Posted on 09/24/2009 4:48:35 AM PDT by mentor2k
MANCHESTER, Ky. – When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: "Be careful."
The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and 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.
"Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as 'the government.' I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there," said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.
The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, until the investigation is complete, an official said . .
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I don’t find this strange at all. In flight training over Alabama we had a good number of no-fly-zones depicted in our maps. Those were areas where the locals were known for shooting at low flying helicopters.
I have some Appalachian in me. I’ve been in some “out of the way” places. I have met some of the sweetest, kindest, people in America. Some were in the poorest of places. Most were dirt poor. But, if’n they liked ya’, or liked who sent ya’(a very key part of the initial meeting), you were “in”. I have relatives who have lived in a part of Appalachia for over 30 years. They are still “outsiders”. And probably deserve to be...
From what I can tell, this poor guy was not “from around hyar”...
“Most were dirt poor. But, if’n they liked ya’, or liked who sent ya’(a very key part of the initial meeting), you were “in”.
I’ve found, with very few exceptions, whenever I’ve shown my hosts the proper respect, I’ve been welcomed warmly. Doesn’t matter if it’s some remote village in Romania or a backwater here in the U.S. The general rule is: it’s their home. Go along and get along.
For those Freepers in the north, or on the west coast who know nothing of rural Kentucky, google the works of Shelby Lee Adams to get a feel for the inhabitants. They are, for the most part, good folks, but the America in which they live is not the same as yuppy suburbia.
I suspect the federal hate crime law will be revised.
“I’m guessing that this guy stumbled into somebody’s meth lab or something.”
Good God man, don’t you know that the common sense czar disapproves of such thinking.
I was going to write something but knowing who reads these threads I thought it was prudent to censor myself.
There'll come a time in the not distant future when census takers in this country will no longer go door-to-door to garner information. The fact that it's too dangerous will finally have dawned on the powers-to-be.
Folks will have to go to their local school or polling place to talk to a census-taker and to fill out forms. Addresses will be cross-checked with county and township assessors' records to insure that everyone is counted.
When I was in my late teens, I signed up as a census-taker to make some extra money. I was paid a small sum for every successful call on a household. I was fast, and made a lot of money for a young skull full of mush.
However, looking back, I get a chill when I think where I had to go to do my job. Into the dark and empty halls of apartment buildings, onto the front porches of dilapidated houses inhabited by hostile or weird people........
I was making my rounds back in the olden days in a Mickey/Judy small town setting......and I suppose it was safe at that time for a young lady working alone to be doing what I was doing, but nutcases existed then as they do now.....and I would never do over again what I did then.
At any rate, in this day and age, not only going into Kentucky hill country, but into ghetto and project territory in urban settings is something no one in their right mind would do.....but they WILL find census-takers who need the piddly sum paid to do the job. They will be taking their lives in their hands.
When the dangers of census-taking today become glaring to stubborn bureaucrates, the whole system of imperial counting will ultimately be changed.
A few more tragedies will have to take place before this happens, unfortunately.
Leni
With a sheriff’s escort.
Let’s look at the timeline:
9/12 - body discovered
9/17 - Pelosi crying whine about fear of violence
9/23 - “Fed” story hits the wire
Think Nancy was aware of this before her performance?
How long before the loop is closed and right wingers are blamed?
Prayers for this man’s family. I am sure he is just some poor schmo trying to earn a living. Can only imagine how the MSM will take this story and run with it. We are not barbarians. Guys like this should not be the target of wrath for all that is going on right now.
Obama has been on television. We don’t have room for anything else.
s/o
Could also be that it was not homicide.
More here, plus video.
Census Worker Hanged Bill Sparkman!
http://news.lalate.com/2009/09/24/census-worker-hanged-bill-sparkman/
Was he hanging in an oak tree?
cave growers would be my guess
but usually if someone must be killed it’s best to just quietly dispose of them...
hanging the corpse with Fed on it is just asking for more to come looking
Wouldn't they have written "Nark" instead of Fed? :o)
Oh but they do once you pass the one to two year exclusion time
what is probably a red diaper baby doing in Harlan?
Activist documentarian?
One thing not mentioned is how census employees are not allowed to carry firearms, even if they have a carry permit and carry is legal in the state.
Cuz he was hard of hearing.
And we HATE those people.
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