Are the Latest UNA Arrests Newsworthy?/Louie Dewayne Risner

A few days ago we linked a felony arrest of a UNA student in Athens (Lance Thornton). We joked he wasn't even a football player. The next day the Huntsville television stations and the TD reported on the misdemeanor arrest of three UNA players on alcohol related charges. Several of our readers don't think it's newsworthy.

We understand these young men had been cautioned before; their neighbors were at wit's end to deal with the problems these role-model athletes were causing in a residential neighborhood. The TD had even mentioned them anonymously in an article on problems related to UNA students.

If these young men had been Auburn or Alabama players, don't you think it would have been in the news? Just Google to see several similar arrests reported in statewide news.

We can't speak for everyone, but if we had an athletic scholarship, fans, prestige, etc., and the police cautioned us about our behavior, there would be no need for any repeat visits. We would have been thoroughly chastised (read: the fear of the Lord would have been placed in us).

Here's our friend Daniel Horton's take on it: This is absolutely news. Being a starter for a college football team puts you in the limelight and makes you a role model and representative for the university and surrounding area. They've failed that responsibility and that factually is newsworthy.

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The recount of the Bedford-Stutts state senate race is now in progress. Interesting that the first version of Stutts' lead stated 26 votes. That quickly morphed to 40. The last report was 60. Is someone named Chad hanging out at these disputed precincts?

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It seems a young Waterloo man has been indicted in the death of a woman who fell from a three-wheeler Louie Dewayne Risner was operating illegally. Matthew Andrew Austin is facing charges of negligent homicide. We have to ask if he would have even been arrested had he not fled from the scene.

The latest reports failed to mention that Risner was primarily to blame and was also arrested: Link



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