Feel free to print any pictures and texts you want in this paper. I opened up the paper this morning and read seven letters to the editor about how inappropriate the picture of the motorcycle fatality was. I could not help from laughing at the asinine whiners who felt it was necessary to write the editor and express their disappointment.

These gripers are merely people who love to live in denial of life. They cry, “you reminded me that we all die.” Awwww … poor baby! Grow up and welcome to the real world. People die, people rot and are susceptible to disease. Get over it.

Thank you editor for printing the picture. Some people need a gruesome reminder that they are human; and yes, wear a helmet. Each letter was pathetic: poor taste, unnecessary, thoughtless, insensitive … hahaha–that’s life sweetie. If I were his family? Well, I wouldn’t be writing this, but I wouldn’t complain either. If that young man who died were I, I’d have the pictures enlarged—we can’t keep avoiding the fact of death, might as well face it.

David Andrew Wood

Freshman, Bio Sciences

I commend you for running the photo of the motorcycle accident victim in Monday’s Collegian. I know that such decisions are difficult to make, and knowing many of the editors on the Collegian staff, I also believe that you came to the decision to run the photo after an intelligent and compassionate discussion. I advocate running photos of horrible things when there is a noble purpose to do so, and this is one of those noble purposes.

On a college campus students often don’t appreciate their own mortality, and this photo will cause some to think twice before being reckless on the road. I hope it will nudge some to wear motorcycle helmets as well.

You have taken a lot of grief for your decision, but in my book you did the right thing. Thanks.

Amy Bernard Satterfield, Faculty

Contrary to popular opinion, I think The Collegian made the correct decision in printing the controversial photo of Mr. McCarty. Yes, it was a gruesome picture and unpleasant to look at, but it was also news, which the last time I checked was what the paper was supposed to report. The news isn’t always some cuddly dog rescuing an adorable orphan, or Bradley Van Pelt making a spectacular touchdown pass. Sometimes the news is thousands of disfigured Americans in Vietnam, grotesquely malnourished Jews in Nazi Germany or in this case a man who was left uncovered for two hours.

Politically correct citizens of this college will want The Collegian to hide unpleasant news because it is taboo. This is a great disservice to your readers though. It is not your job to protect us readers from the outside world. We are adults who I thought could make adult decisions. If the readers didn’t like the picture they could have easily turned the page. It’s similar to how people protested Hollywood actors who didn’t support the war. No one made you watch their movie and no one is making you read the paper. If you want to get your news from some paper more concerned with its image than the news fine, but don’t ruin The Collegians’ right to print and depict actual events.

Brian Zimpfer

Sophomore, computer science

You present an incomplete picture of what must be considered in responding to the White House request for $87 billion towards the Iraq invasion (Our View: 9/10). It is possible that no amount of money will “finish the job” of liberation and freedom or even make a dent in “cleaning up the mess.” And what about the impact to THIS generation in terms of a suffering economy, service on the national debt, job growth, etc?

You suggest pulling out as leading to another dictator and further hatred of American foreign policy. Might that not happen regardless of whether or not we provide $87 billion to Bush? What about paying into a UN-managed fund to get the country back on its feet?

More disappointing however, is your glossing over of the original “job” in Iraq – to eliminate the weapons of mass destruction. Thus far it appears there are no WMD in Iraq and they had few, if any, links to the terrorism that has been aimed at America. Why adopt the White House “goal of the week” approach to keeping the public supporting and paying for this debacle. Constraining yourself to their “options” leads to rubber-stamping their goals.

Kevin Robert Gurney

Graduate student, atmospheric science

As a witness to the photo of the motorcycle accident victim run in Monday’s Collegian as well as the onslaught of angry letters that followed, I can understand the backlash from so many readers. How tainted their Monday morning must have been by such a heavy dose of reality. I, however, respect the decision to run the photo and felt compelled to defend The Collegian’s position. And while I’m at it, I’ll be sure to throw around big words like “appalled” and “deplorably” to prove my point.

First of all, it was suggested that the photo was run to “sell” more papers. A ludicrous suggestion considering that The Collegian is free to everyone and thus doesn’t necessarily stand to profit based on how many papers were picked up on Monday.

That being said, the uproar over said photo most likely did cause a few more people to seek out that issue and view the controversial photo. So The Collegian exercised their first amendment rights and it got people’s attention. Good.

Did this graphic photo disturb a lot of people? Certainly it does. But which is more disturbing – a small photo on the inside of your paper, or the many tragic accidents that occur every day when people choose to get on a motorcycle without a helmet?

So while it’s a shame that The Collegian’s decision upset so many people, if even one person remembers that photo and thinks twice the next time he or she are getting on a bike without a helmet, will that be such a bad thing? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

Jenny Leazer

Junior, technical journalism

I am glad to see that I am not the only person that was appalled by your lack of respect for the deceased. If you wanted to make a point as to the need of wearing a helmet when on a motorcycle you could have printed a complimentary article on the Colorado law in regards to motorcycle usage. You could have posted statistics on survival rates when wearing appropriate gear. You could have used pictures of crash test dummies rather than the young man’s body.

As to the fact that the body was left uncovered for so long, that too was unfortunate. However the police must do their job. It was a crime scene and they must follow procedure. As to the people who were so upset about the body being uncovered; unless you were family or friends what reason did you have to stand and stare at such a sight? This was not a form of entertainment. Let the police do their job. And let us use this as an opportunity to make wearing motorcycle helmets mandatory so that this man’s death is not totally in vain.

Julia Hall

Senior, social studies