I received a call the other day from a lady who wished to remain "anonymous."

She wanted to voice a complaint that our newspaper was "selective" in regards to which crime stories we reported.

I explained to her that she is right – we are selective in which crime stories we choose to publish.

In fact, all media everywhere are selective in regard to which stories they report.

If we were to publish a story on every single crime committed in Karnes County, we would need a whole lot more pages and a whole lot more reporters.

And even if we did publish 50 pages of crime stories each week, that really wouldn’t be fair to our community, because it would present the impression that all that ever happened here was crime.

Of course, we know that a lot more happens in this community besides crime. There are many, many positive things that we also report on a regular basis.

The "anonymous" woman, seemed most upset about the fact that we reported on the four high-school aged men arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, but we had not reported on a story involving a woman who she said had stolen some money.

It just so happens that I was aware of the situation to which she was referring, and I explained to her that a reporter had inquired about this case with law-enforcement officials who then told the reporter that the woman had not yet been arrested or charged with a crime.

I tried to explain to her that it would be hard to write a story about a woman who was arrested and charged, when in fact, there had not been an arrest made, or charges filed.

At that point, she hung up on me.

I have a feeling that the "anonymous" woman may have a close personal connection to one of the four seniors facing felony charges for alleged crimes committed during class.

I guess what baffles me the most is how she can place "assault with a deadly weapon" on the same level as "theft."

These are two very different kinds of crimes.

It is important to note that the four students charged with these crimes are indeed innocent until proven guilty. If they are acquitted, this story too will run on our front page. If they are convicted and sentenced, this story will also be reported. We will follow up on the disposition of this case although in Karnes County it can take years to work its way through the legal system.

I think what the "anonymous" woman failed to realize was why this particular story involving four high school seniors was newsworthy.

What makes this story newsworthy is the seriousness of the charges, the fact that the men charged are all currently enrolled high school students, and the fact that these alleged crimes as described by police all happened during class on the school campus. All of these circumstances make this an exceptionally and disturbingly newsworthy story.

I would hope that the "anonymous" woman will one day put herself in the shoes of the girl who was allegedly held down, threatened and abused by these four male students during ag class. I would hope she would try to imagine what it would be like to be the parents of this girl.

It is a sad reality that many times the victims of these kinds of crimes will not report them out of fear of retribution or embarrassment.

If the court convicts these four alleged perpetrators and finds that they actually did what they have been accused of, then the victim is to be commended for having the courage to come forward to see that justice is done.

Without justice, there is no hope for civilized people to live together in harmony.

There must be justice and there must be accountability for those who commit crimes.

For this kind of crime, there should be no tolerance among the members of a civilized community, which I suppose is what made the phone call particularly upsetting.

An important function of a newspaper is to report the news.

Good, bad, or neutral – that’s what we do.

Our readers expect it from us and that is a very important function that we fill.

They want to know the facts about what’s happening in their community and it is our job to provide that information for them, even when it’s about something as disgusting and horrifying as the idea of four students kidnapping, assaulting and abusing a young girl inside the walls of a local school.

It is a job, but even more than that, it is a responsibility that we take very seriously.