Shane Johnson

Shane Song

As with sausage and lawmaking, not everyone wants to know how political scandals are dug up. That’s what keeps James Evans in business.

• By Shane Johnson
Long-dead muckraker and hopeless cynic H.L. Mencken riffed, “Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.” While some of that blame resides with Mencken’s slavish Fourth Estate, most...

Tokin’ Victory

A guilty-as-sin stoner beats the rap, but the sheriff won’t discuss the one that got away.

• By Shane Johnson
May 2004, Doug Woods packed up his 1982 Volkswagen Vanagon and, with his trusty pooch Sadie riding shotgun, headed home to Boulder, Colo. He’d spent the previous six months with friends and family in Fremont, Calif., after his mother succumbed to...

Blotter Fodder

• By Shane Johnson
Take a Hint10/13/06, 03:09, Domestic Violence, Arson, near State Street and 900 SouthnnThe 33-year-old male suspect “argued with his girlfriend because she would not go home. The [suspect] then went out to his girlfriend’s car and kicked the...

The Missionary Position

Speaker of the House Greg Curtis

• By Shane Johnson
Greg CurtisnnAttorney, state lawmaker, speaker of the House Served mission in Auckland, New Zealand, 1980-82nnWere you ever injured on your mission?nn“One time we were playing volleyball on our recreation day. A huge Polynesian guy came flying through...

The Missionary Position

SLCSpin.com’s Ethan Millard

• By Shane Johnson
Ethan Millard Keeper of the blog at SLCSpin.com and KSL Radio Nightside Project political reporterServed mission amid political upheaval in Bucharest, Romania, 1996–1998nnIs it good form for a returned missionary to call elected officials “jackasses”...

Blotter Fodder

• By Shane Johnson
Broadsided10/08/06, 00:34, Strong Arm Robbery/Aggravated Assault, 922 E. 2100 South, Smith’snnThe 24-year-old female “attempted to take a 30-pack of beer from Smith’s without paying. When Smith’s employees attempted to intercede,...

The Missionary Position

The test of faith

• By Shane Johnson
Alan DaytonServed mission in North Dakota and South Dakota, 1987–89IHC lobbyist, former Salt Lake County deputy mayornnHow was your faith tested on your mission?nI was a zone leader in Bismarck, N.D. I went on splits with this elder'the highest-baptizing...

The Missionary Position

• By Shane Johnson
Steven Greenstreet • FilmmakerServed mission to Valencia, Venezuela, 1998–2000nnDid you ever live next door to a stripper?nMy last six months in the mission, we lived in an apartment building that had been turned into two apartments simply by putting...

Blotter Fodder

• By Shane Johnson
Two Guys, a Head and Some Blownn09/07/06, 01:30, Drug Arrest, 602 E. 500 Southnn“Security officers at the Green Street Club found two men in the same stall in the restroom. When they confronted them, one of the men dropped a bag of cocaine. An officer...

Blotter Fodder

• By Shane Johnson
You, Sir, Are No Evel Knievelnn09/01/06, 21:33, Motorcycle Accident, 960 S. Jefferson St.nn“The victim had just left the Port O’ Call [a downtown bar] and was riding his motorcycle southbound on West Temple. He was being followed by a friend....