Occupy Fort Collins CO. activist suspected of Old Town fire

[Skip_In_Boulder]

This is rather concerning.



Investigators arrested a 29-year-old man associated with Occupy Fort Collins on suspicion of setting the Oct. 24 fire that destroyed an Old Town condominium complex and severely damaged another.

Benjamin David Gilmore, 29 of Fort Collins was arrested last night and is suspected of first-degree arson, second-degree burglary and criminal mischief in connection with the fire, which burned the building at 311 Mason Street and damaged the next-door Penny Flats residential and mixed-use retail building.
{snip}

Gilmore, a registered Republican, was an early supporter of Occupy Fort Collins, which has set up camp a block away from where the fire burned. Tuesday, he addressed City Council asking the city to be more accommodating to the movement. In an online video featured on www.tri1025 Gilmore said he was frustrated by the income disparity between executives and workers, and told people they should turn in their paper money for gold and other metals.

"We are taking over Fort Collins Incorporated and establishing Fort Collins Unincorporated," he said in the video.

Occupy Fort Collins members said this morning that they are committed to nonviolence, and they had no idea of any link between Gilmore and the fire. Federal investigators have repeatedly visited the camp over the past several days.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20111104/UPDATES01/111104006/Occupy-Fort-Collins-activist-suspected-Old-Town-fire?odyssey=mod%7Cmostcom

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Agent provocateur...

...mark my words.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. So much for 'reaching across' to teabaggers, Paulites & domestic terrorists

Here's hoping the progressive occupiers are able to distance themselves from those who advocate violence.

[redgiant]

12. Trial first?

He was arrested. Let's have the trial and see the evidence before we hang him.

Let's, for the sake of argument, assume he might have set the fire.

Agent provocateur, or just fucked up? An agent provocateur would be guided by the motivation to discredit the movement to which he gives lip service. The article says he's a libertarian. *Some* libertarians have expressed, I gather, some sympathy for some of the goals of OWS. Is it possible, then, that this guy was a sincere--but misguided--supporter of OWS? What in his background would suggest such a strong desire to destroy OWS that he would take the personal risk of a serious felony charge, and, if someone had died in the fire, a murder charge?

This presents an interesting challenge for the various iterations of OWS. Do you welcome with open arms any and all who show up and express the desire to support the movement? Or, do you apply some sort of a vetting process? If the former, does this not leave the movement vulnerable to agent provocateurs, a la Benjamin David Gilmore (if indeed he is one)? If the latter, how is this to be done, and by whom? Will credentials committees need to be established? Will backgrounds need to be investigated?

How many sincere OWS participants are registered Republicans? I suspect more than a handful. Are they to be banished? What about libertarians? Is OWS fatally flawed by its accepting, open to all democratic nature? Or, will its survival hinge on become more selective?

Membership cards? Loyalty oaths?

[redgiant]

13. And let's not discount...

...the possibility that he IS a sincere supporter of OWS, AND not responsible for the fire.

[Ohio Joe]

4. "turn in their paper money for gold" - Fucking crazy ass paulites

This asshole is not associated with any Occupy, he is a lunatic paulite trying to claim one. Send the asshole to prison.

[kestrel91316]

6. Prison's too good for him. Turn him over to the folks whose homes he destroyed

in the condo complex, and the struggling small business owners in Old Town who he RUINED.

Filthy FUCKER.

[Ohio Joe]

8. Thats a tough one...

heh, believe me, I can understand wanting to get the fucker that burned down my home alone for a bit... My home was burned down a few years back and I lost everything. This douchebag has caused a world of hurt even for those that had their places insured and those that did not are simply fucked. Prison does seem to good for this asshole but I'm not sure vigilante justice is the answer... I don't know what a good answer is.

[kestrel91316]

10. Horsewhipping comes to mind. Betcha he'd think twice about doing it again.

[kestrel91316]

5. OMG HE BURNED OLD TOWN!!!!! Let me at him!!!!! Filthy fucker!!!

And a REPUBLICAN. OF COURSE.

Ft. Collins has (or HAD) the most gorgeous redeveloped old central business district. Filthy SOB. I could kill him (hypothetically, mods).

That's MY town.

[laylah]

11. It was mine, also,

from 1983 to 2002. I was very sad to hear of the damage to the building. According to my kiddos, who still live there, Old Town is still wonderful. The building he allegedly torched was closer to the tracks to the west. Not that that made it okay, I am just saying.

[Earth_First]

7. This is Occupy, how exactly?

:shrug:

[Historic NY]

9. I'd be looking at him a little more closely...

who pays his bail, who represent him, etc etc...

[ljm2002]

14. "Gilmore, a registered Republican"...

...things that make you go "Hmmmm"...