Incident is black eye on county

A complete story about the incident appeared in yesterday’s newspaper and was also featured in other publications and on area television.

By Tuesday evening, several national news outlets had picked up the story and it will probably continue to draw attention nationwide and around the world.

It’s a sad, but true, comment that these kinds of stories are the ones which seem to draw all of the attention. It is understandable given the sensational nature of the story and that’s what the appetite of Americans seems to be in this day and age.

It cannot be forgotten, too, that this is a very serious situation and the actions of the people involved are inexcusable. There is no place in this world for such hate-driven actions, but we all know they happen and are likely going to continue as long as humans inhabit the earth.

What predicated this incident remains to be seen. It may have been some type of incident in Honesdale.

We do know there was an incident in which a camp counselor was struck by the very driver involved in the camp incident. But what may have happened before that is not known and if something did happen, that will come out in court.

As in almost all incidents like this, it takes just a few knuckleheads to make everyone look bad. Wayne County has a black eye because of the actions of people who were doing stupid things. Two of those involved were 18 and another was 22. The rest were under 18.

We all know people that age do really stupid things and hopefully those involved have regret and will apologize for their actions. That doesn’t spare them of anything, but it would go a long way in starting the healing process.

It’s also a shame, in many ways, that the positive spotlight doesn’t shine our way more often. The camps in Wayne County are a shining star and a huge economic influx for local residents. Generations of people have been coming to the camps.

Unfortunately, in this day and age of instant news and an insatiable appetite for crimes like this one, it will likely not happen. In the meantime, we must continue to support the camps in this area and show them this was an isolated incident caused by a few bad apples.