Cartoon, column are an affront
The Times Free Press showed its true colors with coverage of Signal Mountain football players cited for drinking. Responsible journalists might have followed the initial story with an article about the consequences of underage drinking, but instead you ran Clay Bennett’s cartoon which besmirched an entire team’s character due to the actions of a few.
Mr. Bennett chose to target children and used numbers of real players, some innocent, which promoted incorrect assumptions.
As icing on the cake, J. Todd Foster published the most obnoxious column I have seen, bragging that many were offended by the tasteless cartoon. His assertion that Signal Mountain residents “have developed a sense of entitlement and arrogance – to the point of not only looking down on the rest of us literally, but now figuratively,” was an affront to the entire community.
All residents of Signal Mountain, whether Eagles fans or not, should be incensed that the Times Free Press would publish such an insulting generalization. The Times Free Press should apologize to the entire community of Signal Mountain. Mr. Foster is correct to say “Those days are over” when describing the Times Free Press because it has sunk to a new low under his leadership.
ALICE GREER, Signal Mountain