Got an interesting e-mail Thursday.

"Disturbed reader in Drexel Hill" had a complaint about something that appeared in the newspaper. Only this time it wasn’t a news story. It was an ad.

I’ll admit it jolted me when I saw it as well. The ad appeared in the Wednesday, Oct. 24 edition. Right there on Page 12. It was for the Suburban Armory, a gun store. The ad featured a display of several handguns on sale at the store.

I’ll admit it is a jarring ad. Adding to my unease was the story that also appeared on that page. Literally wrapped around the ad was a story on a Trainer man who was pleading guilty in the shooting of a Glenolden police officer who had responded to a domestic incident in Norwood on New Year’s Day.

Granted, it was not the best placement for that story.

But there are a couple of things you should know. One, when the editors working on the news desk put pages together, they don’t see the ads. Still, it was not a good combination. We certainly did not purposely place that story around that ad.

The reader was not amused. I can certainly understand the concern.
But the bottom line is that we are a business that depends on advertising, and this is a legitimate place of business. We do not routinely reject such advertising.

The reader admitted as much, but still urged us to avoid such ads in the future. In all honesty, that’s a decision that’s out of my hands.
The good news is that he ended his e-mail by saying he enjoyed the newspaper and hoped to continue to do so.

I’m glad he made his concerns known. I want him to know it is something we are aware of, and something that concerns me as well.