To the editor:

Keeping the “new” in newspaper stuck a sore spot with me. I am Brittney (Rutherford’s) aunt and was more than a little ticked off with your column in Tuesday’s paper.

I understand that you do not like pictures of dead fish or deer in the newspaper and that is your opinion. I think that is great. You have yours, and I have mine and that is what makes the world go around.

What upset me SO much is that you had to pick on a 6-year-old girl that was extremely proud of her fish. The reason I say pick on her is because you used her name several times in the column. If you were just making a point that you could not print every picture you get, why did you repeatedly use her name? Why did you question that she caught the fish by herself? Why did you not use the names of the other examples you used (the 40 lb snapping turtle or the bloodly teen with his first deer) ? Why single her out?

One thing I agree with is that you said, “It captured a slice of life in Ashe County....”. I grew up here and people are always bragging about the big ol’ fish they caught or the nice 8 point buck that they took down with their bow.

It is a part of life in a small mountain town. That’s what makes it so great to live in a place like this. Everyone is entitled to their likes and dislikes. I don’t care for golf but that doesn’t mean I’m right in questioning Ol’ Joe Blow on his hole-in-one on the golf course on Sunday. But I feel that’s what you did with Brittney and her family. When you printed “That brings up another question mark in the story....Did she really catch that fish or.....” well she really caught that fish. Yes, she had to have some help getting it out of the pond ( The one without a pier) and onto the bank but she cast out, waited patiently, hooked the fish and reeled in all by her 6-year-old self.

As a family we were very proud and that is what the picture was intended for, not to upset people who don’t like to see dead animals in the newspaper. If proud families can’t have pictures of their kids with fish then why can proud families of sports players have their kids pictures in the paper? Just a thought for you to ponder on.

Shelia May

Mouth of Wilson