Official: Census Takers In Kentucky Want Teams After Bill Sparkman's Death

BIG CREEK, Ky. — The manager of a part-time census taker who died under mysterious circumstances in southeastern Kentucky says other workers are requesting to visit houses in teams rather than alone.

Wayne Hatcher is regional director of the U.S. Census Bureau's office in Charlotte, N.C.

He was at a memorial Sunday in the Daniel Boone National Forest near the spot Bill Sparkman's body was found one month ago with the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest, likely in pen. Sparkman was tied to a tree with a rope around his neck.

An autopsy has concluded Sparkman died of asphyxiation. However, authorities are saying little else about his death, even whether it was a murder, suicide or accident.

Hatcher says door-to-door visits in Clay County are suspended until more information is known.

Comments

[Naithom]

A memorial fund has been set up to help the young sons of Bill Sparkman, the teacher and part time census worker who was murdered in Clay Co., KY. Because Bill was still paying for the medical bills from his cancer, the boys are without funds even to bury their dad.

Donations can be made to:

Memorial Fund for William Sparkman Jr.
c/o First National Bank
120 Town Square
Manchester, KY 40962
606-598-6111

Thank you.

[Anonymous October]

My father (deceased) grew up in a small Midwestern town. Whenever we visited my Grandmother, he would tell us to stay away from certain farm families because the entire town knew they grew pot and were very profitable at it. There teenagers drove brand new pickup trucks and sports cars. They had huge homes, new barns, lots of farm animals, etc. Their children are my age now. I still go back to put flowers on my parents and relatives graves. Those families are pillars of their community. They donate lots of money to their churches, town council men and women, money for improvements, etc. They choose who and where the money is to be donated to. The rest of the town looks like a ghost down with dilapidated businesses and store fronts. There are no grocery stores, libraries, etc. The church and town leaders who receive the money turn a blind eye to these pot farming families. It's not just pot anymore. They also make and sell crack (meth).

[equianimi]

I've been to clay county and believe me if you walked into a bar or coffee shop there and told someone you liked Obama they'd come at you yelling and drooling and if you didn't get out of there fast someone would eventually start throwing punches at you (while drooling between missing teeth of course). I was there during the Bush administration and heard one guy saying "booy ah telllya Bush shuld juz drop a dang bomb on all a dem, juz leavel duh hole dam mideast" ....quite a place I have to say.

[LiberalLee]

Home of the Hatfields and McCoys.
"We hate them Revenoowers!"
Rheumatiz medicine?
Can you blame them for wanting back-up in a place that...ana­chronistic­?

[LiberalLee]

Can you blame them?
Going into the backwards...excuse me... backwoods country of Kentucky alone as a census taker would chill my willies too.
After Michelle 'Batty'Bachmann has stirred the vipers nest, and Fox comedy Channel has thrown in its 2 cents'worth of 'k!ll the libruls' seasoning, who could blame them?

[satanlite]

They aren't saying anything because the evidence is pointing to persons of interest or are so explosive that if they do they fear the release of the information will be like throwing gasoline on a fire. Fringe righties did this, mark my words. Fox News, Michell Bachman, and the crafters of hate speach on the right all share responsibilty for this mans death. We will find out eventually.

[CherokeeGirl]

Will we find out eventually? Because this is really starting to tick me off. They think if they take it off the tv news that we'll all just forget about this poor man? Not me! I cannot believe this is going unpunished. Michelle Bachman and anybody else who ran with her census fearmongering is responsible for ginning up these haters.

[satanlite]

They may be dearly hoping the media subsides on this. Something is wrong. Silence speaks for itself.

Something is odd about this.

[ringmaster]

No one is safe in the beautiful Danial Boone National Forest. It is home to several unique species of birds, but bird watchers long ago gave up venturing into it.

[satanlite]

If that is true then it is time to send in the National Guard and mop up the mutants who have been inbreeding in there.

[CherokeeGirl]

Daniel Boone's probably rolling his eyes in his grave. And you are right, that these malitias are allowed to train in the deep forest is a big joke on the department of justice and homeland security. Their lack of action is turning our country into the friggin' wild west.

[JiminNC]

Teams? How about armed federal escorts?

[liberalNmoderation]

Armed Federal Escorts?
Really?
Why not just throw gas on a barely contained fire?

[liberalNmoderation]

Don't get me wrong, I want the census workers to be safe.
But I think sending in armed feds(right now anyway) with the census people would not be a good idea...especially if any of these people livin in rural KY watch Fox News...

[ParacelsusTheophrastus]

I just traveled through that area and I was scared.

[argyle]

Time to re-assert federal authority in Clay County Kentucky.

[hasheville]

The public need to persist in demanding answers about this case.

[liberalNmoderation]

Agreed, this is the first time I've seen ANYTHING about that case.
I don't want to see this story fade away.

[blaharumph]

was about to post the same... what about the CASE?

[liberalNmoderation]

I got reprimanded on another blog by the site mod, for asking why they hadn't posted any new updates on this story.
I was off topic, which was there reasoning behind the reprimand and consequent deletion of my post....but it did get my tin foil hat in a bunch.

[SamBrown]

Yep, just this weekend I thought of this case and started googling for recent stories and found NOTHING. I'm not one to look for conspiracies but the silence surrounding this is a little puzzling.

[satanlite]

Dam straight.

[Tazru]

Agreed.

The silence since the initial reports has be suspicious of how this case is being handled, I hope I am wrong.

[henrymiller212]

it appears to the untrained average person there is something afoot in these there woods.
maybe i'm just paranoid but i've seen deliverance.

[kevinabt]

Maybe they should stick to JUST collecting the number of residence in each household. If they stop illegally gathering additional information they would be less unwelcome.

[keepemhonest]

Kev,

what information does the census gather that is not legally obtained?

[roald]

Noen, but that will not stop the ditto-heads and Bachman-bots from repeating the mantra.

[floridafun]

and what exactly is the illegal information they are asking for? what do some folks feel they need to hide is probably more to the point?

[Ceregene]

kivenabt ...............the government already knows more about you can you can imagine and yes they do want to keep tabs on you as well as me. But it's just a 'count'. Kind of like how many students are in a classs room. Gotta be fairly represented, you know.

[Tsar Bomba]

Except when the Republicans are in office right kevin? Then you don't care if the government taps your phone without a warrant.

[FireBird1]

You do realize that they ask income info to determine how much fed. aid the state gets?

[IDIOTA]

What is taking so long to determine the cause of death?

[Tsar Bomba]

They want to wait for any animosity toward right wing militia groups to blow over. If the general population finds out it was a political murder, these groups will have hell to pay.

[liberalNmoderation]

Why would they want to protect them?

[satanlite]

"hell to pay"

Rightly so.

[eniobob]

Why is the sience so deafining on the case?

[TotallyAmazed]

I think they have plenty of information and are keeping it under wraps until they're ready to disclose it all. When you read the short blurb here of this story, you have to notice the strange way things are stated, such as:

"... Sparkman was tied to a tree with a rope around his neck."

They don't say he was hung, which initial reports stated. From the way it's detailed here, the victim could have been found slumped next to a tree with one end of the rope around his neck. Very odd the way it's written with complete lack of specifics. I mean, don't you think we could already rule out suicide?

But, I think the authorities have plenty and are working hard to find people linked to this murder, IF they haven't already narrowed it down to specific people.

[IrisMozenter]

From previous reports, it sounds as though there was a rope around his neck but he was not hung. His mouth was covered with tape. It's possible to asphyxiate if, for example, you can't breathe through your nose, or you have asthma.

[satanlite]

I think you're right.