Infowars Story on Illegal Tennessee Checkpoint Prompts Action by Governor

In response to a number of calls to the Tennessee Governor’s office, the Whiteville, Tennessee police have canceled a planned seat belt checkpoint operation that was to be conducted in conjunction with the Department of Homeland Security and the 251st Military Police in Bolivar, Tennessee.

[audio:http://www.infowars.com/media/checkpoint.mp3]

WNWS 101.5 FM aired a story on the cancellation today.

Keith Sherley of 101.5 FM in Jackson, Tennessee, interviewed Representative Johhny Shaw earlier today. Shaw indicated Governor Phil Bredesen “didn’t need another headache” and canceled the checkpoint. Shaw, who represents the area in Tennessee where the exercise was to be held, admitted the checkpoint was a “bad idea in the first place.” Shaw voiced his opposition to military involvement with local law enforcement. “It would have frightened more people than it helped,” Shaw added. He said he did not think the operation would be rescheduled.

[efoods]Infowars, Prison Planet, and a handful of blogs covered the story on Thursday. The story was not deemed important by the corporate media. A Google News search of corporate news media websites returns zero results on the story, even though the checkpoint was a direct violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Posse Comitatus Act prohibiting military involvement in domestic police operations.

Calls to Governor Phil Bredesen and his decision to halt the checkpoint operation may be attributed to the diligence of an Infowars reader who provided a tip that resulted in a story appearing on the Infowars and Prison Planet news websites yesterday and earlier today. If not for that coverage, the checkpoint operation with DHS and military collaboration would have probably occurred on April 4, as originally noted in the Hardeman County, Tennessee, Bulletin Times.

NewsTalk 101.5 FM apparently picked up the story from either Infowars or Prison Planet. The WNWS website ran an article on the cancellation with the headline “DHS, Military Police, Law Enforcement Planned Checkpoint in Whiteville, Tennessee,” almost exactly the same headline that appeared on Alex Jones’ websites.

This article was posted: Friday, April 3, 2009 at 11:32 pm

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