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About our coverage of the Copa shootingMonday, September 29, 2008
Early Saturday morning, as I stood on the sidewalk outside Broussard's following a gig, I knew something big was going down. I counted six Cape Girardeau police cars, a highway patrol car, a Scott City police car and an ambulance speeding away down North Main Street. My friends and I knew someone had been shot. Soon after, I found out the police were going to The Copa (a.k.a. Main Street Bar, a.k.a. The Camp, once upon a time). A short time later I was at a friend's house, where I got a call from the newspaper office. Our photography intern, Chuck Wu, just happened to be there when the shooting happened, and he called photographer Aaron Eisenhauer, who joined him at the scene. Chuck witnessed the shooting, but had little other information, so initially we just posted the photos on our site. Some may have found at least one photo, that of Jordan T. Modicue on the ground with gunshot wounds, a little graphic, but we made the decision to put it out there so people could see what happened. The next morning, our reporter followed up, getting information from the police about the incident. However, our photographers weren't thinking about getting comments that night, so we didn't have reaction from the people on scene. If you've been following this story you may have noticed the slew of comments that were posted on the first story about the incident are gone. This is totally intentional. Some people were leaving extreme, racist comments on our site, which isn't welcome. If you're one of them, we respectfully ask you keep that nastiness to yourself. Comments will be disabled on any follow up stories on the shooting, as well. Sorry to those who engage in a respectful dialogue, but we won't tolerate racism and ugliness on our forums.
Comments  The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, use the exclamation point icon beside the comment to send a report to the webmaster.
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Matt Sanders, former arts and entertainment editor and reporter for the Southeast Missourian, was appointed editor of the paper's online operation this year. In his blog Extra Edition, he gives readers an extra dose of news they won't find in our print edition or elsewhere on our Web site, and gives them a glimpse of the operation of the new seMissourian.com.
A victory for Big Brother: Red light cameras win big in federal appeals court (January 6, 2009) Possible evidence of the public health benefits of smoke-free laws (January 2, 2009) My top 10 local stories of 2008 (December 31, 2008) 'Smoke on the Water' beer bottle orchestra; details on storm damage around the region (December 29, 2008) Wishing you a Merry Christmas (December 23, 2008) Cape Girardeau city ordinances you should know about (December 19, 2008) Drop that toast and put your hands above your head: Margarine is contraband in Missouri (and other dumb laws) (December 18, 2008) What the police report says about Monday's traffic chaos; why we don't have more school closings listed (December 16, 2008) Why didn't Neal E. Boyd perform last week?; PETA's anti-dog breeder ad shocks me (December 12, 2008) Civics test says liberals smarter than conservatives, but just barely (or How Politically Dumb Can Americans Really Be?) (December 10, 2008) The godless holiday campaign (December 8, 2008) The best state roads to drive on in snow and ice (December 5, 2008) Kezer testifies (December 4, 2008) Video from the Kezer hearing (December 2, 2008) Where's the local video?; Is Rush 'fascinating'? (December 1, 2008) The case of Leslie Owen Collier: Local man's pardon gets national scrutiny (November 26, 2008) St. Louis housing sales plummet on news of new Guns 'N' Roses album (November 25, 2008) Does Playboy want kids to be porn addicts? (November 20, 2008) Having trouble voting in our contests?; the dramatist guild weighs in on SEMO (November 19, 2008) The price we pay at Thanksgiving (November 17, 2008) Where to win free tix, cash on our website (November 14, 2008) The wonders of self-diagnosis (November 13, 2008) Sister Mary Ignatius riles them up; what's wrong with our search (November 10, 2008) advertisement
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JOHNG: I am offended by the use of the word crackers. Quite ironic actually.
Matt:
Wouldnt the Missourian's filter catch any racial slurs? Did I miss something? I read most all of the comments and I really didnt see a problem. I saw the boy referred to as a "thug" Is thug now considered a "racist" term?
Seems much ado about nothing
Sounds to me as if you were out enjoying a night on the town with your friends Matt - as everyone deserves to do now and then! I have to agree with the last poster - no need to defend yourself :)
Matt, You don't have to respond to comments like that. No reasonable person faults you.
BABE,
I have an inquisitive nature, too. But I was a bit too intoxicated to be representing the paper at that particular time. Better to let more sober heads do the work, which they did. ;)
Matt
Most reporters have an inquisitive nature. LOL
The man the officer shot had a gun. What was he supposed to do, wait to be shot? How could he know it was a BB gun? Who is stupid enough to pull a BB gun?
The officer should be commended for not shooting to kill. How can this be seen as a racial incident?
The crackers who left their racial comments are an embarrassment to everyone.
Why are we talking about it here?
BABE,
Let's be clear here — I was not at the bar where the shooting happened myself, so I had no way of knowing exactly what was happening, so it wasn't as if I left the scene of the shooting.
I found many of the comments to be offensive and agree they have no place on semissourian.com. Ad hominem attacks on people who had nothing to do with this incident should not be tolerated.
Matt
Thank goodness there were other photographer reporters that did respond instead of leaving for a friend's house in all the commotion.
It's your call but I think you are making a mistake in shutting down the comment section of the story.