I didn’t watch last night’s CNN Soledad O’Brien special about crime in New Orleans — the commercials were too Jerry Springer-ish, and from the immediate reviews, I’m glad I didn’t. Instead, I’d rather focus on the fact that Liz McCartney was selected from a field of 10 as CNN’s Hero of the Year:

Liz McCartney, dedicated to helping survivors of Hurricane Katrina rebuild their homes, has been named the 2008 CNN Hero of the Year.

McCartney, of St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, received the honor at Saturday night’s taping of “CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute” at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. The telecast airs at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Thanksgiving on the global networks of CNN.

McCartney, who will receive $100,000 to continue her work just outside New Orleans, was selected from among the top 10 CNN Heroes after six weeks of online voting at CNN.com. More than 1 million votes were cast.

“To the country and the world, I ask you to please join us,” McCartney said. “Together we can continue to rebuild families’ homes and lives. … If you join us, we’ll be unstoppable.”

OK. That I’ll watch. Congratulations, Liz.

When Herb Dyer first read about Saturday’s fatal shooting on Chippewa Street, the owner of the Bulldog bar chain says it failed to register. Then he got a phone call on Sunday from one of his managers: The victim, 37-year-old Brian Thicksten from Gulfport, Miss., was the new grill cook at Dyer’s business on Magazine Street. At the time he was killed — around 8:20 p.m. — Thicksten was en route to his Irish Channel residence to drop off his dog before returning for a 9 p.m. shift.

“Our manager’s from Gulfport,” Dyer says. “He grew up with him, knew him his whole life. … Monday Brian’s mom drove in from Gulfport to identify his body. She was very upset and [it’s obvious] why. I only met Brian once, but I feel like his murder means nothing.”

Dyer, a lifelong New Orleanian, is referring to a local culture in which violent crimes such as the one that claimed Thicksten are an increasingly foregone conclusion. The Biloxi Sun Herald reports that when Charlotte Martin called the New Orleans coroner to ask if the deceased was indeed her son, “the only reply was ‘affirmative.’”

“It’s not even reported in the papers, and no one cares about it,” Dyer says. “We can’t even get any information on it.”

Over the last week, Thicksten’s MySpace page has become a primary source of information for mourners and well-wishers, as well as an outlet for levity from the former punk-rocker’s friends. (Thicksten was the frontman for local band the Nasty Habits.) “Give heaven hell,” one writes. A digital flyer announces three memorials this weekend: two concerts (9 p.m. Saturday at the Saturn Bar and 8 p.m. Sunday at the Hi-Ho Lounge) and a candlelight vigil, the latter scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the corner of Sixth and Chippewa streets, the site of Thicksten’s murder.

Above that intersection is a nonfunctioning crime camera — a symbol, Dyer says, of the city’s core problem in fighting crime. “It was just released in the paper the other day that 50 percent of the murders, they don’t have a witness, suspect, anything,” he says. “It’s like the joke with the cameras. We’ve just got to do a better job. It seems like the police are doing what they can. Hopefully, (new DA Leon) Cannizzaro will start to take control and things will turn around.”

For up-to-date information about crime in New Orleans, visit www.citizencrimewatch.org.

Behold: Fast Food Tattoos (tipoff courtesy of The Gurgling Cod). This one in particular seems relevant to our readership — a permanent salute to the enduring culinary accomplishments of one Mr. Al Copeland (image under the cut just in case you’re eating):

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“New Orleans Unchained” sounds just naughty enough to get locals’ attention. What’s that, a meeting group for S&M addicts? Not quite, unless you consider holiday shopping at big-box retailers a special form of masochism — and, come to think of it, you should. The Saturday, Nov. 22, initiative is actually an extension of America Unchained, a national campaign aiming to steer consumers toward the Octavia Books of the world rather than, say, Borders, which just happens to be holding its soft opening in the Garden District on (you guessed it) Saturday, Nov. 22. So go check out those big comfy chairs and expensive coffees on St. Charles Avenue, but make sure you buy that Sierra Club calendar your dad doesn’t want from an independent instead. It’s kind of subversive to do otherwise.

Proud sponsors of our own “shop local” promotion, Gambit Weekly rang Dana Eness of the Urban Conservancy and Stay Local! for the business on small businesses.

What’s the gist of America Unchained?

Across the country, independent business alliances like Stay Local! are all saying, “Let’s take this day, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, to shop conscientiously and try to do all of our shopping at locally owned stores.”

How is Stay Local! promoting the event?

Everybody’s kind of jumping on at different stages. This is our first time to do it, so we’re starting small — reaching out to our member business and saying, “Let us know what you’re doing.” There are so many great things going on. I’m collecting them all on our events page — really creative, win-win-win events.

Any you’re particularly excited about?

The one I love is Mat & Naddie’s pairing up with Anne Baker, who is an urban farm and gardening consultant. She does workshops all over town on how to do pot and container gardening, composting, that sort of thing. She’s doing a “beds and breakfast” workshop. It’s $45, you get wonderful lunch snacks provided by Mat & Naddie’s, she shows you how to do container gardening, and the containers they create stay with Mat & Naddie’s. They keep the flowerbeds that are created, the folks that come get this great lunch and leave with a skill, and proceeds go to Anne Baker’s community garden project in Gentilly. It’s brilliant.

What other types of promotions are happening?

There are lots of others with 20 percent of proceeds going to a charitable organization. La Divina Gelateria has something going on with four artisans selling their wares — a “homespun holiday” idea.

Life will have proven its futility should I arrive to meet my maker at that big sandwich counter in the sky and be presented with a menu that looks totally unlike this.

The Po-Boy Preservation Festival restores my faith in the trappings of the physical world — for now. 

I might have to check out early. I’d rather go with my boots on —a fried green tomato and shrimp remolaude stuffed artery should do the trick.

For the fellow sandwich obsessed, students and professors from University of New Orleans will present a few history lessons at the festival, including “Muffuletta: The Poor Boy’s Italian Cousin,” with guest speakers Sal Logiduce of United Bakery and Angelo Brocato of, well, duh. Gambit Weekly’s D. Erik Bookhardt and Bunny Matthews will join the discussion in “Lost Poor Boy Shops: Clarence and Lefty’s.”

James “It’s the economy, stupid” Carville is a regular Brangelina in these parts. He’s been spotted (by pundit pulverizer and Gambit staff writer Noah Bonaparte Pais) waiting for a table at Irene’s, and Carville’s e-stalkers have posted a few Craigslist Missed Connections.

Carville’s in town thanks to Tulane University, who hired CNN’s resident Skeletor to teach an upcoming class, “The 2008 Presidential Election.” His tailor-made classroom size of 40 students — whittled down from 125 applicants — features supposedly the best and brightest.

But what about the denied applicants — the 85 Carvilleless, jaded poli-sci majors dragging their feet around campus, obviously blacklisted as campus conservatives by the Tulane elite.

I guess the weeding out saves Carville from having to discipline the bad seeds. God forbid a political celebrity get his hands dirty. Text messagers, those with obnoxious cell phone ringtones and pretending-to-type-but-really-just-on-the-Internet laptop users beware. Carville ain’t afraid to get Cajun style. 

We’ve had these posters for this weekend’s Po-Boy Preservation Festival all over the office for the last week, and they’re graphic masterpieces as well as seductive little reminders that it’s been too long since I had a Patton’s hot sausage po-boy on Leidenheimer bread.

This poster is by local artist Jon Schooler, and it’s for sale at the Fest’s online shop in a set of 250 numbered/signed prints. $100, which seems reasonable for a nice print on archival paper. But if you can’t afford one, you can always afford a po-boy at the festival this weekend. Details here.

It looks like Phoenix Recycling can, again, accept cardboard.

Effective immediately, WE CAN TAKE CARDBOARD (shipping boxes, cereal boxes, pizza boxes, etc). Our collection crews have devised a way to keep the cardboard separate. Please keep cardboard separate from mixed paper - flattened next to or under your bin.”

But GLASS is still a no-no:

The Recycling Foundation of Baton Rouge can no longer market all they take in. We need any help you can offer in finding markets for what amounts to clean, heavy sand. It makes an excellent dustless road pack, if you have a shell road on your property or business and want to test it out, let us know. We are watching for research results in Florida for use as a wetlands and beach stabilizer. The real problem is that most large buyers are very far away and there is a glut in most markets. Many Municipal programs do not accept glass. We are working on finding markets and resuming glass collection.”

- In our cover story, David Winkler-Schmit examines citizen groups who are keeping others abreast of crime in their neighborhoods by using email, Google Maps, and other high-tech neighborhood watch tools…

- Clancy DuBos composes another valentine to Ray Nagin’s unique brand of leadership in the wake of this week’s City Council/Sanitation Department blowout….

- Jeremy Alford watches Gov. Bobby Jindal eye the 2012 presidential race…and wonders why former Gov. Kathleen Blanco is suddenly sending out press releases praising Barack Obama’s selection of Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff….

- Bryan Davis previews the annual Words & Music literary festival, and Alison Fensterstock scopes out next weekend’s concert by the Cool Kids…

- and our monthly home and fashion magazine, CUE, is out with a December edition featuring holiday clothes and gifts, Champagne accessories and some cool handmade local items, curated by Kara Nelson.

What about that cold front last night? It’s a beautiful day. Get off the computer. I am.

Happy Veterans Day to all the Louisiana vets (and to my dad).

The Greater New Orleans Veterans Council and the Military Order of the Purple Heart are hosting this year’s Veterans Day parade in downtown New Orleans, and the National World War II Museum has a full day of activities planned, with free admission to the museum for all veterans, active military, Guard and Reserve and their immediate families.

If you want to help out local vets in a more material way, blogger Greta Perry, who raises funds for Soldiers’ Angels, is now collecting funds for the group’s new endeavor, Project Valour, which provides high-tech help to the wounded:

When a soldier receives their voice-activated laptop, they can reconnect to the world and it helps their mind and body heal at a faster pace. Valour-IT has also expanded to include Wii systems and GPS systems. The Wii is proven to help the wounded with rehabilitation. Just listening to personal accounts about it will sell you on this. Also, personal GPS and Handheld GPS are needed to help those compensate for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to TBI and severe PTSD.

Greta can fill you in on all the details.