Publisher's Notebook

I was out in Nevada (that’s Nev-ADD-ah, not Nev-AHD-ah) last weekend, at the Society of Professional Journalists convention in Las Vegas.

If you’ve never been there, suffice it to say that Vegas is over the top and in-your-face on just about every level. After I checked in to the Planet Hollywood, where the SPJ was meeting, I rounded the corner and right there on the elevator doors was a larger-than-life poster of Holly Madison, former Playboy Girl Next Door and star of “Peepshow.”  I managed to miss that show, but I assume it was suited to Holly’s talents.

And billboards. All over there were lawyer billboards. Law firms must be keeping the Vegas billboard industry in business.  

One p.i. firm tried poetry: “In a wreck? Get a check!”

Many others offered bankruptcy help. Considering Nevada has the highest unemployment rate in the country, I’m guessing those lawyers stay busy.

Traffic tickets must be a problem in Vegas. You can call the ”Ticket Busters” for help. The billboards and website feature a cartoony cop. The firm promises, “NO court. NO traffic school. NO insurance increase (asterisk: “In most cases”).  

There was one firm that seemed to be everywhere: “Half Price Lawyers,” a group that promised to handle your traffic ticket for 50 bucks. For other matters, they have payment plans starting at $100 down.

How can they work so cheap? Their website explains that Half Price Lawyers can charge lower fees “because we only hire experienced seasoned attorneys who have already handled lots of cases like yours.” The site adds, in case you didn’t know, “Experienced attorneys can usually find the answers more quickly than new lawyers lacking experience.”

HPL is the brainchild of Adam Stokes, who has been practicing in Nevada since 2004. He was the force behind Ticket Busters before he sold the firm to another guy, according to Wild Wild Law, “a tabloid blog” dedicated to Nevada law, judges and lawyers.

The Half Price crew is multimedia. In case anyone in Las Vegas missed them, the site features little pictures of their bright yellow and red billboards and their ads on city buses. There’s a little radio you can click to hear their jingle:

Bankruptcy or DUI
Tickets or divorce
Or you’ve been in an accident
And looking for recourse
None of these are pleasant
But here’s something that’s nice
Our lawyers want to help you
And our lawyers are half-price.

If you’re interested, there’s a link to “Franchising and Licensing Opportunities.” The firm will consider licensing the brand. In other words, the “Half Price Lawyers” moniker doesn’t have to stay in Vegas.

It’s another holiday weekend. That means another press release from the National Motorists Association warning drivers about where you are likely to get caught speeding. The NMA bills itself as a “motorists’ rights group.”

Back around the 4th of July, we had an item on their list of states where you’re most likely to get a speeding ticket.

Just in time for Labor Day, they have a slightly different list — places that are the “worst” for speed traps.

The group notes that a lot of families travel over the holidays, and they created the list “to help [them] avoid a depressing and expensive holiday traffic ticket experience.” Plus, the release continues, financially strapped local and state governments may be looking at speeders as a cash cow. Thanks to budget crunches, motorists may “have good reason to feel like they have dollar signs painted on their vehicles.”

As with the ticket list before it, you can decide whether you buy the NMA’s methodology. The list contains “the most user-reported speed traps” by state. The who, how and when of the reporting aren’t mentioned in the release.

Two cities are listed for each state. The first is the one containing the largest number of reported speed traps, regardless of size.

Virginia Beach takes the top honors for the commonwealth.

The second category is the most speed traps among cities with 100,000 or fewer residents. Fairfax is their choice in that category.

You can get specifics on 60,000 speed traps across America at www.speedtrap.org.

You can buy the NMA’s info or not. It’s up to you. But either way, if you travel this holiday weekend, as they used to say on “Hill Street Blues” back in the ’80s: “Let’s be careful out there.”

Here’s a nugget, so to speak, that I gathered last weekend on the drive home from Pittsburgh (where my daughter is attending grad school this fall):

Did you know that they used to mine gold in Northern Virginia?

There’s a sign along Highway 17 in Fauquier County commemorating that fact, not far from Goldvein.

A little Internet research, and I learned they used to mine a lot of gold in Northern Virginia. A couple of quick facts:

There used to be gold mines and prospecting sites all throughout Virginia in the 19th century, more than 300 at one time or another. Serious mining began in 1804; the last time gold was mined commercially was in 1947.

The 200-mile-long gold streak starts roughly in Fairfax County and runs through many of the Northern Virginia counties, more or less follows Interstate 95, then veers southwest to the North Carolina border.

Thomas Jefferson allegedly was the first to discover gold in the Old Dominion. TJ supposedly found a big nugget in Fauquier County and set off a minor rush.

Virginia was the major producer of gold in the country until the glittery stuff was discovered in California in 1849. At that time, many prospectors ditched Virginia and headed west.

The Franklin mine in Fauquier was one of the biggest and most lucrative mines, producing more than a million dollars’ worth of gold between 1825 and 1860. That’s pre-Civil War dollars. During the war, Union forces destroyed a number of mines in an effort to cripple the Confederacy economically.

Best names of mines: The Bull Neck Mine in Fairfax, the Rough and Ready Mine in Buckingham and the Rattlesnake Mine in Stafford.

There is a museum commemorating Virginia gold mining at Goldvein. On Sept. 11, Goldvein is hosting a Jubilee, with activities that include, yes, panning for gold.

Lake Anna State Park in Spotsylvania includes the site of the old Goodwin gold mine; the park offers mine tours, panning and historical info on mining there.

Here’s an item for the upcoming holiday weekend. It’s the 4th of July, and you’re traveling to visit family and friends. Or maybe you’re just trying to get away.

You run a little behind, so you need to make time. You need to push the speed limit just a little. If your foot has a little too much lead in it, where are you most likely to get a speeding ticket?

Florida, according to an outfit called the National Motorists Association. The association bills itself as a “motorists’ rights group” that helps drivers fight speeding and other traffic tickets. They just completed a survey on ticketing trends.

The Sunshine State is at the top of their most-likely list, followed by Georgia and Nevada in a tie for 2nd, Texas then Alabama.

Virginia is in a tie with Minnesota for 28th place.

Wait a minute, you say. How can the NMA determine the states “most likely” to issue tickets? They used Google. They analyzed ticket-related search queries such as “speeding ticket” and “traffic ticket” over time using Google’s Search Insights — a public tool that shows state-by-state search trends across the United States.

Whether you buy that methodology or not is up to you, but note that two jurisdictions adjoining Virginia make the top 10: North Carolina rates 8th and D.C. is at number 9.

You’ll have to drive a far piece to get where tickets are least likely under the NMA survey. Montana is at the bottom, followed Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Alaska. If you’re driving to those places for the weekend, you better load up the kids and car right now.

I was in Indianapolis late last month for the convention of the Society of Professional Journalists (I am the vice president of the Virginia Pro chapter), the first time I’d ever visited the Hoosier capital.

A very nice place. Indianapolis goes by a number of nicknames. Indy. Nap-town. The Crossroads of America. The Circle City.

I’d never heard the last one — it’s based on a downtown circle that has the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in the center. It’s 284′ tall and honors Indianans who fought in a number of wars – the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War and the Spanish-American War.

Finished in 1901, the monument has four fountains that the locals jump when celebrating something really important, such as V-E Day near the end of World War II or, oh, the Colts winning the Super Bowl.

 It also has a big Civil War museum housed in the basement of the monument.

Richmond styles itself as the City of Monuments, and Monument Avenue is dotted with Civil War heroes – Lee, Jackson, Stuart. Lee went up first, in 1890, and the others were erected about the same general time the Hoosiers were putting up their big monument.

Big difference in Indiana, though – up in Indianapolis, they were celebrating a victory by the home team.