Article too speculative

To the editor:

After reading Bob Miller's op-ed posing as a news story in the May 10 edition, I felt compelled to try to understand Mr. Miller's "investigative" reporting. Although I would never consider myself a student of journalism, I find the article much too speculative to digest. The conflicting objectives of the article make any reader's head spin.

First Mr. Miller states that Bill was "recuperating," but by the end of the paragraph was well and then once again not well enough to be out. While this kind of lead sells advertising, it doesn't reflect sound journalism. Another unfeeling inclusion to the article was using Chief Humphreys' statement about the fortunate timing, plus the implicit connection to the other "robberies" in the area. If the FBI has not determined a causal link, it's improper for a journalist to infer one. The last boggling vignette was near the end of the article. I'm not sure what the floral scene had to do with the reporting of the crime.

As a family member of Bill's, I feel most strongly about the tone of the article itself. While the article is portrayed as a lauding of the swift response of the Jackson Police Department, Mr. Miller fails to acknowledge the right of the family to have some privacy regarding the treatment Bill has undergone. While it is the community's right to recognize crime prevention, it is certainly not the journalist's right to use a family as a pawn to make a more sensational story.

CHRISTOPHER LYNN, Springfield, Mo.