Johnson City Rear-end Crashes Up, Revenue Down

The headline says it all:  "Rear-end crashes up, revenue down." Unfortunately, you cannot actually read the article unless you are a paid subscriber, but you can see the headline and get a short summary of the article.  I read the article in the paper version that I found and really, the headline does say it all.  There was a statistically insignificant decrease in other accidents, but rear-end crashes were up markedly.  The reason that revenue is down is that Johnson City is no longer able to screw people with a violation for a rolling right on red unless the police actually see the violation and, as a result of the lower amount of fines, Redflex gets a bigger piece of the blood money. 

Johnson City has long had a problem with rear-end crashes.  According to a senior police official, Johnson City has historically had one of the highest accident rates in the state and most of them were rear-enders.  This was stated prior to the installation of the red light scameras, which easily leads to the conclusion that these cameras were never about safety and always about revenue.  These cameras frequently malfunction and are being used for surveillance of citizens in addition to revenue.  I have personally seen these cameras flash when cars weren't even in the intersection. Unbelievable.

Johnson City Mall makes Drudge Report

The Mall at Johnson City made the Drudge Report a few days ago for allegedly kicking out a vendor for selling anti-Obama merchandise. Needless to say, if this vendor was kicked out on these grounds, it is sickening to know this type of behavior has come to East Tennessee. To my knowledge, no one was ever kicked out for selling their anti-Bush wares.

What did The Mall have to lose from leaving this business in place? It received a few complaints. Big deal. No one could have legitimately believed that the views of a business owner in The Mall represented the views of The Mall. What they allegedly did is simply un-American.

John Quaintance has been all over this story on his radio show. I've heard the owner and the manager on the radio and both of them seem sincere with their story. They have set up a website and are apparently working out of their garage. The website is http://www.graphicedgeonline.com/. They also have a blog which has more information about their plight. The blog can be found at http://graphicedgeonline.wordpress.com/. I would encourage you to check this out and send some business their way. I'm not a bumper sticker person, but I really like a few of their bumper sticker designs. While it is difficult to pick a favorite, I would probably vote for the bumper sticker that says "That Obama sticker on your car might as well say, 'Yes, I'm stupid.'"

UPDATE: If you would like to send a comment to The Mall, their contact page is here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Looks like The Mall at Johnson City has been certified as inoffensive.

It's a "news"paper.

Linda Noe has taken to calling Morristown's pathetic rag of a paper a "news"paper. I love that convention and I would say that is about right, as the Citizen Tribune has deserved that title (or worse) for as long as I can remember. Still, the Tribune doesn't frustrate me as much as the Johnson City dePressed, a "news"paper that all thinking people should consider boycotting, as I have done for several years. Notwithstanding their liberal views which are reason enough to boycott them, I just don't like paying good money for what, in my opinion, is a bad product.

Johnson City Police Department Still Pushing Red Light Cameras

According to this article, the camera plan is still moving forward. What really annoys me is what I heard a couple of years ago at the little school that I had the privilege of attending as a result of allegedly speeding through one of Johnson City's notorious speed traps. The school was taught by a senior officer of the Johnson City Police Department. He told us that Johnson City had one of the highest accident rates in the state and that MOST of the accidents were rear-enders. He said that Johnson City was fortunate in that it did not have a high number of very serious accidents. Now, the JCPD wants to install red light cameras that are proven to increase the number of rear-ender accidents. Please do not tell me it is about safety. I think I will puke.