Nick Lachey On Mexican Hot-Tub Cha-Cha: 'Where's the Scandal?'

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- He says 'it's not like I was caught with a Mexican hooker" and contends his privacy was violated by a camera-packin' interloper. Cincinnati's Nick Lachey is a Hollywood celebrity who got snapped as a paparazzi target having a steamy moment with best gal Vanessa Minnillo near Puerto Vallarta. He says the pictures invaded his privacy.

The latest from the tabs has the 33-year-old Lachey now questioning the whole celebrity fascination culture.

"For me, it was disheartening. Is it acceptable to violate someone's private life and personal space? Is this what it's come to. We both knew when we came into this business we had to give up aspects of our privacy. But when someone is stalking you with a zoom lens, in my mind that is overstepping the bounds."

Lachey's words are wise, and he and Minnillo have hired lawyer to keep the pictures of their romantic moments off the 'Net and out of the rags, er mags that thrive on such tripe.

In an earlier post, the Bellwether
agreed with Nick that taking racy photos of his hot tub soiree was out of line.

"It's not like I was caught with a Mexican hooker," Lachey told e-online, adding, "unfortunately, as a celebrity, you're a target."

Ohio Sex Surveys: Is Cincy Really Sinsy?

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- This notoriously blue-nosed metropolis on the Ohio River suddenly has two local tabloid newspapers trying to peek into its sacks and beneath the sheets. Even though Loveland, Ohio, is just up the road, the world of journalism -- or what passes for journalism these days -- wants to know if Cincinnatians are tarts at heart.

There are two sex surveys out in the competing alt/weekly tabs published in Cincinnati -- er, Sinsinnati.

First, there is this questionnaire from City Beat , which is itself at heart an independent-minded publication that likes a good fling. Then there is CiN's version, which the Gannett newspaper chain publication has floated online. That's a buttoned-down corporate survey.

Obviously, the tabs are racing for something racy to publish on St. Valentine's Day in a few weeks.

Cincinnati has never been known as a saucy spot on the map. The authorities chased Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt out of town years ago. They managed to keep the Playboy Channel off local cable stations for a time in the 1980s. They raided and prosecuted an art museum over an exhibition of Robert Mapplethorpe's photos. The vice squad even seized a Hollywood movie from a gay-oriented bookstore claiming it was obscene. And the community gave birth to Ohio's major porn-fighting organization, Citizens for Community Values, which is headed by Phil Burress.

How much s-e-x in Cincinnati? As much as people can lie (or is it lay) about.