.30/.22
Posted on 08/14/2007 9:05:07 AM PDT by weegee
Staffers look for clues in drive-by at KPFT
No one was injured and there have been no arrests in the incident at Houston radio station
Staffers look for clues in drive-by at KPFT No one was injured and there have been no arrests in the incident at Houston radio station
A bullet hole in a window, an odd-caliber shell casing found in the street and the shadowy sighting of a slow-moving white car — that was all KPFT-FM staffers had to go on Monday as they searched for clues that might explain the early-morning drive-by shooting at their Montrose studio.
Police said they have made no arrests in the 12:55 a.m. shooting, in which the bullet came within 18 inches of striking zydeco program host Mary Thomas in the head. The incident marked the third violent episode at the iconoclastic, listener-supported Pacifica station in three years, General Manager Duane Bradley said.
Discussion on safety
Bradley said a staff meeting will be held at noon today to discuss security concerns. Station workers Monday listened to recordings of the previous night's programming, including the sometimes combative comments on a late-night talk show, in search of veiled threats.
The station, whose transmitter was twice dynamited by the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1970s, completed a weeklong fundraising drive Sunday, surpassing its $135,000 goal by 5 percent.
Bradley said the station may replace the shattered studio window, which faces Lovett, with bullet-proof glass and might upgrade a video surveillance system that monitors key parts of the property. They also may consider a key-card system for building access.
"We're kind of walking a tight rope," Bradley said. "We want to have an open environment, but we need to ensure safety of people at the station."
With the police investigation in its earliest stages, identifying a motive for the shooting is difficult. But, Bradley said, "my gut feeling is that this involved an offended listener."
Sunday's Community Dialogue program, which airs at 11 p.m., often can generate "wild exchanges on the air," Bradley said. But Sunday's program, dealing with antagonism between blacks and Hispanics, was relatively uneventful.
Sitting up saved host
Three people were standing in the doorway of the station in the 400 block of Lovett when a white car drove slowly past. As the vehicle reached the eastern edge of the station's property, the shot was fired. Staff member John Orr, among the group at the door, told Bradley he had seen the vehicle pass the station earlier in the evening.
Window blinds blocked visibility into the studio, Bradley said. Nonetheless, the bullet narrowly missed Thomas. "She normally likes to kick back when she's on the air," Bradley said. "But this time, she was sitting up straight. If she had been half-reclining, the bullet likely would have struck her head."
In 2005, youths hurled bricks at the station's windows. Last year, a station supporter who thought KPFT had been co-opted by Microsoft magnate Bill Gates telephoned threats to the station, then appeared in the studio parking lot with a shotgun.
As the man approached the station's front door, workers advised him they had summoned police. The man fled, Bradley said.
No injuries when bullet busts window at KPFT radio (Pacifica Radio)
Houston PING, here’s a followup.
The original article on Houston Chronicle also has some talk-back comments, including denials (which are shown to be LIES) that KPFT gets federal tax dollars (even though it appears in their budget).
Are all the attacks Post-Katrina?
Odd caliber? Like “357” or “9”?
Nope, their radical activist base behaving in a radical manner is all.
Attack yourself and blame conservatives.
Also, see John Edwards.
We need a Constitutional Amendment: NO ZYDECO AFTER 10 PM!
I don’t know, their editors are goofs. In this earlier article, they gave a pronunciation guide for the word zydeco:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5050211.html
“But Aguilar says Zydeco (ZY’-duh-koh) music was on at the time and he doesn’t think the shooting was directed at that particular program or any individual.”
.30/.22? Now that’s odd, and IMHO foolish.
There is an internal power struggle. The hardcore anarcho-radical left trying to wrestle the station away from Yellow Dog Democrat liberals.
They are foolish to deny that their are dangerous elements in their midst.
But their staff claims it is in “retaliation” for the politics of the station. Actually it is the political listeners little tolerance to any airtime being devoted to music programming.
And they’ve had more than “3” incidents, but it is how they are tallied. They’ve had an arsonist set fire to the record album library twice. They’ve had internal scuffles between on air persons and terminated staff.
"Thomas", what kind of Cajun name is that for a Zydeco program director?
Maybe the homosexual community was upset with KPFT for some reason?
Sunday's Community Dialogue program, which airs at 11 p.m., often can generate "wild exchanges on the air," Bradley said. But Sunday's program, dealing with antagonism between blacks and Hispanics, was relatively uneventful.
They'd have us believe that all we need to do is talk to the terroritst to find out why they hate us and there will be peace on earth. Yet these clowns shoot at each other.
Go to pacifica.org and hit the FINANCIALS link. The govt $$$ is in one of the attachements.
It would not be the first time one of these socialists has phonied a "hate crime."
There is a photo of the shell casing and window hole here...
http://kpft.wordpress.com/2007/08/13/additional-images/
It isn’t “phony” hate. They’ve had an internal power struggle and a radical audience.
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