Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that "Men are respectable only as they respect." If that is to be the measure, The State newspaper has invited very little respect for an invasive story it ran last weekend about the tragic fire in Charleston resulting in the loss of nine firefighters.

By its own admission, the newspaper obtained the release of several hundred radio transmissions that were exchanged between the doomed firefighters and the dispatchers and fire chief. These transmissions, the agonizing last words uttered by men who realized they were about to die, are expressions of faith and love for wives and family. These transmissions are not news, and to publish them callously invades the privacy of grieving families left without husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. The general public has no reason to know these last, desperate words, and reporting them in the pages of one of the state's major newspapers only deepens the pain and loss for families that have already suffered far too much.

Perhaps we shouldn't expect a newspaper owned by a company headquartered on the West Coast to exemplify our southern values of courtesy, consideration for one's neighbors, and respect for bereaved families. But the newspaper crossed way over the line and descended to the depths of vulgar tabloid journalism in this case.

To add unthinkable insult to injury, the newspaper chose to run its story about the final words of nine brave firefighters next to an advertisement headed "RED HOT MATTRESS PRICES." The quarter- page advertisement was vividly illustrated with deep red flaming tongues of fire. One is left to wonder whether this was some very disturbed copywriter's idea or whether the editing at the newspaper has become that shoddy.

The State newspaper has roots deep in the history of our community. Its founder is memorialized close to the State House grounds. There is no competing major newspaper in the Midlands between which readers can chose, but our people have a right, nevertheless, to expect more than this type of sensationalist tabloid trash from South Carolina's largest newspaper.

The Constitutional guarantee of "freedom of press" should never relieve a major newspaper of its duty to conduct itself professionally and in good taste. The editors of The State owe an apology to the firefighters' families and to all South Carolinians they have blatantly disrespected with this story.