PUBLISHER THREATENED OVER SEX OFFENDER LIST (Gunman ‘Upset’ About Newspaper’s Decision to Print Names)

Stephen Hartgen, Times-News publisher, wasn't home two weeks ago when a reader slipped into his home with a gun and an unspoken warning about the newspaper's decision to print the names of sex offenders.  His wife was and when she saw the gunman she fled with the couple's daughter to a neighbor's home to call police.  The intruder left behind an envelope containing a clipping from The Times-News listing registered sex offenders living in the newspaper's eight-county circulation area in southern Idaho.  Also inside was a copy of the paper's 1998 editorial explaining its decision to become the first in Idaho to publish offenders' names, addresses and photographs.  The crime has not been solved.

(Twin Falls, Idaho)