247 Comments
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Marla's avatar

Isn’t something like a DUI conviction a matter of public record? How could the newspaper having this knowledge, no matter how they came by it, lead to a charge of identity theft?

And this cop? Looks like he found a way to discover the witnesses against him when he seized the newspaper’s computers.

Imagine that.

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Tosca's avatar

The whole American police system, thousands of independent micro departments running their own little fiefs, is BEYOND fucked.

I hope the journalists were able to give a heads up to the sources that Sheriff Gestapo has their names. He'll be coming after them.

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1st light's avatar

Why is that pic at the top so sepia-sized? It just happened, there's been no time for yellowing.

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dental floss tycoon's avatar

try that in small town, you ne’re do wells !

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Pamela A Morgan's avatar

I bet the attorneys advising the lady and the alleged perv graduated from Liberty U or somesuch Holy U.

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Cajun Kid's avatar

So Ms Newell was exposed for driving illegally and operating either without a liquor license or with a fraudulent one. One wonders how all that is currently going.

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Jeremiah Brewer's avatar

“… I was born in a small town

And I live in a small town

Probably die in a small town

Oh, those small communities….”

Post-2016, there’s two kinds of small towns: (1) The kind that may now have a whiff of Trumpism, but largely still attempts to keep politics private. Except for that one farmwife who will never shut up about Biden being a closet socialist who drinks baby adrenochrome blood. And, (2) The kind that still has “Trump 2016” and “Trump 2020” flags and signs hanging up and displayed in yards, and whose local paper reports on conspiracies Newsmax tells them about, that aren’t actually real. The kind whose local restaurant sells pies beneath its “We honor the 2nd Amendment here!” sign.

I live in the first kind. It’s a bit Trumpian around election season, but not vocal about it at the moment. I’m lucky though. Pity the liberals that live in 97% white Alabama, Oklahoma, and Idaho small towns…

Btw, John Mellencamp - famously liberal Democrat.😉

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Phried Ω's avatar

There is a Frank Capra / Henry Fonda movie in here somewhere.

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Bitter Scribe's avatar

Once I got on the wrong side of the police chief in a small town I was covering for a local paper. The chief visited my boss with a couple of goons in tow. Not long after, we stopped covering that town entirely.

TBF, I actually doubt those two events were related, because the paper, like small papers everywhere, had been doing badly for a while, and stopping publication in that area had long been under consideration. My point, though, is that after it happened, that chief took "credit" for it and became insufferable, eventually becoming village president. Thank God I'd found another job by then.

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marcus816's avatar

Something… something, Barbara Streisand effect.

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Bagels of Doom's avatar

there's going to be some adultery involved by the time this is over.

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RefillingThorsBeer's avatar

it's about time, with so many acting like children....

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HarryButtle, degenerate artist's avatar

Do they really think seizing the physical computers is going to help them? It's almost certainly backed up offsite somewhere. Maybe it was just about intimidation but these people appear to be very stupid.

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BECKY's avatar

They probably don't know that's a thing, I doubt they're big into anything electronic. or this century.

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Bitter Scribe's avatar

They don't care about that. They want to get at the reporters' sources.

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HarryButtle, degenerate artist's avatar

I hadn't considered that.

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Pillbox Hat's avatar

The fact that they went to their homes and took people’s personal cellphones is insane!

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Pillbox Hat's avatar

Sweet irony.

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Sgt JMK's avatar

This is completely batshit crazy... and yet, somehow, also perfectly believable in the current atmosphere.

I hope Mr. Meyer takes everyone involved in this mess - from Ms. Newell to the judge who allowed this garbage to the cops, and especially Chief Cody - to the cleaners so that he has enough money to buy some MORE local papers and run them with integrity and ethics.

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Pandora's avatar

Way to give your crimes the Streisand Effect. Slow. Fucking. Clap.

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