News Dispatch from the Future
by Francis A Ney, Jr.
n4zhg@icqmail.com

Exclusive to TLE

FREEPORT (TX)—With Thursday's Supreme Court decision, Freeport officials instructed attorneys to begin preparing legal documents to seize three pieces of waterfront property along the Old Brazos River from two seafood companies for construction of an $8 million private boat marina.
Source: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3239024

NetPlanetNews.com
Dateline: Freeport, Texas, June 27, 2007

Freeport Police, the Brazoria County Sheriff, and Texas Rangers are considering asking the FBI and Homeland Security for assistance after a grisly discovery in Freeport Municipal Park this morning. The bodies of twelve people, three of them women, were found hanged from tall overhanging branches and lamp posts in the early morning hours. All had expired. The exact cause of death is still under investigation.

The city government of Freeport is effectively without leadership, as all the bodies were identified as members of the city government and staff. Mayor Jim Phillips, City Manager Ron Bottoms, and Lee Cameron, director of the city's Economic Development Corp. were among the slain, as were all four council members.

"Right now we have about a thousand suspects in the area alone," said Sheriff Joe King. "It was a well-planned and well-executed operation that left no useful evidence and made very clear the motive for this mass lynching."

The bodies had been completely stripped, the only adornment were placards placed around the necks of the victims over the noose. Those placards contained the letterhead of Freeport Marina with various insults included. "Useful Idiot" adorned the bodies of the Mayor and City Manager. "Horsethief" was placed on all four councilmen. "Collaborator" was found on three people, two of them women, identified as attorneys involved in the eminent domain proceedings that forced the closure of the Western Seafood processing plant and the loss of 300 jobs in the city for the Freeport Marina project.

The marina project was stalled by federal demands for environmental impact studies soon after the city successfully disallowed over 50% of the petition signatures that would have forced a referendum on the eminent domain proceedings. Three of the initial four hotels have pulled out of the project, citing delays and threats of a national boycott against their chains. Hiram Walker Royall, the lead figure in the project died in a car crash six months ago and left the remaining partners squabbling for control. This leaves the project, and the expected economic improvements on hiatus for the forseeable future.

"We would like to see this incident classified as a domestic terrorism event," a spokesman for the Texas Rangers told NetPlanetNews. "This would invoke provisions of PATRIOT II that would give us free reign to investigate all suspects, beginning with the 300 former employees of Western Seafood." Under those provisions, those employees would be placed on a terrorist watch list. Their last known locations, all vehicles registered in their names and the names of their families would be included. A mass arrest of all may be considered if there is no progress on the investigation within a month. "We are placing everyone on notice that they are suspected and we are watching. Someone will make a mistake, and we'll be there to take appropriate action."

Frank is a freelance computer consultant and professional gadfly. His main hobbies are guns, computers, ham radio and libertarian politics. He lives in West Virginia, along with his SO of nine years, a number of horses, a labradoodle puppy and a cat that thinks he has 6 legs. He occasionally entertains antlered rats (aka whitetail deer), foxes, turkeys, woodpeckers and pheasant just because they show up for the free food. When he can he volunteers with the local fire department as an EMT.

TLE AFFILIATE

Serenity: The Official Movie Website

Help Support TLE by patronizing our advertisers and affiliates.