[PVRCNC] ELF "Wackos"

[Roberts, Will]

Let's all hope this isn't the start of a widespread practice of tower
destruction. 

 

In my job, I occasionally have to deal with disgruntled customers who
are convinced that their KWH power meter is causing them, their pets, or
their livestock some sort of illness/madness/tumor/insomnia. The
ignorance of even the basic knowledge of RF physics is breathtaking.
Keep in mind that these are devices that transmit an ERP of less than
0.05 watts at 900 Mhz. If these flakes knew what the ERP of their local
broadcast stations were, all of the towers would be falling!

 

I hope Al Gore doesn't find out about this. None of our towers could
survive that crusade!

 

Will AA4NC

 

 

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Activists topple towers, claim dangers of AM radio waves

 

Earth Liberation Front: "AM radio waves cause adverse health effects"

 

Station manager said radio towers were "flattened like a pancake"

 

Radio station KRKO remained on air by using a backup transmitter site

 

(CNN) -- A group cited by U.S. officials as a domestic terrorism threat
claimed responsibility Friday for knocking down two radio station towers
in Snohomish County, Washington.

 

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) issued a statement saying opponents of
the towers argue that "AM radio waves cause adverse health effects
including a higher rate of cancer, harm to wildlife, and that the
signals have been interfering with home phone and intercom lines."

 

"When all legal channels of opposition have been exhausted, concerned
citizens have to take action into their own hands to protect life and
the planet," Jason Crawford, a spokesman for the group, said in a news
release.

 

Members of ELF have been sentenced for acts of domestic terrorism in the
past.

 

Though no one is known to have been killed in ELF attacks, the
government defines domestic terrorism as use or threatened use of
violence by a domestic group "against persons or property to intimidate
or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof,
in furtherance of political or social objectives," 

the FBI's then-domestic terrorism chief, James F. 

Jarboe, explained in congressional testimony in 2002.

 

The towers belong to radio station KRKO. "There's quite a bit of
destruction to the antenna system and it will probably take at least
three months to get it back up and operational again," station manager
Andy Skotdal told CNN affiliate KIRO, adding that much of it was
"flattened like a pancake."

 

The station remained on the air by using a backup transmitter site, he
said.

 

KRKO is working with authorities to find those responsible, Skotdal
said, adding, "We'll use our own airwaves to do it."

 

The perpetrators stole an excavating machine out of a yard in order to
knock down the towers, Skotdal said. Watch the aftermath of the scene ?

 

The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said the Seattle office of the FBI
is the lead investigative agency in the incident. Officials at the FBI
office did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

 

Snohomish County is just north of Seattle. The attack took place in an
unincorporated part of the county, officials said.

 

In its news release, the ELF describes itself as "an international
underground organization that uses direct action in the form of economic
sabotage to stop the systematic exploitation and destruction of the
planet. Since its inception in North America in 1996, the ELF has
inflicted well over $150 million in damages to corporations and
governmental agencies that are profiting from the destruction of the
Earth."