To the editor:

To the city of Marion: I would like to clarify some things from last week’s Marion County Record. The paper takes the position that they are responsible for reporting the facts and the readers can do what they wish with the information.

I agree with this as long as the facts are reported and not opinionated when reported. The facts also need to be complete when reported.

My problem with some articles written by the Record is that the facts aren’t always presented without bias and are often incomplete. Articles often have a negative slant. The Record must believe that negative news sells papers. It won’t sell me a paper. I hope others share this feeling.

A recent example of this is the article written about two kids that live in this community, USD 408, and the MHS wrestling team. Someone at the paper wrote a front-page article about a mistake that two kids made and formed an opinion based on limited understanding of the situation about what the school should have done.

The school has policies that deal with these situations, all of which require factual information from reliable sources. School administrators have to have factual information to make decisions. The school district made a decision when they had the information needed. As far as I am concerned, these types of issues with kids aren’t the business of the local newspaper.

My problem with this article is that it once again attached negative news to USD 408 and the MHS wrestling program. The people that work for USD 408 do a great job teaching kids and doing what is in the best interest of kids. I believe as hopefully many others do that when dealing with kids we need to be very certain when making decisions that will have a big impact on their lives.

As the head coach of the wrestling team, I want to make it very clear that we have very high expectations and have always upheld the policies of USD 408. With these policies, there are certain procedures that must be followed. The snap decisions once made are now much more deliberate.

I want the community to know that the coaches and wrestlers at Marion High School are very dedicated to representing this community in a positive way. The kids work really hard and 22 kids on the team had nothing to do with the incident but have been punished by the Marion County Record.

I hope the community understands that we work to hold kids accountable as well as make decisions that are in the best interest of the kids. I appreciate the support we get in this community and I hope the Record will write an article reflecting the wrestling team in the positive light that they deserve.

Chad Adkins
Head Wrestling Coach
Marion High School