Internet crimes common, Hair-Oiled Citroën reports;
no  mention of Shipley & O'Mara hacking settlement

Gibson reads statement: "Have I been a bad, bad boy?"

Gibson video deposition
©2006 Geoff Davidian
(God told us to post it)

Trouble watching the video? Trying opening RealPlayer then type http://www.putnampit.com/video/gibson_depo.rm in window.

The longwinded, inarticulate lawyer at beginning of the deposition, with the convoluted questions, is "Huffy" John Duffy, of Knoxville, who settled a lawsuit that complained he had this website hacked. The lawyer cross-examining Gibson is Samuel J. Harris, of Cookeville.

If the 135MB video file won't open, save it to your
hard drive then play with RealPlayer

BONUS VIDEO DEPOSITION
©2006 Geoff Davidian
(God told us to post it)

Trouble watching the special BONUS VIDEO DEPOSITION?
Trying opening RealPlayer then type
http://www.putnampit.com/publicpit/gibsondepo.avi in the window.

Progressive Ideals: Rooted in American Values

By Peter Phillips, PhD
Director, Project Censored
Special to ShorewoodVillage.com
The term 'progressive' is widely used by contemporary writers, politicians, and liberals, but an understanding of what makes up a progressive agenda is generally unknown. More

Cookeville Chamber of Commerce
is a plague on this city

By DANNY L. NEWTON
Special to The Putnam Pit
The Chamber of Commerce is a plague on this city. It is a parasite of the natural commerce that is already here. It sucks private and public money out of the people and only creates a few jobs inside the new location for the Chamber of Commerce. More

The sick values of a Bible-belt community with a district attorney who swears he does not use cocaine

Why they have to pay businesses to move to Cookeville

The sick values of a Bible-belt information purveyor

Yeah Katrina! We made money off you!

Cookeville publication measures nation's worst catastrophe in terms of 'occupied hotel rooms'
 

At least the sheriff hasn't been formally implicated . . .

No bail for Cookeville cops in drug sting

Busted cop Reno Martin attempts to use his religion to get free

Missionary position
 Alleged Newspaper calling itself 'Herald-Citizen' reports
Martin trained other "missionaries"

Dozens of family members and friends gathered Tuesday in and outside the Nashville courtroom, many from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that Martin attends in Cookeville, to testify on Martin's behalf. H-C uses Nashville dateline but only quotes "Cookevillians who attended the hearing."

Cookeville Police Department Mission Statement: "To provide the citizens and visitors of Cookeville with professional police services at a level of quality that will instill high public confidence and will maintain community trust and support." Bob 'Smut Boy' Terry, chief

No city in recent history has faced so much bad publicity and performed so poorly while pretending nothing is wrong.

The Aug. 16, 2005 announcement of an FBI sting that nabbed two Cookeville police is just the latest in a string of shameful events that has marked Bob Terry's tenure as Cookeville police chief. Was Terry oblivious to a three-year federal investigation into his employees? This department is your first line of defense against terrorism.

Read the indictment naming Reno Martin

Read the indictment naming Jason Blythe

Read the federal criminal complaints naming Gregory Dale Scott, Robin Blaskis, Ronald Middlebrook, Darrell Thomas Jones, Troy Bell, Steven Bert Williamson, Jason Blythe and Reno Martin. 

·         The district attorney is barely literate, barely made it out of high school, was a pity case accepted on probation to a local college and barely graduated thanks to receiving A's for marching in ROTC. Gibson got into a law school whose graduates can only practice in Tennessee -- even if they could pass a bar exam elsewhere.

·         The best judge in the area, who was under consideration to be a supreme court justice, pulled out of the competition and admitted he was disciplined for inappropriate sexual advances to a female court employee.

·         The former court clerk was a thief, who illegally took money from prisoners and ran his property rental business from the court house,

From our archives:

·         SHIPLEYSPEAK: Officer Reno Martin, arrested Tuesday on federal charges of drug running and money laundering, blew the whistle in 1996 on a sadistic Police Department captain, Wayne Bandy, who was transferred to a management job in a different department but remained on the payroll.

·         City Manager Jim Shipley fired Police Chief Richard Holt for turning over to the FBI the fruits of an investigation into Martin's allegations. Holt files federal civil rights suit in 1997, but loses.

·         District Attorney Bill Gibson refused to prosecute Bandy despite evidence and testimony he held a gun to Martin's head repeatedly.

• Although police officers took polygraph tests that showed, in their opinions, their stories of Bandy were true, Shipley discounted it.
• Re: Reno Martin v. Cookeville et al. Major Fred White reneges on offer to take polygraph

• Before becoming chief, Sergeant Terry was head of DA Bill Gibson's Drug Task Force, where despite being management Terry collected more overtime than any other member of the organization, signing his own time sheets.
• An agreement between the City and Drug Task Force required Putnam County to reimburse the city for Drug Task Force overtime payments to city police officers who served on it, but Terry was collecting far more than anyone could afford and hanging around with questionable residents. Although the law forbids it, Terry acknowledges proceeds from confiscated property was used to repay the city for the overtime. Finally, when even that couldn't satisfy his thirst for money, the city continued to pay him without seeking reimbursement, passing the cost on to taxpayers.
• Once he became chief, Terry immediately went to work putting his name on everything that didn't move, not so much erasing Holt from history as taking credit for things he had nothing to do with.
• The once-open police headquarters was transformed into a bunker, with windows closed and the inside hidden from the public. In the lobby, a massive desk attempting to bring a sense of authority or legitimacy to the department is surrounded by photographs of the city council, Terry and former chiefs.
• We later learned what Terry was doing in his secret headquarters: He was using police equipment to send pornography to DA Bill Gibson.
• Yet, despite the generosity showed to Terry by the city council, at taxpayer expense, crime has risen 10 times faster than Cookeville's population. In its annual report, the Police Department accentuates the positive while ignoring statistics that are relevant. A survey shows little faith in Cookeville or Putnam County officials.
• Cookeville, Tenn. (March 10, 2002) --  Police have hired a retired FBI agent to investigate the March 3 shooting of Officer Brad Sperry by Officer Zac Birdwell; an incident the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation already is investigating and is reportedly expected to go to the grand jury this week. 
• See the Birdwell Dossier
• See Chief Terry's statement
• January 1, 2003, Cookeville Police Officer Eric Hall blew the head, execution style, off the pet dog of a terrorized family passing through the area on vacation after a wallet blew off the top of their car. The family, hands bound behind their backs and faces forced to the cold, wet concrete of Interstate 40, later filed a federal lawsuit.
• For months, the Smoak family travels the country, telling their story of terror.
• Police rally to support Hall; city offers to replace family dog. Putnam Pit coverage of Hall incident.
• People from all over the world write hate mail to the mayor, police chief and Hall in the biggest unorganized expression of disgust and grief in modern history. Unable to withstand the influx of criticism and hate mail, the city shuts down its mail server. Frustrated Americans sent The Putnam Pit their outraged correspondence.
• Police officer Eric Hall turns around and sues the City and Police Chief for releasing records of his employment.
• That same month, two police cars driving too fast and too close together run over the body of a suspect thrown from his car. The incident was captured on video.
• City gives Chief Terry some advanced classes to compensate for the terrible state of his department.

·         While city officials secretly lurk on discussion boards keeping files on who posts what, Cookeville's pattern is denial and destruction of its own records.  With corruption as with disease, patterns of occurrence can often tell an observer more about the cause than in-depth investigation into a single incident.

·         The Putnam Pit offers a tribute page to the Cookeville Police Department.

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