Submitted by Scott Pickey on Thu, 06/14/2012 - 9:17am.
Dear Guest from Bladen:
First I'd like to take the time to thank you for leaving a comment on the site.
Second, I'd like to apologize to you and your friends if we offended you by attending and covering Deputy Hester's funeral.
It was my decision that someone from the station attend the funeral and I asked Cacky to go. I thought it would be a sign of respect both to the family and to the sheriff's department if one of our main anchors took the time to drive over. Don't forget, we work with Sheriff Benston and his department on a daily basis. Bottom line, I wanted someone there to represent WWAY.
We sent nine people to cover the funeral yesterday. That was most of our staff Wednesday and 9 times as many people as WECT sent. Not so we could get some "exclusive" story or create a news story. We did it to celebrate the life of a local hero. We wanted our viewers who either couldn't attend the funeral, or the thousands of others in the other four counties that watch our newscast, to see the momentous outpouring of love and support for Deputy Hester and his family.
I think you'll agree, when the town of Bladenboro's population doubles, maybe even triples on one day to honor one man, that's news.
Dear Guest from
Dear Guest from Bladen:
First I'd like to take the time to thank you for leaving a comment on the site.
Second, I'd like to apologize to you and your friends if we offended you by attending and covering Deputy Hester's funeral.
It was my decision that someone from the station attend the funeral and I asked Cacky to go. I thought it would be a sign of respect both to the family and to the sheriff's department if one of our main anchors took the time to drive over. Don't forget, we work with Sheriff Benston and his department on a daily basis. Bottom line, I wanted someone there to represent WWAY.
We sent nine people to cover the funeral yesterday. That was most of our staff Wednesday and 9 times as many people as WECT sent. Not so we could get some "exclusive" story or create a news story. We did it to celebrate the life of a local hero. We wanted our viewers who either couldn't attend the funeral, or the thousands of others in the other four counties that watch our newscast, to see the momentous outpouring of love and support for Deputy Hester and his family.
I think you'll agree, when the town of Bladenboro's population doubles, maybe even triples on one day to honor one man, that's news.
sp
Scott Pickey
WWAY News Director