On days when our lead story is about a big crime, we'll typically hear from readers denouncing the "sensational" nature of the paper. "You're worse than the tabloids," they'll say.

You know what else happens when there's a big crime story atop the front page? We sell more papers, usually lots more.

Today, for example, with our coverage of the drug bust in Midtown, it's hard to find a Freeman in and around Kingston.

Like rubberneckers on a highway who slow down to view a wreck, even people who normally eschew newspapers will plunk down four bits for a copy with a tasty crime splashed above the fold on Page 1.

It's tempting to ask the editors to routinely take the most important police blotter story of the day and move it from Page 2 to the front. But we don't go that route, in part because this isn't Dodge City, so most local crime news doesn't usually rate Page 1 attention and we don't force feed it.

But when there's a meaty story like the one, it's atop Page 1 because it's important news. That it helps sell copies is a silver lining for us.