Tuesday, April 27, 2010

February 5, 2010 was a shocking day for the Niles community – more so for the families of John and Carolyn Tarwacki. The husband and wife were killed, found dead in the Niles home early that morning.

In the days following local media, including the Star, descended.

We wanted to know who John and Carolyn were, how was it they came to meet such a violent and tragic end? And where was the individual or individuals responsible?
Was our community hiding a killer?

As the investigation stretched into months, the information has become harder to come by and the conversations seem to some to have stopped.

In contacting the Star, Kurt Tarwacki defined what we do as journalists – and that is to keep the conversation going.

As much as we can appreciate the complexity of such an investigation and the tough job those detectives, who have dedicated themselves to finding the Tarwackis’ killer’s face each and every day, for us the job is to keep talking about it. To keep asking the questions. Because if we don’t, we won’t get any answers.

And for the families of those who lose their lives to senseless and inexcusable crimes, to those who go through each day suffering with joblessness or poverty or injustice, those who have concerns about what their communities are going through, their questions are our questions and their answers are our job.

So the Star encourages its readers to write and call in with what matters to them, with questions or concerns.

The job isn’t always easy. The sources aren’t always cooperative and the answers aren’t always quick to come by.

But they remain the objective. And we’ll continue to search for them so long as we’re here.