As a faithful and appreciative reader of the Recorder for more than 40 years, I was deeply disturbed by the obvious lack of editorial standards in your Oct. 2 edition. I’m referring to the editors’ failure to keep their editorial opinions confined to the editorial page — rather than in the form of a lead, top-of-the-page article on page one, accompanied (or reinforced) by no fewer than three photos that appear to have been chosen in order to elicit a sympathetic emotional response from readers.
The article refers to proposed legislation that would allow persons serving life sentences the possibility of a parole hearing after being incarcerated for at least 25 years. Clearly, the editors oppose this proposed bill, as evidenced by the fact that they have turned over the whole editorial column on the left side of the editorial page to a writer who, for very understandable reasons, shares their opinion. That’s where the editors’ own opinion should appear, and only there.
For the sake of full disclosure, though it has nothing to do with my complaint about editorial standards, let me say that while I, too, was and still am horrified by the murders of Thomas Harty and Joanna Fisher, I do not share the editors’ opinion about the proposed bill, for two reasons. In the first place, the bill, if passed, would in no way guarantee a parole hearing, much less actual parole, to every inmate convicted of murder who’s been behind bars for 25 years. Most likely, very few of them would ever be paroled.
And in the second place, I feel very strongly that every person who has committed a crime, however heinous, is still a human being, still a “child of God,” and thus, however unlikely it may seem, is still capable, especially after 25 years of having to live with the consequences of what they’ve done, of remorse and reform. For that reason, I’m proud of our state Sen. Jo Comerford for co-sponsoring this bill.
Randy Kehler is a resident of Colrain.