Coverage by Sidney Herald (MT) of missing teacher case

Balloon release after recent memorial walk for missing teacher Sherry Arnold. Sidney Herald photo.

The staff of the Sidney Herald, MT (www.sidneyherald.com ) has been out in force monitoring the unfolding story of a local missing teacher, a case that has gained international attention.

On Jan. 7, the day Sherry Arnold went for a jog at 6:30 a.m. and never returned home, the Herald was at the Sidney High School gymnasium by early afternoon to capture the outpouring of public assistance to look for the missing teacher, and every hour the Herald staff continued to make personal contact with local law enforcement and school administrators for developing details.

The Herald updates its Website every time there is new information to share. It has become the go-to place for local readers and national media.

Staff at the small Sidney paper have never experienced such an event, not only the incident itself but how the story has been covered nationally. For an entire week, the Herald’s staff was bombarded by media requests via phone calls and emails for photos, updates and interviews. It has been a lesson about how a story can become sensationalized in a short period.

The Arnold case has since become the biggest story in the area, having deeply touched such a tight-knit community, and the Herald has been there to cover all aspects. Among them: a self-defense course which drew almost 150 people; a concealed firearms course that drew more than 100 people and the latest a virtual run honoring Arnold on Feb. 11 in which staff took photos, shot video and wrote a story. People all over the world participated in the event and submitted photographs to the website to share (there were 40 photos as of Feb. 15). In Sidney, the memorial was capped by a 200-balloon release, a fitting tribute to a beloved wife, mother, friend and educator.

The Herald will continue to cover the case. Suspects in the Arnold case are now in the Richland County jail in Sidney, having been extradited from Williston, N.D., where one suspect was arrested and the other was transferred after being found in South Dakota.