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Terror targets: Power towers: FBI confirms another case of bolts yanked from lines
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, October 30, 2003

Posted on 10/29/2003 11:00:02 PM PST by JohnHuang2

HOMELAND INSECURITY
Terror targets: Power towers
FBI confirms another case of bolts yanked from electrical transmission lines in West

Posted: October 29, 2003
5:00 p.m. Eastern


© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

Another electrical transmission tower in the West has been tampered with, a week after a spate of similar incidents in California and Oregon prompted federal alerts and concerns of terrorism.

According to the Associated Press, the FBI got a call Monday, and upon investigation, found bolts had been removed from a tower in Sacramento.

Since Oct. 20, towers in at least four other locations have been tampered with, having bolts either loosened or completely removed. Three of the previous locations were in the Oregon towns of Madras, McNary and Klamath Falls, with the fourth incident in the northern California town of Anderson.

"We're not releasing anything saying they're all connected," FBI spokeswoman Karen Ernst told AP. "Our main concern is locating the individual we have the arrest warrant for."


Michael Poulin (courtesy: Klamath Falls Herald and News)

The individual sought is 62-year-old Michael Devlyn Poulin, who is described as a 5-foot-11 white male, with blackish-gray hair and a salt-and-pepper beard, brown eyes and wire-rim glasses.

An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for Poulin, charging him with destroying an energy facility, a federal crime carrying up to a 20-year prison sentence.

A man matching Poulin's description was spotted in Anderson lugging large wrenches, prying at least 18 bolts from a tower before witnesses intervened and chased him unsuccessfully on Interstate 5.

"It clearly has overviews of some kind of domestic terrorist act," Anderson Police Chief Neil Purcell told the Record Searchlight of Redding, Calif., last week. "It certainly smacks of that."

Purcell said electricians contracting for Sierra Pacific Industries got involved when they noticed a man leaning down at one of the towers.

"They thought that it was rather suspicious," the chief told the Searchlight. "They decided, 'Let's make it our business.'"

The electricians began to chase the suspect south on the highway, but gave up pursuit after notifying the California Highway Patrol and spotting a state trooper. All CHP units, though, had not received the bulletin, and the suspect was never stopped.

It was discovered one of the tower's four legs was completely unbolted, and a second leg was found to have half its bolts gone. All the bolts have since been replaced.

"There's the potential if you take all the bolts, the tower could come down," David Christy, spokesman for the Western Area Power Administration, told the Searchlight. "We're taking this very seriously."

In the wake of the incident, ground patrols were instantly hiked at the administration's lines in the western United States. The tower in Anderson is part of a 17,000-mile network of wire in 15 states, according to the Herald and News in Klamath Falls, Ore.

Officials say the suspect seen in California is similar to a man spotted in Klamath Falls pulling bolts at another tower, and the FBI says Poulin is wanted for questioning in connection with the Oregon cases.

AP reports Poulin was divorced in September, and his ex-wife, Marianne Torres of Spokane, Wash., said she hadn't seen him since mid-October and was unaware of his whereabouts.

Police chief Purcell told the Redding Record Searchlight the tampering is similar to that seen by groups like the Earth Liberation Front considered by the FBI to be one of the biggest domestic terrorist-based movements in the country.

WorldNetDaily reported in August and September about concerns the nation's power grid was vulnerable to terrorist acts, especially by cyber-attack.

The U.S. suffered its worst blackout in history on Aug. 14.

The record outage struck parts of the Northeast and Canada, affecting some 50 million people, including residents of New York City, New Jersey, Connecticut, Ottawa, Toronto, Cleveland and Detroit.

A London-based Arabic newspaper said the terrorist network al-Qaida took responsibility.

"What's puzzling," one terror expert told Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin last month, "is how these government officials rule out terrorism just minutes or hours after an outage hits, yet days and weeks later they still can't pinpoint the actual cause."



TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; ecoterror; michaelpoulin; terror
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To: harpseal
I hope it's less than a million, but putting America in the dark while setting 100 superfires would probably do the trick also.
21 posted on 10/30/2003 9:18:47 AM PST by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: Dizzy Lizzy
Weren't the fires in Colorado supposedly started by downed power lines caused by towers knocked over by high winds? Maybe it wasn't the wind...

I don't know much about that, but if the winds were below 90 mph, the odds are that they wouldn't take down a lattice steel tower structure unless it was significantly weakened. That will be easily determined by inspection.

Now wood poles are another story - depending on their age, size, and condition, they can be brought down with less wind, often 60 mph and occasionally less. Larger poles in good condition withstand more wind before they fail.

22 posted on 10/30/2003 9:21:11 AM PST by meyer
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To: meyer
Here on the East Coast we also have some wooden pole transmission lines for rather significant voltages. Further imagine a piece of copper suspended from a kite bridging two of these wires. There are other ways to get the copper wire accross.

On the off chance they have not thought about some of the means for diabling substations I will not mention them here.

23 posted on 10/30/2003 9:23:05 AM PST by harpseal (stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown)
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To: Travis McGee; harpseal
The number I have been using, since not that long after 9/11, is an order of magnitude more than 9/11. So, say, 35,000 - 50,000 or more. I hope none of us sees the day, but if we do, I hope I'm closer to being right than you, and that my number is high.
24 posted on 10/30/2003 9:30:22 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: Travis McGee
Travis,

They wouldn't accept it then...
25 posted on 10/30/2003 9:33:43 AM PST by El Laton Caliente
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To: El Laton Caliente
Long before it gets to that point, people will be doing it on their own, FedGov be damned.
26 posted on 10/30/2003 9:36:14 AM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: Travis McGee
I hope it's less than a million, but putting America in the dark while setting 100 superfires would probably do the trick also.

The casualties from this would be in the order of magnitude I stated.

27 posted on 10/30/2003 9:38:21 AM PST by harpseal (stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown)
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To: harpseal
On the off chance they have not thought about some of the means for diabling substations I will not mention them here.

I probably know some of them, having seen the results of such activities over the years. That's why we now have cameras set up in our major stations. I suspect that many utilities are doing the same thing.

28 posted on 10/30/2003 9:42:51 AM PST by meyer
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To: drlevy88
Yes.

And the stupid mind-set-in-stone bureacrats at the ill-named Homeland Secuity Agency aren't smart enough to think of all of the various EASY methods of destruction.

Fortunately, the ELF terrorists aren't smart enough either.

29 posted on 10/30/2003 9:48:46 AM PST by Robert A Cook PE (I can only support FR by donating monthly, but ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: FreedomPoster
I would much rather you be correct than I
30 posted on 10/30/2003 9:50:04 AM PST by harpseal (stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown)
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To: FreedomPoster
See Travis' post #9.

We would find ourselves under arrest as "Right Wing Militia Terrorists". They have tried to set up some armed citizen protection / guard groups around the country and some Pol has stopped them every time.
31 posted on 10/30/2003 10:12:45 AM PST by El Laton Caliente
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To: JohnHuang2
After seeing that picture, the solution is obvious.
Tax stupidity
Tax neuroses and psychoses.
Tax fat.

Works for smoking, right?

32 posted on 10/30/2003 10:21:06 AM PST by Publius6961 (40% of Californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
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To: FreedomPoster
I really need to get a short-barreled SKS for that purpose.

I keep a Kel-Tec Sub 2000 in a briefcase. It folds in half and uses my Glock magazines. Under $300.

33 posted on 10/30/2003 12:00:49 PM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: TC Rider
I have a big trunk. 7.62x39 hits a lot harder. But thanks for the idea/input.
34 posted on 10/30/2003 12:20:24 PM PST by FreedomPoster (this space intentionally blank)
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To: harpseal
You're probably right, sadly.
35 posted on 10/30/2003 1:15:40 PM PST by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: JohnHuang2
Since I don't watch the TV news, I presume this story never made it to air.Did anyone, anywhere see this on the news?
36 posted on 10/30/2003 1:16:16 PM PST by Pagey (Hillary Rotten is a Smug, Holier - Than - Thou Socialist)
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To: FreedomPoster
I have a big trunk. 7.62x39 hits a lot harder. But thanks for the idea/input.

I'm still working on the sunroof mount for the Barrett .50 BMG.

37 posted on 10/30/2003 1:16:36 PM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: TC Rider
Sweet! Is that 9mm? What kind of 50 yard groups can it get? Stock iron sights?
38 posted on 10/30/2003 1:16:38 PM PST by Travis McGee (----- www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com -----)
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To: FreedomPoster
Instead, we get the TSA.

Just gotta love that 'knee-jerk' gubmint of ours.

39 posted on 10/30/2003 1:18:21 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.)
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To: Travis McGee
Sweet! Is that 9mm? What kind of 50 yard groups can it get? Stock iron sights?

Mine is a 9mm and takes my Glock 34 mags, though it is available in .40SW also.

Can be purchased with grips to accept Glock, S&W and Beretta mags.

With the stock iron (plastic actually) sights it is more accurate than my old eyes, but does group nicely in 2-3 inches at 50 yards. I've installed an optional 1x red dot that I've sighted in at 25 yards, which should put it on target at 100 according to 9mm ballistics, but I haven't had a chance to test it.

40 posted on 10/30/2003 2:29:10 PM PST by TC Rider (The United States Constitution © 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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