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.
The whole thing is just tragic & bizarre.
FRegards,
The link will take you to a discussion which took place earlier today, on another thread.
A lot of questions were raised on that thread by a variety of (long time, fairly credible forum members), along with the usual speculation.
"Stupid"?
Nawwww.
Perhaps looking for too much in the way of "answers," though.
Anything's possible, Ann.
...this is after all the Internet, eh? {g}
And a tip of the old tinfoil hat to you, sir.
I'll say it again. This is beginning to look like the old Rosenberg family. Somebody knew too much and had no common sense.
I can't seem to get into the county property tax records - can you? Might check deeds and liens too.
In PA, fictious business names are not registered in the county, but with the State Dept.
Another son???
Perhaps the terrorists who killed Berg were afraid that he would eventually "talk" to the FBI agents, who kept "popping up" in his life.
RE: "Could he have been in contact with Berg while in Iraq???" Or, was he, in fact Berg himself?!
WOW! Quoting Tom Petty, too.
Yikes!! Nick Berg was a traveller! Went also to Iraq TWICE and maybe Iran!!
I think your scenario makes much sense.
Echoes of the Wellstone funeral. In their minds, death is good if it contributes to the Democrat agenda.
Just as Prometheus was hung out by his father (chained to the rock, with the birds tearing at his liver), I think that Nick Berg may have been hung out by his father.
I'm not a doctor, and I don't even play one on TV, but my theory is that Nick was one of those "Can't we all just get along?" types of do-gooder. He had contact with Muslims both from his time at Oklahoma and from his aunt marrying an Iraqi. He supported President Bush's decision to invade Iraq and wanted to go there in order to help build the infrastructure and make life better for the Iraqi people.
He also was naive to the point of stupidity.
However, that is not what did him in. He was unstable (he bounced from school to school) and he was troubled by the internal battle between his fundamentally conservative tendencies and his father's anti-American radicalism. In Iraq he tried to bridge the two, meeting questionable characters through his contacts, until finally he was put in touch with al Qaeda.
My guess is that he was with them for some time, and hoped to bring some kind of rapproachment between the sides, but al Qaeda didn't trust him (maybe because he had been jailed either by the Americans or the Iraqis) and ultimately decided to kill him and distribute the video as a recruitment tool.
I was thinking the same thing. There are picures of Pete TriDish on the Prometheus website and on websites they link to. He has a beard and glasses and is always wearing a hat and is often facing away from the camera. Obviously Pete TriDish is not his real name. So who is Pete TriDish?
Great background. Thanks
Shoe-brand prejudice has no place here.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.