Gov Protest: A "Fed" Hanged In Kentucky

Get ready for a round of stories debating whether it is the Tea Party movement, Glenn Beck, or a color blind racist that led to this alleged homicide. A long time census worker was hanged with the word "Fed" scrawled upon his chest.

Oh, and the area has a WalMart, too. One couldn't ask for more proof than that. The sad fact is, as the sheriff points out, it wasn't as if something like this couldn't have happened at any point given the area he was in. He also seems to have his own theory but isn't talking until the FBI weighs in.

It's a tragic story, but that won't stop the media from cherry picking the facts to drive the particular talking head debates they will most likely love to have.

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.

Manchester, the main hub of the southeastern Kentucky county, is an exit off the highway, with a Walmart, a few hotels, chain restaurants and a couple gas stations. The drive away from town and toward the area Sparkman's body was found is decidedly different, through the forest with no streetlights on winding roads, up and down steep hills and sparsely populated.

Comments

[Diamond Dog]

The glaring hole in this story is the date. The body of this poor guy is reported to have been found 2 weeks ago.
Why was this story not news then?

[JWF]

Don't worry. The clowns rushing to judgment will have moved on to some other non-story by the time the facts are in.

[Lala]

I read the story was leaked.

My first thought "moonshiners"

[celticdragon]

Gotta love the "alleged homicide" trope.

I'm sure he was walking along in the woods with a rope around his neck and had an accident when it snagged a tree branch. "Fed" was scrawled on his chest because he had just been served a hearty lunch.

Also, it was a Mooslim/Acorn plot to make Tea Party people look bad.

Yeah. That works.

[Pete]

Pot growers. To them census worker = DEA agent.

[Dhuck]

Also, it was a Mooslim/Acorn plot to make Tea Party people look bad.
via celticdragon at 8:14 am

Mooslim plot? Probably not but with Acorn's record of late I would not put much beyond them! LOL

[JadedByPolitcs]

I am sure that the left will jump on this however I am quite sure that just like Obama as the Joker it will have been a leftist because those are the hippies selling drugs & alcohol in the woods in KY. I want them to go all crazy on the left because it will give us one more incident to point to about their INSANE ideology when it is proven it was one of their own!

[Fuzzy]

This seems fishy to me, too. I think you are right that they'll jump on it as evidence of right wing violence (you know the stuff Pelosi was trying to offer up as her justification for silencing dissent *sniff*).

[brian]

"Drawing on years of experience" doesn't really lend itself to a warning about tea parties. I think the earlier comments about moonshine or drugs are the most reasonable explanation.

Don't expect that to be given as much attention as the death, however.

[Mel]

I almost hate to admit this, but I have family in SE Kentucky and have spent quite a lot of time there. ANYONE with ANY federal agency is likely to be in danger there. From the druggies and their marijuana and oxycontin stashes AND from the 'shine makers who don't want the "revenuers" messing around. It's always very much a "leave me alone" kind of place because ALL the government wants from the area is money. But now that Obama is trying to end the few good jobs (coal mining) available and completely ignored the area while hundreds died in the cold without water or power after last winter's ice storms, whoever did this probably thinks they were acting in self-defense. And maybe they have a point....a paranoid point that doesn't justify murder...but a point nonetheless.

[Mike in NKY]

Back woods + Rural Appalachian Kentucky + Isolated road + Late summer. Looks like a guy wandered into a pot growing operation / harvest or a meth lab.

[Seejay]

Yeah, there's a fishy element to the story.
But there's also a logical one.....
Let's say, just to speculate, that the reason the census-worked was hanged, with the word "FED" on him, is that the federal government has declared war on Americans? And that some Americans have responded?
Think that's too harsh? Too absurd...?
I mean, when the federal government announces that racial "diversity" is to become a national goal, while over two-thirds of Americans are Caucasian whites, isn't that a declaration of war...? Just how are we to achieve this "diversity?" What methods are to be employed?
Our media, and government have already decided that the ETHNIC CLEANSING of whites from the USA is not only a good and desirable thing; it's become LAW! All we need to do to "fix" America is to reduce the number of her white founding stock, while increasing the numbers of mainly foreign-born blacks, and browns. After all, preferring black and brown people over white people isn't "racism", but preferring white people over black and brown people is........!
Pretty big disconnect, don't you think?
Ethnic cleansing is war. And it's a particularly nasty type of war! How would any normal person react to a government's desire for their displacement..?
No, I'm not advocating violence. But I AM acknowledging one aspect of human behavior, regardless of race or ethnicity; The reaction to a perceived threat of violence will be violent...!

[CPT. Charles]

Mike in NKY.

Bingo. Considering where the body was found, the DBNF, it could have been the Weed Farmers. But don't count out the Meth folks.

The government in KY know the truth, getting the 'rat Governor to admit it out loud is another matter.

Shiners? Please. Their 'work places' AREN'T anywhere near their homes.

That poor soul SAW SOMETHING he WASN'T supposed to see.

Considering the potential players involved, they tend to be rather direct-minded about 'problem solving'.

[Mike in NKY]

Seejay -

I bet the fed guy was flying a black helicopter too. ;)

Occam's Razor - commonly referred to as, "when you have two competing theories that make exactly the same predictions, the simpler one is the better."

Don't look for bizarre explanations in this. I worked as a census canvasser - I saw things that were weird, illegal, and both.

Charles - My bets on meth cookers - not the brightest or best planners. Weed guys would have buried him deep in the hollow....

[btesh,ky]

Mike, my money is on the meth folks, alot of that here

[TRO]

It may be that he stumbled on a meth lab or weed farm, but why hang him and put that label on him? Better to shoot him and bury him and hope no one every finds him.

I am not saying that the Tea Party protesters or Glen Beck caused this, especially since I have attended a few Tea Party protests myself and enjoyed every moment, but I am saying that there is a whole hell of a lot of demonizing federal employees along with Congress and the President. One must remember we don't make policy and many times we don't like it any more than you.

I am still proud of the job I do, but frankly I keep a low profile now especially when I am with fellow conservatives who don't know me well. I just don't need the snarky comments if nothing else.

Oh, one other thing. I do a lot of field work in areas like this but fortunately I am legally armed. So any weed farmers or meth heads or anti-government types are going to find it a little harder to string me up.

[Chesley Perlmutter]

In 1981, I went to work as an Engineer in a small Clay County manufacturing plant.

One of the first things my boss told me was if you walked down the street of Manchester and picked a random citizen off the sidewalk and turned him/her upside down, at least two guns would fall out.

The second thing he told me was not to expect to be considered anything more than an outsider, even if I stayed there the rest of my life.

The third thing he told me was to not "explore" the county. He didn't want to have to hire another engineer so quickly.

The fourth thing he told me was that if I ever wanted to "get rid of someone", it would cost me about $500.00.

I worked there for three years, but never moved there. I've been back a few times and it's pretty much the same 28 years later.

My suspicion is that the guy saw something he shouldn't have. Someone had a problem with that. They solved their problem.

[Tolbert]

For those that would blame conservatives, you have no sense of the history of the area where this incident took place.

This area was anti-govenment before they even was a government.

It started with whiskey, then progressed to weed, now the locals have moved onto meth.

To blame any one individual or group for fanning anti-government sentiment as the cause for this man's demise is shortsighted and self-serving.

[Ran]

I'm with Lala...

...any bets the poor guy was a BATFE agent or informant, walked into the wrong garage somewhere?

My condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

FWIW: I blame Chris Matthews! J^ck^ss.

[Captain Joe]

Another theory, and one that might make a little sense, is that he committed a dramatic suicide. From reading several stories about the man he had cancer. Perhaps he wanted to paint the town as anti Fed for some reason.

[toyboat]

"Alleged homicide."
Apparently Dan wants everyone to consider the very real possibility that the 51-year old man scrawled “Fed” on his own chest in an effort to frame Glenn Beck and then shimmied up a tree, crawled out on a branch, attached a rope to the tree limb and jumped.

[spongeworthy]

Very stupid comment, toyboat.

I, too, smell meth if, as is not unlikely, it was not a suicide.

Speaking for myself, I have no problem with Federal workers. Your union is un-American but I cannot fault you for joining. I wouldn't hide it if I were an employee, but I would expect to take a little ribbing.

[Mouse]

Charles Johnson made the Tea Party connection last night. The first I've seen.

The whole thing is hinky, though. "Fed" in a rural area might mean something different to someone in an urban/suburban area. That's just a fact. "Fed" means BATF and DEA.

Why would they display the body? Ask the drug gangs in Mexico who cut off an official's head and leave the bod in front of his home. Statement? Don't come around here no more? Why would anyone leave so much evidence around to lead back to themselves?

They haven't ruled it a homicide (hence the "alleged", btw, toyboat), so I wonder what other evidence they've found -- were his hands tied? Was there sign of a struggle?

I don't know. But, as I said, the connection to the Tea Parties has already been made. I think, however, once more info comes out, it might not be so neat and tidy. But as someone else said, the connectors will already have moved on.

[Dave]

I read the same AP article this morning, but with this ending sentence: "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.
Sane people are not hostile with government workers -- they dislike policies, so they protest in legal ways.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2009/09/23/2009-09-23_census_worked_found_hanged_with_the_word_fed_scrawled_across_his_chest.html

[cindi]

Agree with the drug connection. Mistaken idenity of this poor guy.
!
I could scrawl f^&* Obama on my chest if I wanted to. As a matter of fact, I am getting to that point now! heh. If toyboat read that into Dan't post, they need serious help.

[Seejay]

Mike in nky thinks it's funny when we make-fun of folks...to imply they're paranoid, or even worse!
Especially when he can't make a reasonable argument to their points!
Yeah, I must be a "black helicopter" guy, because I believe the governments policy of achieving "racial diversity" to be specifically anti-white. (in a nation STILL two-thirds white.)
Maybe you can show me where I'm wrong..? Please correct my silly errors!
Please explain to me how desiring FEWER white people ISN'T anti white? How it's not "racism."
And maybe you can also explain how I would be treated if I said California was too brown? Or Detroit too black? Would I get credit from you for desiring "diversity" in those areas?
Still not sure what explaining Occam's Razor does for your argument, other than show everyone that you know what it is....
Is a man defending his very existence, by attacking his government-sanctioned attackers so absurdly crazy to you? I guess drug-related murder is more acceptable/believable in your world....

[Barry D]

"Pot growers. To them census worker = DEA agent."

That was my first thought when I heard about it.

I'd imagine that census workers asking questions that go beyond the legitimate role of the census might get some verbal abuse out in a rural area. Hell, I wouldn't be too friendly, myself, and I live in the city.

But KILLED? That sounds like something that would only happen if he asked too many questions of someone who was growing and/or selling something illegal.

[NCBill]

At least we know the deceased was not an African American. Had he been, of course, Olberman, the NYT, ABCCBSNBC would be broadcasting from the site 24/7. See, you can learn stuff from the media.

[Barry D]

"Sane people are not hostile with government workers -- they dislike policies, so they protest in legal ways."

Even if people are hostile, that has nothing to do with murder. Shouting angrily at a lying congresscritter at a town hall is connected in no way whatsoever to killing someone in the woods. By and large, the hostility felt towards government of late is because those in government are seen as breaking the basic moral codes of our society. The very nature of the protesters (desiring to protect that morality) would make them abhor something like murder.

[celticdragon]

The drug angle is possible...but this would be the first time I've heard of somebody being hanged after wandering into a pot patch or smelling a meth lab.

Hanging/lynching is a public act and a public threat, and the perp generally feels he has community support for the action.

Sorry, but the possibility that somebody took Michele Bachmann at her word about census workers and FEMA death camps (or some such) is very real. Not to mention they may have been smoking meth at the time...

[Chesley Perlmutter]

Celticdragon, that's a pretty lame statement. Nobody hanged the guy because they were spurred on by Michelle Bachmann.

He may have been an informant for Operation UNITE, a federally funded drug enforcement agency operating in SE Kentucky. That may be why it's taken two weeks to hit the news.

[Peter]

It's an attempt by the state-run media to paint this picture of the tea party folks as unhinged lunatics at the level of Timothy McVeigh. In fact, McVeigh was cited in an al-AP article on the discovery of this guy's body that Fox News had up on its website. The implication is clear.

You can read my comments on the case here:

http://theundergroundconservative.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/census-worker-found-in-cemetery/

My theory? I'll go with him stumbling onto a meth lab. Makes the most sense.

[tcat]

The original story I read about this said the FBI was looking into whether this was a suicide or homicide. I can't find that in any story now. Has this been ruled a homicide? Has the FBI said they have ruled out a suicide?

[Korla Pundit]

It was obviously suicide, and the poor guy expired before he could finish writing "FED UP!"

[Angus Dei]

I worked in Clay County, KY for FEMA years ago, and saw several - shall we say, "marginal" - activities going on, but never had any problems with the locals. In fact, being a libertarian-conservative, I got along with them just fine (Of cours I was treated as an outsider, but I WAS an outsider). My kind of people: God fearing and heavily armed. LOL!

As to the theories offered here, MJ growers would have probably buried the body and then ordered pizza, while speeding meth lab "technicians" might just have been crazy enough to hang the poor guy and vilify his body. Then again, the idea of an elaborate suicide is not out of the realm of possibility either, if he did indeed have cancer AND AN INSURANCE POLICY.

I'd suggest looking into the insurance angle, because many weird cases are solved by simply following the money.

[HDrepub]

Charles Johnson posted this on LGF only because it fits the pattern of his thinking in recent history, and was important to him for that reason only. It fits his mindset of everything wrong with the world is Glenn Beck, creationists, Tea Partiers and whoever else he doesn't like. He knew when he posted this what sort of discourse would ensue. Most of his toads fell right in line true to the course as usual. Peculiar that some don't see his modus operandi, that is, goading them into doing his work for him.

[mishu]

I'm sorry but I have to ask? Was his liver still attached? Any chianti bottles lying around the scene?

[Proud Liberal]

I have to feel sorry for the scared little losers like Seejay that worry that their little world where blackies knew their place is long past. You gotta love this from the little racist nitwit:

"Our media, and government have already decided that the ETHNIC CLEANSING of whites from the USA is not only a good and desirable thing; it's become LAW! All we need to do to "fix" America is to reduce the number of her white founding stock, while increasing the numbers of mainly foreign-born blacks, and browns."

Oh my my.... lol.. you gotta love these knuckle dragging rightwing teabagging racists. And they have found a home here on Riehl World View - how great is that?

One question Seejay, how many teeth do you have in your mouth? let me guess..... three. Moron.

[bruce]

He "had the word 'fed' scrawled on his chest, … and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment."

Yeah. I guess only Mulder and Sculley could sort this one out...

[jungus]

Is this the same article that helpfully supplied how the Oklahoma City bomber read ultra right wing literature? Like that was important to this event?

Also, this is Appalachia, they have always hated government "revenuers". Likely whoever did this knew this guy was an ex trooper and thought he was undercover DEA.

[B. B. Key]

Go to the London KY newspaper website and read the article written by a local reporter on 9/17.
She gives the name of the KSP patrolman who was first on the scene and the KSP dective who was doing the initial investigation.
Either one might be a better sorce than the AP's anonymous sorce.

[Jon C]

There's not much that scares me on the news even though our infotainment news media tries so hard to ruin my day, every day, exaggerating the perils of terrorism, swine flu, economic catastrophe, blah blah.

But this teabagging thing makes me worry - especially in light of Pelosi's recent comments and how they probably relate to the lynching in Kentucky.

I live in Texas and, trust me, the place is swarming with racists, secessionist 'libertarians' and religious 'conservatives' who all seem just one polite 'howdy' away from lynching a 'fed' or pulling a McVeigh. Talk to any of them face to face and you'll get the picture that the news won't talk about: they hate the federal government, they think black folks should know their place and they are all mad as hell that a black guy is running our 'white Christian' country. (So God knows how bad it is in Kentucky and all the other armpit states that make Texas look like Sweden.)

These Bachman/Becks/Hannitys/Limbaughs/et al. clearly need putting in check because they are dangerous and represent a far bigger threat to American democracy than foreign nutjobs like al Qaeda. They may rant about 'small government', but the logical end to all this teabagger BS, if successful, would be an American fascist government. They don't want 'small government' they want a coup d'etat that would put them in power so they can set about reversing civil rights, closing the borders and turning the country into one big corporate circle jerk with evangelical Christian mania as a distraction.

After all, don't we all personalize our view of democracy and view governments that reflect our own opinions and priorities as somehow more democratic than those that seem to prioritize those of people with whom we disagree? So what could possibly be more democratic to the type of poorly informed, knee-jerk 'small-governmenters' than a government that reflects their own 'beliefs' exclusively? It's more a matter of fact than opinion that the average 'teabagger' is less educated (and proud of it), less open to argument and, therefore, more likely to confuse democracy with getting their own way - rather than entertain any higher notions of pluralism and tolerance for opposing views. Their dream is a homogeneous, authoritarian state that validates their own 'beliefs' and makes all those who disagrees with them go away. Literally.

Just as Anarchism paved the way for authoritarian Communism, so Libertarianism seems to be the grease for the wheels for American Fascism today. Sure, Ron Paul says some good stuff and I can dig the whole 'hate the government thing' (I used to read Bakunin, Proudhon and Kropotkin when I was younger), but there's nothing 'libertarian' about these people. They're straight-up, common or garden fascists.

[Gabriel Hanna]

Hanging is an extremely rare form of murder, and an extremely common form of suicide. There have been cases of suicides trying to make their deaths look like murder. Until the investigation is complete it would be very unwise to draw any conclusions about what happened.

[alan]

Seejay --> CJ --> Charles Jonson's sockpuppet?

[HDrepub]

But this teabagging thing makes me worry - especially in light of Pelosi's recent comments and how they probably relate to the lynching in Kentucky.
-----------------------------
What a bunch of hogwash. The killings in San Francisco which Pelosi was referring to were done by a Democrat with a beef against a Democrat.

[HDrepub]

It is most likely a murder however. The man was found with his hands and feet bound.

It had to be one of those teabaggers, a posse of Hannity, Beck, Limbaugh, or maybe just a color-blind racist.

/sarcasm

[Jim Ryan]

Jon C: "I live in Texas and, trust me, the place is swarming with racists, secessionist 'libertarians' and religious 'conservatives' who all seem just one polite 'howdy' away from lynching a 'fed' or pulling a McVeigh."

Sure. They're everywhere. I've even seen them peeping out of my wife's blouse. I have to scrape them off my car in the morning.

"These Bachman/Becks/Hannitys/Limbaughs/et al. clearly need putting in check...."

How do you propose to shut them down, Jon? Federal government could do the trick, right?

"They may rant about 'small government', but the logical end to all this teabagger BS, if successful, would be an American fascist government."

Let me guess: you want us just "trust you" on this one, too?

[Proud Liberal]

Jon C... a thoughtful post. I had to check and make sure I was still on Riehl World. Many on the right are cheered by the Limbaugh's/Hannity's/Coulter's/ and Becks because it makes them feel good "fighting back" as it were. I don't blame them after the electoral shellacking they suffered over the last two election cycles but they are heading towards a very very dangerous place.

The Republican party is increasingly being seen a far right radical and, perhaps even more importantly, a regional (Southern) party. Oh, anybody can get a crowd to the Washington Mall, this is a big country. Trust me I know as I've been in many a 100,000 plus anti war demonstrations in my life. It didn't necessarily add up to electoral victories.

The real problem comes when all this heated rhetoric turns to violence. And it will turn to violence. Whether this incident is in that category or not has not yet been determined but there are going to be bad news stories in the future. And the Republicans... for failing to curb this extremist rhetoric, or speak out against it, will be further marginalized.

One would think that I welcome that as a liberal who normally supports Democrats but I really don't. We NEED a two party system for this thing called Democracy to work.

[Proud Liberal]

Jim Ryan said, "How do you propose to shut them down, Jon? Federal government could do the trick, right?"

I won't speak for Jon but I don't think he is suggesting that the government "shut down" the demagogues on the right but that they should be called out on their outrageous statements by those traditionally thought to be on their side of the aisle. I have to hand it to Joe Scarborough for doing just that. For Beck to say that Obama hates white people is something that NEEDS to be denounced by conservatives and quite frankly it is just not happening. Very perilous in my opinion. The Republican party seems to be scared to death by their nutjobs. Not exactly a profile in courage.

[Hans]

This was Kentucky so he may have had another shirt that had 'hongry' written across the front of it that he wore in between jobs.