Have I mentioned recently that The Free Lance-Star is a contemptible, despicable rag?

The local newspaper of record, The Free Lance-Star, continues its campaign to attack and impugn the late Virginia State Police Trooper Adam Bowen. When the paper isn’t allowing people to post completely disgusting comments about his death in the line of duty, they’re writing hack stories like this.

Would anyone find it surprising that a police officer, who drove more 117,000 miles in rural county was involved in three accidents? Or as that hack Cathy Dyson and her editors put it, “crash[es]”. Yeah, they referred to an accident where a State Trooper hit a deer as  a “crash”. So much for using neutral language, right?

The other accidents? A minor fender-bender why making a U-turn and the third was getting into an accident while responding to a request for assistance from the King George County Sheriff’s Office about a report of a man with a gun. As some might be aware, the trooper was responding to an urgent request for backup from a State Police narcotics agent when he was killed in the line of duty.

And while Ms. Dyson is writing this story, did she bother to get any data about from the State Police about what is the average number of accidents for troopers? Did she contact the Sheriff’s Office to ask them what is typical for their deputies in the county? No, of course not, she went—for some reason I have yet to figure out—to an organization that complains about police agencies’ pursuit policy, which does not apply to any of the accidents that Trooper Bowen was involved in. In fact, it doesn’t even appear that she went to the State Police for any kind of comment. But, honesty, what should we expect from that paper at this point?

Here’s to hoping that the next time that Cathy Dyson calls a the police, they take their timing getting to her, because, you know, urgent calls for assistance aren’t that important.

At least that’s her position on the matter.

6 thoughts on “Have I mentioned recently that The Free Lance-Star is a contemptible, despicable rag?”

  1. I can’t agree with you enough about that article. I gave a lengthy response online and will be canceling my subscription to the paper permanently on Monday. I just can’t believe they would allow this trash to be published and I would expect nothing less than a written apology to the family and to Trooper Bowen’s fiance who was supposed to be getting married around the same time this article came out. Unbelievable! I am sickened that someone would stoop so low to print a story. And that agency monitoring the pursuits of police officers, is directed by a woman who lost her child to a similar situation. It’s tragic and I am sorry for her loss, but she probably would be defending the trooper right now if her daughter’s accident hadn’t happened. It just makes me sick and I am glad you spoke out on the story.

    1. I agree they should have done some research before this article was written. I can understand the need for safety to and from an emergency call. I am sorry for the loss of that ladies daughter.Sometimes unfortunate things like this happen.She monitors the pursuit of officers so what someone has to do the job.Lets just hope she is doing this for all the right reasons.Plus last time I checked the people in the other car were injured not dead. The officer lost his life. I don’t claim to know the whole story about the rules and the regulations of police officers. I don’t know how many bystanders are killed by police officers.I can see the point she is making in the article. I can see your reasons for being upset but it’s just an article it’s written poorly I agree. Everyone has different opinions and different views. The fact of the matter is people should not be attacking each other over this. If anything this is a lesson on what not to do in driving. Cars just don’t ricochet off of objects. You also are supposed to be very careful through red lights and watch for turning vehicles. Now here is a science lesson an object in motion stays in motion. As for the part in the article of the Sgt. Talking about the police being held to a higher standard than private citizens I agree. The other part that does not make sense is the Sgt. stating that they are more experienced and trained.Yes they are trained better than the average driver. But I can tell you experience has nothing to do with driving yes experience makes you a better driver. Bottom line is the car is going to go where it wants to go in hectic situations thats apparent. Experience is not going to stop a car wreck, much like the one that happened with Trooper Bowen. It’s just very unfortunate it happened.I do feel for his family and his fiance that has to be terrible.I also feel for the other people involved in the accident. What does not kill you only makes you stronger. I think everyone should stop attacking everyone and see that by doing so you hurt innocent people. It also does not change the situation it does not make the situation any better. Instead of unsubscribing to the paper why not lodge a complaint. I will say the article is written in bad taste she could have written it in better taste. Plus the poor guy is dead I think it is time for him to rest in peace. I am also sure his family is tired of this ongoing opinionated drama.They want closure why not grant them that. I know I do I have to drive past the accident site everyday and think about how messed up the whole situation was. I pray for world peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  2. “Here’s to hoping that the next time that Cathy Dyson calls a the police, they take their timing getting to her, because, you know, urgent calls for assistance aren’t that important.”

    Seriously? I get that this is your soapbox… but is that really necessary?

    I think you raise valid points about the article which I agree with you on. The article does have a tone that vilifies the trooper because of missing statistics; were the statistics included that tone may be altogether absent.

    1. She’s somebody’s relative at the FLS. EIther she’s related to one of the Senior people at the paper or to the Rowe family that owns the paper. No one at FLS is actually hired because they possess real journalistic credentials, thus we get the amateur rag that we have.

    2. She’s somebody’s relative at the FLS. EIther she’s related to one of the Senior people at the paper or to the Rowe family that owns the paper. No one at FLS is actually hired because they possess real journalistic credentials, thus we get the amateur rag that we have.

  3. I know this comment is WAY after the fact, but I just saw this post-it’s so rare to be able to find ANYTHING critical of the Free-Lance Star. Apparently, they’re quite good and controlling what people say about them. In any event, the Free-Lance Star is a small paper owned by a family that believes that they are the elite in the community, and it SHOWS. They hire their friends and family members, who couldn’t get any other job in journalism-NOT ONCE have I ever heard of a FLS journalist ever getting picked up by the Washington Post, New York Times, etc. Amateurish would be how I would describe the paper. They frequently post opinion as news, report on mundane stupid details and if you DARE criticize them or some of their ignorant readers who post comments-you get banned from the message boards. When my mother was young, this same paper used to publish all kinds of gossip about readers-when they were admitted to and discharged from the hospital, who visited who (no, I’m not joking), etc. It has only evolved a little from the small town gossip rag it once was, and it’s “family ownership” that it’s so proud of keeps it from ever being a real newspaper. Many locals like it however because it’s written at an 8th grade reading level at that. Educated, intelligent people can do MUCH better than to read the FLS.

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