Facing off

   We know there's another crime publication in town, but we've never paid much attention to it. It's priced at $1.50 (50 percent higher than ours), which is a real crime, because it carries no local mug shots. How do we know this? Because we pick up our mug shots every week at the Criminal Justice Center downtown, and the fine folks there tell us that our "rival" has not been there in months and months. And since that's the only source for the mugs of those who have just been busted...

   We won't name our "competitor" -- let's face it, anybody can sue anybody these days -- but we give it credit for hanging in there for so long, with its mugs from who-knows-where, its sloppy grammar and layout, its cheesy promos, its ill-advised selling price and its unpredictable publication schedule, and, above all, its, frankly, unethical promise to keep crime perpetrators out of its pages, for a fee.

   Besides the fact that there is zero -- repeat, zero -- chance of a Middle Tennessee perp showing up in the paper, there's the whole conflict-of-purpose issue.Isn't the justification for a crime publication to alert citizens to the presence of criminals in their midst? If these offenders are able to buy their way out of the spotlight, isn't the purpose compromised, or defeated?

   Just sayin'...

Just Busting

   A concerted two-day effort to verify the addresses given by 262 of Davidson County’s registered sex offenders revealed 49 possible violations of the sex offender registry law. Sex Crimes detectives will be conducting investigative follow-up and will swear out arrest warrants as necessary.

   On May 16 and 17, teams of officers and detectives from the Sex Crimes Unit, the East & Madison Precincts, the U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force and representatives of the Tennessee Board of Probation & Parole fanned out and knocked on the doors of addresses provided by sex offenders during their required registration meetings with law enforcement.

   Similar checks will be conducted in the coming months.

   Undercover detectives assigned to the department’s seven precincts charged 146 persons last week, with mostly drug and prostitution offenses, as the result of investigations in various Nashville neighborhoods.
   South Precinct detectives charged 24 persons as the result of investigations on Margo Lane, Antioch Pike, Hamilton Church Road, Murfreesboro Pike, and Hart Street.  Seized were 92 grams of marijuana, 2.5 grams of cocaine, one gram of heroin and 107 pills.
   Hermitage Precinct detectives charged 29 persons as the result of investigations on Fairfield Avenue, Murfreesboro Pike, Lafayette Street, Matterhorn Drive, Creekwood Drive, Fowler Street, Anderson Road, and Lincoya Drive.  Seized were 9.6 grams of cocaine, 8.47 ounces of marijuana, 67 pills, three weapons, two vehicles and $10,980 cash.
   West Precinct detectives charged 21 persons as the result of investigations on Charlotte Pike, Morrow Road, 8th Avenue South and White Bridge Road.  Seized were five grams of cocaine, 20 grams of marijuana, 28 Soma pills, 16 Xanax pills, 57 Dilaudid pills, three grams of psychedelic mushrooms, one gun and one vehicle.
   North Precinct detectives charged 15 persons as the result of investigations on Russell Street, Dickerson Pike at Trinity Lane, Leawood Drive, the 500 block of Harding Place, and Wren Road.  Seized were 5.2 grams of heroin, 29.3 grams of cocaine, 72 pills, two vehicles and $1,239 cash.
   Madison Precinct detectives charged 20 persons as the result of investigations on Gallatin Pike, Old Hickory Boulevard, Dickerson Pike, and Tucker Road. Seized were two pounds of marijuana, six grams of cocaine, 20 Lortab pills and ten OxyContin pills.
   East Precinct detectives charged 18 persons as the result of investigations on South 5th Street, Main Street, Dickerson Pike, Trinity Lane, Porter Road, Litton Avenue, and Pennock Avenue.  Seized were .7 grams of cocaine, 24 Lortab pills, 10.7 grams of marijuana and $167 cash.
Central Precinct detectives charged 19 persons as the result of investigations on Spring Street and Jefferson Street.  Seized were over two ounces of cocaine, two grams of marijuana, four vehicles and $317 cash.
   Persons suspecting drug activity in their neighborhoods are urged to call the police department’s 244-DOPE hotline. Callers to the hotline can remain anonymous. 

Take my car, please

   A review of stolen vehicle reports in Nashville from Sunday, May 6, through Saturday, May 12, shows that 24 percent of the automobiles taken (six of 25) were easy targets because the keys were left inside or made available to thieves.

   The police department’s continuing PARK SMART campaign strongly urges citizens to lock their automobile doors, secure any valuables and REMOVE THE KEYS.

   Officers also urge citizens to SHOP SMART by not leaving purses or other valuables unattended in shopping carts, even for a very short time. An unattended purse is an easy target for a thief.

   For info  about these and other programs of the Nashville Police Department, visit http://www.police.nashville.gov/index.asp.

Case closed

   Have you been acquitted? Have your charges been dropped or dismissed?  Since we featured you when your were busted, we'll be even happier to tell the world that you've been exonerated.

   Update the world (or at least Middle TN) with the status of your case by letting us know so that we can publicize it.

   As far as we know, we are the ONLY crime paper in the country to offer this service.  "Putting a name with the face of crime" is one of our mottoes; another is: "We'll help you save face."

   Email us at caseupdate@justbustednews.com or mail the court paperwork to: UPDATE, P. O. Box 9628, Chattanooga, TN 37412.  

Hate to tell you

   Hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but hate crimes are on the rise in Tennessee. The state’s Bureau of Investigations has issued a report that shows an increase of over 50 percent in hate crimes in 2011. And with summer coming on, the economy spinning its wheels, and the noise swirling around such “hot-button” issues as race, religion and sexual orientation growing ever-more deafening, the number promises to keep rising along with the thermometer.

   What is a hate crime? In Tennessee it’s defined as one in which a person is victimized because of “race, religion, color, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry or gender.” People charged with such offenses face the possibility of harsher sentences.

   While “hate crime” may be a relatively new term, hate is as old as the hills. We hate what we’re afraid of or don’t understand, and fear and ignorance will never go away. But you’d better wise up enough to watch who you’re hating – or you might have more time in the pokey to think about it.  

Something FREE for your ad

   Advertise in Just Busted's new CLASSIFIED ADS section, JUST BARGAINS.
 
   JUST BARGAINS will feature "deals so good, they're a crime." So put on your dealing cap and come up with a bargain guaranteed to "set people free."

   And speaking of free, with any ad purchase you'll receive a FREE professionally written press release or a FREE custom-written newsletter you can email to your customers and prospects.

   You can cash in your FREE offer at any time.

   Business card-sized (black & white) Classified Ad:  $16.50 per week for six weeks minimum ($99).

   Current Display Ad Prices:

      Quarter page -- $68.25 per week

      Half page -- $135 per week

      Full page -- $240 per week

   All prices are for black & white ads, 13-week contract.  Free ad design included.  For more info, call Paul at 615.516.5678; email paulerland@gmail.com.

   

Just Busting a Gut

   Delivering Just Busted to convenience stores has its rewards, chief among them being the opportunity to meet the comedians in our midst.

   The market owner who, when we show up with his papers, calls out, every single time, "Am I in there this week?" never fails to deliver us a laugh. And when we say, "No, we only have good-looking mugs in here," it keeps the hilarity going.

   The lady who picked up a copy, opened it and said, "Here I is, reading your paper. Does I get a reward?" -- she struck us as too funny.

   "Well, first you'll have to pay a dollar to read it," we told her, and after she did, we said, "Sorry, that's the other paper that does that." We all had a good laugh over that one.

   "You in here this week, George?" says the wag who handles the deli orders. Some people are so quick-witted!

   Once we saw a woman standing in line eating a pork chop. When she got to the counter and as we were putting our papers down she looked at it and sighed, "Mm, mm, mm. People so stupid." We had to chuckle at that.

   "You got the same people in here every week," some store clerks complain. That's what we need -- more criminals! Funny.

   Of course, everyone who plays the lottery amuses us. In the first place, because the lottery is a tax on people who are stupid at math. In the second place, because it's entertaining to speculate about what most people would do if they struck it rich. Buy more junk food? Purchase a whole bunch of lottery tickets? Seeing three or four customers hunched over at a table, scratching at a colorful card, reminds us of kindergarten -- fun times!

   "Hope I'm not in here this week," says the store manager, winking at us. Ha, ha!

   Actually, just about everyone who buys our paper is funny to us. Granted, a dollar doesn't go far these days, but to spend even that for the privilege of checking out the pictures of those who've gotten into trouble -- to gratify what the Germans call schadenfreude, or pleasure in the misfortunes of others -- seems funny, especially seeing as how most readers obviously aspire to something higher for themselves. Like winning the lottery