GOPJ, every story is "local." Every story has some local community and some local newspaper to publish it. The LA Times has an "Orange County" version...so if the LA Times runs something in its Orange County version only, and somebody puts it on FR, you call that into question?
Every week, hundreds of "local events" are published on FR. Some are about abuse; some about a local murder, etc. I've seen dozens of local articles on FR about some school teacher who abused a student, or the initial break of a Roman Catholic priest or Boy Scout leader accused of abuse. Now if you're the person who comes on each of these hundreds of threads, and asks this question, then so be it. But if not, what's your motivation in asking?
You're right - every story is local - on some level. But a human interest story in a regional edition isn't the same as a "A" section, city/state, or perspective section story. But I suspect you know this better than I do... I was trying to say this story fell below the level usually seen on FreeRepublic. That said, your comments Colofornian have made the thread interesting. So I'm going to withdraw my objections about the story not fitting.
I will object to your comparison with "some school teacher who abused a student, or the initial break of a Roman Catholic priest or Boy Scout leader accused of abuse" because those examples are political. A lone wolf exposing himself doesn't strike me as the same...