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| Saboteurs attack Calif., Ore. transmission towers |
| 2003-10-22 |
| Reuters, 10.21.03, 7:04 PM ETLOS ANGELES, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Environmental extremists could be involved in the attempted sabotage of two giant electricity transmission towers on Monday, the head of a California police department said on Tuesday. Officials said a man Chicken. Stay and face down THE MAN, why don’t you?fled after he was discovered late Monday afternoon apparently removing nuts and bolts at the base of a transmission tower near Anderson in northern California. About two hours earlier near Klamath Falls in Oregon, around 150 miles (240 km) north of Anderson, someone was discovered tampering with the base of another transmission tower, police and utility sources said. "I think it is more than just a coincidence. It certainly has the overtones of some sort of domestic terrorist activity," Sounds like standard Enviromental "Protest" these days Anderson Chief of Police Neil Purcell Jr. said, adding he had turned the investigation over to the FBI. Purcell said the three men who saw the man at the transmission tower near Anderson described him as an overweight white male with long gray hair and a beard wearing wire-rimmed glasses Check the names on the Fast Food lawsuit. He fled in a vehicle with Washington state plates. The Western Area Power Administration, a federal agency, owned the transmission tower, part of a 115 kilovolt power line which carries electricity from two nearby hydropower dams. WAPA spokeswoman LaVerne Kyriss said the agency had managed to repair the tower and said the incident was "very serious." "We took care of that (the repair) immediately ... We don’t know if this is an isolated incident," she told Reuters. The earlier incident in Oregon involved a transmission tower owned by Portland, Oregon-based PacifiCorp, a unit of Scottish Power Plc Jackasses. |
| Posted by:Laurence of the Rats |
| #18 OP, these nutcases have already gone violent, but the press has been silently failing to connect the dots. Arsons, sabotage, threats, and pipe bombs are NOT peaceful protest. We've been lucky that they haven't killed anyone yet, but that's mainly because they haven't really tried. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-10-22 11:13:29 PM |
| #17 The worst thing these nutcases could do is to go violent. It will bring a violent counter-reaction (more likely, over-reaction) from the people who just want to live in peace. As long as the problems don't affect the average citizen, the average citizen keeps going about his business as if nothing's going on. But just as the case with Flight 93, and with the more recent passenger reactions to perceived threats, bringing down power lines, or causing death and destruction in the US among ordinary citizens, will cause the average citizen to say "enough"! When that happens, the left will be too stupid to get out of the way, and will be ripped apart, possibly even bodily. Do NOT mess with Joe Average - if he gets mad, the dogs of war won't just be loose, they'll be half-starved, whipped, maddened, frenzied, and ready to do some serious damage! |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-10-22 10:57:37 PM |
| #16 Two of these incidents on the same day in the same area are a very unlikely coincidence. That they were 150 miles apart is a fair, though not definite, indication of an organized group being responsible. It may or may not be part of a larger, and very ominous, trend: I believe that a dramatic increase in lethal violence is in the offing on the radical left. See my comments on a different string. We will probably not see this before the end of primary season next year. The 2000 election provided a lot of practice for activists who seek to de-legitimize the democratic process (a necessary pre-condition for revolution). The nomination of a "moderate" Democrat (Lieberman, Clark, etc.) as opposed to a left-appeaser (Kucinich, Dean), would lead to claims that the latter were cheated. This, in turn, rationalizes claims of dis-enfranchisement, a stereotyped rationale for violence and lawlessness in left-wing dogma. If one of the radicals is nominated (an unlikely contingency), the big uprising will have to wait until the Dem candidate is humiliated in the general election. |
| Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy 2003-10-22 9:35:04 PM |
| #15 an overweight white male with long gray hair and a beard wearing wire-rimmed glasses and This perp was just lazy. Too lazy to try to sabotage one out of sight of the highway, I guess. Doesn't sound like a hiking-out-of-sigh-of-highway type of guy, to me... |
| Posted by: snellenr 2003-10-22 6:04:20 PM |
| #14 I think Comic Book Guy would be too much of a capitalist to do this. He uses all that electricity to make bootleg video tapes and download nekkid pictures of Captain Janeway. Dar- Most of these types would be really happy with zillions of bucks worth of economic disaster. Just brings us close to the joyful luddite, short-lifespan, agrarian heaven they think we should live in. |
| Posted by: OminousWhatever 2003-10-22 5:44:38 PM |
| #13 Say it ain't so, Comic Book Guy! |
| Posted by: BH 2003-10-22 5:30:02 PM |
| #12 Motion sensors, ground-weight sensors, and a fast-response team with a helo gunship is my prescription. |
| Posted by: mojo 2003-10-22 5:19:55 PM |
| #11 Anderson is a small town. It probably wouldn't be difficult to form an armed citizen patrol. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2003-10-22 5:02:25 PM |
| #10 I had a different take on this. I thought somebody must have bounced a protection money check to the shiek of the lumberjacks. Seriously, if this is ELF, then they are stupid because they don't have the training to work around high tension lines. I worked in a power plant; I think this one will take care of itself. The end result will be a pile of smoldering goo and a pair of boots. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-10-22 4:38:03 PM |
| #9 Not to mention the lives it would endanger. The green/brown terrorists have gotten away with it for too long. Time for a MAJOR crackdown. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-10-22 4:15:43 PM |
| #8 In spite of my glib comment, this really is a serious act of terror they're attempting. Taking down those towers would cause millions--if not billions--of dollars worth of damage along the west coast. That could seriously hinder the economy not just in the west but nationwide in the stock markets. This is some serious terrorism way beyond the burning-down-housing-developments or spiking-trees scale, and I hope serious penalties are in place for those who attempt it. |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-10-22 3:58:27 PM |
| #7 overweight white male with long gray hair and a beard wearing wire-rimmed glasses tu3031 - Damn, you beat me to it! BTW, I saw about a dozen of these clones at the Dean rally in Copley Square last month, like it's a surprise. |
| Posted by: Raj 2003-10-22 3:55:49 PM |
| #6 If one of these idiots actually knocks a tower over, the wires will probably set fire to the forest and burn up a bunch of spotted owls. Then we'll get treated to "news" stories on NPR on how "Bush's Forest Policies Kills Endangered Species." |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2003-10-22 3:51:27 PM |
| #5 "New job openings, hundreds to be hired! No experience necessary, will train. Security for high-tension power lines. Must be able to sit a horse for ten-twelve hours at a time, willing to spend days backpacking, must be able to work unsupervised. Horse, camping gear, rifle, and immunity-from-procecution card supplied. Apply at the Homeland Security office nearest you!" |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-10-22 3:50:01 PM |
| #4 Most of these are way out in the country. This perp was just lazy. Too lazy to try to sabotage one out of sight of the highway, I guess. Maroon! |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-10-22 3:42:45 PM |
| #3 New FOX special: "When Santa Claus Attacks!" |
| Posted by: Dar 2003-10-22 3:38:20 PM |
| #2 Hopefully they'll check the other towers in the vicinity. And perhaps they'll eventually across some electrofried econutball along the way. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2003-10-22 3:25:41 PM |
| #1 ...described him as an overweight white male with long gray hair and a beard wearing wire-rimmed glasses... Damn! Another Jerry Garcia sighting! ...and no one had a camera! |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-10-22 3:20:09 PM |