Man lynched in Kentucky for involvement with Census Bureau.

[Qwerty 42]

Anonymous source says that a murdered man employed by the census had the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest.

AP source: Census worker hanged with 'fed' on body

By DEVLIN BARRETT and JEFFREY McMURRAY (AP) – 40 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery. A law enforcement official says the word "fed" was scrawled on his chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.

Investigators have said little about the case. A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, tells The Associated Press the word "fed" was written on the dead man's chest.

FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is helping state police determine if Sparkman's death was the result of foul play, and if so, whether it was related to his census work.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A dark part of me thinks this is associated with the recent anti-government hysteria associated with the Tea Party movement and the backlash against the public option. If it's turned to violence, then it's only going downhill from here.

[MKSheppard]

Or it could be something else. Note the location -- Daniel Boone National Forest. Could be moonshiners or drug growers.

[SirNitram]

I said there'd be lynchings. It was rather blatantly clear. But nooooo, we can't ever point out terrorist right wingers.

[General Zod]

Investigators have said little about the case. A law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, tells The Associated Press the word "fed" was written on the dead man's chest.

Isn't this the type of shit they try to keep confidential so that they can use it to weed out false suspects? Getting an anonymous, unauthorized "tip" seems rather fishy.

[Jadeite]

Or it could be something else. Note the location -- Daniel Boone National Forest. Could be moonshiners or drug growers.

Conservatives and white supremacists have been talking for months about violence against census workers, and now one of the fucks has finally done it. Conservatism is rapidly becoming anti-American.

As a person on SA aptly put it:

Because the people who run meth labs are notorious for making a death as public as possible with a politically motivated message identical to Republicans. If he did stumble onto a meth lab he'd be dead in the middle of the woods somewhere six feet under and his murderers would be lying as low as possible so they don't get caught, not sparking a political frenzy.

[loomer]

And so it begins, as forecast months before this by anyone with a finger on the pulse of neo-conservatism in America. Hell, I saw it coming just from reading Alex Jones's websites. This'll escalate with a few more murders, maybe a couple of truther riots.

EDIT: To expand, a lot of the truthers think the Census is some kind of government plot to find out who to kill first or send to FEMA concentration camps for processing, and that it violates their rights as American citizens. They also think that the swine flu vaccine is just a eugenics program and that it might be targeted via the census. It's the supposed plan to mark each dwelling on a GPS grid that's got them up in arms about this area specifically.

[Broomstick]

Or it could be something else. Note the location -- Daniel Boone National Forest. Could be moonshiners or drug growers.

No, dumbshit, it's fucktards who don't like Federal workers. When I was working on the Census earlier this year I was threatened by bullies who made it VERY clear they were opposed to Federal anything and especially anything under Obama. The fact that historically many areas of Kentucky have been anti-Federal since the goddamned Whiskey Rebellion put down by George Washington under the Articles of Confederation just adds to the bullshit.

[AMT]

I was wondering when this was going to get some steam. *sigh*

Those of us who actually worked with him are divided on the issue... as well as what we're going to do to get people working down in that area. Damn thing's been a painful on several levels. To be selfish, I'll be glad when that area of the state is divided into another office when we do our splits, though that doesn't mean it can't happen again.

Edited to Add: Since I can't discuss details of the actual issue, I won't. But as some former workers in this thread have pointed out, there has been very strong sentiment against Census workers, especially in rural areas. Like southeastern KY.

[Garibaldi]

And so it begins, as forecast months before this by anyone with a finger on the pulse of neo-conservatism in America.

Sweet Christ this was painful to read. You clearly don't know what neo-conservatism is. Don't throw the word around.

[AMT]

And so it begins, as forecast months before this by anyone with a finger on the pulse of neo-conservatism in America.

Sweet Christ this was painful to read. You clearly don't know what neo-conservatism is. Don't throw the word around.

Are you sure he doesn't, since that's what the people who instigate a lot of this shit call themselves? Or are they not "true" neocons because you say so?

[loomer]

And so it begins, as forecast months before this by anyone with a finger on the pulse of neo-conservatism in America.

Sweet Christ this was painful to read. You clearly don't know what neo-conservatism is. Don't throw the word around.

I don't normally do this, but get the fuck out. The vast majority of the people raging against the machine are neo-conservatives now that Obama is in power - or would you like to prove otherwise?

[Garibaldi]

Neoconservatism is almost EXCLUSIVELY a foreign-policy ideology. It has no application to domestic policy. It has nothing to say on the issue of federalism or the welfare state (in fact, most of the architects of neoconservatism were very comfortable with the welfare state). You're clearly just using it as a synonym for "right-winger" which it is absolutely not. Grow the fuck up and own your mistakes.

[loomer]

Alright then, I'll bite. What would you call these whackjobs, keeping in mind that a lot of them state they are proud neocons? What term would you apply?

[thejester]

And so it begins, as forecast months before this by anyone with a finger on the pulse of neo-conservatism in America.

Sweet Christ this was painful to read. You clearly don't know what neo-conservatism is. Don't throw the word around.

I don't normally do this, but get the fuck out. The vast majority of the people raging against the machine are neo-conservatives now that Obama is in power - or would you like to prove otherwise?

While hardly comprehensive this article does a pretty good job of outlining the differences within the anti-Obama crowd. Even if you argue that neo-con can now by synonymous with the Bush Administration on all issues, not just foreign policy, most of the teabaggers/birthers/crazies aren't neo-cons.

[Patrick Degan]

The fact that historically many areas of Kentucky have been anti-Federal since the goddamned Whiskey Rebellion put down by George Washington under the Articles of Confederation just adds to the bullshit.

Minor nitpick: the Whiskey Rebellion occurred after the adoption of the current U.S. constitution and during Washington's presidency. You may be thinking of the similarly-motivated Shay's Rebellion, which occurred during the Articles of Confederation government just a scant eight years earlier.

[AMT]

fair enough. not all right-wing nutjobs are neocons. just a good number of them who proudly call themselves are.

shall we get back to the actual issue now?

[loomer]

Point ceded as to the statement regarding the pulse of neo-conservatism. Instead, the pulse of batshittery in America is to be substituted in further readings.

The point regarding it being predictable and likely to escalate over the coming months still stands, though. I find it interesting that they found the corpse on September 12th. Could be he was hung on the 11th for symbolism.

[Akhlut]

Another article with a bit more in it.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... .DTL&tsp=1

(09-23) 19:12 PDT Manchester, Ky. (AP) --

A U.S. Census worker found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had 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.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... z0RzIaGTxi

Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and teacher, was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky. The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write "fed" on his chest.

The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation. An autopsy report is pending.

Investigators have said little about the case. FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to confirm or discuss any details about the crime scene.

"Our job is to determine if there was foul play involved — and that's part of the investigation — and if there was foul play involved, whether that is related to his employment as a Census worker," said Beyer.

Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime.

Sparkman's mother, Henrie Sparkman of Inverness, Fla., told The Associated Press her son was an Eagle scout who moved to the area to be a local director for the Boy Scouts of America. She said he later became a substitute teacher in Laurel County and supplemented that income as a Census worker.

She said investigators have given her few details about her son's death — they told her the body was decomposed — and haven't yet released his body for burial. "I was told it would be better for him to be cremated," she said.

Henrie Sparkman said her son's death is a mystery to her.

"I have my own ideas, but I can't say them out loud. Not at this point," she said. "Right now, what I'm doing, I'm just waiting on the FBI to come to some conclusion."

Gilbert Acciardo, a retired Kentucky state trooper who directs an after-school program at the elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher, said he had warned Sparkman to be careful when he did his Census work.

"I told him on more than one occasion, based on my years in the state police, 'Mr. Sparkman, when you go into those counties, be careful because people are going to perceive you different than they do elsewhere,'" Acciardo said.

"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," Acciardo said.

Acciardo said he became suspicious when Sparkman didn't show up for work at the after-school program for two days and went to police. Authorities immediately initiated an investigation, he said.

"He was such an innocent person," Acciardo said. "I hate to say that he was naive, but he saw the world as all good, and there's a lot of bad in the world."

Lucindia Scurry-Johnson, assistant director of the Census Bureau's southern office in Charlotte, N.C., said law enforcement officers have told the agency the matter is "an apparent homicide" but nothing else.

Census employees were told Sparkman's truck was found nearby, and a computer he was using for work was found inside it, she said. He worked part-time for the Census, usually conducting interviews once or twice a month.

Sparkman has worked for the Census since 2003, spanning five counties in the surrounding area. Much of his recent work had been in Clay County, officials said.

Door-to-door operations have been suspended in Clay County pending a resolution of the investigation, Scurry-Johnson said.

The Census Bureau has yet to begin door-to-door canvassing for the 2010 head count, but it has thousands of field workers doing smaller surveys on various demographic topics on behalf of federal agencies. Next year, the Census Bureau will dispatch up to 1.2 million temporary employees to locate hard-to-find residents.

The Census Bureau is overseen by the Commerce Department.

"We are deeply saddened by the loss of our co-worker," Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with William Sparkman's son, other family and friends."

Locke called him "a shining example of the hardworking men and women employed by the Census Bureau."

Appalachia scholar Roy Silver, a New York City native now living in Harlan County, Ky., said he doesn't sense an outpouring of anti-government sentiment in the region as has been exhibited in town hall meetings in other parts of the country.

"I don't think distrust of government is any more or less here than anywhere else in the country," said Silver, a sociology professor at Southeast Community College.

The most deadly attack on federal workers came in 1995 when the federal building in Oklahoma City was devastated by a truck bomb, killing 168 and injuring more than 680. Timothy McVeigh, who was executed for the bombing, carried literature by modern, ultra-right-wing anti-government authors.

A private group called PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, tracks violence against employees who enforce environmental regulations, but the group's executive director, Jeff Ruch, said it's hard to know about all of the cases because some agencies don't share data on instances of violence against employees.

From 1996 to 2006, according to the group's most recent data, violent incidents against federal Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service workers soared from 55 to 290.

Ruch said that after the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, "we kept getting reports from employees that attacks and intimidation against federal employees had not diminished, and that's why we've been tracking them."

"Even as illustrated in town hall meetings today, there is a distinct hostility in a large segment of the population toward people who work for their government," Ruch said.

___

Barrett reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., Hope Yen in Washington and Dylan T. Lovan in Louisville contributed to this report.

So, apparently, even the nicest of men who do great work in the community deserve to die because they work for the federal government? What the fuck is wrong with these assholes?

[Ritterin Sophia]

That motherfucker, Silver, is a lying fuck. Anyone remotely familiar with Appalachia can you tell the area is infested with neoconfederate anti-government simpletons.

[Crossroads Inc.]

is it wrong of me that I WANT the right wing loonies to Riot and take to the streets? To go completely over the edge and try and burn towns, lynch people and basically show the rest of America what "conservatives" really stand for... That I want them to go comepltly over the edge losing any sense of respect in the publics eye,

[Simplicius]

is it wrong of me that I WANT the right wing loonies to Riot and take to the streets? To go completely over the edge and try and burn towns, lynch people and basically show the rest of America what "conservatives" really stand for

Since there would be burning and [more] lynching before it was finally put down, yes, I think it is wrong of you. I can't imagine anyone with the least conception of real political violence would wish for it to turn up in their own backyard.

[The Romulan Republic]

This isn't exactly the first recent incident of political violence is it? We've had a lot of assassination threats against Obama, the Town Hall crap (which mercifully hasn't escalated to killings), the abortion doctor killing, and probably some other things that I can't recall now.

I think that sadly about the best we can hope for right now is that the tension stays at its current level, and doesn't escalate to something more routine or large scale than the odd assault or murder.

Here's hoping whoever the fuck did this ends up in prison for the rest of their life.

is it wrong of me that I WANT the right wing loonies to Riot and take to the streets? To go completely over the edge and try and burn towns, lynch people and basically show the rest of America what "conservatives" really stand for... That I want them to go comepltly over the edge losing any sense of respect in the publics eye,

Frankly, there is also a real potential that riots could simply be the start of further escalation. I fear the day the far Right realizes it has no legitimate political future, because that is the point where much larger numbers may start turning to violence. And if the Left (or the State) starts resorting to extreme force in kind, well, the ultimate end of that road is in Civil War. Well, not nessissarily the end. These types of violent, often racially motivate anti-government insurrectionists showed what they were made of in the 1860's after all, and the North beat them, and yet here we are today.

And even if it didn't get that bad, I would hope that some sanity could be restored to American politics without blood in the streets, for a change. Even if it becomes inevitable, I at least shall not be happy about it, ever.

[Pelranius]

I hope they all start drinking cyanide laced Koolaid in the belief that cyanide will purge their systems of government nanobot tracking machines.

Tough guy rhetoric aside, it's a pity that it won't be charged for a hate crime as well (at least from my reading of hate crimes statutes, but I could be wrong since I'm no lawyer).

[loomer]

Actually, it's not cyanide they think does that. It's silver. They buy into the whole 'silver can cure anything!' shtick. It's got plenty of uses, for sure, but not that many. Besides, everyone knows the government nanobots are made of silver to begin with!

[Samuel]

No escalation. I want to get through college without being drafted damn it!

I fear the day the far Right realizes it has no legitimate political future, because that is the point where much larger numbers may start turning to violence. And if the Left (or the State) starts resorting to extreme force in kind, well, the ultimate end of that road is in Civil War.

As long as the state governments are loyal we just get constant low level political violence. It won't be fun, but it will be livable.