Perhaps the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of
Blake has the details of some silliness:
An emergency management agency director’s attempt to stage a realistic drill shocked people attending a Carter County Commission meeting.
Commissioners had just convened last night in Elizabethton (ee-LIHZ’-uh-BETH’-t’n) when a man and a woman rushed in carrying guns, held a weapon to the head of county finance director Jason Cody and said there would be no new taxes.
One of the people acting as a hostage-taker fired a blank.
The shaken finance director said later he didn’t know what was happening. The county sheriff wasn’t clued in either and city police responded when someone called 9-1-1.
Good thing your friendly neighborhood SayUncle wasn’t at the meeting or, well you know. On second thought, maybe not. That no new taxes thing and all.
All kidding aside, they seriously didn’t tell the police about it. Sounds like a good way to get shot.
Update: And why does News 2 spell Elizabethton phonetically?
August 3rd, 2004 at 3:43 pm
“EEEEK! His bullets were blanks!”
(Puzzled Phelps) “What kind of dumbass terrorist uses blanks?
“Give up? Dead ones!”
And then I become prisoner #100345203. (Or, as I refer to myself, Number 6.)
August 3rd, 2004 at 4:17 pm
The EM director needs his ass chewed. I can’t believe that no one involved in that poorly acted theatre thought “wait, what if I get shot?”
Am I also wrong for being miffed it was planned for tax protestors? Are they painting with a wide brush like the Nashville media portrayed the horn-honkers? Or am I just overreacting?
August 3rd, 2004 at 6:03 pm
Phelps:
Was that a reference to the old Patrick McGoohan TV show?
August 3rd, 2004 at 6:24 pm
I find it interesting and somewhat significant that the “terrorists” espoused a conservative cause, no new taxes, as opposed to mirroring one of the groups more likely to be involved in terrorism, such as the Earth First! bunch or Islamists.
Of course, then one has to ask, What’s going on at a small county commisioner’s meeting that would be worthy of terrorism?
August 3rd, 2004 at 7:28 pm
I was just about to email this story to you…behind the curve, I know. WTF?? I hate to say I don’t know, but is one allowed to CC at these meetings? What if an off duty LEO had wandered in? Yikes!
August 3rd, 2004 at 8:36 pm
Yeah, that was pretty outrageous. It’s a miracle noboby got killed. And I’m not so sure it was a “drill”. These no-tax nuts are getting more and more militant.
August 3rd, 2004 at 8:49 pm
P.S. I was thinking of you when I first read that (a reader e-mailed me the story and I was going to post on it tomorrow). I was thinking about folks in the audience who might have concealed carry permits and exercise them, and Flight 93, and so on. Like I said, it’s a miracle…
August 4th, 2004 at 7:17 am
Darn, another great potential Darwin opportunity blown.
This exercise in stupidity does make a good argument for CCW though.
August 4th, 2004 at 7:39 pm
Did the genius get fired?
August 5th, 2004 at 5:08 pm
Something I haven’t seen addressed, except in the comments above, that makes me wonder: how many folks at that meeting (other than the knobs performing the drill) were packing at the time? Why didn’t they pull their own weapons? Has anyone answered this question yet?
If in fact several people were armed but didn’t react, doesn’t that speak awfully well for concealed carry? It shows the restraint and caution of the folks who were armed, yes?