Coleman story warranted more extensive coverage

Lou Marzeles
Editor and Publisher

     There has been a death in the family that is this community. This newspaper didn’t cover it well enough last week.
     Master Sergeant Mark Coleman’s untimely death in Afghanistan last Sunday was a shock to all who knew and loved him, and his contributions both professionally and personally made this area very proud of him. It is more than understandable, then, that the cursory mention of his passing in last week’s paper brought about the response shown in this week's letters to the editor. The situation bears some comment, for the sake of clarity and assurance of where we stand on Mark’s heroism and sacrifice.
     First and foremost, it must be stated that no disrespect whatever was intended to Mark or his family. I’m a Vietnam veteran; the first time I heard any expression of thanks for my military service in harm’s way was more than 30 years after I left the Army. I know how rare and significant recognition of such service is, and I cannot begin to express my admiration and respect for those who serve today.      For Mark, who gave what Lincoln called the last full measure of devotion, there will never be honor enough bestowed on him.
     As we were putting last week’s paper together, we made phone calls, many of which were not returned in time; we were promised information that did not come in time; and we searched for all the information we could find. And as little as it was, that is what we printed. Just a day after our deadline, the internet was awash in news about Mark’s death. If you searched on Monday, the only Mark Coleman who came up was a mixed martial arts fighter. And evidently the Yakima newspaper, whose item on Mark was picked up by other papers, has more resources and time available to cover our area than our two-person editorial staff does. It’s annoying and unacceptable to me that we were outresourced on this.
     “Right now, there isn’t a more important story in Goldendale than this one,” someone who came into our office said last week. That sentiment, on such a death in our family, is abundantly understandable. We concur.