Saturday, November 17, 2007

Sunday Globe to feature columns on Rowan Ford

The brutal murder of nine-year-old Rowan Ford of Stella continues to be a major topic in Joplin-area media, and it will be the focal point of the opinion page in Sunday's Joplin Globe.

Editor Carol Stark's column is combined with Internet Editor Dave Woods' weekly roundup of Globe website comments with Rowan Ford's murder as the topic:

From the moment we reported Rowan’s Nov. 2 disappearance from her home up through last Wednesday, the day she was buried, this story has sparked letters, online comments and phone calls.

It has not been an easy story for our reporters to cover. Those reporting and editing the stories are uncles, sisters, fathers, mothers and grandparents. We have all been touched by this story.

Veteran reporter Wally Kennedy remarked this week: “Sometimes it’s OK to cry while you type.”

But, because we at the Globe have a responsibility to the communities we serve, especially to those who no longer have a voice, we will continue to provide the details of this brutal rape and murder.


Rowan Ford's murder is also addressed by Sunday columnist Cindy Dagnan:

I’ve never met her, but I know this: she was 9 years old. She was abused. She was murdered. She was tossed away in the depths of a sinkhole like so much human garbage. She was the age of my third daughter.

She was beyond precious. A little girl who could ride bikes, swim, read and play with baby dolls. That’s exactly as it should be. She’s also a little girl whose innocence was cruelly stolen; that’s a mockery of all that childhood should be
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