By: Donald V. Watkins
Copyrighted and Published on December 30, 2023
An Exclusive Investigative Report ---
Today, he is the co-founder, president, CEO, and publisher of Birmingham, Alabama-based 1819 News. His real name is Kenneth Bryan Dawson.
Dawson is the man who “outed” former Smiths Stations, Alabama Mayor Fred “Bubba” Copeland on November 1, 2023, for engaging in crossing-dressing activities in his home and writing works of erotic fiction. Three days after he was "outed," Bubba Copeland killed himself with a gun.
In April 2007, Kenneth Bryan Dawson was a hardcore drug trafficker and serial motor vehicle thief in Colorado Springs, Colorado who tortured a member of his motor vehicle theft ring with a taser and beat him with a padlock attached to a heavy chain – all because Dawson thought this violent crime victim was a “snitch.”
Justin Joslin, Dawson’s attempted murder victim, said Dawson tased him 15 to 20 times. Joslin had burn marks on his legs and arms from the tasing. Joslin also sustained blunt force trauma to his forehead caused by Dawson hitting him with the padlock.
The treating physicians at the hospital told police Joslin was “lucky to be alive.”
The Colorado Springs, Colorado Police Department investigative report on Dawson’s attempted murder is detailed and damning. [The police file may be viewed by clicking the link here.]
Dawson accused Joslin of being a “snitch” for the police.
Dawson threatened Joslin that if he (Joslin) went to the police about this incident, “I will shoot you in the face, I will fucking kill you.”
After Dawson was arrested, police found methamphetamine, glass pipes for smoking it, cash, the taser Dawson used on Joslin, and an illegal sawed-off shotgun. They also retrieved the computer and camera that Dawson and his accomplice, Alexander Poe, stole from Joslin’s home.
Poe was also involved in Dawson’s drug trafficking ring. Police located Poe inside a “stash house” used by Dawson.
In 2021, the Alabama Policy Institute launched Dawson’s 1819 News operations in Alabama with a $1,077,500 contribution to 1819 Media, LLC.
Today, Kenneth Bryan Dawson, via his 1819 News multimedia platforms, effectively serves as the public face and media voice of the Alabama Policy Institute.