Most Interesting! What Was the Most Intriguing News Story of 2009??
By artistry
@artistry (4151)
United States
December 28, 2009 11:00am CST
In your opinion, what do you think was the most interesting or most intriguing news story of 2009? Why did the story capture your attention?
2 responses
@xfahctor (14113)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
28 Dec 09
I think that would be the events in Harding Montana this past fall. It was to me also one of the most under covered important news stories of the year. A private security firm comes in to a town to suposedly run a prison and shows up with "harding police force" imprinted on the company vehicles, set up checkpoints and stopped town folk. then to top it off, it is discovered the owner of the secirity firm is a 12 time fellon, has lied about his federal contracts and untill a few months before the events in Montana, the company didn't even exist.
Here are some highlights of the story.....from a long thread posted in an interest section dedicated specificly to the story (thanks to angry kitty for the contribution)...
Here is the thread: http://www.mylot.com/w/discussions/2146374.aspx
Exerpts from Kitty's contribution....
"Montana Legislators don't know what;s going on and are demanding information:
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090930/NEWS01/909300309/Lawmakers-want-information-on-secretive-Hardin-Jail-deal
The guy running the mysterious company which rolled into town in black Mercedes SUVs emblazoned with "Harding Police" on them (despite the fact that Harding HAS NO Police force) is a mysterious individual in his own right and by all indications, quite shady! He's got at least 17 aliases, has a reputation of questionable business practices, and has had judgments against him totaling over a million dollars:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/01/AR2009100100803.html?referrer=facebook
There's a picture of the "Harding Police" emblem along with a story about what's been going on here:
http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/09/mysterious-unregistered-security-firm-policing-montana-town/
and some background on what may have led up t the strange events in that little town (along with some more background info on that agency and some other interesting stuff):
http://www.examiner.com/x-14766-Charleston-Ron-Paul-Examiner~y2009m9d30-Hardin-Montana-tip-of-the-iceberg
1 person likes this
@artistry (4151)
• United States
28 Dec 09
...Hi there xfahctor, Most undercovered news story?? I try to keep up with most of the news around the country, but I must confess, I never heard a tiny blip about this. What the heck was going on? Haven't checked your links yet, thankyou by the way, did anyone curtail this running of the town or was the man allowed to do what he wanted Where was the highest lawmaker in the town and maybe the FBI?? This is too strange to say the least. Very, very interesting story. There was a group of sheriff's deputies along with the District Attorney and Chief of Police, in a small town in Texas, I believe who were stopping people on the main highway, stripping them of their money and jewelry and putting them in jail, over one-hundred of them, threatening to take their children and kept all their valuables through fear. Until a group if them sued, the DA, who was a woman and most of the deputies are now in jail, the money was all spent. Highway hi-jackers they
were. Small town USA. Thanks for the interesting comment. Have a Happy New Year.
@xfahctor (14113)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
29 Dec 09
Very under covered, hardly a blip about it on any of the nes channels. Read through the discusions in the link I posted and it wil give you a good deal of the basics. As far as I know, the whole deal was canceled and the Montana State Attorny general were looking in to it. It was a really wierd and twisted story.
As for the one you just mentioned.....WOW! thats messed up! I hadn't heard about it.
1 person likes this
@artistry (4151)
• United States
3 Jan 10
...Hi there bobmnu, Happy 2010. Thanks for your response. There are good and I think valid points on both sides of the argument I feel. But the other thought I have, is that there is said to be a ten year window for the outcome or non outcome, whether true or not or if we all believe it or not. That's not long, as I mentioned somewhere before. So we all may still be here watching as the ten years moves out, it was just the beginning of 2009, and here we are 2010. Time goes fast. I happen to think that if there is a global warming going on, that we should have tried 20 years ago to do something to change things. It's about too late now to do anything to stop whatever may happen if we are ten years or so away, from the boogey man. May 2010 be good to you and your family.
TIE (take it easy)
