ozzzz-bust
i can't precisely re-trace the steps, but somehow in my internet perusing today, i came upon some stories about a sting operation last october, masterminded by our fine sheriff of cass county, Paul Laney. how i could possibly have not known about this before today, evades me completely. i tend to be an informed citizen. i try to know what's going on around me. granted, i don't usually use our local news sources as a means of this information gathering, but this particular story has like 12 pages of google hits. rolling stone knew about it. one would think that just by being present in this town and leaving my home at least once a day, i would have encountered this bizarre story. in the tanning bed, where i am forced to listen to commercial radio, if nowhere else. but i didn't. and now that i know, i have questions.
the story goes something like this:
in an effort to attract a number of crims with active warrants, sheriff laney took advantage of an up-coming ozzy osbourne concert, not to mention some stereotypes and presumptions, and hosted a fake VIP pre-party. apparently personal invitations to the party were sent to said fugitives. here is where all my questions come in. news stories differ... some say 500 invitations were sent. some say 40. all indicate that between 30 and 40 arrests were made on the spot. i want to know if, assuming the VIP list was 500, were all 500 of them alleged criminals? was there a buffer group of random invitations? did laney do some research and find that, in fact, this group of rule-breakers really liked ozzy osbourne? or did he assume that there would be a reliable enough correlation between the formerly "sinister" rocker (turned pathetic fried-brain tv dad) and the unlawful element? it's hard to tell by the inconsistent numbers. if 40 personal invitations went out and 30 arrests were made, then one might interpret this as a successful, if misguided, adventure. if 500 invitations went out and 30 arrests were made, then one must assume that felons are listening to someone else these days. and as one blogger hinted, the biggest issue raised might just be, why do so few people want to drink free booze with the prince of fucking darkness?
additionally, wouldn't it have been extremely odd to have randomly received an invitation to a party that no one else knew about and hadn't been advertised anywhere except in the mailboxes of you and your equally not-so-law-abiding friends?
i have so many questions. i don't think i am done with this story. any info, posted as a comment, would be greatly appreciated.
the story goes something like this:
in an effort to attract a number of crims with active warrants, sheriff laney took advantage of an up-coming ozzy osbourne concert, not to mention some stereotypes and presumptions, and hosted a fake VIP pre-party. apparently personal invitations to the party were sent to said fugitives. here is where all my questions come in. news stories differ... some say 500 invitations were sent. some say 40. all indicate that between 30 and 40 arrests were made on the spot. i want to know if, assuming the VIP list was 500, were all 500 of them alleged criminals? was there a buffer group of random invitations? did laney do some research and find that, in fact, this group of rule-breakers really liked ozzy osbourne? or did he assume that there would be a reliable enough correlation between the formerly "sinister" rocker (turned pathetic fried-brain tv dad) and the unlawful element? it's hard to tell by the inconsistent numbers. if 40 personal invitations went out and 30 arrests were made, then one might interpret this as a successful, if misguided, adventure. if 500 invitations went out and 30 arrests were made, then one must assume that felons are listening to someone else these days. and as one blogger hinted, the biggest issue raised might just be, why do so few people want to drink free booze with the prince of fucking darkness?
additionally, wouldn't it have been extremely odd to have randomly received an invitation to a party that no one else knew about and hadn't been advertised anywhere except in the mailboxes of you and your equally not-so-law-abiding friends?
i have so many questions. i don't think i am done with this story. any info, posted as a comment, would be greatly appreciated.
posted by shelly at 7/09/2008 11:03:00 AM
2 Comments:
Okay, I never heard about this either. That's incredible. Funny. And just wrong. Wow.
I'm glad to see you back on the blogosphere... you really SHOULD post some pics from NY... I was eager to see those after your trip.
Wow. Funny. Strange. However, I have heard of this in other places. I don't know...I kind of think if you are felon and you broke the law, you should be arrested. Call me old-fashioned...even if there is some trickery involved.
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