Once again, Poison Ink has managed to be tacky and tasteless, this time with the cartoon in Thursday’s Daily depicting a man on a motorcycle, not wearing a helmet, stating how wonderful it was to be alive.

If Carmen Cerra’s intent was to show how dangerous it is to ride without a helmet, fine, but do it in a different way. Try to have a little sensitivity to Tim Widmer’s memory, his fraternity brothers and all his family and friends. They don’t need to be reminded of the tragedy of the accident, they’re living it every day. Carmen Cerra wasn’t there at the scene of the accident, he didn’t hear and see what happened last Friday, so please don’t make those of us who were there and who did see it be reminded of it either.

Carmen Cerra has a right to draw whatever kind of cartoon he wants, and I respect that right, but there is a fine line between tasteful and tasteless, and Thursday’s cartoon was definitely tasteless. There has to be a more tactful way of getting his message across. Satire may be an effective eye-opener, but it is not necessary where death is concerned. Thursday’s cartoon was simply too much, too soon.

Kari Berghoefer

Freshman

Journalism and mass

communication