It is almost inconceivable to me that it will be another year before my next vacation.

Why is it that vacations are so excruciatingly short? In the weeks prior to your vacation, time drags. That final Friday seems as if it will never arrive.

Then, once vacation begins, time flies. Before you know it, it's over. You're back at work. Within two days, it feels as if you never left.

While I was away, we got a couple calls and letters about our photo coverage of a mo-ped accident on U.S. 30 near Atwood.

The sentiment - albeit limited - was that the coverage was too graphic. One person even went so far as to say we shouldn't print accident photos at all.

And one person said the only reason we print them is to sell papers.

Please allow me to dispel that myth first. The old "you're just trying to sell newspapers" argument simply doesn't hold much water. The circulation varies very little based on what's on the front page.

There are glaring exceptions.

Remember the David Swearingen crimes? That story increased circulation a bit. Remember the Dalton Foundry blast? We sold a few more then.

That's because everybody in town wanted to know what was going on with those two events.

But an accident? No way. Circulation doesn't rise because we cover an accident.

So please, don't accuse us of covering accidents just to sell papers. It simply isn't true.

Believe me, it would be much easier for us if we didn't cover accidents. How many times have you seen a photograph taken at 3 a.m. at the scene of an icy accident somewhere out in the county?

Do you think our photographer relishes the idea of sleeping with a scanner? It's hard work.

So why do we do it?

There are three basic reasons.

First - and most basic - it is news.

Second, it is a way for us to show you your tax dollars at work. Firemen, EMS personnel and cops (volunteers aside) are all paid with tax dollars.

Third, it is a wake-up call for safety.

I hope when readers look at our coverage of an accident it makes them think, "Hey, that could be me." I hope it makes them slow down. I hope it make them pay attention. I hope it makes them get a designated driver if they need one.

I especially hope it makes young people realize that they are not the indestructible, infallible, omnipotent entities they think they are.

I am a parent. I use the newspaper as a training tool.

Not long ago, we had a picture of a drowning victim at a beach. EMS personnel were trying to revive him. He didn't make it.

This kid was 21 years old. He swam into deep water by himself.

We live at a lake. There is a beach nearby with a swimming platform out in deep water with a diving board.

My son, age 12, simply could not understand why his parents wouldn't allow him to swim out there by himself.

We went around and around on this issue. He asked again and again.

"I'm a good swimmer. I'm not going to drown, Dad, Jeez," he would say.

I brought the newspaper home the day we had the drowning photo. I showed it to my son. I made him read the story.

Then I asked, "Do you think when that kid went to the beach he was planning on drowning?"

"No," my son said.

I then explained that most people who drown know how to swim. People who don't know how to swim generally stay out of the water.

"But what happened?" he asked.

I explained that we will never know. Maybe he had a cramp. Maybe he took a breath at the wrong time. Maybe a wave lapped up and he inhaled some water.

It happens to the best swimmers. I told him it could happen to him. And, I explained, that is precisely why you should never swim alone in deep water.

I gave him that speech several times before. He always knew people drowned, but his attitude was that it couldn't happen to him. It was not real.

But when I showed him the photo - the photo that some would say was too graphic - and gave him the speech, the reality hit him.

He hasn't asked to swim out to the platform by himself since.

That's my hope. That people will learn. That people will look at the very real, very grave consequences of carelessness or foolishness or inattention and learn.

This is one issue that some readers and I will always be at odds over, and that's OK. I respect the opinions of our readers.

But please, when you call to complain about accident coverage, don't use the phrases "You don't know how that makes the family feel," or "How would you like to be a family member?"

I know exactly how they feel. I was the sole survivor in a triple fatal, two-car accident. I was driving, but I wasn't at fault. I lost a family member. I was a reporter for the newspaper that ran a photo and story on the front page. I read the story lying in a hospital bed. For me, seeing it in print somehow made it seem more real, more final.

The newspaper is not in the business of shielding readers from reality, although we do to a degree every day. We certainly have the opportunity to print much more graphic photos than we do.

No, the newspaper is in the business of informing readers about reality - and sometimes warning them about it. [[In-content Ad]]