After giving the driver a ticket, the trooper began to question the passenger, David Williams about a chemical smell.

Williams then took off running, but the trooper caught him and a struggle ensued. During that struggle, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol says a portable meth lab in Williams’ pants burst.

“After a brief struggle it was determined there was an active meth lab in his pants that burst during the struggle and got all over his body,” said OHP trooper Shiloh Hall.

∞

The story is clearly the first to mention the scandal and the paper interviewed the woman who filed the complaint (and gave King an on-duty blowjob) and looked at some or all of the photographs on a laptop owned by King.

It’s amazing the Tulsa World takes such a high view of their original reporting but refuses to acknowledge the work of others. Any time you copy from the site you get “Read more from this Tulsa World article at…” added to the end of the clipping. All articles on the site also includes the copyright message “Copyright 2012 World Publishing Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.”

Yet, the World isn’t the only guilty party here. KJRH’s and KTUL’s stories are just as bad. On the radio side, KRMG and KFAQ credit This Land ¹

Two networks didn’t report the incident as of this posting, Public Radio Tulsa and News On 6 (KOTV). I’m not sure why Public Radio Tulsa hasn’t, but KOTV has a history of favorable reporting in relation to the police department and law enforcement.

So, from a blog that gets a few hundred hits a month, here’s an apology to This Land.

Addendum

KOTV posted a story of the incident shortly after I hit send. It doesn’t mention This Land and I stand by my belief that the network is extremely favorable towards law enforcement.

II: This Land is neither free or an alternative publication. It costs $2.00.

“I think we continue to stick our big nose into private enterprise and it generally end up hurting them or causing them more grief,” he said.

∞

A Tulsa Police captain was suspended earlier this month for a 2009 incident in which he “engaged in sexual activity while on duty,” according to a personnel order.

…

King engaged in sexual activity while on duty in his patrol unit in the area near the Tulsa Zoo in the 5200 block of E. 36th Street North, according to the order.

∞

∞

If you live in Tulsa long enough you’ll probably hear something about Gardner’s Used Books. Located on Mingo, just south of 41st Street, the store bills itself as the largest used bookstore in the state and supposedly offers an eclectic mix of books, movies, music, and comic books among other things. I never got around to testing those claims out, but now that I’m packing up to leave my apartment at TU I decided to sell some of my books I don’t plan to read again to make it a little easier to move out.

If you’re looking to sell books nowadays you’re best bet is easily Amazon. Even with the charges they take for the sale, it’s still a better deal than most book buyers will give you. I, however, just wanted to dump the books in question pretty quickly so I figured might as well give Gardner’s a shot. The experience made the college bookstore look generous.

If you look on the store’s website you’ll see this for their buying policies:

We pay cash for your books, video games, comics / manga, CDs, vinyl, DVDs, Blu-rays, and more! Our helpful sales staff can also discuss with you what books we are always looking for and for which we’re willing to pay a little extra cash

Condition is important, so our associates are unable to make cash offers over the phone they are always willing to help unload your car or truck for your convenience.

90% of that is complete crap. I brought 41 books in two small boxes and the associate who “helped” us said the store was only buying boxes for a dollar each because they get so many books in a day (she said 200). She then took five of the 41 books and scanned them, said I didn’t have much and offered five dollars a box. It’s amazing she was able to figure out the quality and contents of the boxes by looking at twelve percent of the books. I politely told her to go shove it and threw the books back in my trunk.

When I got back from the wasted trip, I decided to see what I could reasonably sell the books for on Amazon and came up with this handy spreadsheet. I priced all the books conservatively, roughly two dollars lower than the lowest offer and still have a realistic chance to make over $300 before fees, etc. If I only sell the highest priced books (the ones in green) I can still make ten times what the associate offered me for the whole lot. Obviously I wouldn’t expect anywhere close to $300 dollars from the store, but even if you round down to $350, remove 25% for fees, and cut that in half you’re still over $100.

I won’t call Gardner’s a scam, but their book buying business isn’t worth your time if they’re not willing to spend five minutes “helping” you. Instead of getting ripped off, either sell the books yourself or if you just want to get rid of a collection, donate them to a charity.

If anyone in the Tulsa area has a suggestion for a reputable book buyer I’d love to pass it along. Send me an email here. If you’re from Gardner’s this is for you:

Let’s be honest: Backpage’s exit from prostitution advertising wouldn’t solve the problem, for smaller Web sites would take on some of the ads. But it would be a setback for pimps to lose a major online marketplace. When Craigslist stopped taking such ads in 2010, many did not migrate to new sites: online prostitution advertising plummeted by more than 50 percent, according to AIM Group.

Backpage is the Village Voice’s craigslist alternative that offers, among other services, adult listings. Kristof devoted another one of his column’s to the subject only two months ago. Both columns provide heart wrecking stories and argue the Village Voice needs to get out of the business, and if not advertisers should boycott the paper, which Kristof argues is far worse than Limbaugh’s “slut” comments.

Yet, as Jacob Sullum wrote in response to the previous column:

The emotional punch of Kristof’s opening anecdote should not blind readers to the illogic of his argument. Village Voice Media is morally responsible for the crimes against this girl, he implies, because its ad service facilitated them. By the same reasoning, Craigslist is responsible for the deaths of men who respond to employment ads that serial killers use to lure their victims. It would be neither fair nor sensible to respond to such crimes by banning job ads.

Additionally, as Kristof acknowledges, shutting down the site doesn’t stop prostitution. If they don’t do it on another site, or a different part of the site, there will still be pimps stealing girls by word of mouth.

So what’s the solution? There’s always going to be illegal activities, but prohibition of one adult willing selling sex to another creates a dangerous environment for those plying the oldest profession:

Prohibition forces prostitutes to work in dangerous conditions, picking up customers on the street or covertly connecting with them online, and makes it harder for them to seek legal remedies when they are cheated or abused. These hazards, similar to those seen in black markets for drugs and gambling, are not inherent to the business of selling sex; they are inherent to the policy of using force to suppress peaceful commerce. Since these dangers are entirely predictable, prohibitionists like Kristof should be reflecting on their role in perpetuating them, instead of making scapegoats out of businesses that run classified ads.

∞

Lora Lee Thomas, 47, and Aubrey Stuart Thomas, 58, were charged earlier this month after Osage County sheriff’s investigator Justin Kling uncovered stories of abuse ranging from the children’s being forced to throw up and then eat their own vomit, to being beaten with a large paddle called “Mr. Awesome” and then made to soak in a tub loaded with ice cubes to reduce swelling from the assaults, to being forced to participate in sexual acts, according to an affidavit filed in Osage County District Court.

The full affidavit (extremely graphic) can be found here. (Via)

The Thomas’s became adoptive parents to six children in 1997. In 2003, DHS removed two of the six children from the Thomas’s care when they showed signs of physical abuse. Didn’t someone at DHS think, Hey maybe if they beat two of their kids they probably shouldn’t have any? If not hopefully that person will have to eat their own vomit.

DHS of course is still dealing with the aftermath of the Serenity Deal case, in which DHS placed Deal with her father even with a history of abuse (including a graphic beating both claimed from her being dropped). Additionally the Oklahoman reported in December about DHS employees caught abusing children, mentally ill adults, and stealing from elderly patients.

In December of 2006 Tulsa Police arrested Dennehy for transporting a loaded firearm and two counts of possession of marijuana. All the counts were dismissed at the request of the state. Shortly after his first arrest, Dennehy was again arrested for illegal firearm and drug possession. The firearm charge in that case was dismissed while Dennehy pled guilty to possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. Dennehy also has two DUI convictions coming in 2007 and 2008.

According to KOTV, TPD shot and killed Dennehy’s brother Brian in 2005 after he opened fire on an officer attempting to arrest him in connection with the murder of their grandfather.

John Fancher, an employee at the county library adjacent to the plaza captured numerous photographs of the incident. They can be viewed here and at the Tulsa World article linked above.

Meet the new cover photograph for the Tulsa Police Department’s Facebook page. I feel absolutely safe knowing wanna-be soldiers are flying around downtown Tulsa with automatic weapons.

Absolutely safe.