Sunday, September 6, 2009

Another Progreesive group acts out on their theory of free speech.

themorningcall.com
WAEB radio tower toppled in Whitehall; FBI called in
Support cables cut; agency eyeing link to 2 towers sabotaged Friday morning in Washington state
By Frank Warner
Of The Morning Call
12:01 AM EDT, September 5, 2009
A 350-foot-tall WAEB radio tower crashed to the ground early Friday in Whitehall Township after its support cables were cut, township police said.Five hours later, two radio towers near Everett, Wash., were knocked to the ground by a bulldozer in what officials feared was an act of eco-terrorism.The FBI said Friday night is looking into the possibility the two crimes are linked."The FBI is aware of [the Whitehall case] and is going to be looking into it," said J.J. Klaver, FBI special agent in Philadelphia. "I don't want to venture a guess as to whether the two things are related. That's probably premature."Klaver added, however, that it is extraordinary that one radio tower would be toppled in the East and two would fall in the West on the same morning."These are somewhat unusual incidents," he said. "To have radio towers collapse, I think, is unusual. I've never heard of one radio tower collapsing."So far, he said, Whitehall police have the case. The FBI would take a closer look only if its agents found it likely a federal law had been violated.The WAEB tower, one of five identical towers owned by Clear Channel in a Whitehall field west of MacArthur Road, lay in red and white pieces. Whitehall police said it came down between 1 and 1:30 a.m.The radio tower property is three miles north of Route 22. Until Friday, the toppled tower stood at the northern end of the property."It looks like some of the cables were cut," a township police spokesman said. "It appears to be criminal mischief. The Detective Division has the case."No one was injured, and no homes or commercial buildings in the area were damaged, the spokesman said.WAEB continued to broadcast without interruption Friday, station Program Director Craig Stevens said by e-mail. He said the station adjusted quickly to operate with only four of the five towers.In Washington state around 3:30 a.m. Pacific time, authorities said, a bulldozer was used to topple two towers of Everett radio station KRKO. One of the towers was 350 feet tall; the other was shorter.An "ELF" sign was left at the Everett area scene, but officials could not confirm the destruction was the work of the anti-development Earth Liberation Front.The KRKO station was planning to add radio towers, and ELF members were known to oppose the plan. There were no similar expansion plans in Whitehall.Whitehall Planning Commission member Dick Drosnock said Friday the Whitehall towers have not been controversial."I don't know that they have been mentioned at any meeting," he said.

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