Plane crashes into Northwest Austin office building

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/02/18/austin_police_say_a_plane.html

Plane crashes into Northwest Austin office building

Thursday, February 18, 2010, 11:19 AM




A plane crashed into a Northwest Austin building that houses federal offices about 9:30 this morning, sending plumes of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.

Paramedics have set up a triage center at the scene, though it is unclear how many people are injured.

“We have no idea right now if there are any patients, or how many,” Austin-Travis County EMS Assistant Director James Shamard said.

Mathilda Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the Seton Family of Hospitals, said University Medical Center Brackenridge received two patients, and that no other hospitals had received any.

Witnesses say the building is the Echelon 1 building, which is in the 9400 block or Research Boulevard.
web0219crash.jpg

EMS officials said it was a seven-story building and that two people were unaccounted for. A witness said it was the Echelon I building.

According to an FBI agent who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to release information, the incident is being investigated as an accident, although eyewitnesses said the plane seemed to come in at full throttle. He said the plane was out of Waco and that Federal Aviation Administration officials are en route to the scene.

The agent said it was believed the plane had come from Waco, and that witnesses said it had hit the building at full-throttle.

FBI sources said that the eyewitness accounts saying that the plane did not slow down is making some authorities wonder if it was an intentional act.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the building hit by a plane at the Echelon office complex did not contain an FBI office. While the FBI has an office at the complex, the plane did not crash into that particular building, Carter said.

William Winnie, an Internal Revenue Service agent, said he was in a training session on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single engine plane coming at the building.

“It looked like it was coming right in my window,” Winnie said. He said the plane veered down and to the left and crashed into the floors below. “I didn’t lose my footing, but it was enough to knock people who were sitting to the floor.”

The building mostly houses IRS offices, said Kathi Hall, with KVSA Asset Management, which manages the property.

Chris Messer was driving to work about 9:50 a.m. when he was on the flyover exiting MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) to northbound U.S. 183 when he saw a small, single-engine yellow plane in his peripheral vision.

“It flew right in front of me and flew right square into the building,” said Messner, 27. “The fireball was pretty big. It shook my car and the heat came in from my air vents. I was surprised how big the explosion is.”

Messner said the explosion was “as wide as the entire building.”

“The tail was down slightly like it was trying to pull up a little bit,” Messner said. “It happened really fast.”

Sarah Whelan, 28, was also driving on the overpass from MoPac onto U.S. 183 north on her way to work when she saw the plane on her right, flying low over the shops across the street from the building that was hit.

She said all the cars in front of me started slowing down because the plane looked like it could it land on the highway.

“It wasn’t heading into the direction of the building but all of a sudden it took a right and headed straight into it,” Whelan said. “It didn’t look like it was in distress. It wasn’t wavering at all.

“The first thing I did was start praying and saying, ‘I can’t believe it.’” she said. “It was a feeling of disbelief and helplessness.”

Tucker Thurman was driving to work on the U.S. 183 flyover near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) when he said he saw a small plane, very low, flying over the highway. He said he saw it then bank heavily to the right before heading into the building.

“There was a huge fireball. It went right into the building,” Thurman said.

EMS officials said they have taken at least two patients to the hospital, but that there are several “walking wounded” at the scene.

Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr said that the department has gone into a “defensive position,” meaning that firefighters have been ordered to retreat from the building because of the danger.

Fire department officials said EMS has begun taking people to University Medical Center Brackenridge.
Cayce Watkins, a server at the Marie Callender’s restaurant at 9503 Research Boulevard across 183 from where the plane crashed, said: “It rattled our windows.”

Watkins said employees heard the roar of the plane and then a boom.

“There was a loud boom, and our windows, our entire building shook,” said Darla LaTour, an operations manager at the Candlewood Suites Extended Stay Hotel, which is about a quarter-mile from the accident site. “When we got out there already were sirens coming.”

Mischelle Diaz, a spokeswoman for St. Edward’s University, said the plane hit a building in the Echelon business complex next to a building where the university’s Professional Education Center provides software training and teaches some graduate students. She said the education center has been evacuated and that university officials were trying to confirm that students and instructors all got out safely.

“We’re just desperately trying to get some information,” Diaz said.

Stuart Newberg was at a nearby Lexus dealership shortly before 10 a.m. when he said he saw a plane flying low and fast overhead.

“It was flying low and fast and I did a double take. I thought it was a play remote control plane. Then i saw the smoke,” Newberg said.

When asked if the plane seemed to be out of control, he said it seemed “very controlled.”

[MuffyBee]

I just heard on news8austin the plane involved in this crash was stolen from Georgetown Municipal Airport by a man named Joseph Stack.  Mr. Stack's home was found fully engulfed in fire.  His wife and daughter are safe.  Will see if I can get some links.

[MuffyBee]

http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=267309
   
TOP STORIES
Thursday      February      18         2010
   

   12 02 pm

x61
Small plane crashes into building, one person unaccounted
Updated: 2/18/2010 11:50 AM
By: Anna M. Gonzalez
(Video Available)
Two people have been transported to the hospital after a small plane crashed into a building in the 9400 block of Research Blvd. across from Arbor Walk.

Austin fire officials said crews had rescued multiple people, and one person is still unaccounted for. So far, there have been no reports of any deaths.

Crews on the scene reported still seeing debris fly off the building an hour after the crash. The fire was also still burning on the inside of the building. The debris is believed to be from firefighters breaking glass windows to vent the building.
The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, a Cirrus SR 22, departed from Georgetown airport, about 20 miles north of Austin at about 9:40 a.m.

The crash occurred around 10 a.m. and ignited a two-alarm fire. TxDOT cameras in the area show fire and smoke coming from the building.

“At this time we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity,” DHS spokesperson Matt Chandler said. “We are in the process of coordinating with state officials and other federal partners to gather more information at this time. We will defer additional questions to local officials and the FAA.”

Meanwhile, investigators are looking into a possible connection between a house fire in North Austin earlier Thursday morning and the plane crash. Witnesses at the house fire in the 1800 block of Dapplegrey Lane told News 8 Austin they feared that fire was intentionally set.

Crews in the field said the plane hit a Lexus, shattering the car’s glass, before crashing into the building. No word on the driver’s injuries to vehicle occupants.

Electricity is out in the immediate area, and the streets are closed until the scene is under control, police say.

Eyewitness Thad Lindsey said he saw a 30-foot fireball and a cloud of smoke.

“It started raining debris. All of the windows were blown out. I couldn’t see any more,” he said.

The St. Edwards University Professional Education Center is housed nearby the crash, according to Mischelle Diaz, information officer at St. Edwards University. They were evacuated from their building.

Initially it was reported the Austin Resident Agency Office of the FBI was housed in the building. However, the FBI’s offices are adjacent to the building. However, officials in Washington confirm that the building struck by the plane was home to about 200 employees of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, including that agency’s criminal investigations division.

“It hit the building next door. All FBI personnel are safe. We are helping local police departments and fire to determine what happened. Nothing indicates we were targeted,” Erik Vasys with FBI in San Antonio said.

Details are still coming in. Stay with News8Austin.com for more on this developing story.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/
Official: Crash was 'apparently a criminal act'

An Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the crash was 'apparently a criminal act.' They could not confirm that the plane that hit the building belonged to Joseph Andrew Stack, the private plane pilot whose nearby home was on fire at roughly the same time

Plane crashes into Northwest Austin office building

Thursday, February 18, 2010, 11:55 AM

A plane crashed into a Northwest Austin building that houses federal offices about 9:30 this morning, sending plumes of smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.

CNN is quoting federal officials as saying the pilot had set his home ablaze before intentionally crashing plane into the building.

Paramedics have set up a triage center at the scene, though it is unclear how many people are injured. EMS officials said one person was unaccounted for.

“We have no idea right now if there are any patients, or how many,” Austin-Travis County EMS Assistant Director James Shamard said.

Mathilda Sanchez, a spokeswoman for the Seton Family of Hospitals, said University Medical Center Brackenridge received two patients, and that no other hospitals had received any.

The Internal Revenue Service has offices in the building, including its civil enforcement and criminal investigations divisions, said Special Agent Michael Lemoine, a spokesman for the criminal investigations division.

He said that some IRS offices are on the first floor, which Lemoine said was hit by the plane.

He said that the criminal investigations division personnel are safe and accounted for. He did not have information on the civil division workers, who conduct audits and other activity at the offices
web0219crash.jpg

According to an FBI agent who asked not to be identified because he isn’t authorized to release information, the incident is being investigated as an accident, although eyewitnesses said the plane seemed to come in at full throttle. He said the plane was out of Waco and that Federal Aviation Administration officials are en route to the scene.

FBI sources said that the eyewitness accounts saying that the plane did not slow down is making some authorities wonder if it was an intentional act.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the building hit by a plane at the Echelon office complex did not contain an FBI office. While the FBI has an office at the complex, the plane did not crash into that particular building, Carter said.

“At this time we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity,” said Matt Chandler, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, told CNN. “We are in the process of coordinating with state officials and other federal partners to gather more information and at this time we will defer additional questions to local officials and the FAA.”

William Winnie, an Internal Revenue Service agent, said he was in a training session on the third floor of the building when he saw a light-colored, single engine plane coming at the building.

“It looked like it was coming right in my window,” Winnie said. He said the plane veered down and to the left and crashed into the floors below. “I didn’t lose my footing, but it was enough to knock people who were sitting to the floor.”

Sunny Zunker was driving south on U.S. 183 toward her downtown Austin office when the small plane appeared suddenly overhead.

“It looked like it was going to crash on the highway right in front of us,” she said. “It just slammed into (the building) and a big ball of fire came out.”

The plane banked slightly to the right before hitting the building, apparently between the first and second floor, Zunker said. Pieces of metal and glass rained down on the road, striking her car and others, followed by lighter-weight debris that floated down.

“It was awful to watch,” Zunker said. “I was shaking, just shaking. I just remember the shock on peoples’ faces. People pulled over with their mouths open.”

The plane did not appear to be in distress, was traveling quickly and did not appear to be looking for a place to land, Zunker said. “It wasn’t like it was trying to land on the highway, which is what you’d expect it would’ve done. I mean, there’s roads right there.”

Chris Messer was driving to work about 9:50 a.m. when he was on the flyover exiting MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) to northbound U.S. 183 when he saw a small, single-engine yellow plane in his peripheral vision.

“It flew right in front of me and flew right square into the building,” said Messner, 27. “The fireball was pretty big. It shook my car and the heat came in from my air vents. I was surprised how big the explosion is.”

Messner said the explosion was “as wide as the entire building.”

“The tail was down slightly like it was trying to pull up a little bit,” Messner said. “It happened really fast.”

Sarah Whelan, 28, was also driving on the overpass from MoPac onto U.S. 183 north on her way to work when she saw the plane on her right, flying low over the shops across the street from the building that was hit.

She said all the cars in front of me started slowing down because the plane looked like it could it land on the highway.

“It wasn’t heading into the direction of the building but all of a sudden it took a right and headed straight into it,” Whelan said. “It didn’t look like it was in distress. It wasn’t wavering at all.

“The first thing I did was start praying and saying, ‘I can’t believe it.’” she said. “It was a feeling of disbelief and helplessness.”

Tucker Thurman was driving to work on the U.S. 183 flyover near MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) when he said he saw a small plane, very low, flying over the highway. He said he saw it then bank heavily to the right before heading into the building.

“There was a huge fireball. It went right into the building,” Thurman said.

EMS officials said they have taken at least two patients to the hospital, but that there are several “walking wounded” at the scene.

Fire Chief Rhoda Mae Kerr said that the department has gone into a “defensive position,” meaning that firefighters have been ordered to retreat from the building because of the danger.

Fire department officials said EMS has begun taking people to University Medical Center Brackenridge.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/small-plane-hits-echelon-on-mopac-183

Plane hits: 'Whoosh, a roar and a boom'
EMS officials responding to reports at 10 a.m.

Updated: Thursday, 18 Feb 2010, 12:11 PM CST
Published : Thursday, 18 Feb 2010, 10:18 AM CST

A small plane crashed into a business tower that houses some federal offices in Austin on Thursday morning, engulfing the entire front half of the seven-story building in flames.

 The plane, which according to reports was either a Cherokee Piper or a Cirrus, hit the Echelon Building on Mopac and U.S. 183 around 10 a.m. Two were injured and one person has yet to be accounted for in the search for victims.

Federal officials are reporting to CNN that the plane's pilot set his own house on fire in Northwest Austin, stole the airplane, and then crashed it into the building.

The fire, which happened around 9:15 a.m. in the Scofield Farms neighborhood, destroyed the home that apparently belonged to Joseph Stack, a local pilot. Stack has not been located. Local officials have not confirmed to KXAN that there's a connection. Joseph A. Stack is a registered pilot of a Piper PA 28-236.

According to FAA reports, the plane departed Georgetown airport north of Austin about 9:40 a.m. and was a Cirrus SR 22. The pilot evidently did not file a flight plan, according to reports. No flight plan is required because it is a VFR (visual flight rules) day, meaning clear weather.

There was still no information on the number of people in the plane, or on a tail number.

Two people have been rushed to a nearby hospital with unspecified injuries. There still has been no official word on who the pilot is, or if he or she has been located in the wreckage.

Witnesses at the scene say that a single engine plane that appeared to be a Cherokee 140 did not appear to be having any trouble, but hit the building at an angle. No smoke or any sign of trouble was visible.

Said one witness, a former pilot: "It was a really speedy dive. It (hit) between the first and second floors in Echelon I. A gigantic fireball came out about 50 feet wide, the windows blew out. It was a whoosh, a roar and a boom."

The IRS and the CIA all have offices in that office complex, witnesses say. The Internal Revenue Service has 199 employees in the building and they are currently being accounted for, IRS officials said.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is "aware" of the crash, federal officials said. Upon hearing of the crash, the Pentagon sent two F-16s to Texas to investigate.

"At this time, we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity. We are in the process of coordinating with the state officials and other federal partners to gather more information, and at this time we will defer additional questions to local officials and the FAA," said Matt Chandler of the Department of Homeland Security.

The collision shook the entire building, and the entire front of the structure is gone and on fire, according to emails being reported from inside the building. Several witnesses are reporting they first thought it was a bomb.

Emergency crews are doing a roll call on the scene to account for people in the building.

There are four separate fires burning in the building. Some 50 to 100 people are outside watching, and the entire building from the second to fourth floor is on fire.

FBI officials officed in a next-door building began immediately interviewing witnesses.

"It hit the building next door. All FBI personnel are safe. We are helping local PD and Fire determine what happened. Nothing to indicate we were targeted," said Erik Vasys with FBI in San Antonio.

The plane has a maximum fuel capacity of 92 gallons and a max speed of 252 MPH.

 

 


   
 

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/02/18/official_crash_was_apparently.html

Official: Crash was ‘apparently a criminal act’

Thursday, February 18, 2010, 12:00 PM

An Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said the crash was “apparently a criminal act” and that in such a case the FBI would be the lead investigating agency rather than the National Transportation Safety Administration.

“The NTSB investigates accidents,” said Paul Turk, assistant director of public affairs for the FAA.

Turk could not confirm that the plane that hit the building belonged to Joseph Andrew Stack, the private plane pilot whose nearby home was on fire at roughly the same time.

“We don’t have a tail number for the aircraft involved,” Turk said.

The pilot of the plane that crashed did not file a flight plan or, as far as FAA officials know at this time, have any other contact with the agency.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Officials-investigating-plane-crash-as-a-crime-84714402.html
by The Associated Press
(Video Available)
Posted on February 18, 2010 at 12:14 PM
******
Officials investigating plane crash as a crime

WASHINGTON -- U.S. law enforcement officials say they are investigating whether the crash of a small plane into a building in Austin, Texas, may have been an intentional act by the pilot.

The officials said authorities are trying to determine if the pilot intentionally targeted nearby office space of the Internal Revenue Service.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is continuing. A third official said authorities are pursuing reports that the pilot may have been disgruntled with the IRS.

As a precaution, the Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command launched two F-16 aircraft from Houston's Ellington Field, and is conducting an air patrol over the crash area.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=267313
(Video Available)

Investigators: Pilot set fire to home before crashing into building
Updated: 2/18/2010 12:19 PM
By: Anna M. Gonzalez
CNN is quoting federal officials, saying a house fire in North Austin was started by the pilot of the plane that crashed into a nearby building 30 minutes later.
Witnesses at the house fire in the 1800 block of Dapplegrey Lane told News 8 Austin they feared that fire was intentionally set.

Two people were transported to the hospital after the plane crashed into the building on the 9400 block of Research Blvd.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson called the crash a “criminal act.”

Fire officials are worried the building will collapse, and metal beams are breaking.
Austin fire officials said crews had rescued multiple people, and one person is still unaccounted for. So far, there have been no reports of any deaths.

Crews on the scene reported still seeing debris fly off the building an hour after the crash. The fire was also still burning on the inside of the building. The debris is believed to be from firefighters breaking glass windows to vent the building.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, a Cirrus SR 22, departed from Georgetown airport, about 20 miles north of Austin at about 9:40 a.m.

The crash occurred around 10 a.m. and ignited a two-alarm fire. TxDOT cameras in the area show fire and smoke coming from the building.

“At this time we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity,” DHS spokesperson Matt Chandler said. “We are in the process of coordinating with state officials and other federal partners to gather more information at this time. We will defer additional questions to local officials and the FAA.”

Crews in the field said the plane hit a Lexus, shattering the car’s glass, before crashing into the building. No word on the driver’s injuries to vehicle occupants.

Police have reopened the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 183. However, Capital of Texas Highway at Research Blvd. and the southbound frontage road of 183 are still closed.

Eyewitness Thad Lindsey said he saw a 30-foot fireball and a cloud of smoke.

“It started raining debris. All of the windows were blown out. I couldn’t see any more,” he said.

The St. Edwards University Professional Education Center is housed nearby the crash, according to Mischelle Diaz, information officer at St. Edwards University. They were evacuated from their building.

Initially it was reported the Austin Resident Agency Office of the FBI was housed in the building. However, the FBI’s offices are adjacent to the building. However, officials in Washington confirm that the building struck by the plane was home to about 200 employees of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, including that agency’s criminal investigations division.

“It hit the building next door. All FBI personnel are safe. We are helping local police departments and fire to determine what happened. Nothing indicates we were targeted,” Erik Vasys with FBI in San Antonio said.

Details are still coming in. Stay with News8Austin.com for more on this developing story.

[Northern Rose]

He owned a Company called Embedded Art and changed his website to a suicide note

http://embeddedart.com/

Well Mr. Big Brother IRS Man.....take my pund of flesh...



If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?”  The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time.  The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken.  Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it.  I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head.  Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy.  Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all.  We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers.  Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”.  I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood.  These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind.  Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours?  Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies.  Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”.  It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system?  Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand.  Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand.  The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is.  If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here? 

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s.  Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English.  Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions.  In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy.  We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God).  We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living.  However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0.  It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie.  It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father.  I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker.  Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement.  Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement.  All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time.  When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me).  I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread.  I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made.  I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

·      "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

·      "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

·      "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.

 

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated.  The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d).  Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave.  Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time.  I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity.  This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”.  Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise.  The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists).  This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle.  If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks.  Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s.  Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that.  The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco.  However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall.  Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed.  Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare.  Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months.  This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive.  Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY!  After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change.  Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while.  So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done.  I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work.  The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a f*** about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA.  This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income.  I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need.  The sleazy government decided that they disagreed.  But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out.  Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present.  After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again.  But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle.  After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order.  I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting.  Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit.  By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented).  Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone.  The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything.  Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”.  Now when the wealthy f*** up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone.  The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government.  Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough).  In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand.  It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants.  I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after.  But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change.  I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less.  I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are.  Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer.  The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different.  I am finally ready to stop this insanity.  Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

 

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

 

Joe Stack (1956-2010)

02/18/2010

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/02/18/house_fire_in_north_austin.html
Burned house, plane crash linked to same person

Neighbors said they heard a loud noise that sounded like a car crash at about 9:15 a.m. and soon saw flames coming from house.


By Claudia Grisales | Thursday, February 18, 2010, 02:40 PM

Fire crews responded this morning to a fire at the home of a person who owned a plane that crashed into a Northwest Austin office building.

The house, in the 1800 block of Dapplegrey Lane close to Parmer Lane and Metric Boulevard, was owned by Andrew Joseph Stack, records show.

There were no injuries in the blaze, and the house is total loss, officials said.

Neighbors said they heard a loud noise that sounded like a car crash at about 9:15 a.m. and soon saw flames coming from house.

Neighbor Elbert Hutchins said he ran to the house while calling 911 and saw flames coming out of an upstairs window. Soon he saw a woman and a girl drive up in a car.

Neighbors believe that was Stack’s wife and daughter, who is about 12 years old.

The two are now believed to be in a neighbor’s house being assisted by the Red Cross. When reporters went to the door, an FBI agent answered.

A Red Cross spokewoman would only say they are assisting two people who are “remarkably calm, clearly distraught.” She said they are “physically fine.”

Dane Vick, whose home is behind Stack’s house, said he called 911 to report the house fire. He described it as an explosion. “I heard a humongous boom,” he said.

Vick said he went to the house and yelled, “Anyone in there. Everyone OK?”

“There was no movement,” he said.

He described the neighborhood as being made up of professionals and families.

Joseph Strazza, 22-year-old contractor, said he was driving down Metric Boulevard when he saw smoke coming out of the eaves of the house.

He parked behind house, he said, then heard an explosion.

“It sounded like a small bomb going off,” Strazza said. He said the windows blew out and flames started coming out of the roof.

Strazza said he then saw a man running out of house with little girl in his arms. Fire crews arrived a short time later, Strazza said.

Stack’s home was a two-story brick home with two-car garage on a tree-lined street. Officials still have the street cordoned off. The house was gutted by the fire.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/02/18/note_posted_to_man_linked_to_p.html
Note posted to man linked to plane crash shows anger at IRS


Note by Andrew Joseph Stack, right, says: 'If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, 'Why did this have to happen?'


By Steven Kreytak | Thursday, February 18, 2010, 01:11 PM

A note posted on a Web site registered to Andrew Joseph Stack, the man linked to this morning’s plane crash, suggested that Stack was disgruntled with the U.S. tax system.

The building that was hit by the plane on Research Boulevard houses many of Austin’s IRS operations, including civil and criminal investigators.

“Well Mr. Big Brother IRS man…. Take my pound of flesh and sleep well,” is the Web browser title on embeddedart.com, the site registered to Stack.

The New Jersey-based Web host that served “EmbeddedArt.com” says it took down the site at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. To see the full story, click here.

The note, which is about six pages of text when printed, begins: “If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, ‘Why did this have to happen?’”

What follows is a rambling complaint about the tax system, how it affects organized religion and corporations, and how at several turns it has derailed Stack’s professional career as a software engineer.

The note says that during the early 1980s Stack participated with others in “tax code readings and discussions” that focused on tax exemptions, such as ones that “make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy.”

“We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the ‘best’, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the ‘big boys’ were doing,” the note says.

The note went on to say: “That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie.”

The note does not say what happened to cause those results.

Stack then went to engineering school and later began working as a software engineer, according to the note. Later, the note says, a 1986 tax law setting out new rules for engineers essentially “declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave.”

Stack writes about working 100-hour work weeks in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, a divorce years later, the dot-com bust and September 11.

“Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity,” the note says.

Security alerts “made access to my customers prohibitively expensive,” the note says, offering no further explanation.

“Ironically, after what they had done the government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY!” the note says. Again, there is no further explanation of the complaint.

While there is no reference as to the year, Stack then sought a change in Austin, the note says.

“So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done,” the note says. “I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work.

At one point, the note says, Stack failed to file a tax return because he had no income. “The sleazy government decided they disagreed,” the note says. “Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.”

The note says that recently Stack was audited after a tax preparer neglected to report some of “Sheryl’s” unreported income.

“That left me … trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax related,” the note says. “The end result is… well, just look around.”

The note then says that the Federal Aviation Administration is often justifiably called a tombstone agency, calls President George W. Bush a “puppet,” and said “nothing changes unless there is a body count.”

“I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at ‘big brother”’ while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.”

According to IRS bankruptcy court records, Stack was employed by DAC International, an Austin company on McNeil Drive that sells avionics technology.

In March 2009, Stack was owed two days back pay, accrued vacation, and money from an employer savings match plan, according to the court records.

A woman who answered the phone at DAC confirmed Stack was an employee but said she had no comment before hanging up the phone.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/02/18/pilot_was_in_austin_band_descr.html
Pilot was in Austin band, described as kind and quiet

By Steven Kreytak and Patrick Beach | Thursday, February 18, 2010, 04:19 PM

When he wasn’t working as an engineer in the high-tech field or battling the IRS, Joe Stack was a mild-mannered bass player in an Austin alt-country band, according to friends.

He had moved to Austin from California in about 2004 and re-married here in 2007, according to court records and previous versions of his Web site for his company, Embedded Arts.

Stack, 53, lived in a 2,500-square-foot house in the Schofield Farms neighborhood in North Austin, near Metric Boulevard and Parmer Lane, with wife Sheryl and her daughter, who is about 12, according to friends, neighbors and county records.

There his wife taught piano lessons and bandmates gathered to practice for gigs.

Officials believe that Stack set that house on fire today before flying his small airplane into an office building on Research Boulevard that houses about 200 Internal Revenue Service Employees.

A note posted on embeddedarts.com, a Web site registered to Stack, suggested that Stack was disgruntled with the U.S. tax system. “Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man…take my pound of flesh and sleep well,” the note said.

The note is a rambling complaint about the tax system, organized religion and corporations. It reveals that Stack has been frustrated with what he believes is the system’s lack of fairness for at least two decades.

Michael Cerza, who played drums in the Billy Eli Band with Stack, said, “my impression of Joe was a kind, quiet, not at all brooding or taciturn person.”

“I didn’t sense anything boiling under the surface. There was no indication in his actions or his words that he would harm anyone.”

While the members of the band all had day jobs, the Billy Eli Band has played gigs around town at places like the Lucky Lounge and Trophy’s.

Jim Hemphill, also a member of the band, said he is in shock.

“I never saw anything like this in Joe,” he said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/small-plane-hits-echelon-on-mopac-183
(Slide Show& Video Available)
Pilot targets IRS: 'A roar and a boom'
Pilot may have set house on fire, crashed plane

Updated: Thursday, 18 Feb 2010, 5:38 PM CST
Published : Thursday, 18 Feb 2010, 10:18 AM CST

    * KXAN News Staff

A pilot with a grudge against the IRS crashed his plane into the agency's office building in Austin on Thursday, engulfing the four-story building in flames in an apparent suicide meant to call attention to what he viewed as the tax agency's failings.

Andrew Joseph Stack, 53, is presumed to have died in his Cherokee Piper PA-28 airplane when it struck Building II in the Echelon complex on Mopac and U.S. 183 around 10 a.m. - about an hour after authorities said he set fire to his expensive Northwest Austin home .

One federal employee is still unaccounted for, and "prospects are not positive for that person," Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said. The family of that worker has been contacted, he said. Stack's body has not been recovered.

Two others were seriously or critically injured in the attack. Thirteen people were treated for minor injuries. The FBI has set up a 24-hour command post near the scene. They request that anyone with information call 210-650-6199.

The plane hit between the second and third floors, striking a car in the lot before it hit the building. The engine landed on a frontage road near the building.

"Like most Americans, I am shocked by the tragic events that took place in Austin this morning," said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. "This incident is of deep concern to me. We are working with law-enforcement agencies to fully investigate the events that led up to this plane crash."

Investigators are looking at an anti-government message on the Web linked to him  to describe his motive. The site has been taken down at the request of FBI officials.

Stack owned a software company called Embedded Art and posted the rambling, suicidal manifesto on the site Thursday morning - saying he'd had problems with the Internal Revenue Service and that violence "is the only answer."

One victim is at University Medical Center Brackenridge, while the other was sent to Brooke Army Medical Center's burn unit in San Antonio with second-degree burns on his back. Acevedo said the situation could have been much worse, but "I can just say that some folks might have seen this aircraft coming and yelled out some warning. I believe there were some heroic actions."

The victim at Brackenridge said he's grateful he's alive and that he wants everyone to know he is OK. He told doctors he just wants to go to church and go home.

President Barack Obama and Homeland Security officials have been notified , authorities said. Upon hearing of the crash, the Pentagon sent two F-16 fighter planes from Houston to investigate.

When asked if it was a domestic terror act, Acevedo said: "I personally consider this a criminal act by an individual. You can define it any way you want."

Congressman Michael McCaul, ranking member of the Homeland Security Intelligence Subcomittee disgreed: "It sounds like it to me."

Asked if it would affect any Homeland Security policies, McCaul said, "We have to be very careful how we balance that. I think it’s an issue Congress needs to look at not only protecting federal buildings but the American people."

The Georgetown airport, where the plane departed, has been evacuated and shut down due to the investigation.

A bomb squad was at the airport to investigate a "suspicious package" found there, according to reports at 2:30 p.m. Stack's truck had been found earlier in the day in the airport parking lot, one of the first signs that he'd been involved. The investigation was cleared later in the day with nothing unusual reported.

According to FAA reports, the plane departed Georgetown airport north of Austin about 9:40 a.m. Stack evidently did not file a flight plan, according to reports. No flight plan is required because it is a VFR (visual flight rules) day, meaning clear weather.

Witnesses at the scene say that the plane did not appear to be having any trouble and hit the building at an angle at full speed. No smoke or any sign of trouble was visible.

Said witness Jerry Cullen, a former pilot: "It was a really speedy dive. It (hit) between the first and second floors in Echelon III. A gigantic fireball came out about 50 feet wide, the windows blew out. It was a whoosh, a roar and a boom."

The IRS and the CIA all have offices in that office complex, witnesses say. The Internal Revenue Service has 199 employees in the building.

"At this time, we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to criminal or terrorist activity. We are in the process of coordinating with the state officials and other federal partners to gather more information, and at this time we will defer additional questions to local officials and the FAA," said Matt Chandler of the Department of Homeland Security.

The collision shook the entire building, and the entire ront of the structure is charred. Several witnesses reported they first thought it was a bomb.

Emergency crews did a roll call on the scene to account for people in the building.

Four separate fires burning in the building were contained or put out by 3 p.m.

"All FBI personnel are safe. We are helping local PD and Fire determine what happened. Nothing to indicate we were targeted," said Erik Vasys with FBI in San Antonio.

The rampage started around 9 a.m. on Thursday when officials said they believe Stack set fire to his home on Dapplegrey Lane, which tax records indicate was worth about $236,000.

The fire, which happened around 9:15 a.m. in the Scofield Farms neighborhood, destroyed Stack's.

Stack's wife and 12-year-old stepdaughter had moved into a hotel on Wednesday evening after, friends said, Stack when "ballistic" about his IRS problems.
(Video Available)

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/
PLANE CRASHES INTO OFFICE BUILDING
Plane crash, house fire linked to man angry at IRS


Officials have confirmed that the plane that hit the building at the 9400 block of Research Boulevard belonged to Andrew Joseph Stack, the private plane pilot whose nearby home was on fire at roughly the same time

[MuffyBee]

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/Georgetown-airport-part-of-plane-crash-investigation-84723852.html
Plane in crash took off from Georgetown
(Video Available)
by KVUE News

Posted on February 18, 2010 at 1:49 PM

Updated today at 5:39 PM
******
Related:

    * Witnesses speak out after plane crash
    * APD: Feds taking lead on plane crash investigation

The plane involved in the crash, registered to Joseph Stack, took off from the Georgetown airport, which was later blocked off as authorities conducted a search.

KVUE News saw the Austin Police Department's bomb squad drive into the airport after authorities became suspicious that the pilot may have left a bomb behind.

The airport was temporarily evacuated because a suspicious package was found and authorities wanted to make sure it was not a bomb.   Officials say the pilot of the plane, Joseph Stack, stored his plane at the airport.  A package was found in his car, and investigators brought in the bomb squad to check it out.

The area was cleared, according to Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo, and the roads to the airport have since reopened.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586682,00.html

Glass Worker Turns Hero After Plane Crashes Into Texas Building
Thursday, February 18, 2010
(Slide show available)




By Diane Macedo

Robin Dehaven[/i]
 A quick-thinking glass worker who happened to be driving by when a pilot with a grudge smashed his plane into a Texas building is being hailed as a hero after helping many people escape the inferno that followed the crash.

Robin Dehaven, a glazer at Binswanger Glass, was on his way to a job site when he saw the small plane approaching the seven-story building that houses the Internal Revenue Service offices in Austin.

"I first assumed it was a toy plane someone was messing around with, because it was flying really low and kind of going back and forth, turning left and right," Dehaven told Fox News.

He soon realized the "toy" was actually a small passenger plane; moments later, he saw black smoke billowing from the building.

"I immediately drove my truck over there, got the ladder off, went up to the side of the building and I saw people up on the second floor with their heads out the window for air because the room was filled with smoke," Dehaven said.
Dehaven extended his ladder up to the stranded workers and tried to instruct them on how to secure it, but they were unable to. So, rather than have them climb down an unsecure ladder, he climbed up.

"I climbed inside the broken-out window into the building with them," said Dehaven, who has a 3-year-old son.

"My ladder slipped a little bit actually," he added.

With the help of one of the men inside, he then broke another window near a ledge, and secured the ladder there so he could get five people out safely.

"I held onto their waists and their backs so they wouldn't fall if they slipped," he said.

Dehaven said the woman and four men he rescued all appeared to have been uninjured, with the exception of one man who cut his hand trying to break the window.

Police said that rescuers did an admirable job, and only two people had to be transported to the hospital. One person was unaccounted for, and there was one death: Joseph Andrew Stack, the pilot of the plane.
It was surreal," Dehaven said.

But Dehaven's boss, Bubba Cepak, said he wasn't surprised to hear about the heroism exhibited by his employee of two and a half years.

"That's his deal, he just wants to help people out," Cepak told FoxNews.com.

Cepak said he thought the six and half years Dehaven spent as a combat engineer for the U.S. Army probably gave him many of the skills he used to execute the rescue. But he had no doubt where he found the courage to go forward with it.

"It comes from his character," he said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-201_162-10002528-3.html?tag=page

Photo: Photo from Billy Eli Web site
Joe Stack, seen here in a photo from the Billy Eli Web site, is a software engineer so furious with the Internal Revenue Service that, authorities say, he crashed his small plane into an Austin, Texas, office building housing nearly 200 federal tax employees on Feb. 18, 2010.


Photo: Photo from Billy Eli Web site
Police say Joe Stack, seen here in a photo from the Billy Eli Web site, set fire to his home, and took off from Georgetown Municipal airport in a Piper Cherokee PA-28, which he flew into a seven-story office building in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 18, 2010. Authorities said he died in the crash.



Photo: CDUniverse.com
The cover for the Billy Eli Band's album "Amped Out." Joe Stack was a member of the band.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/

Ralph Barrera AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Officials have confirmed that the plane that hit the building at the 9400 block of Research Boulevard belonged to Andrew Joseph Stack, the private plane pilot whose nearby home was on fire at roughly the same time

[MuffyBee]

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/blotter/entries/2010/02/18/one_burn_victim_airlifted_to_s.html
One burn victim airlifted to San Antonio burn unit

By Mary Ann Roser, Jeremy Schwartz | Thursday, February 18, 2010, 01:08 PM

Matilda Sanchez, spokeswoman for the Seton Family of Hospitals, said an injured man was admitted to University Medical Center Brackenridge in good condition with minor injuries and smoke inhalation. A second person was stabilized and airlifted to the burn unit at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio in serious condition with burn injuries.

She said she heard reports of other wounded people walking around at the scene.

Sanchez did not provide the names of the patients received at Brackenridge.

Sarah Scott, chief administrative officer of the Travis County medical examiner’s office, which investigates and performs autopsies, said at 11:30 a.m. that it had not been called to the scene.

Dr. Christopher Ziebell, the medical director of Brackenridge’s emergency department, said the two patients worked in the building that was struck.

He said the man who was taken to San Antonio received second-degree burns over 20 percent to 25 percent of his body, mostly on his back. Based on the injuries, Ziebell said, doctors expect him to recover fully.

Jennifer Rodriguez, a spokeswoman at Brooke Army Medical Center, said the patient is in stable condition.

The second patient was treated for smoke inhalation and left the emergency room around 1 p.m., before doctors could finish their observations of him, hospital officials said.

Ziebell said the man called the crash a “scary moment” and that he was blessed to have survived.

Ziebell said the hospital was able to get an early start on preparing — calling in extra staff, closing the hospital to non-trauma EMS traffic and freeing up extra beds — because a colleague at Seton Northwest Hospital witnessed the crash and called Ziebell this morning.

“We really ramped up for something extraordinary,” he said, adding that he was surprised they received only two patients and no other hospitals have seen any. “You look at the building and at the situation and you really do expect to see more (patients).”

The hospital returned to normal operations at 11:30 a.m. when it became clear that the expected influx of victims was not going to materialize, Ziebell said.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.news8austin.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=267349
(Video Available)
Death reported in plane crash
Updated: 2/18/2010 6:20 PM
By: Anna M. Gonzalez

A federal employee died when a plane crashed into a building in North Austin Thursday, police say.

According to federal officials, the pilot of the plane started a house fire in North Austin before crashing into a building on the 9400 block of Research Blvd. The building houses 200 employees of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, including that agency’s criminal investigations division.

The pilot is also presumed dead.

EMS officials say 13 people were treated on the scene, suffering from heat-related injuries. Of those, two were critically injured and transported to the hospital. One person suffered second-degree burns across 25 percent of his back. He was transferred to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. The other suffered non-life threatening injuries due to smoke inhalation.
Meanwhile, witnesses at the house fire in the 1800 block of Dapplegrey Lane told News 8 Austin they feared the fire was intentionally set. Investigators have confirmed the house was owned by 53-year-old software engineer Andrew Joseph Stack.
Stack's family was at home at the time of the fire and were able to escape unharmed. They are not commenting on the incident.

Authorities also found an anti-IRS note on EmbeddedArt.com, a site Stack owns. The note has since been removed. The site’s archive indicates Embedded Art was “a small independent software house, specializing in process control and automation."

The content of the note led some to call the incident an act of domestic terror.

"We saw a deliberate and intentional attack against a federal building,” said Congressman Michael McCall. “It's something that's exposed a weakness we haven't seen since 911... that airplanes can fly into buildings."
However, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo called the incident "a criminal act by a lone individual," adding it's up to the FBI whether or not to call it an act of terrorism.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson called the crash a “criminal act.”

The Federal Aviation Administration said the plane, a Piper Cherokee PA28, departed from Georgetown airport, about 20 miles north of Austin at about 9:40 a.m.

The crash occurred about 30 minutes later and ignited a two-alarm fire. TxDOT cameras in the area showed fire and smoke coming from the building.

Fire officials on the scene of the crash were worried the building would collapse as metal beams were reportedly breaking.

Crews on the scene reported still seeing debris fly off the building an hour after the crash, and the fire was still burning on the inside of the building. The debris is believed to be from firefighters breaking glass windows to vent the building.

News 8 crews in the field said debris from the crash hit a Lexus, shattering the car’s windshield. There is no word on injuries to the vehicle occupants.
As of Thursday at 1 p.m., police have reopened the northbound lanes of U.S. Highway 183. The southbound frontage road of 183 was still closed at 5 p.m.

The St. Edwards University Professional Education Center is housed nearby the crash, according to Mischelle Diaz, information officer at St. Edwards University. Everyone was evacuated from the building after the crash.

Initially it was reported the Austin Resident Agency Office of the FBI was housed in the building. However, the FBI’s offices are adjacent to the building.

“It hit the building next door. All FBI personnel are safe. We are helping local police departments and fire to determine what happened. Nothing indicates we were targeted,” Erik Vasys with FBI in San Antonio said.

The plane crash re-opened a wound for Austinites and awakened memories of 9/11