An update on our story about reports of child enticement

--by decorahnews.com's Paul Scott

In my news story Tuesday about a police investigation into possible child enticement near John Cline School, I said that the investigation showed the incidents "did not appear to be serious."

I wrote this in order to calm fears about what was going on, but, if postings on Facebook are any indication, we apparently made the situation worse instead of better.

When I wrote the sentence, it was with a view towards calming the public fears that their children might be at risk.  Instead, the sentence got read that police and school officials were saying the original incidents were not serious.  That could not be further from the truth--the incidents prompted e-mails to every parent in the district, postings on the school district website, information fed to statewide alert networks, and a number of other steps by both the police and school district.

You have my personal apology that my words made this situation worse instead of better.

Rest assured that everyone is just as concerned about the safety of your child as you are.  I include myself in that statement.

Once again, the wording in my story that the incidents "did not appear to be serious" were my words, not those of the police or school district, and were meant to describe the future probability of such incidents happening again--NOT the importance given to the original reports.

As always, you can contact me at news@decorahnews.com with your comments or questions.