Inaccurate story gave wrong impression

By Terry Irwin

GORDONVILLE, Mo. -- Why is it that when a newspaper gets all the other facts wrong, it always gets your name right? That's what I feel happened to me in the June 6article concerning the median incomes across the area as reported in the latest census.

I was approached by reporter Mark Bliss and photographer Fred Lynch as I worked in my yard at my home in Gordonville. I was led to believe that an article was being done about living in Gordonville, but instead I feel it was an article about why I should be glad that I wasn't living in Allenville. I cannot speak to the accuracy about the rest of the article, but I feel that in my case, the facts were twisted and that I was terribly misquoted and my feelings misrepresented.

First of all, I don't consider myself "living the good life." That is the opinion of the writer. I wasn't asked about what I thought the quality of my life was. I worry about making a living, paying taxes and the health and welfare of my family. I drive a 13-year-old Ford with almost 300,000 miles on it. As you can tell from the photo on the front page, I don't have to worry about offers to be on the cover of GQ. I don't consider myself a member of the landed gentry in Cape Girardeau County. If I were, I would've had someone else out in the heat fixing my mailbox when the two gentleman arrived in my driveway.

I think it appalling that my house was used in a comparison of the best and worst of Cape Girardeau County living, which is how I feel the article was slanted. My apologies to the folks in Allenville. I didn't volunteer to be a player in this farce. If Bliss and Lynch wanted to paint extreme pictures, they could've found a better house to use.

Perhaps most disappointing to me is that Bliss totally ignored some very important facts. I was asked how long I'd lived in Gordonville, how old the house was, how I liked living there, what I did for a living. I specifically told him that my wife and I were just married about six weeks ago (April 20, to be exact), and that she'd lived in the house for a year but that I'd just moved in from the Advance area. This was left out in the article, and I fear the effects of this. Perhaps Bliss feels that we live in an enlightened, progressive society where things like this don't matter, but my wife and I are a little old-fashioned, I suppose. We are teachers, and it matters to us how we appear. We have not been living together in this house for a year. We purchased it a year ago. There's quite a difference. Had this not been told to Bliss directly, I could chalk this one up to an error of omission, but he was told the facts. He misreported them.

I hope there are no repercussions from this article. I did not agree to be interviewed to be used in a comparison of the highest and lowest household incomes in Cape Girardeau County. My wife and I certainly aren't the highest wage earners in the area.

I am further dismayed that this article and my picture were on the front page of the newspaper on the 58th anniversary of the Normandy invasion instead of something commemorating that monumental feat. If my wife and I are truly enjoying "the good life," then it's because of brave men of the Greatest Generation giving their lives to protect our freedom and our pursuit of happiness. Perhaps Bliss' time would have been better spent interviewing a survivor of the first wave at Omaha Beach on D-Day instead of speaking to me. He might have come away with a new sense of what "the good life" is. I'd think that simply surviving that horrific event would make any life at all pretty good.

My wife and I were given a free one-month subscription to the Southeast Missourian as part of a welcome to Gordonville. Our first delivery was the June 6 edition. Ironic, isn't it? Please contact the circulation department and cancel our subscription. I realize that this probably doesn't mean much to you or your paper, but please know that I will take every opportunity to make sure that people within the circle of my influence know the irresponsible way in which my wife and I were portrayed in this article, one which I thought was about the joys of small-town living.

Another irony: The only fact correct other than the spelling of my name is that we enjoy the town in which we live. I only hope that this article hasn't created a problem for our friends, neighbors and the students that we work with.

Terry Irwin resides in Gordonville, Mo.

Editor's note: The Southeast Missourian regrets the reporting error regarding the length of time Terry Irwin has lived in Gordonville. The newspaper believes the rest of the story was accurate.