As a parent of a child who was killed recently in a car accident, I can sympathize with these families in North Carolina whose sons died in a wreck in Kershaw County. It is heart-wrenching for any parent.

What is harder to watch is the local TV stations showing video of their son’s car being pulled out of the river. I never saw my son’s car, nor did I want to. I hope these parents never turned on their TV. I made that mistake the morning the highway patrolmen left my house. There scrolled on the bottom of the screen was an incorrect account of my son’s accident.

We had to scramble at 5:30 a.m. to notify relatives before the TV stations released his name. We had just received the worst news of our life, and now we were in a race with a TV station. I immediately turned the channel. It took several months before I could watch the news again.

I’m not sure what the hurry is to publish details and pictures of car accidents, especially when children are involved. If officials at the local TV stations ever had to experience this tragedy, they may change their ways of reporting the news. This is one parent who will change the channel again.

Edie Beavers

Leesville