Posted on 02/05/2003 2:02:05 PM PST by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin
LUFKIN, Texas (AP) - Two Texans were indicted Wednesday on federal charges they stole pieces of space shuttle Columbia that had dropped onto the countryside. Federal officials in Texas also declared an amnesty period extending until 5 p.m. Friday, during which people who have collected shuttle debris can turn it in without fear of being prosecuted. After that, prosecutions will resume, they said. Merrie Hipp, 43, of Henderson, was charged with theft of government property for allegedly stealing a shuttle circuit board on Saturday.
Bradley Justin Gaudet, 23, of Nacogdoches, was charged in a separate incident with stealing a piece of thermal insulating fabric. Gaudet is a student at Steven F. Austin State University. "The issue here is the thermodynamics of the space shuttle and any piece of that is important to this investigation," said U.S. Attorney Michael Shelby. "No one knows which piece will unravel the mystery." The charges carry a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Both defendants awaited arraignment Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities said they are conducting at least 17 investigations into reports of people taking shuttle debris as souvenirs. They would not give specifics or comment on whether those cases were related to attempts by people to sell purported shuttle debris on eBay. "These two individuals are first," Orwig said. "There is no particular threshold. They are an example, whether it's our intention or not. Authorities urged members of the public to take advantage of the amnesty period. "If you turn the piece over and describe where you found the piece, we will not prosecute you," Orwig said.
Some on this thread think that prosecuting someone over a multi-state debris field from something as big as a space shuttle is prosecutorial over-reach, perhaps.
Yeah, and there's people who've been in Washington forever who don't belong either.
Your "toilet paper" remarks are an attempt to demean the serious nature of what has happened. Circut boards, heat tiles, pieces of the hull - these are not trivial items.
A piece of a Solid Rocket Booster that was fished out of the ocean confirmed the cause of the Challenger accident - A burn hole at the joint of the rocket showed an O ring failure had allowed exhaust to vent toward the fuel tank.
But you don't see any merit in investigating an accident, I guess. Let me know if someone special in your life dies in a crash. I'll send you (and I'll even Overnight Express it) a roll of toilet paper.
From reading some of the above posts, I get the idea that many of those posters aren't aware of the huge scope of the debris field, and the number of pieces of detritus involved.
It's as if they've never looked at the median of a freeway, and wondered where all that stuff came from.
Me either. This is one of the most useless arguments I've ever seen on FR. If a car crashes on my property, that doesn't make the car (or its occupants) mine to do with as I please. Even if it were not specifically illegal, it is unethical. And as for the specious 'taxpayer' angle, a taxpayer-funded entity is owned by taxpayers as a whole, not any one single taxpayer. By that logic, I would be within my rights to go and take an aircraft carrier for my own personal use.
More nebulous would be if someone found something and kept it, not knowing it came from the shuttle. That would be difficult to prosecute.
Your "holy 5/16 bolt" remarks are an attempt to lend credence to a crowd of over-reaching prosecutors who regularly look the other way when their pals, the politicians, are busy shredding the Constitution daily.
I understand the need for an investigation, but bringing down a fairly fragile vehicle at 12,000 mph lends itself to these sorts of things. They need to chalk it up to experience and move on to another method. Spend the money on a new method, not re-hashing the obvious.
Nope. You know me, Senator - I'm not a one-size-fits-all cookie cutter kind of guy.
Bad analogy, unless your property is the King Ranch, and the car exploded at several thousand feet. Get a grip.
Geez, I was wondering where those umbrella marks on my head came from. :-)
No they won't. They'll leave it on the ground and call NASA.
Get a grip? What does the location/altitude have to do with it? How is it ethical to withhold evidence? I resent the implication that I'm unreasonable for trying to insure that the investigators have the best possible chance to figure out why Columbia crashed. And I am puzzled as to why some of you are defending those who would inhibit such an investigation. I don't necessarily agree with the 1/4 million fine and lengthy prison time -- I merely say that it is unethical to knowingly keep evidence of an accident.
lolololol how many millions of consumer products contain circuit boards? The only determinative factor should be if the person is both knowledgeable (as in being able to identify aerospace technology) AND brazen enough to brag about having a piece of the shuttle.
lolololol as if everyone wouldn't have picked it up and taken it into their house before realizing what it was. In which case it has their fingerprints and fiber forensics, so the trash and shut up method would be the only way to keep themselves safe from prosecutorial overreaching.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.