From: believer@telepath.com Subject: IP: ATTN: Does Any Listee Have Eye-Witness Report??? Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 17:04:45 -0500 To: ignition-point@majordomo.pobox.com --------------------- NOTE: This is an anecdotal report, UNCONFIRMED at the present time. If anyone on the list is an eyewitness to this event, please report in ASAP with additional details. Thank you! -- Michele --------------------- Forwarded: ---------------------
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1998 09:57:00 -0500 From: "Shonda P. Wigington" <texnat57@gateway.net> Subject: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Helicopter Harassment
Freedom-Lovers International Shonda P. Wigington, President 5308 Robinsdale Lane Austin, Texas 78723 512-933-1950
OCTOBER 13, 1998--AUSTIN, TEXAS--On October 10, 1998, around noon, a yellow and black helicopter flew around a South Austin neighborhood where Alex Jones' mother lives. Carol Jones reported that she did not pay attention initially, but that it stayed in the area for about an hour. She observed the helicopter hovering over her property. She said that the words "Travis County" were printed on the side of the helicopter and that the helicopter looked new. Someone was leaning out of the door of the helicopter which she said was low enough for her to see that there was a big lense camera pointed at her. When she returned into her home, she called her husband, Dr. David Jones, who then called the Austin Aviation Department where he left a message. Simeon Tolgol returned the elder Mr. Jones' call the next morning, explaining that the Travis County Sheriff's Department had logged a four hour surveillance mission. Around 2:00 AM that night, Alex Jones' girlfriend called Steve Lane of "The Freedom Report" because of a helicopter shining spotlights into her windows. He stated to the Commissioners during Citizens Communication on October 13, that the helicopter was so low that he could hear the noise through the phone as he spoke to her. She was frightened and crying. Jones' producer, Mike Hanson got film footage of the helicopter as it moved over his home, shined the spotlight, turned it off, passed over, came back, shined the light again several times. "I was spotlighted by the helicopter very early saturday morning," Lane said, "I believe it was about 1:30 to 2:00 am saturday morning. (The) helicopter flew over, again, well under 800 feet above ground level, in direct violation of the Federal Aviation Regulations, did not have a spotlight on until it came to the house that I was at. The spotlight was turned on, I have a video of it, and I'll be glad to give ya'll copies because I would like for ya'll to look into this..." Lane described the incident as "unnerving". Mike Hanson called all of the County Commissioners for information regarding the incident. All of the Commissioners returned his call, that is all accept Judge Bill Aleshire. Karen Sunleitner (Precinct 2 Commissioner) stated, "It was not the Travis County Sheriff's office, it was the Austin Police Department. The Austin Police Department was piggy-backing on an existing flight that was going on that particular day during the hours that Mr. Jones talked about...were undergoing pilot training for the brand new helicopter. They piggy-backed on that. They are doing ariel video footage of several locations pertinent to ongoing homicide investigations." Several months ago Travis County Commissioners voted to buy the helicopters at taxpayer expense, supposedly for Starflight assistance during emergency situations. But these particular helicopters were also equipped with infrared "FLARE" technology that could easily be used for surveillance. The Texas Media Alliance was concerned that this technology could be abused. The different organizations that make up the Alliance voiced their concerns to the commissioners, who adamently denied any such agenda for the new helicopters. "They spoke to me like a child," Rusty Fields of Common Sense said, "and they assured me that they would not use the helicopters for surveillance." He looked around and gestured at the number of people in the room and said, "This is what happens when they get caught lying." Alex Jones informed the commissioners that day that he was "conducting an investigation." He claims the county conducted a surveillance mission last week, denying the county commissioners' claim that it was done by the city. "You are all a pack of liars!" Jones stated, "Pure harassment. It's SABER 1. You see, they passed it (the bill) under Starflight so everybody can laugh and call it Starflight." Starflight being the term to use for emergency pick-up missions by the local EMS. Jones said he obtained the I-D of the people doing it through the Aviation logues. "Flying over Alex's mothers house, I'm not buying that it was a homicide investigation," said Mike Runyan, who had been there when the county commissioners assured him by likening the use of the new helicopters to "searching for lost children in the greenbelts." Runyan commented that he was not real happy about the video footage of the incident over Hanson's house. "Ya'll keep doing it," he warned, "and you're libel to provoke somebody. It's just the natural progression of things." Mike Hanson played a tape-recorded interview of Mrs. Jones by Alex Jones on his radio show, "The Real Spin," heard on KJFK 98.9FM (Austin). "I really still didn't know, or become paranoid or anything," she said, "but these people made about eight passes over my place, maybe more, but let's just say conservatively eight." She stated that they were passing and "taking pictures." "I don't know what is more disturbing, that they would do this because, like, I'm your mother," she told her son during the interview, "or that they would just do it to somebody who's just sitting there, because this person either has film of me or got really good pictures of just someone looking straight up at him." "Are there any federal funds involved in these helicopters?" asked John P. Roberts, when it came his turn to speak. "No, sir," Sunleitner stated. "There are no federal funds?" Roberts asked again, "So technically you are not tied to them in any way if they want to come and 'borrow' them for any reason?" "That is purchased by the taxpayers of Travis County," Sunleitner assured him. Roberts closed his remarks with, "Common sense tells you you don't harass the people that pay you." "The people will be informed," stated Shonda P. Wigington of Freedom-Lovers International, "and if it (the harassment) doesn't stop, we WILL strive for a class-action lawsuit against Travis County." During Citizens Communication that day, Darwin Mckees (Commissioner of Precint 1) called in the Sheriff's Department as a result of a sit-in attempt made by Free Press International's Greg Ericson in protest to the three minute limit forced upon the people who came to speak that day. Ericson left before the deputies arrived, and other than the Commissioners trying to quieten Alex Jones's exclamations of what "liars" they are, there were no other incidents.
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