A few days ago I was speaking to some local elementary school students and was asked, "Do you ever get sad when you read the news each night on television?"

The question caught me a bit off guard. As I began to offer a response any professional journalist would be proud of, I stopped instead and gave the honest answer--yes!

I know it's my job to always be objective and report the news without being emotionally involved. But the simple truth is sometimes I do get sad reading some of the news stories each night.

Tonight was one of those nights.

A number of us in the newsroom cringed as we watched the pictures come in from the field of a horrible crash involving a car and a logging truck on Highway 158 in Hertford County.

State Police told us the car was so badly mangled it was hard to determine what make of vehicle it was.

Inside that car was a young couple and three very young children--not one child older than three years old. All but the three year old were killed.

My scripts for the 6 p-m newscast tonight included a number of important stories. There was the young teacher up on sex charges for allegedly sending dirty pictures of herself to students, a bond hearing for a young man accused of killing a local police officer and John McCain's wrestling match with the New York Times over questions of possible innappropriate behavior with a lobbyist.

But it's hard to erase from your mind the painful images of a mangled vehicle, the loss of a young mother and father and two young children and emergency workes in tears over the sight.

"Do you ever get sad when you read the news each night on television?" How can you not get sad when you're the messenger with tragic news.

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