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- | A powerful shortwave transmitter beamed the Last Day Prophet's gruff
| + | I have removed the Brother Scare article that was posted here eralier. This was copied from some other source and is off topic here. |
- | voice into the heavens where it slammed into a layer of electrically
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- | charged gas and bounced back to earth.
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- | "When I speak, he thundered, it's the word of God!"
| + | [[User:Boxcarro]] is a troll. He/she/it has been banned from other forums (e.g. [[WBCQ]]) because of abuse. |
- | Soaked in shortwave static, his voice quieted. I've told this over
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- | and over again that God gave me , in the spiritual realm, authority
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- | over this church- the true church- in all these Southern states. And
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- | my influence reaches to the far corners of the world. He was pleading
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- | now, almost crying.
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| | | |
- | We're getting very close to the final countdown, Call 1-803-538-4202,
| + | --[[User:Cosmikdebris|Cosmikdebris]] 14:48, 2 April 2009 (EDT) |
- | and you'll be on the air with the Last Day Prophet of God.
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- | Everyday, R.G. Stair, 60, can be heard on more than a dozen shortwave
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- | and AM radio stations from Sacramento, California to Conway.
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- | | + | |
- | During one recent broadcast, he said listeners sent him nearly $1
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- | million last year to proclaim his warnings of the coming apocalypse.
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- | And he said he's increasing his presence on the airwaves. Today I
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- | wrote three checks for 31,000 dollars signing up radio stations, he
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- | told his listeners.
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- | | + | |
- | But not too long ago, Stair hoped to have his own shortwave radio
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- | station.
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- | From a ship anchored off the coast of Belize, he planned to broadcast
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- | his messages of doom across the world.
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- | | + | |
- | But those hopes were dashed in January.
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- | In January, while the ship was being prepared at a local yard,
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- | federal agents stormed the vessel, claiming transmitters aboard were
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- | broadcasting illegal test tones.
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- | | + | |
- | The Federal Communications Commission called his vessel a pirate
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- | radio ship. Stair and his controversial radio expert, Al Wiener,
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- | called the government's action a crime- the work of the devil-
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- | sometimes mentioning in the same breath last year's violent bungled
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- | raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
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- | | + | |
- | The story of the seizure sheds light on two very different
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- | subcultures: One is the world of shortwave broadcasting, where
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- | stations broadcast programs across the globe and unlicenced pirates
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- | try to hijack the airwaves.
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- | | + | |
- | The other is the doomsday movement, which some observers believe will
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- | grow dramatically as the year 2000 draws nearer- and possibly trigger
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- | potentially dangerous police actions against nontraditional religious
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- | groups and Christian extremists.
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- | The Pirate
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- | On any given night, pirates are on the air. Mostly kids, they
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- | broadcast music, skits and their own shows, usually on shortwave
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- | frequencies. They are called pirates because they don't own FCC
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- | licenses. Some are more energetic than others. One pirate group that
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- | calls itself 'Radio Airplane' reportedly has a transmitter on the
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- | back of a small aircraft.
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- | | + | |
- | It's sort of a game to see if they get caught, said Glenn Hauser, a
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- | columnist for Monitoring Times', a radio magazine popular with
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- | shortwave enthusiasts.
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- | | + | |
- | Radio piracy isn't always fun and games though. In Roanoke, VA, a man
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- | posing as an air traffic controller broadcast fake instructions to
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- | pilots for several weeks before the FCC nabbed him. But the nation's
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- | most famous radio pirate is Al Wiener. As a teenager, Wiener aired
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- | music on AM and FM stations from his basement. He had no license, and
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- | the FCC eventually arrested him. He was sentenced to one year
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- | probation.
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- | | + | |
- | Wiener, a lanky man with long brown hair, eventually moved to Maine,
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- | opened a natural food store, and bought a legitimate AM station. But,
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- | like many small AM stations, he was not allowed to broadcast at
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- | night. Wiener went on the air after dark anyway, usually once a
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- | month. He did so for three years before the FCC shut him down again.
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- | | + | |
- | But Wiener's real claim to fame was his pirate radio ship, the Sarah.
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- | In 1987, he installed radio transmitters aboard a trawler, moved the
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- | ship four miles off the coast of New York- outside U.S. territorial
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- | waters- and broadcast alternative rock programs.
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- | | + | |
- | Once again, the FCC moved in. Agents boarded the ship, seized radio
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- | equipment, and arrested Wiener on charges of obstructing government
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- | function, charges they later dropped. We want to give him a chance,
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- | explained FCC official.
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- | | + | |
- | Al is a folk hero to a lot of people who want to open up the
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- | airwaves, said Anita Louise McCormick, author of Shortwave Radio
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- | Listening for Beginners.
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- | | + | |
- | There's no question the FCC hates my guts, Wiener, 41, said recently.
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- | Without the FCC, there would be anarchy on the airwaves, so I think
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- | they have an important role. I'm not an anarchist. I love my country.
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- | But I think the FCC attacks things they shouldn't.
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- | | + | |
- | About 18 months ago Wiener received a call from a friend, Scott
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- | Becken, who operated satellite network. Becker said he had spoken
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- | with a radio preacher, R. G. Stair, about financing another radio
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- | ship.
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- | | + | |
- | "I said, Oh no, not another one" I said I wouldn't be involved this
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- | time unless it was all on the up and up.
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- | The Prophet
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- | | + | |
- | During his programs, Stair often reminds listeners he was born in
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- | Bethlehem- Bethlehem, PA.
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- | | + | |
- | Since he was a teenager, Stair has traveled the country, making the
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- | rounds on the evangelist circuits, doing radio shows.
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- | | + | |
- | In the late 1970's, he drove past the Carolina Motel on S.C. Highway
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- | 15, four miles north of Walterboro. It was a modest motel, a single
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- | story row of rooms, the kind that became obsolete when the
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- | interstates were built. In 1978, he paid $45,000 for it.
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- | | + | |
- | Stair attracted a small band of followers who moved into the motel
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- | and several mobile homes behind it. He also bought a nearby farm. He
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- | called his group the "Overcomer Ministry'
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- | | + | |
- | He hoped to live a simple life there, like the Mennonites or the
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- | Amish. No drinking, swearing, smoking or television. No buying on
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- | credit and no doctors. They would live off the land. Women would wear
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- | hair long, men would keep it short. Women would wear dresses, men
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- | pants.
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- | | + | |
- | In 1987 and 1988, not long after Wiener makes the fronts pages with
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- | his pirate radio exploits, Stair also began to attract national
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- | attention.
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- | He made dramatic predictions: By the end of 1988, the U.S. economy
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- | would collapse and the country would be destroyed in a limited
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- | nuclear war with the Soviet Union. In his broadcasts, he announced he
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- | was creating, 'cities of refuge', small farms throughout the South
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- | where believers might weather the catastrophe.
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- | | + | |
- | The message hit home with some, and a handful of listeners across the
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- | country sold many of their possessions and moved to the motel and
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- | farm.
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- | | + | |
- | Among them were David Foltz and his wife. The one thing that struck
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- | me was that there were no big cars. No one was living an outlandish
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- | lifestyle, said Foltz, who lived in Stair's community for two years
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- | before moving to a home nearby. He still attends services.
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- | | + | |
- | If you had gone to (Jim and Tammy Bakkers) PTL at this time, the dog
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- | houses would have been air conditioned, but with Brother Stair, all
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- | the money that was coming in was going into radio ministry.
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- | | + | |
- | As the contributions poured in, Stair was able to buy more radio
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- | time. By mid-1988 he was on nearly 100 stations.
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- | | + | |
- | That year, Stair's predictions and allegations that his group was a
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- | cult drew hordes of reporters and television people to the small
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- | motel. Foltz said the cult label was unfair.
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- | | + | |
- | It hurts the public that reads it, because it creates a stereotype.
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- | Just because an organization does something different, it doesn't
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- | mean it's a cult. I wasn't brainwashed into their beliefs. I came
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- | down there on my free will.
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- | | + | |
- | The media scrutiny intensified in July 1988 when a couple from
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- | Pennsylvania left Stair's group after the woman's baby was born dead.
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- | Stair had discouraged her from going to a doctor, even though she had
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- | trouble delivering her first child. The Colleton County coroner said
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- | the baby probably would have lived had the woman gone to the hospital.
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- | | + | |
- | William Alnor, an evangelist and free-lance writer, covered the story
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- | for a Pennsylvania newspaper.
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- | | + | |
- | He's always proclaiming the idea of doom, and this serves as a
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- | catalyst. They were drawn to him by fear, said Alnor, author
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- | of 'Soothsayers of the Second Advent'.
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- | | + | |
- | There are a number of groups out there like this, and they're popping
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- | up more and more because of the year 2000. In the year 1000, people
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- | were so worried they were living in caves.
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- | | + | |
- | But Foltz said it wasn't fear of Stair or the end of the world that
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- | attracked followers. It's really about what's happening with the
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- | country. You look around and see what's going on, and it makes you
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- | wonder if maybe the Amish have the right idea.
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- | | + | |
- | After Stairs predictions failed to come true, he began to appear on
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- | fewer radio stations. For the most part, he stopped talking to
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- | reporters. In his broadcasts, he calls them perverted. (He refused
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- | repeated requests to be interviewed for this story.) He still
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- | preaches that the world will end, but instead of setting dates, he
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- | simply says the jig is up soon.
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- | | + | |
- | And, he never gave up his goal of spreading this message across the
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- | world.
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- | The Plan
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- | The pieces fell together quickly. Within a few months, Stair, Wiener,
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- | Becker, Wiener's friend in the satellite business, had a 140-foot-
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- | long ship called 'The Fury' and four transmitters from Boston to
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- | Halsey and Cannon Boat yard on the Wando River.
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- | | + | |
- | Becker, who also run the business side of the ship, renting three
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- | transmitters to anyone who wanted air time. Stair would have
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- | exclusive use of one shortwave transmitter. They would move the ship
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- | to Belize or another Caribbean country. Wiener was in charge of
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- | building the radio station. Stair's followers chipped and sanded
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- | paint and did other work on the ship itself.
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- | | + | |
- | Wiener said the ocean would act like a huge reflector dish,
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- | increasing the power of the shortwave transmitters. Shortwave radio
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- | transmitters are beamed 150 miles from the transmitter. Wiener said
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- | Stair's broadcast from the ship would be heard throughout North
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- | American and possible in large areas of South America and Europe,
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- | where shortwave radio stations are more popular.
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- | | + | |
- | Honestly, I saw the hand of God work on that ship, Wiener said. But
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- | in less than a year we were able to throw together the people,
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- | equipment, and the boat, which was incredible.
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- | | + | |
- | Becker and Wiener estimate that Stair pumped $250,000 to $300,000
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- | into the ship. Stair told 'Monitoring Times' that he spent $125,000
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- | on the transmitter installation.
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- | | + | |
- | Wiener enjoyed working with Stair's group. The best time we had was
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- | at supper, he said. They were people who seemed at peace with
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- | themselves. We could be talking about generators and bilge pumps one
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- | minute and the glory of God in another breath.
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- | | + | |
- | Becker was less enthusiastic. The only way I can describe this group
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- | is bizzare.
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- | He said he saw members looking for scraps of food in the trash bin
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- | behind a grocery store. He scares people to come and live with them.
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- | It gives me the creeps. The women dress in long Quaker or Amish
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- | dresses. They walk around like zombies. He's a David Koresh waiting
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- | to happen.
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- | The Bust
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- | It was late December when Johnny Lightning came on the air. One of
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- | the FCC's monitoring stations picked up the transmission. 'Johnny
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- | Lightning was the announcer. He was playing music and there was some
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- | chatter said Lawrence Clance, the FCC assistant bureau chief for law.
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- | Johnny Lightning was on a frequency normally reserved for government
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- | communications, one that's often used by pirates.
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- | We knew right away we had a pirate radio station, Clance said. The
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- | monitoring stations traced the transmission to South Carolina.
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- | In January, FCC agents were dispatched to Charleston. For two weeks
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- | they drove around the area in cars packed with equipment that track
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- | down radio broadcasts.
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- | | + | |
- | At 12:15 a.m. on Jan 14, FCC engineers heard something. It wasn't
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- | Johnny Lightning. It sounded more like test tones. Their direction-
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- | finding gear guided them to a dirt road leading to the Halsey &
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- | Cannon Boat Yard- and the Fury. They seemed to be tuning it, said
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- | Richard Breen, an FCC engineer who tracked the transmission.
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- | | + | |
- | Breen and the other FCC engineers didn't board ship that night.
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- | Instead, after discussing their findings with their superiors in
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- | Washington, they went to the federal judge and asked for an order
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- | allowing them to seize the Fury's radio equipment.
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- | | + | |
- | Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph P. Griffith Jr. said at 8 a.m. on Jan.
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- | 19, gun-totting U.S. Marshals and Coast Guard officers raided the
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- | ship. There was no resistance. No one was hurt or arrested. Only one
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- | firearm was found.
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- | | + | |
- | The FCC paid electricians and neighboring shipyard crew $7,500 to
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- | remove the transmitters. Wiener was on board when the raid happened.
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- | It felt like evil attached the boat, he said.
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- | The Aftermath
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- | | + | |
- | Wiener said the feds went overboard, that seizure was a personal
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- | vendetta against him. The station was destroyed, he said, because
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- | someone in Washington, D.C. apparently doesn't like Brother Stair or
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- | me.
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- | | + | |
- | He said he was asleep during the time the illegal transmissions were
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- | alleged to have been made. Besides, the transmitter and generators
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- | weren't working, so it was physically impossible for anyone to
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- | broadcast, he said.
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- | | + | |
- | The charges are totally unfounded, he said. Even had there been
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- | transmissions, he said, the punishment did not fit the alleged crime.
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- | | + | |
- | Prosecutors could have sought either a restraining order or a fine.
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- | | + | |
- | Why was an entirely legal radio station destroyed without a hearing
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- | and due process? What is going on here? Wiener said. A radio station,
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- | a printing press of the air, has been smashed.
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- | | + | |
- | Stair has since filed a motion in federal court asking the government
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- | to return the equipment.
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- | The FCC out of Washington takes a strong view of this kind of deal,
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- | particularly in light of who was on board. Griffith answered. The
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- | seizure was done entirely at the FCC's request. I would like to think
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- | there were no personal animosities involved.
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- | | + | |
- | He said the agency considered criminal prosecution but was concerned
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- | it would make Wiener a martyr. Taking equipment was a middle road
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- | approach.
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- | | + | |
- | Said Clance, "We're simply in the business of shutting down pirate
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- | radio stations.
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- | Apocalypse Later
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- | Immediately after the bust, Wiener left Charleston. We didn't know if
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- | we were going to get shot or arrested. He returned to New York and
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- | began working at another radio station. He began writing to
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- | newspapers and communications magazines criticizing the FCC's action.
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- | | + | |
- | The bust didn't slow Stair down either. He bought more air time on
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- | radio stations. During these broadcasts Stair asked for more and more
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- | money.
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- | | + | |
- | My dear friends, Stair told his listeners, this message of hope to
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- | the people of God is being heard. They are responding! They are doing
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- | it! This is what stirs my heart. They are obeying! I know that makes
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- | me enemies. So be it.
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- | | + | |
- | A listener from Canada said he put a money order for $1000 in the
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- | mail.
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- | | + | |
- | Like Wiener, Stair lobbed verbal darts at the government and armed
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- | forces, you, you are the Antichrist.
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- | | + | |
- | And he hints at future battles with the government. They will come
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- | after me. I'm sure they are going to, because I'm a voice out here
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- | that they're going to have to reckon with.
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- | | + | |
- | The Pirate and the Prophet Story Mane #2098 Pub Date 4/24/94 HD: PIRATE AND PROPHET AH: RADIO, RELIGION: Reposted 9(after 15 years in chache at my YAHOO GROUP....(KD5MPM Amateur Radio Licensed Tech..)ELIJAHRADIOPROPHET from
| + | |
- | | + | |
- | <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elijahradioprophet/message/15>
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I have removed the Brother Scare article that was posted here eralier. This was copied from some other source and is off topic here.