Posted on 08/03/2006 9:48:17 AM PDT by danno3150
An explosive memo warning of a potential tunnel-ceiling collapse was “fabricated,” says a key Big Dig contractor, casting a long shadow over the Boston Globe, which first published it last week.
Officials at Modern Continental say virtually every claim made by safety inspector John Keaveney in the Globe’s July 26 story and in the alleged May 17, 1999, memo is refuted by the company’s internal documents. The alleged 1999 memo warned of a collapse in the Interstate 90 Seaport connector tunnel, the same tunnel where a Jamaica Plain woman was killed July 10 when a section of the concrete ceiling fell and crushed the car in which she was a passenger.
Keaveney, who did not return a call, was reprimanded by Modern in May 1998 for falsifying safety documents to hire an untrained worker, records show.
Modern officials said Robert Coutts - the manager to whom Keaveney allegedly sent the memo warning of a possible collapse - has “no recollection of receiving the memo or discussing it with Mr. Keaveney.”
No one else at the company recalls the alarming memo or Keaveney’s alleged warnings and Modern Continental has not found the document in its files.
Among the inconsistencies between Modern documents and the memo:
The letterhead on the memo doesn’t match the letterhead in use by the company at the time;
Payroll records show Keaveney did not actually begin to work on the I-90 connector tunnel until May 28 - two weeks after the memo was allegedly written;
Keaveney’s memo notes his concern for iron workers on the tunnel but his own safety reports show that iron workers did not start working in the tunnel until August 1999;
Keaveney’s memo specifically refers to the I-90 connector tunnel and lists the contract number but Modern officials say such information was not normally included on internal documents;
Keaveney said he was concerned about water dripping out of drilled holes where adhesive ceiling anchors would be installed but the holes weren’t drilled until June 10, 1999 - three weeks after the date on the memo;
Keaveney said he noted bolts and steel tiebacks “exposed to the elements” and rusting while sitting on pallets in the tunnel, but Modern documents show the hardware wasn’t even received by the company until July 22, 1999;
Modern Continental is also raising questions about Keaveney’s story of a group of Norwell third-graders he says toured the tunnel in the spring of 1999. In the Globe article, Keaveney said a third-grader pointed to bolts in the ceiling where 3-ton cement slabs would be hung and asked, “Will those things hold up the concrete?”
Modern officials say the bolts were not received until July 1999 and weren’t installed until August.
Keaveney has told the company that he was “mistaken” about when the student field trip took place and now believes it occurred in early 2000, Modern said. In the Globe story, however, Keaveney said the student’s question prompted him to write the memo.
The Globe reported that the document was sent from an anonymous person to a reporter’s home and that Keaveney confirmed it was his memo. Modern officials said a handwriting analysis of the envelope shows it was written by Keaveney, whose lawyer also could not be reached last night.
In a written statement, the newspaper’s editor Martin Baron said: “The Globe last week reported on-the-record statements made to us by a former safety officer for Modern Continental who also has spoken voluntarily with federal and state investigators. Now we have the company response, which we are reporting forthrightly. People can judge this matter for themselves.”
The original Globe story did not appear in the first edition but was blasted across the front page in the late edition under the headline: “Memo warned of ceiling collapse; Safety officer feared deaths in ’99, now agonizes over tragedy.” The story was picked up by the Associated Press and went national, appearing in the Los Angeles Times, Baltimore Sun and other major dailies.
Fake but accurate?
Amazing that they would print something so incendiary without first doing at least a cursory check.
But that's just the "Drive-By Media" doing what they do...
Verrrrry interesting.
Dan Rather, call your office!! We have some exciting new evidence for you to examine, yet another "fake but accurate" memo. Amazing this guy would try to pull off something that could be so easily exposed, but then people aspiring to be heroes to the MSM don't think in rational ways......
I thought I read somewhere that this guy wasn't directly responsible for those bolts and that the memo was sort of a "Hey I just noticed something" kind of memo.
Rather than CYA I think it was a retroactive I-told-you-so to make himself look like some kind of hero.
FYI -
The New York Times owns the Boston Globe.
The New York Times was also a central player in the Rathergate memo.
Everyone knows that the Globe is the AAA affiliate of the NYT. However, they did stuff like this in the years before Punchie bought them. Patricia Smith and Mike Barnacle were both bagged for plagarism. Someone at the Globe (reputedly either Barnacle or Will McDonough) provided company stationary to disgraced FBI agent John Connolly for a forged memo that was presented to a federal judge in the Whitey Bulger case. Speaking of Whitey...Barnacle used to write columns that depicted that psychopath as some sort of Robin Hood; protecting the old ladies and keeping drugs out of Southie. In reality, Whitey controlled all of the drug traffic in the neighborhood and the old ladies were scared as hell of him. The NYT may own the Globe, but the stench ot corruption was there long before they hit town.
Oh, crap, i know these guys. John has 2 very cutte daughters, and is a great guy.
Oldsmobile recalled all 1969 model year sedans for a defect in the car's steering and door locks.
Additionally, the carpets in the cars emit noxious odors which render the drivers incapable of any rational thought and a fanatical desire to wear neck braces.
Wow!
Without attribution, I might add...
Congrats!! Your words have flown the airwaves all over the country.....
Smart man!
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