Trooper Put DJ's In Harm's Way
from The Times of Trenton (NJ) | 30 May 2007
I find it appalling that the punishment handed down to New Jersey State Troopers Fraternal Association President Det. David Jones was incredibly light ("Trooper suspended for actions against DJ," May 23). I am neither defending nor condemning what 101.5 FM radio hosts Craig Carton and Ray Rossi did on the air at WKXW-FM, because at this junction it is moot. At a radio station where I worked, when the employee contact list was handed out, the instruction was 100 percent clear: Do not release it to the public. That is expressly in order to keep people like Carl R. Grossman of Leesburg, Va., away from media personalities. For those who do not know, Grossman was originally charged with felony stalking after he sent a threatening letter to a DJ in the Washington, D.C., area. He pleaded to a misdemeanor charge while the judge issued a lifetime restraining order.
Carton and Rossi are public figures and it's actions such as those by Jones that can lead to another person becoming the next Grossman. Jones' actions, along with his disrespectful and unrepentant demeanor, show that he deserves more than the five-day suspension slap on the wrist that he actually received. He may not have broken any laws, technically, but he placed a citizen in harm's way, and he threatened to do the same to people not directly involved with the show.
-- P. KENNETH BURNS, Arlington, Va. The writer is a producer for the Radio America Network, but the opinion he expresses is his own and not necessarily that of the RAN.
