| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front |
| Beavis, Butthead convicted in Sacramento |
| 2002-05-23 |
| Two militia members were convicted of plotting to blow up two propane tanks in a Sacramento suburb to try to topple the federal government. "Huh huh. He said 'topple.' Huh huh!" "Weapon of mass destruction"? They were propane tanks, jugheads! Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are by definition chemical, biological or nuclear. It was the second trial for the former members of the San Joaquin County Militia on charges they intended to blow up the 12-million-gallon tanks in suburban Elk Grove. The first 12-member jury deadlocked six months ago, with 11 jurors voting for conviction. They probably meant "weapons of severe destruction" or "exceptionally powerful makeshift explosives." Prosecutors contend Patterson and Kiles hoped to cause enough civil unrest to result in the toppling of the federal government. An' then they could be in charge, and they could, like, get chicks and stuff... A third man, Donald Rudolph, founder and former commander of the militia, pleaded guilty in January 2001 to concealing his knowledge of the plot and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Just as soon as the coppers quit hitting him. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |
| #5 Dan, if you "dump bleach into a resivoir", all you'll do is kill a few fish. Care to guess what the city uses to disinfect your drinking water right now? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2002-05-24 05:27:01 |
| #4 I'd guess it is. I tend to go with the military definition; I'd have to check my notes, but in all the tedious hours of CBR training I ever went through, nobody ever mentioned propane. I'd guess that the original intent would have to do with the intentional release of caustic or poisonous substances into water supplies, or dumping chlorine on a residential area from the air, which would kinda push it into the chemical category. But propane's not there, no matter how explosive it is. My back goes up at the beauzeaux who push to expand the meaning to anything they don't like, even if I don't like it, either. |
| Posted by: Fred 2002-05-23 15:56:34 |
| #3 Actualy, the California legal code is more flexible on that point, Fred. 11417. (a) For the purposes of this article, the following terms have the following meanings: (1) "Weapon of mass destruction" includes chemical warfare agents, weaponized biological or biologic warfare agents, nuclear agents, radiological agents, or the intentional release of industrial agents as a weapon. Granted that last probably was intended to refer to, say, dumping bleach into a reservoir or whatnot. But I bet it's the loophole they drove this truck through. |
| Posted by: lakefxdan 2002-05-23 15:32:14 |
| #2 Can I say: These guys weren't rocket scientists? ;-) Mary Lu |
| Posted by: Mary Wehmeier 2002-05-23 14:17:19 |
| #1 Well, Propane's a chemical, ain't it? |
| Posted by: Hermetic 2002-05-23 12:54:34 |