To the editor,
I want to give a voice to the concern I have about the police news in the Dec. 1 issue of the Listowel Banner, on page 9, the article titled “Driver charged with impaired.”
The fact that the names and towns of residence of those charged were revealed in the article about drug possession and impaired driving is unnecessary and grossly inappropriate. I was shocked and disappointed to read that. Public shaming, which I assume can be the only reason personal information was published, is not the solution to this issue as it might potentially ostracize the individual from their family and community.
Impaired driving is a serious offence as it endangers everyone on the road, I get that, and while revealing the offender in such a public context could be a scare tactic to warn off others from making the same mistake, surely it should not be at the cost of harming someone who needs help and support.
I do not know these people in the article personally, but I hope I can give them a voice by taking a stand for their privacy as a fellow citizen of the area, telling this newspaper that such name-droppings are very inappropriate.
Joanne Gerber
Atwood
