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Police seek men sighted near power company (Update to electrical tower collapse - Milwaukee)
The milwaukee Sentinel / Journal ^ | 10/14/04 | By DAVE SHEELEY

Posted on 10/14/2004 8:07:27 PM PDT by flashbunny

City of Pewaukee - A group of men reportedly emerged from a wooded area laughing and filmed themselves outside a transmission company less than an hour after the company's electrical towers were found collapsed in Oak Creek, City of Pewaukee police said Thursday.

An officer responded to a report of suspicious people at American Transmission Co. after two employees of that company and a security officer at We Energies in Pewaukee told police they saw the men shooting video and taking pictures outside the transmission company, according to a police report.

Police said they haven't found the men since they were reported outside the company, so they were unable to prove that any criminal activity occurred or draw any correlation between the two incidents.

"We took the call serious. We did a thorough follow-up investigation," Pewaukee Police Chief Gary Bach said. "Needless to say, it resulted in nothing found in wrongdoing, other than trespassing."

The witnesses provided a vague description of the men whom they described as Middle Eastern in appearance. The American Transmission employees and the security officer also described the men as dark-skinned and in their 30s and 40s.

The security officer said the men were wearing clothes for casual business with earth-tone colors. He described seeing a type of polo shirt with slacks. One of the men was wearing a pink shirt or sweater, he told police.

Ziad Hamdan, religious director of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, said until the identities of the four men are known and authorities prove whether they have anything wrong, the report of seeing them outside the company won't carry any weight.

"We have to be careful rushing to judge people," Hamdan said.

Unfortunately, blame for crimes sometimes quickly goes to Middle Easterners, Hamdan said.

He pointed to the days after the Oklahoma City bombing, when people suspected Middle Eastern people of committing the attack.

In the end, however, "it was proved it was a white American that did this," Hamdan said, speaking of Timothy McVeigh.

According to the Pewaukee police report:

A systems operator for American Transmission called police shortly before 6:21 p.m. Saturday after he and another operator who was en route to the Oak Creek scene spotted the men in front of the facility off of Highway J.

Earlier, about 6:10 p.m., the security officer at We Energies was passing by the company and also saw the men, filming with cameras.

Police called on the Waukesha County sheriff's canine unit to check the wooded area from where the men first appeared, but nothing was found.

Police also notified Oak Creek police and the FBI.

The downed towers were found around 5:40 p.m. They left Mitchell International Airport and 17,000 homes without power after they brought down wires that fell across railroad tracks.

Oak Creek Police Chief Thomas Bauer said Thursday that it's difficult to assess what the men were doing.

"It's still America. People are interested in looking at railroads and power companies. They just do it because they're curious," he said.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: cameraincidents; collapse; electrictower; milwaukee; power; powerplantplots; scouts; sleepercells; towers; wot
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This is an update to the earlier story discussed here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1241901/posts
1 posted on 10/14/2004 8:07:27 PM PDT by flashbunny
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To: Indy Pendance

What's the story locally?


2 posted on 10/14/2004 8:11:08 PM PDT by annyokie ("I have a plan" (TM))
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To: flashbunny
He pointed to the days after the Oklahoma City bombing, when people suspected Middle Eastern people of committing the attack.

I suppose you can't fault them for taking the official position of the clinton administration and the MSM. But in point of fact there were a lot of Middle Easterners involved in the OKC bombing, including discussions with al Qaeda in Syria and the apparent involvement of some of Saddam's Republican Guards. It just wasn't convenient to follow it up. And it never will be convenient, because the FBI and CIA have too much at stake in the coverup.

3 posted on 10/14/2004 8:12:34 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Cicero

Sorry, not Syria, Phillipines. It's getting too late here.


4 posted on 10/14/2004 8:13:03 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: RaceBannon

fyi camera incident


5 posted on 10/14/2004 8:16:41 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: flashbunny
Police called on the Waukesha County sheriff's canine unit to check the wooded area from where the men first appeared, but nothing was found.

C'mon, get some competent trackers in there! If a group of men emerged from the woods, SOMETHING would have been found.

6 posted on 10/14/2004 8:16:47 PM PDT by LibWhacker
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To: flashbunny

I hope these guys are caught soon. A future attack on the electrical grid was discussed during and after the blackout in 2003.


7 posted on 10/14/2004 8:21:32 PM PDT by rdl6989
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To: flashbunny
If a group of middle earth people go around acting goofy and taking videos around our infrastructure, is it up to the police to prove they broke a law? I think these people are playing us for fools.

There is a war going on and, the first act of nuclear terrorism that occurs, all will change. They will find out they better not play with us any more.

8 posted on 10/14/2004 8:22:58 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie
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To: flashbunny
"They just do it because they're curious," he said."

Riiiiiiiiiight!

9 posted on 10/14/2004 8:23:30 PM PDT by semaj ("....by their fruit you will know them.")
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To: annyokie

That's the local paper's report. Yesterday they were asking about some kind of gloves they found near the towers. They wanted to know if someone may have had them stolen & gave a description that sounded to me like a lot of commone work gloves.

Pewaukee is pretty far away from Oak Creek, so I was sort of surprised to see that the story had traveled there, though it's where the corporate office of the power company is located.


10 posted on 10/14/2004 8:27:36 PM PDT by GoLightly (If it doesn't kill ya, it makes ya stronger.)
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To: The_Media_never_lie
If a group of middle earth people go around acting goofy and taking videos...

Never - ever, trust a Hobit.

They have fury feet.

LVM

11 posted on 10/14/2004 8:27:51 PM PDT by LasVegasMac ("5 times ain't sh!t - My Daddy won here 10 times" DEjr)
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To: flashbunny

I seriously doubt that the tower sabotage was anything but eco terrorism, but it is interesting that the towers are two miles due south of the Milwaukee Islamic Center.

The local police department is putting everything they have into solving this case. They have collected a lot of physical evidence and have several security camera tapes of the area.


12 posted on 10/14/2004 8:28:09 PM PDT by MediaMole
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To: flashbunny
OK, but I occasionally take pictures like this and I'm not a terrorist:


13 posted on 10/14/2004 8:29:21 PM PDT by meyer (Need some wood?)
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To: GoLightly
Thanks. From what I understand from talking to mechanically inclined types about the earlier report, there is no way someone could go in there with a pipe wrench and undo the nuts on these towers. They are huge and either require an hydraulic wrench or if a manual wrench, it would be about 10 feet long and weigh about 200 pounds.

Can we say saboteurs or inside job?

Just my .02
14 posted on 10/14/2004 8:31:33 PM PDT by annyokie ("I have a plan" (TM))
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To: annyokie

Could possibly be some kind of inside job, specially since the investigation shifted out to Pewaukee.

As far as removing nuts, er, I happen to have a little bit of knowledge in the area of jumbo sized nuts & bolts. What are you talking about when you say huge? You'd be surprised what kind of torque you can get with a wrench that has a long pipe slipped over it's handle. Also too, if you know the size & configuration of the nut, you can manufacture up a socket for it with a bit of steel & a welder.


15 posted on 10/14/2004 8:42:39 PM PDT by GoLightly (If it doesn't kill ya, it makes ya stronger.)
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To: GoLightly

I had heard the nuts were like 4 inches in Diameter around the screws. I have some big pipe wrenches and they won't span out that big.

The sockey thing makes sense. We better stop this or we'll have feds on the doorstep! ; )


16 posted on 10/14/2004 8:51:11 PM PDT by annyokie ("I have a plan" (™))
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To: meyer

Hmmm. I've been known to do something similar myself. Not into techno, though. Usually it is a big bird, or an unusual nest, and on rare occassions, both. A lot of places I get to, these things are the only "trees" within miles for the poor buggers to roost or nest in.


17 posted on 10/14/2004 8:52:10 PM PDT by ApplegateRanch (The world needs more horses, and fewer Jackasses!)
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To: flashbunny

what I have not seen mentioned with this story is that the Kewaskum nuclear plant about [50 mi north of Milwaukee] went off line on Sat. [the same day the towers fell] for about 35 days of maintenance work. reported in the Urinal.

also have heard scattered reports that other towers had loosened bolts.

bigger picture/connect the dots?


18 posted on 10/14/2004 8:54:33 PM PDT by the crow (I'm from the government. I'm here to help.)
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To: annyokie
I've wondered about the use of acids. They can be made at home and some of them can cut metal quite easily.
By guess is ecoterrorists, but it troubles me that we have to fight two types of terrorists at once. We need to lean on the ecoterrorists hard, and take them out of the game.
If this was done by an Al-Queda type, why not use something like dynamite, and take out a few poles at once.
This has the nonviolent feel of an environut.
19 posted on 10/14/2004 9:07:24 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (W stands for Winner)
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To: the crow

You had me going there, wondering when Kewauskum put in a power plant, much less a nuclear plant.

Kewaunee is closer to Green Bay than it is to Milwaukee.


20 posted on 10/14/2004 9:21:00 PM PDT by GoLightly (If it doesn't kill ya, it makes ya stronger.)
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