Over the Top

We received a number of complaints about the photo in Wednesday‘s ‘Lectronic that showed a man whose torso had been impaled on a log. The impaling was apparently a result of the man losing control of his bass boat while travelling at excessive speed.

The intent of the photo was to dramatically illustrate — in the tradition of new drivers being shown photos of deadly accident scenes — that speed kills on the water as well as on land.

It was also meant to highlight the absurdity of Lake County D.A. Jon Hopkins’ refusal to charge Sheriff Chief Russell Perdock in the Clear Lake boating death of Lynn Thornton, a case we’re sure you’re all familiar with. As it stands now, Bismarck Dinius, who had merely been sitting at the helm of the nearly motionless O’Day 27 sailboat when it was hit at very high speed by Perdock, is the only one who has been charged in Thornton’s death.

We apologize to those who were offended by the photo, which has since been removed. If we weren’t so outraged by the injustice going on in Lake County, we would never have run it. But having received the feedback we have, we would certainly think twice about running such a photo again.