On a seemingly typical Wednesday while I was at work, my daughter called me crying. She told me that there was an article in the newspaper with her picture and name. We expected this incident to be mentioned in the Crime Digest, but this?

Interestingly enough a disclaimer leads into the narratives of the Crime Digest section but there was only the one word in brackets in the middle of the article in question — no doubt an afterthought. I asked why a young person with no prior arrests had to be publicly scrutinized and humiliated in this way — depriving her and her family of working through this nightmare privately.

Apparently, anticipating a slow news day, a police detective was asked what he was investigating. He gave information on three cases but only one mug shot. Guess whose?

Perhaps the detective wanted to make an example of my daughter or perhaps he just wanted his name in the paper. While waiting at the Detention Center on Monday, I overheard someone questioning a man charged with three counts of child molestation. I wonder what happened to his mug shot. The day before, the newspaper had pictures of three men standing trial for murder. My daughter didn’t deserve this.

The article mentioned “several” suspicious prescriptions. I suppose when you’re writing an article for the press “several” sounds more newsworthy than two.

“The rest of the story” is that my daughter started seeing this “local doctor” only after being treated in the emergency room for injuries sustained in an automobile accident. And, for the record, this doctor did prescribe narcotics to my daughter, although the account in the paper would have you believe otherwise.

As the whole ugly scenario unfolds I’m finding that the good doctor is an addict’s dream. Doc will write prescriptions for substantial doses of narcotics in a New York minute for, say toe pain, pain caused by obesity, back pain and you name it. Maybe Super Cop should investigate those allegations!

What wasn’t said about my daughter was that she maintained a college grade point average that earned her the Hope Grant, has two associate degrees and was looking forward to her college education. She is a beautiful and sensitive person who didn’t deserve to be thrown under the bus.

Shirley Smith

Milledgeville