Family Upset When The 'R Word' Surfaces In Newspaper Cartoon

(CBS) – The "R Word" hurts so many, including a local family that saw it in the comic section of a local newspaper.

CBS 2's Audrina Bigos wanted to know how such a cartoon could get published.

"He's brought our entire family so much closer," Brian Lewis says.

Fifteen-year-old Colin is a good helper in the kitchen. But most of all he's a hockey lover -- a Blackhawks fan, as his jersey can attest.

"They'll say, 'You have a Downs boy," Lewis says. "No, we have a boy that has Downs. It doesn't define who he is."

In this house, the R Word doesn't define him, either. Here, it's hurtful and unwelcome.

Over the weekend, the Lewis family saw a cutout comic printed in the Chicago Tribune's Daily Southtown.

It reads: "Thanks for doing my homework last night. Now the teacher thinks I'm –"

"My husband is the one who brought it up to me. He was more infuriated than anything that I've ever seen," Kim Lewis says.

"It was completely derogatory," Brian Lewis says.

The Chicago Tribune agrees with the family that the cartoon was not appropriate.

"The cartoon, which came from a national syndicate service, was inappropriate. We take full responsibility for publishing it in our paper and would like to sincerely apologize," it said in a statement.

The Lewis family says they accept the apology but hope the newspaper group addresses the broader issue about the hurtful language.