Washington DC Radio AM 630 just reported that a house on Rock Creek Park (an expensive area) was raided by the FBI and the DC Police as it was feared that terrorists lived there.

The reason given for the raid was the water barrels that were being stored at the house were mistaken for other materials.

Turns out that the residents were storing water for Y2K.

As Big Dog would say-Sheesh!

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), August 06, 1999

Answers

"Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Ben Franklin)

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), August 06, 1999.

I love that zoobie guy!

Believe it.

Father

-- Thomas G. Hale (hale.tg@att.net), August 06, 1999.

In Sept 98, the head of the FBI Domestic Terrorist Group said he would be beginning this sort of attack on Christian groups "huddled behind locked doors in their bunkers"........LA Times article, printed about Sept 10-15 timeframe I believe.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), August 06, 1999.

>> "Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Ben Franklin) <<

I see this quote often. I believe that it is all too easy to overlook the qualifiers "little" and "temporary". When people paraphrase this quote from memory they almost always leave them out.

Mr. Franklin was making a good point, but his point is *not* that liberty is more valuable than safety. He only said that liberty is more valuable than "a little temporary safety". Those qualifiers are well worth remembering.

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), August 06, 1999.

Don't you feel sorry for the FBI and Police, having to snoop everywhere, in weeple's back yards, and seeing growing numbers with these suspicious *gasp* water barrels storing water? Apparently the DC Police do not read the Washington Post and don't know about their own contingency plans of buddy-up to protect the 7-11s on New Year's Evil. Oh, that Y2K hoax is no excuse to follow FEMA guidelines, and the New Madrid hoax just brings out the terrorists.

Spray RAID not on the bug but on the Preppers!

3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 06, 1999.

Excuse me Ashton and Leska,

Arne't you worried about the growing number of terrorists come the new year? In your opinion the police should have a very valid reason to be scared and alert. You know, the Millenoum is going to be a hayday for theives et al, right? I guess your still suffering from the Doomer Disconnect. Don't worry, should wear off in about five months.

-- (You whacky@couple. of Cascadians), August 06, 1999.

You whacky, sorry to see you are still reading-challenged. In so many previous posts we have commented reams-worth about the true need to be vigilant for opportunistic terrorism. We are also FEMA-certified NET leaders and completely support our local First Responders in their difficult and dangerous tasks. However, our post above used tongue-in-cheek to point out the official disconnect after that rather alarming Washington Post article urged DCers to be prepared for Y2K disruptions, plus the 60 Minutes segment which voiced concern that water would not flow normally at Rollover.

Now, we will happily disconnect from further calm patient explanations to you, since you have been following us on threads having little uncalled-for fittzles. Obviously no amount of loving tender tutoring penetrates your ossified brain or prickly temperament. There are certain lost causes in the Y2K conundrum, and we have to know when to let well enough alone ;^)

3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 06, 1999.

Since I hail from what I heard called 'the meth capital of the world' I thought I'd interject that when an area sprouts a bunch of buckets & barrels around here, usually something else is afoot. Manufacturing intoxticants may be the world's second oldest profession. And remember the Japanese cult? Figuring a way to take out 'that other guy' may well be the third oldest profession. We all need to 'get out of the box' of our own perception from time to time.

-- flora (***@__._), August 06, 1999.

Ashton and Leska,

Will you marry me?

Poona

-- Poona (poona@doghouse.ruf), August 06, 1999.

Go for it Ashton and Leska!...I'll marry you guys too. :)

-- LurkeRN (LurkeRN@spiritOne.com), August 06, 1999.

I wonder if they shot the barrels full of holes

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), August 06, 1999.

I wonder if they shot the water barrels full of holes

-- dick of the dale (rdale@coynet.com), August 06, 1999.

The pigs keep lists; maybe it's time we started keeping lists of pigs.

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 06, 1999.

Flora said: "Since I hail from what I heard called 'the meth capital of the world' I thought I'd interject that when an area sprouts a bunch of buckets & barrels around here, usually something else is afoot. Manufacturing intoxticants may be the world's second oldest profession."

And your point is?

Are you one of those busybodies all in favor of outlawing the "oldest and second oldest professions"? Maybe that accounts for a lot of what you see as the world's "third oldest profession" -- busybodies trying to shove their peculiar moralities down others' throats, and the victims objecting by whatever means they can.

It's not "cain't we all jes' get along", it's "mind your own f*ing business."

-- A (A@AisA.com), August 06, 1999.

OK, folks, it's up on AP Breaking News now. Their article URLs go dead and are replaced by other stories within hours, sometimes minutes, so we don't bother posting their URLs anymore.

However, we'll post their front page URL so y'all can check if you're speedy:

AP Breaking News

[ Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only ]

8/6/99 -- 3:05 PM

Raid Uncovers Y2K Stockpiling Effort

WASHINGTON (AP) - The neighbors could see something was up. There had been unmarked cars on both sides of the street ``clearly doing surveillance,'' one man said.

Indeed, an investigation had been in the works for weeks, since a tip came in that big containers were being delivered to a house on a quiet street in the nation's capital. There were worries about the makings of a bomb.

Friday morning at 7:30 the raid was on. The street was crowded with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, with local police and explosives experts, with State Department officials.

And. ...

``We did not find sufficient material to warrant a further investigation,'' said Brian Burns, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

They did find 30 empty 55-gallon plastic drums.

Residents said they intended to use the drums to store water - out of concern about shortages that might be caused by Year 2000 computer problems on Jan. 1.
----------------------------------------------------------------

It would be funny if it weren't so scary.
We've noticed folks in cars sitting staring at us for long periods.
They must be really bored! Wheez po folks and don't even have those nice 55-gallon plastic drums. They'd better not be planning to pinch our TP!

And here we'll repeat that we are glad they're doing their job sniffing out possible bombs and terrorists. Hope they catch the real thing!

Yesterday the plane passenger who "paid with cash," today the water barrels. Hhhmmm. And September isn't even here yet.

xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 06, 1999.

Wonder how many of their neighbors will come knocking if the water goes off now that they know who has water. And thirty barrels! The nerve of those "hoarders"! Having so much when so many others have so little! Why, if the people "revolt" aginst such an "injustice", who can plame those "righteous neigbors", merely trying to "right" such a "wrong"? Besides, what else might they have that might be in need of "redistribution" besides just water? Thirty barrels? They must be loaded! Surely they wouldn't mind sharing. If they do, why, they will "get what they deserve", I'll bet. Sad the above "mentality" is no joke, huh?

Also liked the word choice of the official -- didn't find enough additional evidence to merit any furthur investigation or some such thing. A whole street filled with agents. Survielance going on for weeks. If there WERE terrorist, they would, I'm sure, not get caught by "obvious survielance". Why the big show? Coming up for more contuning funding is my guess. Got to "prove" the need for more "resources"; after all, I don't need all my take home pay to live on, now do I?

-- Louis (StLouisLouis@Yahoo.com), August 06, 1999.

They checked them out for weeks and still decided to raid the house. What a joke. After weeks of surveillance all their technology and expertise didn't get it right.

It can only mean that the ATF are not Y2K compliant!

-- Lurker (lurking@y'all.com), August 06, 1999.

Dear Ashton and Leska,

You are both my heroes! Could I hire you to come to my house and fend of my critics for me? I have always dreamed of having a very kind, very witty, very intelligent, very effective answer to those people who like to make others miserable.

In any other context your writing is brilliant, caring, visionary, and very unique. Just want you to get some credit where it is due. Not that there is any shortage of people here who have noticed.

You are one of the reasons I wade through this place knowing there are some gems here.

Keep up the great work and best of luck in Cascadia.

Lora Ereshan

-- Lora (artemis45@hotmail.com), August 06, 1999.

Wow, Lora, thanks! Just got back online after talking to another son of a dying person; gotta new job interview in @ an hour: Yippee! This one sounds normal -- knock on lotsa wood and praying :-)

We've noticed you are posting more, and over on the Eggy Forum; love your posts! All we can say is, these Y2K Forums keep us sane while laboring thru these intense shut-in jobs.

This son just so happens to be a programmer/contractor/Y2K remediator at a big company! YES! And he's calling right now to have a second phone line installed so we can continue zee obsession :~D Ah, life looks good at the mo. Drat that stoooooopid Doom thingy from casting a Big Bad Shadow.

Thanks for the encouragement; we lonely typists are thrilled when a kind echo bounces back from the void ;^)

3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0 3~0

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), August 06, 1999.

A,

I'm sorry that my reference to the 'third oldest profession' was too oblique. It was an allusion to the human disposition to do harm to others. My memory of the Japanese cult event showed news coverage of blue barrels that held the chemical weapons that they used to murder people and terrorize the subway system. They looked like the barrels that have held our 'earthquake' water for years.

Minding one's own business is preferrable when it doesn't infringe on others. A neighboring waterway and surrounding garden land has been fouled by toxic 'lab' waste. Along the desolate highway it is not unusual to have buckets of waste dumped into the creeks and sloughs during the night. A HAZMAT crew has to be called out then to assess the threat. It is a real problem in my area, people exploit land that is not their own. Where you live, it may be different.

My thought was to convey how things that stick out of the ordinary can appear to someone with different experience.

Do not assume to know how I feel about prohibitions.

Ashton & Leska,

I also appreciate your abilities to turn a phrase!

-- flora (***@__._), August 07, 1999.

Presidential Executive Order 9066 landed thousands of American citizens in internment camps during WWII simply because of their nationality!! Japanese Americans!!

Now we've got the most fearful EO ever set to paper, Clintons Federalism Executive Order - no number attached, just the term.

I fear the founders concept of freedom would be unrecognizable to them, in today's format!

Read it and weep {8`{...

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), August 07, 1999.

Michael,

I was referring to the March 1995 Aum Shinrikyo sarin attack on the Tokyo subway. The cult leader, Shako Asahara, has predicted that the world as we know it would end in 1997, then changed it to 1999, and has updated it 2001.

"The Kobe earthquake will seem as a fly landing on one's cheek"

--Shako Asahara

-- flora (***@__._), August 07, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

It's hard to know which is worse... That these highly trained professional detectives could spend weeks investigating this family and still be so far off the mark, or that they did know they were preparing and they invaded their home anyway. I'm betting there was no apology. From here, this looks like a message being sent out to preparers. The question is, though, what would they be trying to say?

I know, on an earlier thread on another screw up (the media not picking up on Y2K), I said to not attribute to malice anything which could be adequately explained by stupidity. But this is just too stupid, isn't it? ATF, if you're reading this, I'm kidding around. Yeah, that's the ticket. Does anybody know if these guys have a sense of humor?

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), August 07, 1999.

I have a theory that they used some A, had an T and got out their F's for a litlle r n' r...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), August 07, 1999.

As the designated Devil's Advocate of this thread, I have a question to ask.

Where is the line in the sand for assessing and anticipating a potential risk, whether it be Y2k or terrorism?

30 barrels, delivered to spot near the seat of our government. DC has lots of other people or targets in it, as well as the current leadership. Chuck recently posted about a sarin event that was planned near Disneyworld that was a near-miss.

Those of you near mil installations, have you noticed the alpha alert since Fall? Why do you think that is?

To paraphrase Bob Dylan--

'If you want to live outside the law, you have to be honest'

-- flora (***@__._), August 07, 1999.

Let this be a warning to those who do have any illegal substances or firearms. Or even legal firearms if you have "too many" of them. Don't think, "I'll be ok, there's no reason they should search my house". Who knows what might appear suspicious to your neighbors.

-- biker (y2kbiker@worldnet.att.net), August 08, 1999.

biker,

How many firearms do ya 'spose I've got in my house?

I think we're comparing apples & oranges here.

"Yeah, he had a knife - but it was only a symbol."

Madeleine Geckiere, film-maker, interviewed after a Manhattan mugging

-- flora (***@__._), August 08, 1999.