*** DO watch Rachel Maddow tonight- she is covering it ( National News did not).
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Snippet AP Article :::
WASHINGTON — 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.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 the word on the chest of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and teacher. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky.
The Census 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.
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Enigma Thought: I am sorry but Someone has to Evaluate For FOUL PLAY- He was HANGED and FED was Engraved on the Body- what are they going to call it - Natural Circumstances ???
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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.
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On another aspect of this :
(1) Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachman have indeed been harping on the Evil of Census Workers all summer, More HERE from Media Matters starting in June 2009.
(2) As someone who lives in Ohio, I can tell you that when Sarah Palin and McCain came through here and Kentucky last summer- that the Census was one of the things they trashed....and they stoked the hate fires all over this area....especially Palin.
(3) HuffingtonPost did a great job covering this and we know they will closely follow it.
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From Rachel Maddows Show 9.23.09
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
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Huffington Post has more about how the body was found details about his death that are concerning. Including how he was ductaped at hands and feet, and his ID badge was taped to him. There is no way this was or is a suicide.
16 comments:
2nd half of the article :::
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."
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.
McMurray reported from Lexington, Ky. Associated Press writers Roger Alford in Frankfort, Ky., and Hope Yen in Washington contributed to this report.
Just does not make sense to blame the right or Beck or any news media person. It is like blaming the rope manufactor and not the person or persons that hung him.
Sounds to me like he was mistaken for an undercover federal narc or ATF.
1st I must say I'm not a fan of the census and refuse to take part.
If, and it's a big if, Bill Sparkman was murdered because of his work with the Census then I have no doubt the FBI would try to cover it up or not pursue it. The case of "Pro - Lifer" Eric Rudolph comes to mind. Bill's mother should have her own autopsy done.
There is also the possibility that the "fed" on his chest is a diversionary tactic on the part of the murderer(s)to hide the genuine motive. It can be expected the FBI would play this close to the vest either way.
The "computer" is just a tally machine similar in size to what a UPS guy or girl would carry. If this case is pursued, you can bet the last addresses tallied and those next few to get are to be of the utmost interest. This process could be hard if this was a re canvas of the area. Then his targets for the census would not be sequential.
I'm leaning toward a more personal reason if it's murder, which it most likely is. The fact that the computer is intact and Bill's car is nearby causes me to lean toward that way.
As far as blame, Glenn Beck has time and again promoted violence. His rhetoric is violent. He may not be held legally accountable, but he his morally accountable for his outright lies, half truths and promotion of violence.
Peace.
ps - Hi enigma,I blog when I can which is seldom. Good to see you are still at it :)
AK:
your response is less than real....he was a Boy Scout Leader and a Teacher- working a second job to make ends meet- and clearly the people who killed him KNEW he was a federal employee, hence they engraved "fed" on him. And sorry but the reality is that the FOX and GlenBeck Rush people should take some responsibility for what they spew - which is hate- hourly....it was inevitable that some poor person would get hurt...
Human :
Sadly we really need the census to track the damage of the past 8 years, the poverty and health and welfare of this country are needed...( one place where it is needed in NOLA etc)....
But I do understand how some don't want to participate and that is fine...( in 2000 I tried to participate and the worker that came to our house won't win awards, she was wretched and gave me a hard time because she tried to say I was atheist on the form - I told her I was a Buddhist- and since I was not a Christian she wanted to put atheist on the form- I said that was not the truth- anyways- we had quite a discussion- I asked her to leave my home....to be honest she was a Republican and Born Again and clearly that was effecting her ability to gather data...and yes I called and complained about her...so I understand)
Clay County is a rough area of Kentucky...
to be honest I think the Canvassing is what is going on now- so people are assigned areas ( atleast that is what is going on in other parts of the country)....
We will see what happens, sadly after seeing the 912 teaparty in DC and how thuggish they were against anyone carrying a sign supporting healthcare reform ( I have video below posted of the poor man being ganged up on by a mob- and he had to have 6 policemen protect him...)
I also know that hatemongering is alive and well, I have gotten hatemail during this Healthcare debate that has been worse than others I have had in years of blogging...
Hi Enigma. As I predicted, in response to their perceived losses on Nov. 4th 2008, the Sick Far Right would become more rabid and violent.
My hope is that the sane among the Republicans will continue to desert their party due to the outrageous behavior.
Peace.
Part One::: Friday update
BIG CREEK, Ky. - Authorities said a U.S. Census worker died by asphyxiation but were releasing few other details about the mysterious case nearly two weeks after Bill Sparkman's body - with the word "fed" scrawled on the chest - was found hanging from a tree near a family cemetery secluded by Appalachian forest.The word appeared to have been written with a felt-tip pen, Clay County Coroner Jim Trosper said Friday. He did not elaborate.
The substitute teacher, 51, was discovered Sept. 12 in a remote patch of Daniel Boone National Forest in Clay County where he was working part-time for the government. Still, law enforcement officials weren't saying Thursday whether he was working at the time of his death or whether they believed it had anything to do with his job. Authorities have so far been unable to determine if it was an accidental death, homicide, or suicide.
Mary Hibbard, a teacher in Manchester, recalled Sparkman visiting her over the summer to ask typical Census questions, such as the size of her house and the average monthly utility bills. After she answered, she turned the questioning on him - quizzing him about his faith and learning he had a strong belief in God.
She said she was shocked when she saw his picture on the news.
"I think the negative publicity of it is a stigma on our county," she said. "It makes people think less of us, even though this is an isolated incident. When it happens here, it seems like it's emphasized."
Authorities for the first time Thursday said the preliminary cause of death was asphyxiation, but even the details behind that were murky. According to a Kentucky State Police statement, the body was hanging from a tree with a noose around the neck, yet it was in contact with the ground.
The word "fed" had been scrawled on his chest, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the case.
There was no visual evidence of any crime - or even any police investigation - at the Hoskins family cemetery, which includes dozens of tombstones, many bearing the Hoskins name. It sits on a steep hill less than 200 yards from the narrow road that cuts through the forest.
At the entrance to the path leading there were two white rubber gloves, and there was other litter on the ground, including discarded soda cans and a children's toy.
Lucy Wagers, who owns a grocery store in the area, said her husband delivers mail around the cemetery, and she often goes with him. Never had she seen any strange activity there, nor noticed any police traffic, even after the body was found.
"Who would have done it like that around here?" she said. "I've been here 32 years and never had nobody bother me."
Although anti-government sentiment was one possibility, some in law enforcement also cited the prevalence of drug activity in the area - including meth labs and marijuana fields - although they had no reason to believe there was a link to Sparkman's death.
"Now they're taking their meth lab operations into the rural, secluded areas," Clay County Sheriff Kevin Johnson said. "We've had complaints in the area, but not that particular location."
On one day last week, law enforcement in the county rounded up 40 drug suspects, most of them traffickers, Johnson said.
Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies in nearby Whitesburg, said the federal government has done "precious little" in Clay County other than building a federal prison in Manchester in the 1990s. But he is not aware of any deep-seated hatred of the government.
"Government is not seen as the enemy, except for people who might fear getting caught for what they're doing," he said.
University of Pittsburgh sociologist Kathleen Blee, co-author of a book about Clay County, says that when she heard of Sparkman's death, she initially wondered whether he had stumbled across a marijuana plot.
Pot growers seeking to avoid federal forfeiture statutes often plant their crops on national forest land and have even been known to booby-trap plots with explosives and rattlesnakes.
"Like any poor county, people are engaged in a variety of revenue sources," she said. "Not all of them legal."
Army retiree George Robinson did door-to-door census work in Clay County in 2000. No one ever threatened him, but some people questioned why the government needed to know some of the information, especially income, requested on the census form.
"You meet some strange people," he said. "Nothing is a surprise in Clay County."
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Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Associated Press writers Roger Alford and Joe Biesk in Frankfort, Ky., Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Ky., and Devlin Barrett in Washington also contributed to this report.
Huffpost article part One:
BIG CREEK, Ky. — A part-time census worker found hanging in a rural Kentucky cemetery was naked, gagged and had his hands and feet bound with duct tape, said an Ohio man who discovered the body two weeks ago.
Jerry Weaver of Fairfield, Ohio, told The Associated Press on Friday that he was among a group of relatives who discovered the body of 51-year-old Bill Sparkman on Sept. 12.
"The only thing he had on was a pair of socks," Weaver said. "And they had duct-taped his hands, his wrists. He had duct tape over his eyes, and they gagged him with a red rag or something.
"And they even had duct tape around his neck. And they had like his identification tag on his neck. They had it duct-taped to the side of his neck, on the right side, almost on his right shoulder."
Weaver said he couldn't tell if the tag was a Census Bureau I.D. He said he didn't get close enough to read it.
State police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski would not confirm Weaver's description of the crime scene. Two people briefed on the investigation said various details of Weaver's account matched the details of the crime scene, though both people said they were not informed who found the body. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Both of the people briefed on the investigation said, for instance, that a Census identification badge, which Census workers are instructed to wear when they go on door to door work, was found taped to his head and shoulder area.
Authorities have released very few details on the death. Coroner Jim Trosper has said the word "fed" was written on Sparkman's chest with what was likely a felt-tip pen. Weaver said he was not close enough to see anything written on the body's chest.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/25/census-worker-killed-by-a_n_299725.html
State police had announced the cause of death was asphyxiation, then clarified Friday that was a preliminary determination pending a full medical examination of the body. Rudzinsky said investigators hadn't yet determined whether the death was a homicide, suicide or accidental.
Weaver, who works for a family topsoil business in Fairfield, said he was in town for a family reunion and was visiting family gravesites at the cemetery when he and relatives came across the body.
The scene left Weaver without a doubt how Sparkman died.
"He was murdered," he said. "There's no doubt."
Weaver said the body was about 50 years from a 2003 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck. He said Sparkman's clothes were in the bed of the truck.
"His tailgate was down," Weaver said. "I thought he could have been killed somewhere else and brought there and hanged up for display, or they actually could have killed him right there. It was a bad, bad scene."
"It took me three or four good nights to sleep. My 20-year-old daughter ended up sleeping in the floor in our bedroom." he said.
Clay County Sheriff Kevin Johnson declined to comment on the investigation because the department is only playing a supporting role but said patrols have increased in the Daniel Boone National Forest since the body was found.
The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door interviews in the rural county pending the investigation.
Trooper Trosper said it was clear this wasn't a natural death but said all other possibilities were being considered.
"This case has many facets," he said. "To investigate cases, you have to rule out different scenarios. We are not able to rule out many scenarios at this time, and that's what makes this a difficult case."
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/25/census-worker-killed-by-a_n_299725.html
Bound and gagged. Definitely murder. The fact that the census badge was duck taped to him lends credence to the theory that he was killed because of his work on the census.
Peace.
If he was found in the Daniel Boone NATIONAL forrest next to the Cemetary- doesn't FBI have jurisdiction ? I think they would .....yet on Rachel it was said that the Kentucky polce claim to have the lead in this ?
Also the rubber gloves found on the drive and the duct tape wouldn't it have finger prints on it ? ( any CSI watcher would tell you yes it would...)
and also there should be evidence in the truck....and on the truck and also his census materials should have been there....this ain't rocket science....
definitely murder. possibly a hate crime, too.
and you are so right, the way Beck and Bachman have been trashing the census has riled up more anti-govt sentiment which can lead to violence.
without the census, no state west of the mississippi would have ever received more than 1 congressional rep.
ps I have never been personally interviewed for the census -- it is always by mail -- but I would welcome the chance to see someone try to categorize my responses. I only respond to the legally worded and required answers. Optional questions can be ignored.
this is a lynching --- the southern racists have added federal workers to their list of enemies (blacks, jews, gays etc.)
this is only the beginning
rove and gang opened the barn door and beck and bachmann are encouraging the lunatics to run out
and they are
Murder, plain and simple, work of druggies or right wingers, we don't know yet, still it's murder,
let the right wingers say whatever they want, they are entirely fact free and delusional
TomInSeattle
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) refused to answer a question this weekend on the death of a census worker in Kentucky.
Bill Sparkman was found earlier this month hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest. The FBI has been investigating whether the killing was related to his job as a Census worker.
Bachmann, who has proclaimed that she will not fill out her Census forms and suggested that the survey could lead to internment camps, did not bring up the issue at the conservative How to Take Back America Conference in St. Louis.
David Weigel asked her about it but could not get an answer:
I caught up to her as she headed outside and asked if she had any response to the murder of a Kentucky census worker, having noticed that the Census, a constant target for Bachmann, did not figure into her speech. Bachmann recoiled a little at the question and turned to enter her limo.
"Thank you so much!" she said.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/27/bachmann-refuses-to-answe_n_301238.html
More wingnuttery:::
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A candidate to be South Carolina's next National Guard leader skipped the fiery speeches for firepower, launching his campaign with what he called a "machine-gun social."
The Greenville News reports some 500 people came out to a shooting range Saturday for Republican Dean Allen's political rally. He wants to be the next adjutant general, the person who leads the state's National Guard.
Attendees paid $25 for barbecue, a clip of bullets for target practice and the chance to win a semiautomatic AK-47. Whoever wins the rifle will have to undergo a background check.
Allen says he is an Army veteran who wanted to celebrate Second Amendment rights. South Carolina is the only state that elects its adjutant general.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/27/dean-allen-gop-candidate-_n_301343.html
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