December 09, 2003
HCSO gets Murdoch seal of approval
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The Hillsborough County Sheriffs Office has apparently quietly entered into one or more sponsorship agreements with one or several companies, including the Fair and Balanced Fox Network. I can’t find any more detailed details than this. A careful reading of some very vague articles reveals few facts beyond the HCSO press release, but the SP Times does mention in passing that Fox’s fascist friendly TV show America’s Most Wanted actually paid for a large and very prominent copy of their logo to be painted on the tail section of the Sheriff’s new toy, and are getting some footage courtesy of the HCSO:
All casual chatter inside the airplane ended when 12 masked men, dressed in green combat gear and holding guns, burst into the cabin and stalked down the aisle.Several widely known people were aboard. Sheriff Cal Henderson. WQYK-FM 99.5 disc jockey Skip Mahaffey. Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist.
"HANDS UP! Put your hands on your heads! PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS," the armed men screamed at the passengers.
Everyone complied.
Then they applauded.
It was the first of many antiterrorism exercises that will be held inside a Boeing 727 jet parked at the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office training facility off County Road 39 in eastern Hillsborough.
The jet, which was donated to the Sheriff's Office by a cargo transport company in Orlando, is the first training tool of its kind for law enforcement officers who aren't federal agents.
On Monday, sheriff's officials held a dedication ceremony for the jet, with SWAT team demonstrations, a lunch catered by Maggiano's and a keynote address by John Walsh, host of the Fox TV show America's Most Wanted.
...."This is America," Walsh said. "Right here. Today. You sons of b------. We'll be ready for you the next time."
The ceremony marked the end of a yearlong project for the Sheriff's Office, which started when the brother of Hillsborough Deputy William Hill called and asked if the agency wanted a jet.
The plane is 130 feet long, 12 feet wide and weighs 30,000 pounds. It was once owned by American Airlines, then was used as a cargo plane.
......Private businesses gave about $500,000 in cash and in-kind donations for the training facility. The Sheriff's Office spent about $150,000 of its own money on the project.
The jet has been repainted with green and gold stripes - the colors of the Sheriff's Office - with a large America's Most Wanted logo affixed to its tail. The TV show paid for the logo.
......U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson also attended the ceremony, saying that it will be local law enforcement, not the federal government, who will first respond to any terrorist acts.
The Hillsborough Sheriff's Office is "getting with the program," Nelson said, "being serious about this war on terrorism."
Nelson told the crowd of about 200 that terrorists may try to take down planes with heat-seeking, shoulder-mounted missiles.
Uh, and then the SWAT team will storm the smoking remains and shoot any survivors who have the temerity to move...
Posted by Norwood at December 9, 2003 06:52 AM