horrific as world news and this paper has every right, a duty, actually, to bring you the sometimes ugly news.

Posted by Dvillenative (anonymous) on February 2, 2010 at 4:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

With all do respect, SeminoleJack, I do not think this photo honors the memory of the accident. If anything, it is a grim reminder of the day that several families lives were literally turned upside down. I would not want the memory of the accident honored anyway, but instead the memory of my loved one. This is a bad intersection and several people have lost lives or nearly lost a life there and nothing has changed. Sure, they installed flashing lights a few hundred feet from the intersection, but they might as well not even be there.
The Post Searchlight would have had as many read the article if there had been pictures of the victims on the front page/website instead of the remains of the truck. I understand it was news, but you must be tactful in your pictures and reporting. You must consider those involved and the effect of the story/pictures. I can only imagine how the family felt when/if they picked up a copy of the paper to see that on the front page. I know how I would have felt!!

Posted by bdgeman (anonymous) on February 3, 2010 at 6:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)

What amazes me is that all of you people that are bickering about this story being reported, would be the same ones bickering if it wasn't reported! You can't have it both ways...

Posted by Dvillenative (anonymous) on February 3, 2010 at 2:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

It is not the reporting of the story that we are"bickering" about, but yet the front page spread of the crashed vehicle that a lady and young child were killed in. All we are saying is use a little judgement and show repsect. I for one, do not need visuals to understand two people lost their lives that day!!

Posted by bdgeman (anonymous) on February 3, 2010 at 2:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

you can look at it that way, but what is the difference between this story and any of the others... if you search on this site, you will find numerous wrecks with pictures of crashed vehicles, etc. and no one commented on those stories... What is the difference in the reporting of those vs. this one..... Their isn't any distaste in reporting news and how/what happened. We are all sorry that the family lost those lives... but the paper shouldn't show favoritism of who or what should be reported.

Posted by cindyt (anonymous) on February 3, 2010 at 11:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"Both the girl and her grandmother lived on Yates Spring Road near Brinson. Friends of their family said Dick was supposed to have been taking her granddaughter to a orthodontic appointment on Monday."
THAT, MR SEMINOLE JACK, BDGEMAN, AND ANYONE ELSE WHO SAS THIS IS NEWSWORTHY? was not necessary. My name is Cindy Trawick, i am that little girl's mother, and that woman was my mother.
That little bit of fluff didnt have anything to do with the article, nor does it show concern for anyone who has a wreck there in the future.
something mr. leathers left out was that my 69 year old mother who died in this wreck, had only had two wrecks in her whole life. both wrecks occured there. she was always cautious there, it was an accident. my daughter always helped ME Look there, and she always helped HER GRANNY look as well.
and if you have to post that sort of thing, get it right. she, and my mother and i went to get her braces; she already had them on. and by the way, she chose pink and green colors because that is my favorite, i had to return to work, and i let her skip school the rest of the day so she could go jump on her trampoline with granny.
that is newsworthy, too, right?
i have to come by that spot every day ...everyone who has ever been thru there knows its dangerous.
maybe if you had added that additional fluff i gave you about the real story, you could have charged a whole dollar for it.

Posted by PaulaJ (anonymous) on February 3, 2010 at 11:56 p.m. (Suggest removal)

It is amazing to me what a business will do to make 50 cents. The picture of the wrecked vehicle should have been left off. She will be reminded everyday because she has to pass by there everytime she leaves her home. To me, you have disrespected this family and you should be ashamed. You need to get your stories straight before you print them. The only thing good about this paper that it can be used to wrap fish. I could say alot more but will keep to myself. I will think twice about using Postsearchlight for an ad for my workplace. Ask yourself this MR reporter or photographer, if this was your family would you want it plastered on the website. If you say it would not bother you, well you my friend are heartless and have NO compassion.

Posted by casandratb (anonymous) on February 3, 2010 at 11:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)

bdgeman nobody has asked for favortism on this just a little class about it. This shoul be done for ANY family. Everyone in all surrounding counties knew there were 2 deaths that day. There was no reason for them to go into some of the details they did. Could you not tell from this horrific picture that the truck collided forcefully to the passengers side and caused major damage?? Did people really need to know the equinox "APPARENTLY" bounced off the truck, hit a pole, went around a building and back across the road into the bushes?? I mean really NO family should have to read that in a local paper and I don't feel those are details that should be publicly reported just out of simple respect to the families. Yes, a mother's life was lost that had live 69 good years, but this 11 year old daugher was just getting started and her parents should not have to see THIS picture and read the graphic details in this article. I am Helen's cousin as well as Ansley's cousin on her mother and father's side and I saw her mother's reaction when reading this and if you would've seen the heartbeak all over again you would understand!! Their lives should've been talked about. How Helen helped anyone she could, was a christian woman. How much life Ansley had in her, that she loved to play the piano in church and play and sing at home, what an artist she was becoming. These are the things that people should read, not a crappy reporter telling his "APPARENT" details of their fatality!!!

Posted by ebc123 (anonymous) on February 4, 2010 at midnight (Suggest removal)

Having to see such a picture plastered all over the front of the newspaper is horrific. This accident was a terrible tragedy. Not only were the lives of Miss Helen and Ansley's family affected from this terrible event, but so many others lives were as well. The city of Donalsonville, the county of Seminole for that matter, pulled together as a community to show this family the utmost love and support.

Community support - orange bows being placed on mailboxes, light poles, on cars, store fronts, anywhere possible in Seminole County for this family to show them the love, respect, and additional strength that they need during this time.

Constant reminders - pictures plastered on the front of the newspaper.

Yes, we have all seen pictures posted in the newspapers of accidents in the surrounding counties. This was different. You have a woman who lost both her mother and her child in one day. The reminder is there everyday for her. The accident was bad enough. The picture was uncalled for. The picture was to create a story for your newspaper.

Some of you have said that you have to live with scars. Your scars, your wounds have healed. The family's involved in this will probably never heal.

Posted by casandratb (anonymous) on February 4, 2010 at 12:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)

ebc 123 you are so right. There are orange bows in Newnan, Ga. as well. Seminole County came together in such away I was so proud to have grown up there.

Posted by Smileypeach (anonymous) on February 4, 2010 at 12:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)

This is HORRIFIC! I don't think you should be able to publish a newspaper if you can not differentiate between what is news-worthy and what is not. At the very least, you owe numerous people an apology for this story. Yes, you have the "Freedom of Press" and I would hope that you would have a morsel of respect towards the hundreds, if not thousands of people that have been touched, hurt or literally crushed by this tragedy.

The picture was blood-curdling and you provided far to much graphic and detailed information. This story was not well-written at all and it showed no concern for anyone but the writer...trying to get a good story.

Do you understand that Cindy just lost her daughter and her mother? Do you care that Cindy lost her daughter and mother in the same incident? Do you care about the many people that lost a friend, cousin and grandchild? Do you? Have you ever lost anyone close to you? If so, you need to be reminded of the hurt and the intense grief felt when you loose a loved-one....Now multiply that atrocious feeling by 1,000 and that must be how it feels to loose 2 at once.

Mrs. Helen and Ansley's family need support, love and understanding right now and for many years to come. Again, my suggestion is a wide-spread apology and a personal apology to the direct family.

It's not just in Georgia that they have orange bows, we have them in Indiana as well, I even tied one to my car. Someone asked me yesterday if I was a Tennessee fan and I said "Heavens NO!" and told them the story, he and his wife cried, she turned and walked away and came back to the front of the store we were all in with a roll of ORANGE RIBBON! Y'all (not just the family, the whole community) have people all over the place praying for y'all, I'll add that people respect your grief and hurt right now as well.

Posted by cindyt (anonymous) on February 4, 2010 at 12:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

and my reply to the one who said what makes this story any diffrent than any other like it,? i dont know, i am not one of those people who like to look at pics of vehicles where someone has been killed. i dont enjoy that kind of thing, so usually when i see one, i just dont read it, i wasnt planning on reading this one either. i was up after two nights of crying myself to sleep , and getting a whole hour of rest, before getting back up and reading the news ...i didnt even know what day it was. i was just reading it so i could get a sense of normalcy somehow...to forget that my daughter and mother had been so violently taken ,..i went down my list of favorites, and happened to see post searchlight. just checking in on the news for the week. no idea whatsoever that this huge picture was the first thing i was going to see, since i was at the scene within moments, i witnessed alot more than i ever wanted to but everyone there kept me from looking at that vehicle, i knew my child was dead when a stranger walked by and said, the little girl didnt make it, i fell to the ground. and the lady looks at me like, aint it sad..........i have that reminder as well as the marks, the red/orange paint, and you know, i see the flashing lights that were installed there a couple of years ago. my mom went to that post office every day to get her mail. she knew its was a bad spot. of course, she was an avid reader of the newspaper, so when i suggested to my stepfather that i would like to shatter that yellow box out by our driveway advertisig , he said, take the high road, do the right thing...
i am doing the right thing i am speaking out against a newspaper reporter who knew me personally, and did not bother to even come over and say how sorry he was. i am taking it personally that he did not warn me not to look at the article, that it was just his job.
i am personally insulted that he did not even get the story right.

is any of that interesting to you all? not the ones who are defending the story and the article, of course. i know that it isnt nearly as intersting to read as knowing that my daughter was pinned in the car and could not be extracted and died on the scene . you cant hurt me any more than that, but being disrespectful is like throwing a little bit of acid on top of a person who has the shingles.
im sure i am going to be callled outspoken, angry , and wrong. i could care less

Posted by REALITY (anonymous) on February 4, 2010 at 2:37 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Helen and Ansley's story hit Raleigh, NC too. Not through the Post Searchlight but through friends calling friends asking for support, thoughts, prayers.
I heard of the Post's story by word of mouth as well. I'm surprised that a newspaper would publish such a heart wrenching photo and terribly written article. There IS a place for compassion in journalism. It's usually in the community paper.

To post this comment, I had to agree to the terms of use that included this: Agree not to upload, post, distribute, e-mail or otherwise publish or make available on this Web site any libelous, defamatory, obscene, harmful, vulgar, threatening, tortuous, harassing, abusive, invasive of another user's privacy, hateful, racially or ethnically objectionable or otherwise illegal material;

One should practice what it preaches Post Searchlight.

You have a duty as a community newspaper to report the news. However, the photo could be seen as obscene to many, the whole article was harmful to many, putting it on the front page was TORTuous to the person who lost her mom and daughter, you invaded privacy by stating where the child lived, and because you showed no care or compassion, not only to this family but the many families you hurt by your photos/reports, you have been hatefuland caused emotional distress.

Post Searchlight, I advise you change your practice of reporting on tragic accidents. If it doesn't cost you a lawsuit, it'll definately cost you readers.

Posted by aklane (anonymous) on February 4, 2010 at 9:24 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I have to agree with Cindy. I am ashamed of the reporter who reported this story, because he is a friend. My first thought when I read the article was how this was going to affect Cindy. Surely a little more finese could have been used to report this terrible story. Sometimes our actions speak louder than words and this type of action said alot about who our friends are!

Posted by bw1981 (anonymous) on February 4, 2010 at 3:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree with Cindy. It breaks my heart knowing that she had to look at that picture! When I went online to look at the news, as I do every morning, I was so "taken back" to see the photo. To know that the paper was taking photos while Ansley was and could have been still in the car is just down right COLD HEARTED! You should have had photos of Mrs. Helen and Ansley celebrating their lives not reporting the gory details of how they died.....