Clearly information isn’t always clear or informed

Lou Marzeles
News Editor

     It’s always an interesting thing to track down complex stories, especially when they are fraught with particularly strong emotional perspectives. We’re on the trail of some right now that haven’t run yet because we’re still wrangling the facts from sometimes recalcitrant sources.
     Of late, we’re finding there are some sources that let go of information about as easily as an inflamed wisdom tooth yields to a dentist. Information sometimes has be to dug out relentlessly, even though a reasonable consideration of the situation would reveal that it’s far more helpful for the source to open up than to clam up. Presumably some people reckon that resistance isn’t always futile. One comes to understand how easily stonewalling can happen.
     Sometimes information just isn’t considered ready for release. For example, we know that the county police made two arrests at the Centerville school last month on a sexual assault matter. The sheriff’s office confirms the arrests but will give no details pending further investigation. That, of course, seems entirely reasonable, and we don’t mean to be taking issue with the sheriff’s office. But in the meantime, rumors abound, sides are taken, perspectives are set, particularly regarding the school administration, which may or may not have any real involvement with the matter. In the absence of open and proactive information, who knows? Speculation runs wild and whispered, yet nobody’s really talking.