Jul 20, 2005 2 min read

Bad news travels fast, apparently, as evidenced by the onslaught of commentary we’ve received regarding the Fayette County youth baseball league coach charged with paying a player $25 to throw baseballs at an autistic player in a purposeful attempt to injure him. We’ve gotten e-mail letters to the editor from as far away as North Dakota and Canada, and our Web site has received about 20 comments, many of them lengthy. Most of them, however, are unprintable because they use language that considers the alleged perpetrator, coach Mark Downs, 27, of Dunbar, guilty as charged.

We’re not defending Downs – but we’re not convicting him, either. That’s a role for the court system, where evidence and juries and judges all come into play. He may indeed eventually be found guilty of any or all of the charges filed by state police. But he may also be found innocent.

It’s a sign of the times, evidenced by the long reach of the electronic media, when a story from Fayette County generates such a strong nationwide response. But you can’t confuse an allegation of wrongdoing with guilt, no matter where you live.

That’s why you won’t be reading all of the letters we’ve gotten on this subject, and you certainly won’t see any of the Web postings that contain libelous comments, as most of them do.

It’s not censorship. It’s responsible journalism, which is played by a set of rules that seem nonexistent in much of cyberspace. So remember that if you’re writing us about this case or any other, it’s important to stick to the facts at hand.