Some things you can see coming. Others you can’t.

When a distraught young woman walked into the Blue Mountain Eagle office last month, I had no way to predict what was about to happen. With tears in her eyes and a catch in her voice, Keila Bullock explained that her best friend had just died. She was planning to hold a candlelight vigil the next day, and she wanted the newspaper to livestream the event.

In recent years the Eagle has livestreamed meetings of the John Day City Council and Grant County Court, but we’d never done anything like this. Yet Keila’s appeal was so heartfelt that I couldn’t say no — even after it became clear that her friend, 24-year-old Rheanna Cartner, had died by suicide.

Suicide is a tricky subject for newspapers to cover, for a number of reasons. It is the most heartbreaking of tragedies, devastating to friends and relatives who often find themselves racked by unwarranted — yet seemingly unavoidable — feelings of guilt as they struggle to comprehend their sudden, staggering loss. Writing about the subject risks adding to the trauma of people still grieving the inexplicable loss of a loved one. In extreme cases, the wrong kind of media coverage can even trigger suicidal thoughts in susceptible individuals, experts warn.

While we had some misgivings, we decided to honor Keila’s request to livestream the vigil. Several people, including Rheanna’s mother, made a point to thank me for being there. The video drew a strong positive response on our Facebook page, with more than 4,700 views, 23 shares and 94 comments, many of them expressing gratitude to the newspaper. I hope it brought some measure of comfort to Rheanna’s friends and family.

Likewise, the idea of writing a story about suicide prevention using Rheanna’s death as a focal point created some trepidation. Ultimately, however, we decided that the best way to honor this young woman’s memory was to shine some light on the tragic problem of suicide and provide information about the growing number of resources available to help people in crisis. We tried to follow journalistic best practices, including listing hotline numbers (sadly, an entire literature has sprung up around the topic of how to cover youth suicide in the media), and we hope the story will encourage anyone who may be struggling to reach out for the help they need.

If you missed the story in last week’s paper, you can find it online here. Other stories in last week’s edition focused on the 30th annual Carrie Young Memorial Dinner and Auction, a sidewalk construction project in John Day, the Long Creek basketball team and the woman behind Linda’s Library.

Stories we’re working on for this week’s edition include articles on the Grant County Food Bank, the Timber Truckers Light Parade, the Greater Idaho movement and the Grant County-Prairie City high school basketball rivalry. 

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!