Disappointment doesn’t go far enough in describing the feeling I had when reading last week’s headline regarding Gene Weir: “Cumberland church’s hiring of sex offender alarms some parents.” As a member of the Congregational Church in Cumberland and someone who has known Gene for 20 years, I’m in part troubled by the obvious impact this will have on him to be branded a “sex offender” for a crime he committed almost 30 years ago.

We are a community, The Forecaster is a community paper, and with that comes some journalistic responsibility to think about the impact an article might have on an individual. I also question the degree to which this story is newsworthy. One parent raised these concerns, and yet as is indicated in the article, there have been no incidents to indicate Gene is any current threat to anyone. Gene’s involvement as a custodian has been very limited. Does one parent’s complaint merit a front-page article with a title obviously sensationalizing the issue?

I expect more from The Forecaster and hope in the future you will think about the bigger picture when determining the placement and prioritization of articles and when writing their titles.

Martha Leggat
North Yarmouth