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A part-time U.S. Census field worker in rural Kentucky was found hanged Wednesday in a remote part of Daniel Boone National Forest, dangling from a tree with the word "fed" scrawled across his chest. The funniest part about this completely sick and unfunny story? The quote from the Associated Press piece on the crime that says, "the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment." You think? This appears to be a story not only about backwoods crazies, but also about our ailing economy and under-funded educational system (Bill Sparkman, the victim, was a 51-year-old substitute teacher who was supplementing his income with the census work), and about the virulent emotions that exist "out there" due to the health care debate and the fact that we have a liberal black President. Regardless of what turns out to be the true motive for the crime, you couldn't pay us enough to roam the countryside and knock on strange doors asking questions.
As a service to you, dear readers, we'll be keeping a close eye on the NBC Bay Area mood meter for this item, lest anyone decide to click "bored" or "laughing." UPDATE: As of noon on 9/25, 8% are "laughing" and 3% remain "bored" by this story. Good work guys.
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There are several possible motives for this crime, but to put the "anti-government lunatic" tag on this story is a bit premature. Much of the violent crime in this region is caused by the production and consumption of illegal drugs--meth, prescription pain medications and the growing and trafficking of marijuana.
There is absolutely no mention of the fact that the Daniel Boone National Forest and Eastern Kentucky are a center of marijuana growing activity. I think that Kentucky is the 2nd or 3rd leading state for marijuana production. It is well known that stumbling across someone's illegal marijuana growing operation is a deadly risk in this part of the state.
If you are consuming marijuana or any illegal drug, then you are contributing to all of the criminal and social problems associated with its production and distribution.
right, because this (medical) marijuana we smoke comes from some rednecks in kentucky.
as for the murder, this could only be the beginning. a damn shame...
does remind me of hannibal lecter though...
whew, that's quite a load of ignorance you spewed there. let's see if we can unpack this for you:
in this county, earlier this year, there were some indictments handed down for vote fraud. among those charged were a circuit court judge, the county clerk, the school superintendent, and more. some of these were RICO charges.
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/09/24/vote-fraud-in-clay-county-and-the-hanged-census-worker/
but keep blaming those stoners.
"If you are consuming marijuana..., then you are contributing to all of the criminal and social problems associated with its production and distribution."
hahaha, I'm sorry but what?
For the record, last time I consumed marijuana I'm pretty sure I never had the urge to go out and hang a man, or commit any violent crime besides that delicious burrito that had it coming to him. Put all the blame on back woods moonshine meth but leave my pot alone, sir.
So despite the fact that he was 1) a federal census taker and 2) had the word "fed" written across his chest this 1) had nothing to do with any anti-government sentiment, but 2)obviously had something to do with marijuana.
They aren't mutually exclusive. Meth heads might not like the gubment either.
No arrests have been made?
Seriously, this is pretty scary, I think.
Reminds me of the movie Seven.
At least he could have scrawled something more interesting. Like "hummingbird". Poetic.
Well, Kentucky's the only state in which I've ever been shot at, so go figure.
14% laughing and 5% thrilled as of 9am. Way to go.
I was pointing out how ridiculous the initial article was that jumped to conclusions about the motive being "the virulent emotions that exist "out there" due to the health care debate and the fact that we have a liberal black President."
Who knows, that may turn out to be true, but the article cynically attempted to use this story as propaganda to advance the political narrative that those opposed to the political agenda of the President and Democrat-controlled Congress are racists and violent anti-government wackos.
A lot of these small towns in Eastern Kentucky are incredibly corrupt, and the corruption is driven to a great degree by the money to be made by illegal drug production and trafficking. That has included in past cases in Eastern Kentucky, the Sheriffs office and the County Attorney. Elections are rigged to keep these corrupt individuals in power. Whether drug criminals or corrupt officials are involved in this case, hopefully the investigation will provide some answers.
You can argue as to whether certain drugs should be legalized, but right now these drugs are illegal, and therefore the criminal activity relating to illegal drugs has a real effect on communities around the world. If you are consuming heroin or cocaine or meth or marjuana, then you are bankrolling Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan, FARC and the drug lords in Colombia, the vicious drug gangs in Mexico, and the corrupt government officials and drug producers and traffickers in Eastern Kentucky.
Naaaaaaah!
Oh no! You mean to say that the marijuana I smoke that's grown by a buddy of mine up in Humboldt county is funding Al Qaeda? Damn. I better call the CIA...
Well, you've gone and replaced one unsubstantiated theory with another. Good work. My guess is that the killer's initials were FED. How's THAT for detectiveizing?
So K-fed did it? It must be true, he hasn't denied it yet....
Whatever census count he reported, be sure to subtract 1.
Facebook comment to this posting on my page:
Actually you missed it. You can not understand the all out hate and mistrust of the federal gov't around Appalachia. They have been killing Feds on a semi- regular basis, but it's usually ATF or a like agency's agents. THAT doesn't get reported. In fact, they mistrust ALL strangers, as I found out once.
Typical Government worker, just hanging around, doing nothing. They had to wait until 5PM to see if He went home, and when He did'nt, they knew He was dead. Probably killed by people jealous of His counting skills. Dam city folk with their fancy numbers, and such. Probably graduated the sixth grade!
Hey - don't let the fact that the Kentucky State Police have found that the guy's feet were touching the ground, making a self-hanging pretty difficult and also stated that there were 'flaws and errors' in the AP story (perhaps the anonymous sourcing that the word 'FED' was scratched into his chest?) ruin your simplistic world view connecting anyone who disagrees with you about healthcare to racist bigots .. "out there".
I got a job working the summer for the Census in 1990. It was great - paid well and most of my time was spent at the assessor's office, Realtor's office and so on verifying houses were empty on the day of the Census. When I did have to go into woodsy San Mateo County, I had a few anti government nuts get a bit crazy, including one who claimed to have a shotgun behind the door. In both cases, I simply left and referred the cases to my boss to have someone Not Me deal with it, or at least go with some protection.
Most of the time I just would go driving around Woodside talking to wealthy people about their homes, or walking in the hot summer sun knocking on doors of people who were on vacation on Census day, and got a lot of free sodas and bottled waters. Gotta love San Mateo County suburbanites