Book gets thumbs-up, and Hustler Magazine has overstepped

Well, the initial feedback is good! The focus group that reviewed my book gives it a unilateral thumbs-up! Phrases like, "Easy read, didn't want to put it down," and "Don't change a thing," and "Boy, can I relate!" have come back with respect to "White Trash Weddings, Funerals and other Family Milestones." I'm excited, because all of these remarks are nothing but POSITIVE to me.

Now I can't help myself. I have to say something about the shameless push by Hustler Magazine to obtain the crime scene photos from one of the most horrible murders I can remember. The victim was a beautiful young University of Georgia graduate. She was hiking in the north Georgia mountains in January, 2008. Her decapitated body was found on January 28; she had been beaten to death by Gary Michael Hilton, a monster implicated in several other murders here in the South.

If concern for the family isn't enough reason to squelch the desire to obtain crime scene photos, how about decency? Compassion, maybe? To my knowledge, Hustler Magazine has not stated a reason for asking for the photos, but does the reason really matter? As a reporter, I understand Sunshine Laws and Open Records Requests. I still don't get it. Why? Who came up with the heinous idea to even ask? I fear sometimes that decency and compassion are dead in our society, or at least very, very ill.