Mug shot fight could earn national press

When someone is convicted of a crime, their photo appears in the newspaper.

It is a tradition almost as old as the use of photographs in print.

So when the story came out that Assemblyman Lynn Hettrick, R-Gardnerville was proposing a bill that would "restrict use by newspapers of photographs of certain persons under certain circumstances," it raised more than a few eyebrows.

It turns out the request for the bill draft came from fellow Gardnerville resident Dan Paterson, who was convicted in Carson City of misdemeanor battery for his behavior toward a middle school basketball coach.

The Nevada Appeal's sister newspaper, The Record-Courier in Gardnerville ran the story about Paterson on its front page along with a photo of the former Douglas County school teacher.

In an explanation to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Hettrick admitted that "Free speech rights are at issue, but he (Paterson) deserves his day in court."

Pity that day will end up costing the taxpayers of the state of Nevada for the time to write up a bill that won't survive 2 seconds under scrutiny.

The nature of the request has already attracted far more attention than the incident for which Paterson was originally convicted. Besides being included in four Nevada daily newspapers, at least two national publications are making inquiries that may lead to stories.

Ironically, in an effort to prevent the use of his mug shot, Mr. Paterson may get to see it in publications he has never heard of.