Times reporter’s tenacity praised

Re “Hello, Sheriff ’s Department? How about a straight answer?” Column One, Sept. 1

I read Alene Tchekmedyian’s piece on her attempts to get an official response from the Los Angeles County Sheriff ’s Department with equal parts frustration and admiration.

Frustration that the department can be so willfully vague and obstructionist in responding to legitimate questions from the local press, and admiration for the tenacity of a reporter doing her job diligently.

In a time when the press can be demonized for simply pursuing the truth, I’m reminded that it is exactly that tenacity that a free society must protect, support and treasure.

Steve Reid Laguna Beach