So what did you do this weekend, Muggers? Some normal stuff, I bet. Took down the Halloween decorations, perhaps? Maybe a pleasant walk in Greenough Park. You know how we spent the weekend here at Mugs HQ? We spent it getting our site gutted by Missoula County. That’s right, friends, Missoula Mugs is kaput.

As of November 1st, someone in your local Missoula County government made the decision to remove booking photos from the online jail roster. See for yourself.

The question, of course, is why? Why destroy this treasured local institution? (We happen to know that each day Mugs is visited by thousands and thousands of you beautiful connoisseurs of penal portraiture.) Have we not been totally cool about all this? We never allowed comments on Mugs, never took this thing to social media, and never tried to cash in on this glorious venture—and not for lack of opportunity, believe you me. (Sure, we let Dwight Schulte advertise on Mugs, but we didn’t do that for the money, we did it because Dwight is dope as hell.) When a Missoula County elected official came to us last winter and asked us to promote the county’s “Let’s Not Wreck the Holidays” anti-drunk driving campaign, we were total team players about the whole thing. In fact, we wrote the rootin’est, tootin’est, most rip-roaring PSA those squares at the county have ever laid eyes on.

And let’s get one thing straight right here, and we need you all to bring your eyes closer to the device right now. We have never taken somebody’s mugshot down from this page in exchange for money. As in, not one time, ever. People have asked over the years, and the answer is always the same: How did you get this number? Seriously though, we absolutely do not pull mugs for money and we never have. We’re aware of some imposters on social media, but we have no control over those copy-and-paste hacks and their off-brand trash bag mugshot account on Mark Zuckerberg’s website. Here’s how you tell us from the poseurs: We don’t allow comments, we aren’t on social media, and we have a gold-plated automated application that doesn’t require us to control-c/control-v ten times a day to keep our site going.

Bottom line is here at Mugs, we love everybody. We love the cops, we love the people who sometimes get arrested by cops, and we love all of you most of all, Muggers. All we’ve ever done is help keep you all informed of just what this government of the people, for the people, and by the people, is doing.

Unfortunately, the copycats on the local mugshot scene haven’t been as scrupulous, and so one bad apple has ruined it for everybody. And can we level with you, Muggers? We can see where Missoula County is coming from on this one. Missoula Mugs was never about kicking somebody while they’re down. That guy in the mugshot? Hell, we know that guy. We’ve been that guy. Making fun of that guy online is a punk move. If others are doing that, or worse, then we can see why Missoula County wants to shut this whole thing down.

Sucks though, right Muggers? Your window into the workings of your government just got smaller. Up until now, you knew who they were arresting and why. And if somebody got arrested and got pretty well beat up in the process, well, you’d be able to see that too, wouldn’t you? Not anymore.

We’re not super political types, but we know whoever did this is elected, or answers to somebody who’s elected. At they very least, shouldn’t they take responsibility for this decision and explain their reasoning? This seems like a perfect test case for whether that whole “death of local journalism” thing is real. A website with tens of thousands of local visitors has been silently eviscerated by the county government for giving citizens too much information about what local law enforcement is up to. Sounds like a good news story, no?

As for where it goes from here, that’s up to all of you. We’re warriors for truth, sure, but we’re not big on activism. Ball’s in your court, Muggers.