I think I’m beating a dead horse, but something needs to be done about banning my dog (pitbull)from a PUBLIC park, they should ban stupid owners and small children not pitbulls. Surprise me and contact me so I may give you an interview with my dog sitting next to me, and then you’ll see how pitbulls really are.

Loyal & loving, unlike Humans! Thanks…..
J.B.

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My son just returned from Iraq, last Sunday. I trying to plan a reception for him and some of the guy with him in our home town, I was blown away at the lack of support by bussiness here in Wincester.

After being layed off, I was trying other ways of raising money for our guys homecoming.

One was a bake sale. When purchasing supplies, I asked managers if they would like to donated some of the staples used in the items to bake. Kroger was the only one that gave us a gift card. I apporched [business name removed], it wasn’t in their buget. [business name removed] didn’t do it. The bigger the chain, the less they seemed to care about our troops. After 3 days and nights of baking, we had a yard sale and bake sale. No one acknowledged anything about our troops.

My heart heavy that it just seemed no one cared. Stores wouldn’t even give the military discout on only items used for their homecoming. Then….I set up my daughter, 10th grader and her cheerleader girlfriend in a parking lot in town, and just the everyday folks were totally supportive. They even got donations! All our baked goods were sold in record time. I met vets and we listen to them. They wanted my son’s name to pray for him.

I was totally inspired from people that didn’t look like they couldn’t afford to pay theri electric bill but was happy to support or troops. I think, no I know corprate America has lost touch here, but not our people.

I want to extend a huge thank you to Kroger, being the only business that cared and all the everyday folks that totally restored my faith in our America. [business name removed], Maybe one of their VP’s should go to Iraq and do what my son did for one day. They suck.

Thanks, I have other items going on now, if your interested, there is one man here that is being a total doo-doo head. If I don’t get and decent and logical answers from him, he needs to be on your show. A total scammer making money off our city but refuses to support our troops. I have a meeting with him this week, I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks for helping those of us that feel we don’t have a voice. It’s people like you, fighting for us that some days keeps us going.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!!

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The video begins around the 188 mile marker near the Cheatham County / Davidson County line.

The video shows a Murfreesboro police car traveling approximately 91 miles an hour in a 70 mile an hour zone.

The video documents the officer driving for the next 18 miles, where the vehicle’s speed stays mostly between 86 to 91 miles an hour.

At no time does the Murfreesboro Police car put on lights or sirens.

At no point does it appear that the officer is responding to an emergency situation.

At one point, around Old Hickory Blvd, the Murfreesboro police car comes up on the bumper of another motorist in the fast lane.

The video shows an undercover metro car pull directly behind the Murfreesboro police car.

The video shows three cars in a row. The motorist is followed closely by the Murfreesboro police car which is followed closely by the Metro Unit - three cars all in the far left lane, speeding forward like NASCAR racers drafting one another.

Once the three vehicles pass an 18 wheeler in the lane next to them, the Metro Undercover unit pulls to the right, activates blue lights, and then pulls the motorist over, which is the first car in this mobile procession.

Meanwhile, the video shows the Murfreesboro police car, now with a free lane ahead, speeding on down I-40.

We call Public Information Officer, Don Aaron at the Metro Police Department.

Aaron says:

• The Metro Police car was a Special investigations Division drug interdiction unit.
• The motorist came up on the metro officer’s bumper at a high rate of speed, blowing by the undercover metro unit, at roughly 85 mph in a 70mph zone.
• The Metro Officer reports, that he didn’t even see the Murfreesboro squad car directly in front of him.
• These units primarily look for drug traffickers, Aaron says.
• After pulling the motorist over, the Metro Officer gave the motorist a warning for speeding and cited him for failure to change his address.
• Aaron says the motorist was clocked at 85 mph, prior to being pulled over.

We try numerous times to get Murfreesboro to comment on the story.

Kyle Evans, who is the Murfreesboro police department PIO issues me this statement:

Mr. Cordan:
This is in response to your email information request from 10/3/08. My responses are in black text. Also, per your request, I reconsidered your request for an on-camera interview and my decision not to grant that request still stands. If I may be of any further service, please don’t hesitate to call or email. Thank you.
Kyle Evans

Evans tells me the K-9 officer driving the vehicle did have a legitimate reason for being in Cheatham County on this day. Evans says he was on a training exercise.

We asked about past disciplinary issues with the officer, and Evans invited us to look at his personnel file.

We checked his personnel file. There are several commendations and at least one verbal reprimand. As it relates to speeding, we see no red flags.

A call to the department of safety indicates that the officer has had no driving infractions in the last 3 years.

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A mexican man I know, who works here in Nashville but doesn’t yet have his papers to be legal was hired with several other latinos and then never paid for their work.

[ACCUSED BUSINESS NAME REDACTED]

My friend was recently told by the owner - [NAME REDACTED] - to “go to the police for your paycheck” after months of [NAME REDACTED] telling my friend that he would get paid for his work the next week.

I also know that [NAME REDACTED] is well off but he’s hiring illegals and then not paying them- stealing from them. It’s wrong to treat human beings this way.

I am not saying it’s OK to be illegal in this country. But when these people work for you for an amount of time and THEN you refuse to pay them you my as well be STEALING FOOD from their mouths.

It’s just VERY, VERY wrong to treat ANY human being that way.

Thank you!
R.M.

The kids at White’s Creek High School that were forced to play air guitar couldn’t be happier. They got the guitars they needed after Messed Up told their story and a local business stepped up and delivered the guitars they needed.

Cigarette butts are the most littered item in the United States.

4.5 trillion cigarette butts are indiscriminately tossed out.

This according to Keep America Beautiful.

What is 4.5 trillion cigarettes?

I’m not sure how many cigarettes that is. Maybe enough lined end to end to circumnavigate the solar system. Maybe not.

According to Clean Virginia Waterways web site: Americans toss more than 175 million pounds of cigarette butts every year.

What is 175 million pounds?  Again I don’t know. That is what I feel like I weigh after Thanksgiving dinner and bunch of pie.

These butts can cause fires, and end up in the water supply.  They can kill animals.

Smokers know smoking causes cancer. 

Smokers also know that tossing cigarettes out the window is against the law. 

Yet smokers do it every day without thinking.

Inhale, flick, adios.

We have focused on this issue before.

We interviewed people and caught people littering.

We had hoped that things got better.

It is impossible to really quantify, but I don’t think things are better at all.

I encountered a gas station attendant in Murfreesboro who was upset by cigarette butt tossers. Not just because he has to clean up their mess, but because lit cigarettes could ignite flammable liquids that are commonly found at a service station.

For fun, I checked with Metro Police, Public Works and the department of safety.

Both agencies tell me that the maximum violation for tossing a cigarette butt is 50-dollars.

Franklin police report to me that throwing a cigarette out of a car could cost you $126.00, that’s the fine and associated costs.

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It happens more than you know, perhaps more than you would care to even imagine.
 
What are we talking about?
 
It is the unbelievable reality that surgical teams misplace instruments and other materials inside their patients.
 
Like you might lose your car keys, doctors can lose medical gauze.
 
The major difference is, you find your car keys in your pants pocket.

Doctors might not find that gauze left inside Joe Blow for days, or weeks, or longer.

By then Joe Blow has long since been stitched up and trying to live a normal life.
 
Robert Maxwell knows about surgical crews losing stuff inside a human first hand.
 
After surgery for a bowel problem at Skyline Medical center, Maxwell continues to experience pain.

After weeks, after Maxwell wasn’t getting any better, he has his boss drive him to the E.R.

“I was here with my boss, I was on the tow motor, I felt something hurting bad i can take pain pretty good he drove me to the hospital,” the 41 year old fork lift operator says.

“They put me under light anesthesia and pulled it out.”

What they removed was a piece of medicated gauze.

Skyline Medical Center issues this statement:

Skyline Medical Center is unwavering in our commitment to provide the highest quality patient care.

We can confirm that a small piece of medicated gauze-about the size of a small Band-Aid-was removed from Mr. Maxwell in our emergency room last month, and physicians treating the patient assured him there were no adverse health affects. Since then, representatives from the hospital and the surgeon have met with the patient on several occasions to discuss his concerns and answer his questions.

We have expressed our regret to Mr. Maxwell and have provided all appropriate follow up care. Despite our best efforts, we have been unable to satisfy Mr. Maxwell’s concerns.

Federal HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act) guidelines prohibit us from publicly discussing any specifics of care for this, or any other patient.

Mike Garfield
CEO

In response, Maxwell says; “I know things happen. But you have not apologized to me or done anything for me when i was off from work. ”

Maxwell says he wants monetary compensation, but he tells me he is not looking to break the bank. He says he just wants enough to compensate him for the approximately 3 weeks he missed work.

“They don’t know how it feels to have something pulled out of you. i was not even asleep,” he says.

Randy Kinnard is a medical mal-practice attorney for 30 years. He does not represent Mr. Maxwell, but he has plenty of experience when it comes to issues like this.

“People at hospitals should say i am sorry. They are reluctant to say this because they think they will be liable and they wont be but under Tennessee law they can say they are sorry as long as they don’t admit fault.”

“How often does this happen?,” I ask.

“Sadly this happens more than people know. We have had cases against every hospital in this community for foreign objects left in patients.”

“How do you protect yourself?”

“There’s not much the patient can do except hope the operating crew is careful there is not much you can do except put your trust in them.”

Kinnard tells me that the federal government is going to stop paying hospitals under health plans like Medicare if the hospital makes a mistake like leaving a foreign body inside of a patient.

On May 1st, 2006 a small home catches fire in Madison. 

Fire officials tell News 2: the cause of the fire is electrical.

The family living in this 1100 sq. foot home is not hurt, though they are forced to vacate.

The fire happened 30 months ago. 

30 months ago!

Tired of waiting on insurance company’s and the owners and the metro codes dept, residents on Williams valley drive call me to report; this house is messed up.

Residents like James Anderson have been looking at this house.

“It makes the neighborhood look bad. I don’t understand what is going on with it,” The construction worker says.

The house is surrounded by high grass and it is an eye sore.

“A lot of people are hot about it,” he says, with his workers sitting in the back of his truck.

The problem, the front door is wide open, an invitation to trouble.

“We have been calling codes and calling codes and they won’t do nothing about it.”

Residents tell us they have tried to board up the front door, but someone keeps pulling it down.

Inside we find an empty beer bottle. Conditions are dirty, possibly unsafe.

Neighbors tell messed up, they have repeatedly called metro codes, alleging that one inspector told neighbors to board up the structure themselves. I call codes,  and within 24 hours, Assistant Codes Director Bill Penn is involved.

Penn confirms to me that codes has sent the property owner a notice to fix the problem or be dragged into court.

Penn clarifies that codes cannot cut the grass or board up the entrance. Only the owner has the authority to do that.

And finally, Penn says he doubts that a codes inspector would tell residents to fix a neighbors house since it is against city policy.

The next day I get an email from a resident who tells me that the yard is cut and the door secured.

That’s great I think to myself.

I talk to Mr. Penn who tells me the home is owned by a single working mother who is now renting an apartment and claims to be caught between the insurance company and the mortgage agency.

She tells codes she pledges to keep the home maintained.

It will also hopefully end a messed up epidemic of campaign sign stealing that cuts across party lines.

Perry Ogletree lives in Murfreesboro.

Billy and Sue Newton live a few miles away.

Ogletree is a hard core Democrat.

The Newtons are serious Republicans.

Ogletree proudly posts an Obama sign in his front yard.

The Newtons proudly display McCain signs in their front yard.

Though they disagree on politics, they agree that stealing campaign signs is messed up:

“You ought to have the right no matter how you vote to keep a sign,” Mrs. Newton says. “I don’t care about these other signs I just want my sign.”

“Is this messed up?,” I ask Mr. Ogletree.

“Yes. The thought of someone impeding political speech is ridiculous and this is an act of impeding political speech.”

The other thing these diametrically opposed residents have in common, new ways to keep thieves from stealing their signs.

Ogletree is talking chains and cinder blocks to keep his Obama sign safe.

The Newtons have bright lights and rolls of tape holding their signs in place.

Messed Up checks with both campaign HQ ’s in Murfreesboro. Both HQ’s report scores of campaign signs stolen.

A check with Murfreesboro Police indicates they have had no reports of sign stealing.

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Check out this interesting way to protect your yard sign. How do you protect your yard sign? Leave a comment for others.

Is it a dangerous speed trap? or a legitimate enforcement zone?

Some motorists question how and where metro police are setting up writing speeding tickets by the score.

The road in question is the junction where I-40, Briley Parkway and Robertson Road all come together in West Nashville.

When officer Terry Pate works this location, the veteran Metro Officer says he can easily write 20-30 tickets a day.

“We are running stationary radar,” He tells me over the roar of traffic.

“Why this area?” I shout.

“Because they lose control” is his simple answer, pointing down the ramp.

There’s no doubt, Pate has found himself a stealthy location for running radar. He is standing in between two Briley Parkway ramps in what is known as the gore. As cars come around the curve coming from Robertson Road, they don’t see the waiting officer wielding his radar gun until he sees them. By then it is too late.

For the most part, Briley Parkway is 55 miles an hour. It’s 55 mph, except for this 1/2 mile section of ramp where the posted speed limit is 40. This is where Metro police have been set up in recent weeks pulling over hundreds of motorists.

“So as far as you are concerned,” I say to the agreeable officer. “You are standing in the middle of the 40 MPH zone and if they are breaking the limit then Boom ticket.”

“Right,” he says without hesitation.

The sound of his radar chirps several times as a procession of motorists swing around the curve and encounter the waiting officer.

Then Pate steps into the ramp, points definitively at a green van and signals the driver to pull over into the striped triangle area between the two ramps.

Pate tells me the driver is doing 55 in a forty.

“A little fast,” he says walking to the window.

Iman Chambers is the driver. She is pleasant as I ask her a few questions. At least as pleasant as one can be while getting a speeding ticket in the middle of a highway.

“I am just rushing to get to another job is all,” she says with a sigh.

Chambers tells me that she didn’t see the forty miles an hour sign. She also tells me that she thought this was an on ramp to Briley Parkway where the speed limit is 55mph.

I assure her that this stretch of the ramp is in deed 40mph.

“I didn’t know that,” she says sadly.

After Chambers pulls off, I ask Pate about the safety of the Gore.

“Do you buy into it the argument that pulling them over here is unsafe where these two lanes come together?”

“No I don’t buy into that. This area is easily wide enough to pull over 3 cars.”

But that is not what motorists have been telling me.

I go to a nearby filling station and I talk to a Cheatham County mother who says she drives this way every day.

“It causes a lot of back up traffic. People are not ready for it and it is not usually just one cop it is usually 2 or 3 undercover cars.”

Rhonda Davis is acutely aware of the problem. She tells me that the traffic enforcement causes such chaos for drivers converging on these two ramps that she has chosen to drive a different way home, to avoid this interchange, even though the new route is longer.

“Normally, when a cop stops you, they pull you to the side, not the center, and it is in the center, in this little triangle, where people are merging onto the same road.”

Davis says when motorists encounter the officers it creates chaos and confusion.

“I immediately slam on brakes and that causes people to slam on their brakes behind me and honking and everyone is irritated and when you are irritated, you don’t drive well. One lane is 40 mph and the other is 60 mph. It is very confusing. People are in the left are trying to merge. It is crazy.”

Metro Police tell Messed Up they have pulled over 434 vehicles at this location since January 1st.

273 citations were issued. The other 161 people were let go with warnings.

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