National Solar Observatory, USPS office in Sunspot, NM evacuated for 'safety reasons'

originally posted by: TheGoondockSaint

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Well, guess the crappy cover story is working better than I thought.

Exactly. Read between the lines people, there's been enough said in this thread to hint at what happened. Apparently nobody in here (minus a few) have spent enough time in the aircraft forum.

Annnnnnd I'm off to the aircraft forum its not like I'm not on here enough already. Unless you care to divulge the Readers Digest version or are you too going to play the Mark Felt part in All the Presidents Solar observatories.

Well, after more than 12 hours and countless trips down my own tangent rabbit holes, I'm pretty much all caught up. I must say, like many others, the "official story" was rather disappointing, to say the least. Also, like many others have already stated, it still smells fishy. Unfortunately, unless there is more information that is either released or leaked out, this is what we're going to be stuck with. In my opinion, it's a cover story and a terrible one, at that. With the evidence collected and provided in this thread, there have been several of our own scenarios that make much more sense than their attempt at providing a believable narrative.

So, mad man on the loose, staff is in danger. Don't tell Sheriff there is a bad hombre roaming in the hills of his county. Everyone must leave, but exit slowly and cautiously. Leave your homes, as well. No need to pack, just go.

FBI (supposedly) shows up, does zero manhunt but climbs all over towers, dismantling equipment and leaves before Sheriff can get any kind of answer. That doesn't sound like they were looking for a bad guy, to me.

Also, it's unsafe to go past the yellow ribbon. Somehow, that yellow Caution tape will contain a suspect? I mean, they wouldn't let the poor maintenance guy back into his home, which I assume has doors and windows that lock and fairly sturdy walls, but they will allow him to sleep in a tent on the other side of some yellow Caution tape?Magic barrier tape, I guess. He's safe from that "security threat" bad guy in his tent because of that tape. Somehow, it was also safe for him to go in, alone, work his regular shift and complete his regular maintenance work but could not go to his house and lock himself inside after doing his work? Guess they didn't have enough of the magic tape to wrap around the outside of his house.

Idk. Maybe it's just that this answer is so lame that I just can't accept it. As of right now, I'm not buying it.

a reply to: Tanga36

That's a very good synopsis of the absurdity of it all,
Should add though that they couldn't risk saying anything at all about what was going on for fear of alerting the suspect, but didn't expect to alert him by coming in via Blackhawk, then promptly evacuating the place.

originally posted by: putnam6

originally posted by: TheGoondockSaint

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Well, guess the crappy cover story is working better than I thought.

Exactly. Read between the lines people, there's been enough said in this thread to hint at what happened. Apparently nobody in here (minus a few) have spent enough time in the aircraft forum.

Annnnnnd I'm off to the aircraft forum its not like I'm not on here enough already. Unless you care to divulge the Readers Digest version or are you too going to play the Mark Felt part in All the Presidents Solar observatories.

The first rule of fight club, you don't talk about fight club.

a reply to: Tanga36

The sheriff has gone on record saying the FBI refused to tell him what was going on, which seemed to irk him (rightfully so). The FBI kept referring everyone to the company who owns the site, which is unusual in and of itself. To have the FBI respond and to evacuate the facility only to have the FBI refer it to a company is weird.

If it was an imminent threat the Sheriffs office should have responded to the scene (doesnt matter if its considered federal land).

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: Tanga36

The sheriff has gone on record saying the FBI refused to tell him what was going on, which seemed to irk him (rightfully so). The FBI kept referring everyone to the company who owns the site, which is unusual in and of itself. To have the FBI respond and to evacuate the facility only to have the FBI refer it to a company is weird.

If it was an imminent threat the Sheriffs office should have responded to the scene (doesnt matter if its considered federal land).

Yeah, see, this smells to high heaven. Leaving local LE out of the loop after the immediate threat has been neutralized is really suspect.

originally posted by: caterpillage
a reply to: Tanga36

That's a very good synopsis of the absurdity of it all,
Should add though that they couldn't risk saying anything at all about what was going on for fear of alerting the suspect, but didn't expect to alert him by coming in via Blackhawk, then promptly evacuating the place.

While I did think about that aspect, I was then reminded that we are at ATS and at ATS, it is common knowledge that there are black helos that are super quiet. Any other site might laugh me off their board but not here!
*While that may sound like I'm poking fun at others and their beliefs, I must add that even though I've never seen (nor heard) a silent black helo, I will not discredit their existence. Too many witnesses for me to say they're all crazy.

a reply to: Tanga36

Could be, but the way it was all handled, I don't think these guys were the guys that get to play with toys like that.

a reply to: Xcathdra

What if the threat was international,inter dimensional or just plain alien?

originally posted by: howtonhawky
a reply to: Xcathdra

What if the threat was international,inter dimensional or just plain alien?

All possibilities.. Given the observatory sits up against Holloman Air Force base, and given the history of that base with the alien conspiracies..

a reply to: Tanga36

They aren't truly quiet, just so quiet that my the time you hear them they're over you and you're screwed.

originally posted by: Xcathdra
a reply to: Tanga36

The sheriff has gone on record saying the FBI refused to tell him what was going on, which seemed to irk him (rightfully so). The FBI kept referring everyone to the company who owns the site, which is unusual in and of itself. To have the FBI respond and to evacuate the facility only to have the FBI refer it to a company is weird.

If it was an imminent threat the Sheriffs office should have responded to the scene (doesnt matter if its considered federal land).

I could not agree more with that. However, I'm still on the fence about what the Sheriff's role is in all of this. He has connections to the Federal law enforcement. On his LinkedIn, it states that he has been involved at the local, state and federal levels in law enforcement. If not an actual agent at some point, he at least has connections. Some of the recommendations that I saw posted a few days ago are now gone but they were Federal level law enforcement agents that sang high praises of him and working with or under him I didn't think to screenshot the page because I didn't think the info was important at that time. As of this morning, there was still one on there from the Federal level. So, one could posit that if they were that willing to post positive recommendations for him, they might be willing to pull some strings and get him the info he desperately desires. Or what IF he is a part of the cover-up/DisInfo campaign? He's got the connections and they could've easily told him to throw a fit and make it look like he's had info withheld from him. And once they released their BS story, he comes out and goes full on ballistic towards the FBI. Might have been just a distraction tactic as part of the release of the story. Either way, I'm not quite on board with him being just another victim in this story.

a reply to: Tanga36

He stated they were requested by the FBI to respond to the area as "stand by" for the evacuation and nothing more. I would not be comfortable sending my officers into an area at another agencies request without more information as to whats going on and what my officers are going into - regardless of threat or just an evacuation.

originally posted by: caterpillage
a reply to: Tanga36

Could be, but the way it was all handled, I don't think these guys were the guys that get to play with toys like that.

Yeah, I guess that is a valid point. They didn't really seem like they were current or ex SF, did they? Those guys wouldn't have waited for a nice orderly evac. They would've just kicked in the doors, put everyone in zip ties, grabbed what they were after and been gone. Then, when the helo got to the perfect vantage point, they would've blown the C4 charges they planted. Why? Because they can and because it'd make for amazing pictures from their vantage point.

originally posted by: howtonhawky
a reply to: Xcathdra

What if the threat was international,inter dimensional or just plain alien?

The stunning lack of info from the people who were there is starting to whisper at me.

a reply to: wylekat

Almost like there was a group of people that didn't want their presence known for some reason.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: wylekat

Almost like there was a group of people that didn't want their presence known for some reason.

You mean like a colony of bigfoots in the area?

NOW I know at least part of what's been bugging me to death!

The guy in the tent! He's living- been living in a tent- and it's almost completely deserted- and he wasn't bothered by whatever nice little woodland creatures wandering the joint???

Oh, say like: "black bears, bighorn sheep, bobcats, cougars, coyotes, deer, elk, jackrabbits, kangaroo rats, javalina, porcupines, pronghorn antelope, roadrunners, western diamondbacks, wild turkeys, and the endangered Mexican gray wolf"?

Really? No- seriously... REALLY??? Living in a flimsy piece of cloth, and you KNOW these things would be coming up, even if it's a partial list, to see what the scrubby looking human is doing, and check to see if the meat's fresh. Also- eating, cooking outside, leaving one's dirty laundry- again- outside, food wrappers, and generally probably smelling to high heaven?

*props open plot hole*

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Tanga36

They aren't truly quiet, just so quiet that my the time you hear them they're over you and you're screwed.

Ahhhh! See, I live it the Midwest. We don't get too many helos around here. Mostly KC-135s and some A-10s but not as many as a few years back. On a side note, I've noticed a major uptick in the 135s over the past 10-14 days. Not sure if it's end of fiscal year stuff or if it's because we're gonna need more mid-air refueling some place pretty soon? Just tossing that info out there.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: wylekat

Almost like there was a group of people that didn't want their presence known for some reason.

But had 'cover story' people to wander the place and distract? Just gets fisher than Fisherman's Worf (get it).