Census Worker Hanged with "Fed" on Body - CBS News »
Posted By TimALoftis 2 months ago in Political News
(AP) 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.
Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime.
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+ Add CommentComments So Far: 92 (view all)
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Goppy2 months ago
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This is an inevitable process that began with the Tea Baggers - (in actuality, an angry mob instilled with rage and hatred by the foreigner, Rupert Murdoch and his minions) -
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Leaders of the Republican Party could dampen this rage ... if they so chose ... but of course ... they are too busy figuring out how they can manipulated it to their political advantage.
By their Moral Vacancy ... you shall know them.
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antibrainwasher2 months ago
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Michelle Bachman repug campaign:
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Mailing Address:
PO Box 25950
Woodbury, MN 55125
Phone Number: (651) 260-4648
Dear Bachman, you are directly responsible for the murder of a census taker in Hilltucky, your hate speech has resulted in the torture and murder of a father trying to earn a couple bucks by taking a sensus, you are a terrorist and a traitor to this country. -
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lovemylibs2 months ago
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What a crock. If you knew anything about the Daniel Boone National Forest, it would shed some light on this incident for you. After this is investigated, this is what will be reported:
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1) This crime was commited by someone growing marijuana. The census worker probably stumbled upon an operation in the woods.
What will you say if that proves to be the case? How will this be twisted around by the people that support the legalization of marijuana?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-30-ken... -
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sinophil492 months ago
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Goppy - "This is an inevitable process that began with the Tea Baggers "
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Actually, I lay the guilt on Ronald Reagan. He was the one that popularized the idea that the government is a problem, is an enemy to fight against. This has since blossomed into an ever-growing antipathy against all things governmental.
The extreme forms of this way of thinking are what led to the bombings by Tim McVeigh, the killings by Ted Kaczinski, the defiance of cult in Waco, Tx, the fight against health care reform, the Tea-baggers, even the sneering about elitists in government. -
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Georgia502 months ago
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Liar. There are people in Kentucky as conservative as me and as liberal as you who all know that there are places in that state you DO NOT GO unless you are kin or you come bearing gifts. Ditto West Virginia.
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Any clown familiar with the lyrics of Copperhead Road knows this even if they're not from Kentucky. Yes, it's just a song. But there's a basis in history for that song.
The futility of trying to educate Goppy aside, I hope they catch this murderer and hang him/her/it up by the thumbs until dead. -
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deathray2 months ago
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i realize i might be jumping the gun here, but sometimes a pipe is just a pipe, and a lynching is a lynching. you don't lynch a poor sap who's just trying to work for the census, even if you are a secessionist.
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the man was a teacher, part time, and was supplementing his income in this economic downturn by working for the census.
my god, if this is what it appears to be, this behavior is worse than reprehensible.
it's disgusting.-
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lovemylibs2 months ago
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Almost anyone stumbling upon a pot growing operation in The Daniel Boone National Forest will be treated the same way. It appears to be the logical explanation to anyone who knows about that area of the country. But there is fear to be mongered, so monger away!
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uncle-dave2 months ago
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Rep. Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) statement on how she will defy federal law regarding the census.
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“ The mother lode of all data information will be from the Census. … Unfortunately, the Census data has become very intricate, very personal, a lot of the questions that are asked. I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that."
"This is what ACORN will do. They will get multiple fraudulent voter registration forms, stuff the registrar’s office with them, in hopes that maybe not all fraudulent registrations will find people at the polls voting. But there may be some people who get through. And sometimes you don’t often need many in order to sway an election one way or another.”
I guess some folks in Kentucky took that statement to heart.-
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antibrainwasher2 months ago
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Bachman, the evangelical white suprema-cyst, elected by white suprema-cyst in her district of Minn. is officially a terrorist and a murderer.
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The rhetoric fromt these religio-facist american traitors and repug teliban terrorists to their cells of violent repugnicon terrorist cells is a working model for the GOP.
The GOP is using the teliban as a model of a political system. The white evangelical teliban, I give you the GOP. Ignorant, racist, tribalist, murdering, terrorist, and manipulated by the super rich out of Identity politics. -
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sinophil492 months ago
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If Rep Michelle Bachman truly believes what she says, she is a most ignorant politician. She has no grasp of the importance of census data.
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Census information is used in deciding how and where to allocate federal funds for everything from welfare, health services, roads, schools, police and sheriff services, sewer lines, garbage services, post offices, etc., etc.
The data determines how many congressional seats a region or state is allowed.
Companies use these data to determine where to place factories or retail outlets, shopping malls, gas stations.
I do know thaty the company I used to work for looked at these data constantly to decide where to spread to.
And how in the world did Bachmann jump from knocking census-taking to attacking ACORN. She just couldn't resist taking a political jab at something totally unrelated. Typical Republican attack-dog mentality.
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tadair9192 months ago
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this smells like an op.
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the symbols are all there:
body found on 9/12, the day of the tea party protests.
it was a census worker, which makes us think michelle bachman.
noose, which makes us think racist lynching.
anti-fed, which wraps everything up with a nice pink bow.
naturally, the fbi is involved. -
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Demzon2 months ago
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Nope, this is something that one would see in the same area back during prohibition. The whole area hides the paranoid and delusional; well the ones that don't have internet connections at least.
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Talaban wouldn't write fed, nor make the body easy to find.
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epiphannyy2 months ago
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So when will we, society, hold the purveyors of the sort of hate speech that is leading to this sort of violence accountable for their part in inciting it? Freedom of speech has its limits, and one of those limits is when it incites violence against others. If this turns out to be a hate crime (and its hard to believe that a census worker found hung with "FED" written across his chest isn't a hate crime) against a federal worker because whoever committed it was convinced they could no longer trust their government, will those who did the convincing finally be held to account? Will society FINALLY stand up and say ENOUGH ALREADY? If not, what act of violence might come next? Will cross burnings make a comeback? Will it be acceptable to simply shoot all political opposition on sight? How about a presidential assassination? Where is it going to end?
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Our country has survived a lot of hateful periods...the Civil War and McCarthy-ism both come to mind...but this seems to be different. The Civil War had a basis, agree or disagree, to their opposition of one another. States rights vs a cohesive nation legitimately bred a lot of discontent. The McCarthy era was hysteria driven, much like we're seeing today, but much of America had that common enemy - communism. While the hysteria was taken advantage of, I don't remember anyone inciting actual violence against those they opposed. Yes, they made the lives of their opposition miserable with Black Lists, etc, but did it ever degenerate into murder? I can't say that I recall that ever happening.
But now....for whatever the reason....people in this country have become so fearful of their government that they are willing to kill in order to protect themselves from something as benign as a census worker who is simply trying to take the scheduled head count. How can this possibly be justified by those who have basically called for this reaction to a government they distrust? Will any of them step up to the plate and denounce such violence? Will any of them learn from this and take a little more care with the rhetoric they offer up and the venom they spew while do it? Time will tell, I guess, but regardless of their reactions it is time to take civil control of our country back and enforce the laws against inciting riots and violence against others. Enough is enough.-
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Demzon2 months ago
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'What wil be enough for people?' Personally I don't see an end until there is another person taking a shot at the president or a bombing of another federal building. Thats what they are out for; drive all the mentally unstable and paranoid in to a frenzy and see which one pops the biggest. This was just a small smear on the scale from what history has shown.
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deemo222 months ago
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You liberals are so fricking pothetic. If libs protest at a soldiers funeral against the war, or burn the American flag, or protest outside a speach by President Bush, its an American right. If a conservative (tea party)has an organized protest, it is a bunch of radicals. If you idiots would watch something besides CNN and the rest of the liberal media. you might get the facts. The only radicals at these ralleys are the liberals. This area of Kentucky is predominantly black. Painting Fed on his chest sure takes the spot light off of the real issue. It was a racial/hate crime. If a white kills a black its a hate crime. If the reverse happens it never shows up in the news. Just like this story burried in the corner. I hope that you liberals get a clue about Borat Obama before its too late.
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antibrainwasher2 months ago
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Perhaps it was you who murdered the census taker. At any rate, someone exactly like you, and there are thousands of racist ignorant psychopaths, all signed up for the GOP, bellowing McCarthyist slogans at tea bag terrorist conventions.
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You are, or course, being played like a banjo (the only instrument with which your are familiar) by the super rich and their right wing milita of Murdocks faux noise. But we wouldn't expect someone with a room temperature IQ to see his puppets strings. -
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antibrainwasher2 months ago
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Oh, and BTW, moron, CNN is part of the largest corporate controlled, board controlled conservative media organization in the world, owning amoung other things, AOL propeller and time magazine.
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Time Magazine, the right wing middle of the road, and CNN, the right wing war profiteers, with Wolf Blitzer, the former empolyee of AIP, the right wing zionist Israel first think tank, is as usual, refered to as "liberal", by morons who can't tie their shoes with out instruction from fixed noise. -
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antibrainwasher2 months ago
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LOL: "Almost anyone stumbling upon a pot growing operation in The Daniel Boone National Forest will be treated the same way. It appears to be the logical explanation to anyone who knows about that area of the country. But there is fear to be mongered, so monger away!"
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Here, LOL demonstrates Rovian Doctrine 101, in a typical swiftboating approach to ANY subject being twisted and distorted by a lying sack of GOP crap for the purpose of turning repug terrorism into an attack on reason, and of course reasonable people.
The fear mongerer here, moron, is the murdering hillbilly Glen Goebbles Beck Michelle Bachman terrorist who murdered the father and wrote FED on his chest.-
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antibrainwasher2 months ago
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LML reminds one of Virginia Fox, the great republican racist senile idiot congressman, proclaiming that murdering Matthew Sheppard wasn't a hate crime, stringing him to a barbed wire fence and beating him to death wasn't a hate crime, and with his mother in the audience.
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You see, repugs stick up for their own, the violent murdering terrorist cells of evangelical racists and paranoid delusional evangelical teliban. Its their base. -
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lovemylibs2 months ago
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Ahhh, whatsamatter antibrain? Did you not realize that you were played by the AP when they reported a story about a death in the Daniel Boone National Forest and they did not mention the fact that this forest is home to a lot of illegal pot growers? It seems misguided for a source as fair as the AP to not mention this fact. It seems you fell for the current Journolist talking point hook, line and sinker. Spit it out before you get caught in a net of brain washing activity.
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antibrainwasher2 months ago
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No, moron, peace loving progressives are for LEGALIZATION, which inbred toothless repugs are apposed to. The conservatives want things as they are, they prefer murdering census takers in a paranoia murdering rage much like McVey, the repug terrorist.
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Legalization prevents murders, something lost on a clueless IQ-less moron.
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pboccuti2 months ago
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Is Pot legal? If so, where can I get some legal Pot? Oh wait that is right, Pot is still illegal, for some completely retarded reason. So legalization of Pot does not lead to a "socialist prez", becasue Pot is still illegal, unfortunately. I assumed you were talking about Obama with the "socialist prez" comment, because what other president has been label a socialist.
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jovial2 months ago
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Shocking! I'll reserve judgement on this just yet, but I have a gut feeling this was somehow instigated by the recent anti-government sentiment being spewed across the airwaves by Glenn Beck and some radical Republicans in government. The reason I think this is if it was a drug thing, they would have probably marked the body "Narc" or "snitch". Marking the body "Fed" makes one believe that the guy may have stumbled upon some anti-government paramilitary group.
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pboccuti2 months ago
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If it was a drug "thing" they would not have found the body so quickly. The body wouldn't be hung from a tree limb and nothing would have been carved or sctached on his chest. He would have had 1 bullet hole in his head and that is it.
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INDIVIDUALTERRY2 months ago
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my cousin is a progressive liberal who voted for Obama. He drives a pick up truck with a shotgun in the back seat, a 45. auto under the seat, hates blacks and jews, dont even bother to bring up the subject of fed. government ! Why did he vote dem? because his UNION told him too!thats the stupidity of people today.
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sinophil492 months ago
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It is a fascinating sociological and psychological case study in how neocons jump to conclusions about the death of this unfortunate census worker. In the absence of any proof, they immediately jumped to the conclusion that he was killed by pot growers in order to counter the perception that he could possibly have been murdered by ultra-conservative, anti-government residents of this backward enclave.
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In most of the reports I read about pot growers, the growers simply try to get away and leave their crop behind. They usually realize it is not worth a murder conviction just to salvage a harvest of a couple hundred thousand, when they can disappear and simply grow elsewhere.
Where the crop is protected, the growers usually have high powered gun power and threaten the trespasser or shoot it out with the police.
If this is a hanging perpetrated by pot growers, it will be the first ever committed by pot growers. Why would they want to highlight the murder and draw even more police attention to the area of their pot farms when they want to stay hidden and clandestine?
A much more plausible scenario is that this census worker was captured by some backwwods, ignorant folk who then dragged him to this remote region to kill him. Since they had no vested interest in protecting the secrecy of the area, they hanged him there to draw attention AWAY from where they were actually living.
It really makes no sense for a pot grower to draw attention TOWARDS the remote area where he was cultivating an illegal crop. -
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Natureboy2 months ago
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There's not a person on this thread who, at this point, knows what really happened.
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Those who have latched on to this man's death as an excuse once again play the circus monkeys and fling dung at your political opposition, you should be ASHAMED! -
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