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Post Independent
Glenwood Springs, CO Colorado

I would like someone to explain the reasoning behind the Nov. 29 article regarding the car crash involving the Marr family. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. Did you think printing this article would serve some purpose?

Don’t you think every person who heard about this crash is driving more carefully? Don’t you think every local teenager who gets behind the wheel of a car thinks of this family? Didn’t it occur to you that these young men, forever changed, have yet to bury their mother? Why is it that no one in that organization said, “Maybe this family is hurting enough?”

Was the public clamoring for the facts of the case? Do you think you have a responsibility to inform those who didn’t already know or hadn’t guessed?



The truth is, there is nothing good to be gained by the Post Independent printing this article. From the headline on, it accomplished nothing beyond further hurting those who probably didn’t know they could hurt any more.

What’s done is done. But here’s an idea, let’s see an article in the paper (with names) placing the blame for the cruel and heartless decision squarely on the shoulders of those who made it.



Jennifer Burr

Glenwood Springs

Do we really have to publish specific information regarding things like “who was distracted by what” in car accidents? We all drive around in a state of distraction – whether it is about what we need to do next on our minds; whether we got our homework in or bills paid on time, etc.

Automobiles come equipped with radios and we all change the station from time to time (this is perfectly acceptable and legal); we all are looking around while we are driving for early warning signs of something so we can protect ourselves and other people.

Accidents do happen. We are not perfect. Conditions, lighting and roads are not perfect. Experience of drivers (old or young) is not perfect. We never know what is around the corner.

The people in the accidents know what was happening for them at the moment. To take one answer to a question and put it out there as if that was the cause of anything is unfair, judgmental and more than likely just not true. To reduce so many unknowns down to one known distraction is unfair, and for most of us would stack even more guilty feelings on an already guilty-feeling person involved in an accident.

We don’t need to publish this information. Most people answer detectives’ questions honestly. Why push bits and pieces of the answers to these questions into the public eye?

I think all of us would be hurting if another person got hurt in an accident we were part of – but we are all “distracted.” Let’s not rub it in. People all have enough to contend with.

If there is texting while driving, or alcoholic beverages being sipped on, it would be understandable to want to publicly expose this behavior, as it is illegal and unsafe. Changing a radio station just does not qualify.

Let’s have a bit of compassion and human courtesy in some situations as our local newspaper, Glenwood Springs Post Independent, what do you say?

Colleen Townsley

Glenwood Springs

Editor’s note: Our hearts go out to those who are grieving over the Marr family’s tragic accident.

Our intent in publishing the article in the Nov. 29 edition was to report facts that were unknown when we first reported about the accident in the Nov. 27 edition. The information was obtained directly from the Colorado State Patrol.

We publish facts in order to prevent inaccurate rumors from spreading. We recognize that our reporting added to the heartbreak many people are feeling.

On the Post Independent website, we have removed the names of both brothers from the article.

We express our sincere condolences to the Marr family, their friends and the Roaring Fork School District community.


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