It happened again last week when The N&O published a profile of Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell. Our inboxes were full of pungent comment on the sheriff's incautious remarks about the Hispanic presence in the county where he enforces the law.

Among Bizzell's observations, as captured in quotes by staff writer Kristin Collins: "Mexicans are trashy." They are "breeding like rabbits." "All they do is work and make love."

There were three kinds of reaction, and two didn't surprise me: One, that a sworn officer of the law would hold such sentiments, much less voice them. Two, that a biased N&O was advancing its pro-illegal immigrant agenda by picking on a sheriff simply doing his job. Examples:

"As an American, I was saddened and deeply offended as I read the News & Observer article this past Sunday about 'sheriff' Bizzell's prejudiced, bigoted, and racist comments. No one who holds such views should be charged with law enforcement." -- LLOYD MANN, Durham.

"Sheriff Bizzell should have known better than to talk to The N&O. The powers that be ... at The N&O have shown time and again that they support illegal immigrants over any means to enforce the law." -- MARK MOLINARO, Cary.

What surprised me, though, was the third reaction, from readers sympathetic to immigrants who were angry with The N&O for running the article. By publishing Bizzell's comments, they said, we were giving the sheriff a megaphone to a wider audience.

"My husband and I were aghast Sunday as we read the racist bilge spewed by the Johnston County sheriff. Neither of us could believe that this man's ugly opinions -- sounding more like a throwback to Jim Crow than anything else -- were considered front-page news. ... What in the world were you thinking? Where is your apology to your readers?" -- LEZLEY MCDOUALL, Durham.

As she noted, Bizzell issued a written apology Sunday, the day the story came out. The N&O reported his apology on the front page Monday.

I was curious about the story, too, particularly that a public official would make such offensive comments in the presence of a reporter. Was this a drive-by hit story based on throwaway comments in an unguarded moment?

No. Collins interviewed Bizzell in four separate visits to his county, a total of 12 hours. She and a photographer rode with him in his patrol car as he cruised (and disparaged) mobile home parks where Hispanic people live. "This was a small sampling of the comments that I had to choose from, and they were consistent in all four interviews," she said.

She said her purpose was to put a "face on the Old North Carolina trying to figure out a difficult issue," and she tried to draw a multi-dimensional portrait.

The story, I thought, did present a balanced portrayal. "Bizzell has emerged as the face of the backlash," Collins wrote. "But to travel with Bizzell is to understand not only the anger, but also the ambivalence that surrounds an intensifying crackdown on illegal immigrants."

She pointed out that he voiced respect for immigrants' work habits, sympathy with their impoverished lifestyle and appreciation for the economic benefit they bring to the county in terms of labor and spending. The story acknowledged that Hispanics account for a disproportionate share of drunk-driving charges in Johnston County but reported also that crime rates have fallen as the Hispanic population has grown.

The headline, "Tolerance wears thin," suggested that there was some tolerance on Bizzell's part to begin with. It is to his credit that he did issue an apology and, surprisingly, did not seek to defend his comments or criticize the reporting. He did not return my call asking him whether he thought the coverage was fair. He has not addressed the controversy publicly since the apology.

Now, why did The N&O give such high visibility to such low soliloquy? My response has been that the paper would not be doing its job if it downplayed remarks directed at a population, vulnerable and disadvantaged at that, by an official whose job it is to protect them -- along with all his constituents.

Bizzell is not just any anti-immigrant xenophobe. He is the immediate past president of the N.C. Sheriffs Association, in which he advocated a crackdown on undocumented immigrants, and he has been on a sheriffs' task force for U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole on immigration issues. He has appeared in campaign ads for her.

"The cure for that kind of thing is sunlight," Sunday editor Ned Barnett said. "These people are saying things on the public record. It should be publicized. It's not going to go away by ignoring it."

I agree that public airing is best, but unfortunately it also brings out the worst in humanity. Readers' online comments about the story on The N&O's Web site were so venomous that the paper shut down the comment function and erased some 60 reader comments. Online managing editor Eric Frederick said the paper doesn't want to stifle debate -- it's only the second time comments have been dismantled -- but in this case didn't have a choice. Some comments were racist, abusive, obscene and getting worse.

That's too bad. The purpose of the story was to bring light, not summon darkness. Let's hope that people can take one lesson from Sheriff Bizzell -- shut up, and move on.

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