A Man, a Plan, a Dam. Then, an F.B.I. Call

[kpete]

A Man, a Plan, a Dam. Then, an F.B.I. Call.
By CORNELIA DEAN
Published: August 22, 2006

On July 25, Jim Bensman of Alton, Ill., attended a public meeting on the proposed construction of a bypass channel for fish at a dam on the Mississippi River. Less than a week later, he was under investigation by the F.B.I. — the victim, depending on how you look at it, of either a comedy of errors or alarming antiterror zeal.

At the meeting, Mr. Bensman, a coordinator with Heartwood, an environmental organization, suggested the corps simply destroy the dam. It was an idea the corps itself had considered. In fact, a photograph of an exploding dam was included in the corps’ PowerPoint presentation, explosive demolition being by far the most common method of dam removal.

........................

But news accounts of the hearing did not put it quite like that. One newspaper said simply that he “would like to see the dam blown up.”

..................

But when the agent said he wanted to visit him at home, Mr. Bensman became frightened. “I was thinking, I need to talk to an attorney,” Mr. Bensman recalled. “And he said, ‘Well, O.K., I will put you down as not cooperating.’ ”

That was when Mr. Bensman got angry. “I know what Bush is doing with all these secret programs spying on the so-called terrorists, all these provisions in the Patriot Act that I think crosses the line, being able to spy on a suspected terrorist without the check and balance of a court or a judge,” he said. “That’s just something that really worries you.”

more at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/22/us/22dam.html?ex=1313899200&en=37ca647092d30738&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

[rodeodance]

1. seems like it was the newspaper that horribly put out the rumor

One newspaper said simply that he “would like to see the dam blown up.”

[Clark2008]

2. If that's what he said in a public meeting - and it looks as

thought it is what he said - then it's not the newspaper's fault. They reported on the entire meeting, which should never have been viewed by all these paranoid government types as having anything to do with terrorism.

Silliness abounds.

[shain from kane]

3. The fish voted, "Get that motherf*cking dam off the motherf*cking river."

[kpete]

5. Fish as Terrorists

[shain from kane]

7. Holy mackeral, the stinking fish are revolting. n/t

[rodeodance]

4. I wonder if he will find himself on the no fly list next time he tries to

fly?????



...... Kevin Bluhm, the corps official who moderated the meeting, said he doubted the call came from the corps. Though he conceded that Mr. Bensman has long been a thorn in its collective side, “he’s not malicious, oh no,” Mr. Bluhm said. “This was just Jim. He comes to a lot of our meetings, and he is anti a lot of the stuff that we do.”

Mr. Bluhm, who leads the corps’ public communication efforts along the Mississippi, said he could understand why the F.B.I. felt obliged to check Mr. Bensman out, but “if they would have asked me first, I would have said no, there’s not that kind of risk there.”

Marshall Stone, a spokesman for the Springfield, Ill., office of the F.B.I., said, “A lot of things we look into turn out to be things we don’t have to be concerned about.”

Mr. Bensman, who wrote an account of his experience which is circulating on the Internet, said he had been informed that he is not now suspected of anything. But he worries that his phone may be tapped and wonders what will happen if he is pulled over for a traffic violation: “Are the cops going to think I am a terrorist? You never know what is going to happen nowadays.”

[Redneck Socialist]

6. It wasn't a mistake

They've been targeting environmental groups for a long time now.

[onethatcares]

8. isn't there a place where

man and fish can co exist? I could have sworn there was.