This whole situation is kind of our fault. When Atlanta has been more directly involved with the Super Bowl, it hasn’t always turned out great.
That 2000 thriller at the Dome? Preceded by two freak storms that turned the town into one gigantic ice slick and — many suspect — put our chance to host future Super Bowls in the deep freeze. (There also was that party in Buckhead that ended in a double homicide and with NFL star Ray Lewis later pleading guilty to obstructing justice. But, let’s just focus on the cold weather.)
That one time the Falcons actually played in the Super Bowl? Preceded first by head coach Dan Reeves having to have emergency quadruple bypass surgery late in the regular season. And then by defensive star Eugene Robinson being arrested on a charge of soliciting sex from an undercover female police officer just hours before kickoff in Miami.
See the full article from “Atlanta Journal Constitution”
Wenger also went a long way to create the perfect tailgate parties, making the back of his truck a stage with a “stripper pole” for dancing and music from the attached camper, where he sleeps the night before each game.
Wenger’s self-designed installation on his truck caught the eye of Larry the Cable Guy, a spokesperson in all print, TV, digital and in-store advertising for Prilosec OTC, which sponsored a contest last fall called “A Better Way to Tailgate.”
After searching the parking lots of NFL stadiums around the country, looking for parking lot pros who knew how to tailgate, Larry the Cable Guy chose Wenger’s setup as the grand prize winner.
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Wenger says he thinks it was the “stripper pole” and stage on his truck that caught the eye of Larry the Cable Guy.
See the full article from “Sandy Post”
Officer David Bryant, right, of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police, watches the crowd at the Super Bowl Village in Indianapolis on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. From pickpockets and prostitutes to dirty bombs and exploding manhole covers, authorities are bracing for whatever threat Super Bowl XLVI might bring.
See the full article from “Rockford Register Star”
Police said the 21-year-old woman is from Cleveland and had been forced into prostitution at age 16.
The 19-year-old woman is from Las Vegas and also had been forced into prostitution at age 16, police said.
An FBI Crimes Against Children unit interviewed both women and gathered information about those involved in the operation.
Once authorities determined that the women were part of a human trafficking operation, their status shifted from suspect to victim, RTV6’s Jack Rinehart reported.
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Police said prostitutes from all over the country are in Indianapolis this week. Many of them advertise on backpage.com, one of many sites police are watching closely.
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“That’s our main focus this week, to look for underage children that could possibly be brought into prostitution in Indianapolis during the Super Bowl, Kivett said. “That’s our main concentration and those that are trafficked for prostitution as adults.”
See the full article from “WRTV Indianapolis”
A coalition of Roman Catholic nuns has joined city officials in Indianapolis in training hotel employees, cab drivers and security officers to identify possible victims of sex trafficking online, in hotel lobbies and sports bars during Super Bowl weekend, WKYC-TV reported.
“The Super Bowl – or any large sports game – always draws traffickers and they bring the product line because there are a lot of men that are used to buying commercial sex around these events,” Linda Smith, the president and founder of anti-human trafficking organization Shared Hope International, told Fox News. “Unfortunately, it draws minors as a product line. People bring in kids.”
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children said there were 133 underage arrests for prostitution during 2011’s Super Bowl weekend in Dallas and estimates that 10,000 prostitutes were brought to the 2010 Super Bowl in Miami, according to Forbes Magazine.
See the full article from “GlobalPost”
… We want to share with the traffickers that we are watching,” Sister Marilyn Nickol, of Cleveland’s Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph Cleveland, tells WKYC.
Seven hotels requested training prior to the Super Bowl to help employees recognize trafficking situations and how to assist victims, according to MySuburbanLife.com, which reports that congregations from Indiana, Illinois and Michigan will also be in Indianapolis this weekend.
“We thought someone has to do this. Someone has to take it on,” says Sister Anne Victory, the education coordinator of the Collaborative to End Human Trafficking.
On Monday, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed into law tougher penalties on sex traffickers, The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports.
The bill makes it a felony to recruit, harbor or transport a child younger than 16 with the intent to engage in prostitution. It also increases the penalty for anyone who sells or transfers custody of a child, the newspaper reports.
See the full article from “Tucson Citizen”
… We’re aiming at the organizers,” said Senator Head. “These are sophisticated rings. They have business plans. They trade girls back and forth from city to city. They’re highly sophisticated and very well run. We’re trying to go up the ladder and get those people instead of just settling for the people on the street.”
That’s why legislators created harsher punishment for the people trafficking prostitutes. Senator Head authored legislation that closed up three legal loopholes for sex traffickers. It also moves sex trafficking to a class A felony.
“We’re trying to add decades onto a sentence for someone who would even think about engaging in this sort of thing,” Senator Head said.
State lawmakers rushed through Senator Head’s legislation. Governor Daniels signed it into law Monday.
Law enforcement has been trained to know what to look for and isn’t revealing its game plan in stopping the crimes. But sadly, there’s still the demand.
“Not only the pimp or the operator, but the customer can be prosecuted because it’s illegal,” said Allen. “It’s a violation of the rights of the child.”
See the full article from “WANE”
At Indianapolis strip club, the dancers have Big Blue fever ‘No one knows how to party like New Yorkers’ says Brad’s Brass Flamingo staff By Matt Lysiak / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, February 2, 2012, 5:08 PM
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INDIANAPOLIS –A Big Blue Super Bowl run was just the stimulus the exotic dancers of Indianapolis needed. “We were all rooting for the Giants to make it,” said Kendra Gill, a dancer at Brad’s Brass Flamingo. “No one knows how to party like New Yorkers. And everyone knows they are the best tippers.” Big Blue enthusiasm is hitting fever pitch at the club. When a group of Giants showed up Monday night, they were quickly surrounded by women. “It was amazing. So exciting,” said dancer Jaynay Council. “They know where the prettiest girls are and they …
See the full article from “New York Daily News”
… For more Super Bowl news, see NFLP .)
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Indianapolis is girding for a Super Bowl party that is challenging its small-town virtues. The strippers are already at work.
Rick’s Cabaret International Inc. flew in more than 100 dancers to its Indianapolis club for “seven days of nonstop party action” from its Miami, New York, Minneapolis and Texas venues, Allan Priaulx, a spokesman, said in a telephone interview from New York.
“We wouldn’t bring them down there if they weren’t going to make money for us, and they wouldn’t go unless they were going to make money for themselves,” said Priaulx, whose firm’s shares rose 18 percent in the year ending Jan. 31, compared with 2 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
National Football League owners voted four years ago to hold the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis, the state capital and a center for amateur sports. The city has said the economic impact of the game between the New York Giant …
See the full article from “San Francisco Chronicle”
Rick’s Imports Strippers as Indianapolis Readies for Bowl Revels
February 03, 2012, 1:45 AM EST
By Mark Niquette and Tim Jones
(For more Super Bowl news, see NFLP .)
Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) — Indianapolis is girding for a Super Bowl party that is challenging its small-town virtues. The strippers are already at work.
Rick’s Cabaret International Inc. flew in more than 100 dancers to its Indianapolis club for “seven days of nonstop party action” from its Miami, New York, Minneapolis and Texas venues, Allan Priaulx, a spokesman, said in a telephone interview from New York.
“We wouldn’t bring them down there if they weren’t going to make money for us, and they wouldn’t go unless they were going to make money for themselves,” said Priaulx, whose firm’s shares rose 18 percent in the year ending Jan. 31, compared with 2 percent for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
See the full article from “BusinessWeek”