Friend: Hanged Ky. Census worker was 'naive'

[RBM]

Friend: Hanged Ky. Census worker was 'naive' (To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.)

MANCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting Census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drew on years of experience for a warning: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery with the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

"Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as 'the government.' I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there," said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.

I don't find this unexpected, but the mindset leading to the behavior most certainly is misplaced. I hope the perpetrator(s) are caught and brought to trial. I can foresee where a trial of this sort of case could get out of hand, similar to the Teabaggers behavior - or worse.

[ClydeB]

As a former resident of Kentucky and a frequent traveler there for my day job. I was not surprised at all by this. I know a number of very private people who are distrustful of "outsiders". Especially when it comes to personal lives and property. I suspect the man stumbled into something illegal like a meth or marijuana operation while traveling door to door and got taken down for it.

If it hadn't been for the "Fed" part of the story I doubt it would have made national news though. Anything that plays into the Appalachia and revenuer archetype always makes for good copy.

[RBM]

ahhh, Meth, eh ?

Yeah, the anti-gov slant would make a great cover !! Are you familiar with the 'bust status' of Meth labs in the area ? Is it a subject in the local paper ? Have the local law enforcement (LE) agencies done any public outreach to increase LE penetration into the Meth network ?

[ClydeB]

I don't follow the regional Kentucky news other than when it makes the Louisville / Kentuckiana local news or to national level. So no real idea on the number of meth busts. There's been so many in the paper I tend to just skip on past them. Except for when I happen to spot the names of people I went to high school with as arrestees. (happened twice that I have seen)

Try googling up "meth busts Kentucky" and see all the page after page after page of results.

[RBM]

I don't follow the regional Kentucky news other than when it makes the Louisville / Kentuckiana local news or to national level. So no real idea on the number of meth busts. There's been so many in the paper I tend to just skip on past them. Except for when I happen to spot the names of people I went to high school with as arrestees. (happened twice that I have seen)

Try googling up "meth busts Kentucky" and see all the page after page after page of results.

Thanks for the search tip, but I was hoping for a 'man on the ground' perspective.

The curious thing to me is whether a Meth 'chemist' or associate would be sharp enough to come up with such a story for cover purposes. My limited associations with such people 30 years ago would indicate not.

At any rate, the story is young.

[ClydeB]

I don't know that it was cunning insight. Could be as simple as the perp honestly thought it was a government/tax man and had no clue how to spell "revenuer"

[Aronnax]

Thanks for the search tip, but I was hoping for a 'man on the ground' perspective.

The curious thing to me is whether a Meth 'chemist' or associate would be sharp enough to come up with such a story for cover purposes. My limited associations with such people 30 years ago would indicate not.

At any rate, the story is young.

It wouldn't necessarily have to be a cover story, backwoods growers and chemists distrust any stranger, particularly if that stranger identified himself as a Government worker. A guy hung with "fed" scrawled on his chest isn't all that different than a body found with both hands severed (suspected thief).

There are places you shouldn't go, apparently Bill didn't know that.

[reb]

maybe the 'hanger' meant 'i am fed up'?

i would blame it on the meth; couldn't be anything else going on here.

[WyeMe]

i would blame it on the meth; couldn't be anything else going on here.

Do what?!
I'm sure you must not have thought about how obtuse that statement was when you made it:)
There just isn't enough information available to do anything more than speculate. I could think of a lot of other reasons besides stumbling on a drug ring. Drugs are a business & this can't be good for business. It seems unlikely to me that he would stumble upon a meth lab just going door to door asking questions, even idiots try to keep their illegal activity as secret as possible.

[Profit]

maybe the 'hanger' meant 'i am fed up'?

i would blame it on the meth; couldn't be anything else going on here.

I would agree that we just have to let the story develop before we jump to conclusion but you can't say at this point that the killing was the result of a drug house being 'discovered'. There is the real possibility that this has political overtones.

From the Atlantic
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Alex Koppelman wrote that paranoia has always existed on the fringe, but conservative leaders who encourage their fear are bringing them to the forefront. "There are always people who have some sort of paranoia about the federal government and the census, but things might be worse this time around," he wrote. "There's been a lot of talk on the right about the connection (always very tenuous, and now severed) between the census and ACORN, a group that's been conservatives' favorite bogeyman of late. And Rep. MicheleBachmann, R-Minn., has been spreading her own fears about the census, at one point even suggesting a link between the census and Japanese internment during World War II -- a frightening parallel for modern conspiracy theorists who fear that the government is setting up similar camps for them now."

Encouraging Violence? Digby pointed to high-profile conspiracy mongering that may have implicitly condoned violence. "If he was killed for being a federal census worker, it certainly wouldn't be the first time that 'Feds' have been targeted," she wrote. "And we all know that the census is an ACORN plot and the Van Jones commies in the government are trying to destroy the American way of life. Michelle Bachman told us so. You can't expect Real Americans to just sit back and let that happen."

[hubcap]

The fringe on the right certainly doesn't have exclusive rights to paranoia. The fringe on the left is equally guilty. People who advanced the idea that Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks beforehand and chose to do nothing, or that it was actually the US government behind the attacks.

Nuts exist across the entire political spectrum.

[Mader]

Um, I lived in rural Kentucky for awhile.

There are places that do not welcome outsiders.

Meth, pot, moonshine, chop shops, etc. Not all of rural Kentucky, or any other rural area is filled with illegal activity, but some are.

So, this is no different that having a sign on the mans neck saying ' Revenuer '. Unfortunately, this man went down the wrong road, literally. Just as in the inner city, there are some places where strangers just don't go.