THAT PHOTO: “The deer photo on the FRONT page of the paper made
me sick! What are you people thinking?! Some Bradfordians have
small children who were saddened by such a disgusting display,
along with adults. Here we are, getting little ones all excited
about Santa and his reindeer, and you show a gutted deer! Not
everyone hunts. Please put your barbaric local pictures on the back
pages, or not at all.”

That was one reaction to our photo in Tuesday’s paper of a buck
strung up at the DeSoto Holiday House. The note was from Chris
Taylor of Bradford.

Monday, of course, was the opening day of deer season in
Pennsylvania. Whether anyone has noticed or not The Era usually
shies away from some of the more graphic photos of dead deer –
especially on page 1. And while the picture we ran was admittedly
graphic, we believe it had some redeeming qualities. With the
hunter peering from behind, it presented something of a feature
angle.

Or so it appeared to us.

Here’s some other letters we got. We’ll need another day to
finish up the subject.

Kelly of Portville, N.Y.: “I am absolutely disgusted by the
picture of the dead deer on your main page of the website! Here I
am drinking my coffee and, bam, I’m looking at a dead deer hanging
there. Who do you think really wants to see that? Not everyone
likes to kill or see dead animals, Certainly not me or my kids. I
would think that you would have better sense than that!”

Lisa Dunkle writes by e-mail: “Is it really necessary to put a
picture of the latest kill in the paper? It is disgusting that some
people actually think this is newsworthy and I can’t believe it’s
even allowed. Who wants to look at a poor gutted animal first
thing in the morning, or ever? This isn’t the first time a hunter’s
kill has been put in the paper but it is the most repulsive by far.
In my opinion, you could have told the story just as well without
the picture. I know Bradford isn’t the most exciting place to
report about but come on!”