Huffintonpost: Census Worker Hanged: Bill Sparkman Found With "Fed" On Body

[LostInAnomie]

DEVLIN BARRETT and JEFFREY McMURRAY
09/23/09 05:20 PM


WASHINGTON — The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word 'fed" was scrawled on the dead man's chest.

The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and occasional teacher, 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.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the death was a killing or a suicide, and if a killing, whether the motive was related to his government job or to anti-government sentiment.

Investigators have said little about the case. The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, said Wednesday the man was found hanging from a tree and the word "fed" was written on the dead man's chest. The official did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/23/census-worker-hanged-with_n_297114.html

[unpossibles]

1. suicide..? Really?

I often find it difficult to write on myself after a good hanging....

[Critters2]

5. Yeah. That takes a special talent. One only feds have, I'm guessing. nt

[anigbrowl]

7. It's just an attempt not to prejudice a trial

if/when they find someone they won't want the trial derailed by some question over whether they jumped to conclusions before the coroner's report.

[unpossibles]

8. sure, I just found it amusing though

And although it could be argued that he did so before he killed himself, one would have to wonder why.

[anigbrowl]

17. Well, it is a possibility, though an extremely unlikely one

Some people commit suicide in very strange ways. But like I say, extremely unlikely.

[paulsby]

16. i once read a police report

where the officer referred to a guy who was found submerged with two bullet holes in him, and cinder blocks tied around his waist as a "possible homicide" ...

lol

your analysis is correct

[Poll_Blind]

2. Why do I get the impression that, if this was a murder, it's because they...

...thought the poor goddamned census taker was trying to get their name so when the white people get rounded up for the extermination camps, they'll know who's door to go knockin' on?

Glenn. Bill. Your fans in action?

PB

[unpossibles]

10. yep. Don't forget Rush

And to be fair, this part of the country has been a bit shy of the feds for some time now.

[Ikonoklast]

15. Lots of dope grown in the Daniel Boone forest.

Could have been seen as a nosy snooper for the Federal government.

[malaise]

14. I hope Michelle Bachmann is happy

:puke:

[cali]

19. actually, I just read some background about where he was

in the Daniel Boone National Forest. It's a big, big pot growing area with a long history of moonshine. not saying your scenario isn't possible but this is just as plausible.

[alfredo]

24. A lot of meth to be found there. Most likely he knocked on the wrong door.

[Poll_Blind]

31. Hunh. That's a good call, didn't even think of that. Being a census taker, if they were on duty...

...they were probably canvassing a very specific swath of properties that day. If someone killed them to keep unwanted attention away from their grow-op, they've probably achieved the epic opposite effect. Esp. since they probably count as a federal employee so the feds would be involved right away. Then again, that's murderers for ya.

PB

[myrna minx]

3. This story has just devastated me.

:cry: This is only beginning.

[madrchsod]

6. yes it is....

[Frustratedlady]

9. I was afraid to open the article, because I thought for sure...

it would be racial. Not saying it isn't, but if this is a homicide, I would have to agree with the comment prior to this about the census takers and the warped ideas the RWs have been throwing around.

I cannot believe this is happening. I just can't believe it.

[myrna minx]

13. Michele Bachmann et al whipped up the hysteria against the census - and I can

only imagine this is a reaction to said hysteria. I can't believe it either - I'm stunned.
:-(
Here's a link to something that will bring sweeter tears:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6614660

[rvablue]

22. But with this nightmarish, horrible revelation, how long will it take to finally censure

Bachmann and her inciteful comments on the census bureau.

She needs to be publicly rebuked. The Congress can't do anything about Crybaby, Piboy, and the rest, except maybe a formal condemnation, but they need to take official and procedural action against Bachmann who more or less implied that giving information to the census bureau was a bad thing.

Prayers to this man's friends and family. Absolutely horrible!

[mzmolly]

25. It's horrible. Shooting people in churches, killing doctors and now hanging

census workers? There must have been more than one person involved in this?

[madrchsod]

4. there`s go`n be a few good old boys go`n to the federal pen...

[Frustratedlady]

11. With their own bedding? n/t

[abelenkpe2]

12. Poor guy!

I hope this isn't what I think it is.

RIP Mr. Sparkman.

[mzmolly]

18. OMG. Suicide?

Are they !#%@ joking?!

[One Voice]

20. Link with background and pic

From another link at Huffpo..

http://www.wgu.edu/wgu/profile_16

[mnhtnbb]

21. Being reported as homicide here

http://www.southernstudies.org/2009/09/census-watch-census-worker-hanged-in-kentucky-with-fed-scrawled-on-his-chest.html

Lucindia Scurry-Johnson, assistant director of the Census Bureau's southern office in Charlotte, N.C., told the AP that law enforcement authorities have said the death is "an apparent homicide." The bureau has suspended door-to-door operations in Clay County until the investigation is complete.

Investigators are reportedly trying to determine whether anti-government sentiment played a role in the killing.

[mzmolly]

23. Another casualty of RW rhetoric.

It has GOT to stop.

[JohnWxy]

26. the result of America's peculiar brand of ignorance and insanity.

[grok]

27. I think Y'all are jumping the gun..

Of course we don't know if it was a homicide but it seems damn likely. Would a auicider hate his census job so much to scrawl "FED" on his chest?

Now who HATES FEDS in this area of America?

Moonshiners and Pot growers... I'd say more likely Pot since Kentucky is a hotbed of it now..

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-30-kentucky_N.htm

"quote"

The remote and rugged terrain, including the 700,000 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest, is a pot-grower's paradise — its perfect soil and climate give it a key place in America's "Marijuana Belt."

....

The estimated worth of seized plants alone far outstrips Kentucky's other crops. Federal statistics from the Department of Agriculture for 2005 show state receipts for tobacco were $342 million and corn was $336 million, compared with close to $1 billion of pot eradicated last year by HIDTA.

Over time, growing pot has become an "accepted and even encouraged" part of the culture in Appalachia, according to a 2006 report from the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

"unquote"


This poor census worker probably stumbled upon a Marihuana field while he was trying to do his job..

They don't like "revenuers" and govt. nosey folk in this neck of the woods..

I'm just sayin'............

[LostInAnomie]

28. Why would a pot farmer want to make a display of a murdered gov't employee?

Especially, why would they do it anywhere near where they are growing their pot?

[grok]

30. To scare off feds and other nosey people.

This federal park is huge. probably 10-20 miles away from the pot field, if exists, in question.

Close enough to scare people for miles around, but not close enough to tie to any single place.

Now is it smart? Not really. However, simple folk in this area may not realize the "Feds" would never let this go.

I bet they get caught sooner rather than later.

[Cleita]

29. FED?

I thought they were called "revnooers" in those woods.

Seriously, my condolences to the family of the man killed. I shouldn't joke about a tragedy like this that shouldn't have happened if we had responsible elected leaders.