He obviously wasn’t happy about his name being printed in the newspaper. He wanted to know where we got the information. “From the Huntersville Police Department,” was the response. To which he said, “And that gives you the right to put it in the newspaper?”
He was informed that, in fact, once the incident appeared in the police report, it became a matter of public record. So it was our “right,” as he put it, to print the details and the names of those involved, other than that of the minor who was younger than 16. Was it our moral obligation? I think so.
The young man is probably too young for the name Michael Duni to mean anything to him.But it means plenty to us who were in the newspaper business around here six years ago, as well as to some officers at the HPD. It was then that the promising young student and star wrestler at North Meck High School died of alcohol poisoning at a teen drinking party. That party was not only approved by, but allegedly in part facilitated by a parent, Dana Pittsonberger. She ended up doing some jail time because of it, one life needlessly ended and another greatly impacted by poor decisions.
Police officers who responded to the scene, and investigated the incident for days afterward, were greatly affected by the tragedy. Like officers everywhere, they take these incidents very seriously, and they recognize that by making arrests at teen drinking parties public, perhaps it can serve as a deterrent to others.
Duni’s death isn’t the only alcohol-induced tragedy to strike north Mecklenburg youths. Sasha Knox comes to mind, a bright, promising young high school student who flipped her car in Davidson and died, all because she drank too much and decided to drive home. Young people have also died here in car crashes on Kerns Road, I-77 and Sam Furr Road, either as drivers or as innocent victims of other young drunk drivers.
Just about a year ago, this newspaper published the names of several youngsters involved in another teen drinking party in Huntersville, one in which two kids were transported to the hospital and treated for alcohol poisoning. That resulted in one parent sending us a number of rather colorful e-mails, condemning the Citizen for publishing the names of innocent kids who just made a poor choice. And, after all, nobody was seriously harmed. She was clearly more embarrassed about her kid’s name in the paper than she was concerned about the seriousness of what had transpired.
I assured her that if my own child were “arrested” at a teen drinking party, her name would be in the paper just like everybody else who was there. She told me I was bad, cruel father.
So for all you parents of teens out there, here’s fair notice: If your kid is rounded up by the police at a teen drinking party, and he or she is age 16 or older, it is public record and it will be published in this newspaper. We hope you will be more concerned about what your kid is doing and less about the negative publicity. Or perhaps you will be so concerned about the publicity that it will prompt you to keep a closer eye on your kid. And if that helps keep one kid from making a tragic error in judgment, it will be worth the nasty phone calls and e-mails.
