No pleasure in reporting grief

Bad news travels fast, and that is truer in these days of instant communication than it has ever been.

This week The Record-Courier dealt with three separate slayings, separated in time and space, but still centered among the people who live here in Carson Valley.

Friends and relatives learned of Timothy Miller's death from television news accounts broadcast Monday morning. Timothy was a 1998 graduate of Douglas High School, but the news was complicated by the fact he used his adopted name here, but used the name Miller when he left to join the U.S. Army.

Anyone who saw the photo of Timothy in the paper knows he was a credit to this Valley, a decorated medic who'd served his country overseas only to be cut down in the safety of his own home.

Similarly, Valley residents are mourning Benjamin Oxley, a man who worked hard to support his family and was killed in his home.

And then there is the case of Karen Bodden, who was sentenced Tuesday in the shooting death of her husband Robin, whose only mistake was marrying a known thief.

To say murders sell newspapers is an understatement. But we would gladly give that up if it meant any one of these three men could be restored to their family.