Posted on 05/14/2004 3:43:32 AM PDT by calcowgirl
Prometheus Methods Tower Services Inc., the business that cost Nick Berg his life in Iraq, has no records with the Pennsylvania Department of State.
The company that specialized in building communications towers never registered with the Pennsylvania Corporation Bureau, said Brian McDonald, spokesman for the state department.
McDonald conducted a search of the bureau’s online list of registered businesses, but found no matches.
The same search done by a Daily Local News reporter produced the same results -- several businesses contained the word "Prometheus" in their names. Only one is located in West Chester, and it is not related to Berg’s business.
Companies are not legally required to register with the state, but McDonald explained it is usually the first step an owner takes.
"You’d be very foolish not to register your business with the department," he said. "It is nearly impossible to exist without doing it."
Registering allows an owner to set up his business’s tax structure. It also establishes how the business is run, for example, whether or not it is for-profit or nonprofit.
"It is basically the infrastructure by which businesses are set up in the commonwealth," McDonald said.
McDonald added it is possible the business could be listed in the bureau’s records under a different name.
Searching the statewide yellow pages online found two company names containing the word "Prometheus" in Philadelphia. One is an Internet consulting business.
An employee at the second one, which is called Prometheus Radio Project, said it was not affiliated with the business owned by the local man slain in Iraq by members of al-Qaida.
Officials at the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue and the Internal Revenue Service said state and federal laws prohibited their agencies from providing any records they had of Prometheus Methods Tower Services -- even whether the company had ever filed a return.
"Any information that we get or is contained on a tax return I can’t release," said Steve Kniley, press secretary for the state revenue department. "It is considered confidential under tax law."
Tax records become public information only if a lien is filed against a business. According to Kniley, there are no liens against Berg’s company.
Bill Cressman, spokesman at the IRS’s Philadelphia office, said the only companies with public tax records are nonprofit corporations.
At least one person claims he can confirm Prometheus’ existence.
Jay Shur, who works at the radio station WCHE 1520 AM in West Chester, said on Wednesday he was in the process of hiring Berg to build a communications tower for the station when news of his death came out.
The station was awaiting approval of plans from both the borough and an environmental agency before construction could begin, according to Shur.
"There’s a lot of paperwork to go through, and the area we were looking at was a marsh- land so we had to get clearance," he said."When I do get the OK, I’ll have to look for another contractor."
Michael Berg briefly spoke about Prometheus during a press conference Thursday morning outside his home.
"My son was not over there to make money," Michael Berg said. "My son’s business, which was very profitable before he went to Iraq ..I will make good on anything the company owes anybody, but it’s pretty much going to be defunct."
It is unclear how many employees Prometheus had. Michael Berg spoke of a "foreman" during the press conference. However, Nick Berg traveled to Iraq alone.
Staff Writer Jill Nawrocki contributed to this article.
Wow. Interesting ton-foil material. GottaLuv, please check out this theory from my FRiend Landru.
Lan' hopefully you have met GottaLuv elsewhere. She and I are putting a theory together on the Black thread about the "prison abuses" as we speak!
I was going to finish this thread and do my own search in those states. Thanks!
According to a clerk at Baghdad's Al Fanar Hotel, on the east bank of the Tigris River, Berg checked in on March 22, left for Mosul the next day, returned to the hotel on April 6 and checked out on April 10.Berg said he was going home, the clerk said, and walked down Saddoun Street, a major artery, because the road was closed to vehicular traffic. He left behind in his room a yellowed and folded page from a book by Jon Burmeister, a South African writer of thrillers who died in 2001.
The page carries a short prose poem titled "The War That Wasn't." It describes a man named Jericho, who is awakened by machine-gun fire, "his heart hammering thunderously against the ribcage as though trying to escape."
The poem ends: "What the hell was happening? God knows, he thought. But it seemed clear that the war had arrived -- the war that wasn't coming here . . ."
It means if he's putting up or taking down radio towers as anything but an employee on someone elses payroll he wasn't licensed to do it...hence not a legitimate business.
I guess contractors don't have to be licensed in PA.
Just a theory, but allow me to put some of what I've said in CONTEXT using this thread, in case you missed it?
The smell's getting pretty bad, my friend.
"Lan' hopefully you have met GottaLuv elsewhere. She and I are putting a theory together on the Black thread about the "prison abuses" as we speak!"
*Excellent*, you go.
Be sure to ping me to your musings when they're ready, OK?
I'll meet this other poster, the dog lover, down the line.
...it's inevitable. ;^)
Haven't read thru this article yet, but Fox is reporting that Nick Berg's computer was used by one of the 911 hijackers.
Sorry if this is old news.
Sorry,but you're wrong.My business is a DBA.I'm licensed/certified by the state of Alabama.However,my business name will not show up on any state list.It's not illegal.I use my SS# as my tax i.d.,have a banking DBA account,insurance,etc.,,
LOL Found out this is REALLY old news. Didn't watch tv last evening so am out of the loop!
The shorts and sandals together plus east coaster, added up for me.
Yup, there're many other inconsistancies surrounding this Berg character, and the one you've pointed out's a whopper, too.
But if you haven't done so by now, follow the hyperlink [above] & you'll discover many other strange, unexplainable tidbits about this Nic Burg *&* his "Dad."
"Sorry if this is old news."
No-no, thank you Bonfire.
...for not assuming I/we'd already knew [it]! :^)
"Some FReeper on another thread mentioned that he knew someone who did his payroll. Does anyone remember who that was?"
IIRC, it was ambrose.
bump for later reading.
I'm going to see if I can round up what his state laws are concerning this.I do believe however,that he was just a young entrepreneur who got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The bit about the yellowed, folded page just about made my hair stand up on end, for some reason. Trying to find the entire "prose poem" now...
Wow! shez, what do you think?
Pinging a few from the long thread over to this information. See the link in posts 1 and 2 for an interesting connection that calcowgirl has found.
from the link:
"Prometheus has played a significant role in the struggle by community groups to establish low-power radio stations — a struggle that has involved the FCC, the National Association of Broadcasters, and National Public Radio. It has also been influential in the fight against media consolidation. A recent ruling in its suit, Prometheus Radio Project v. Federal Communications Commission, has prevented the FCC from enacting new rules that would ease long-standing media ownership limits. Prometheus operates with a staff of three out of a church basement in Philadelphia."
Ping!
Berks cross generations. I wear them, my kids do and my grandson does. Doctors wear them for surgery when they don't wear danskos. But the words to an arlo guthrie song, just odd because arlo guthrie is not that popular now, or not that I know .
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