Last week, the Sentinel covered the third degree sexual abuse trial of Tanner Christians of rural Merrill. Christians was charged with sexually assaulting Lindsey Louison, 16, a student of Le Mars Community High School, on the night of Feb. 11, 2005, behind the bus barn adjacent to the north parking lot at the high school. Christians was acquitted of all charges by a jury a week ago today.

Yesterday, we ran two letters to the editor about our coverage of the trial. Both letters were well written, and raised questions that I'm sure some of you might have been asking yourself.

I'd like to give some perspective on this issue from our side of the page.

Why did we cover this trial? Simply put, this crime -- sexual assault -- is a serious one that IS occurring in our community and county. I visited with County Attorney Darin Raymond about the subject and he told me that his office investigates about two claims a month of sexual assault. Within the city of Le Mars, seven to 10 cases a year are investigated.

The victims in the vast majority of cases knew the person who committed the assault. Most assaults occur when drugs or alcohol -- both known to lower inhibitions -- are involved. Most victims trusted the assailant before the attack.

Last week we ran a story about a presentation by Vicki Crompton of Davenport, Iowa, made at Gehlen Catholic Schools, sponsored by the Council on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence (CSADV) and a local group, Students Against Violence Everywhere (S.A.V.E.). Crompton shared a fiercely personal story about the life and death of her daughter Jennifer, who died at age 15 after being brutally stabbed 66 times by her abusive boyfriend as she came home from school.

It was our coverage of Crompton's talk that got our paper entered into the official record of the Christians case. The public defender wanted to know if any member of the jury had read the coverage of Crompton's talk. None had, as they were all instructed not to read or listen to any news coverage about the trial.

Why did we cover this trial? The same reason we covered the presentation by Mrs. Crompton, to raise awareness of abuse. It was our intention to factually, responsibly report on this serious issue. Was the content of the articles disturbing? Yes, so is the crime. Every article carried an editor's note that the content could be disturbing to the reader. Did we censor our coverage? Yes. Did we sensationalize? Absolutely not.

Will revealing the name of the victim and details about testimony have a "chilling" effect on the reporting of these crimes? The folks that prosecute these cases tell me that the biggest concern a victim has is facing their attacker.

The folks that deal with victims of abuse want awareness raised. The best way to raise awareness is to tell the stories of victims. These stories aren't pleasant or happy. We would all like to live in a place where these crimes never occur. Experts tell us the best way to avoid these crimes is to keep them from happening. The best way to keep them from happening is to educate our children.

Experts tell us that the primary way we learn may things as children is by observation. Many of our attitudes and perceptions about the opposite sex are formed by watching our parents. How many parents teach their children how to get out of the back seat of a two door car? (The answer is not to get into the back seat to begin with.) If the reports did nothing else but raise awareness of the issue and facilitated discussions about safe behavior between parents and children, I am pleased.

We plan to continue to cover the District Courts on a regular basis in the future, much the way we covered the Christians trial.

I understand that this is an emotional issue for all involved. I wanted to give you some insight as to the thought process we went through, and that the decisions weren't easy.

As always, I welcome your comments. You can reach me by email at tstangl@lemarscomm.net, telephone 712-546-7031, x40 or toll free 1-800-728-0066 x40.

Thanks for reading, I'll keep in touch. Feel free to do the same.