Crime watch

Turner says he'll add a regular pullout section with pictures, names, and addresses of convicted sex offenders in the neighborhood to Crime and Politics. "People are very concerned. We try to run lists and numbers of associations people can get involved with if they want to change things," he says. "We want to run editorials, but we want to keep it unbiased." But he lives in this neighborhood, and it's difficult to disguise his strong opinions on some of the topics Crime and Politics tackles. "Like the sex offenders," he says. "I want these guys put in jail. I don't want them running around the neighborhood, having the opportunity to molest these kids again."

Albertson's, along with several of the neighborhood businesses that fill the strip center on Midway, advertises in Turner's 12-page tabloid, which he says will soon grow to 16 pages. For now, Crime and Politics is "on hold for a couple of weeks," Turner says, while he focuses time and resources on developing a related Web site to attract more readers and benefit advertisers. "We'll put our most popular features on the Web site, and readers will be able to link to advertisers' sites," he says.

Turner seeks out potential Crime and Politics advertisers himself, making the rounds of neighborhood businesses, chewing the fat with store-owners who have had it with crime or who stand to profit from a fearful public. The bulk of the advertisers seem perfectly suited for a crime-awareness and -prevention publication: security companies, steel-door manufacturers, security-vault installers, and attorneys. "It's not a hard sell," he says. "People are reading it, if for no other reason than the 'Crime at a Glance' map."