From my 83 year old great uncle in Idaho - who is simply enchanted since I set him up on the internet. A new urban legend with a nasty anti-soc.motss overtones. Also, my uncle's willingness to publish to EVERYONE he knows gives a prime example of how these idiotic things spread.
From my dear uncle Jim:
I don't know if this is true or not BUT why take a chance. A friend sent it to me so I am forwarding it to my mailing list. - Jim
***********DANGEROUS PRANK:***************** Please read and forward to anyone you know who drives.
My name is Captain Abraham Sands of the Jacksonville, Florida Police Department. I have been asked by state and local authorities to write this email in order to get the word out to car drivers of a very dangerous prank that is occurring in numerous states. Some person or persons have been affixing hypodermic needles to the underside of gas pump handles. These needles appear to be infected with HIV positive blood. In the Jacksonville area alone there have been 17 cases of people being stuck by these needles over the past five months. We have verified reports of at least 12 others in various states around the country. It is believed that these may be copycat incidents due to someone reading about the crimes or seeing them reported on the television. At this point no one has been arrested and catching the perpetrator(s) has become our top priority. Shockingly, of the 17 people who where stuck, eight have tested HIV positive and because of the nature of the disease, the others could test positive in a couple years. Evidently the consumers go to fill their car with gas, and when picking up the pump handle get stuck with the infected needle.
IT IS IMPERATIVE TO CAREFULLY CHECK THE HANDLE of the gas pump each time you use one. LOOK AT EVERY SURFACE YOUR HAND MAY TOUCH, INCLUDING UNDER THE HANDLE.
If you do find a needle affixed to one, immediately contact your local police department so they can collect the evidence.
PLEASE HELP US BY MAINTAINING A VIGILANCE AND BY FORWARDING THIS EMAIL TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO DRIVES. THE MORE PEOPLE WHO KNOW OF THIS THE BETTER PROTECTED WE CAN ALL BE.
> My name is Captain Abraham Sands of the Jacksonville, > Florida Police Department.
OH MY GOD! This even prompted a rebuttal to be published in Friday's edition of The Florida Times-Union. The first I'd heard of this thing was when I read the disclaimer in Friday's paper.
Fortunate it was in Friday's paper since Friday is the only day I get the T-U (for the movie ads). And fortunately I hadn't yet dumped yesterday's paper in the recycling bin down the street. Here's the rebuttal, which was written by T-U reporter Kathleen Sweeney and ran above the fold on the front of the Metro section:
______________________________________
E-mail called hoax
An e-mail message titled "Dangerous Prank" circulating throughout the country claiming there are hypodermic needles attached to the underside of gas pump handles in Jacksonville is a hoax.
The "Capt. Abraham Sands" who is credited with sending out the e-mail doesn't even work at the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, police said yesterday.
The message says people are attaching the needles infected with HIV-positive blood to gas pump handles. It says that in the Jacksonville area, there were 17 cases of people being stuck. Jacksonville police say that's not true.
"It's the Internet individuals who can stir up a stink," said detective Chris Robinson of the Sheriff's Office Intelligence Unit.
Police said whoever is sending out the bogus message could face criminal charges.
<bf...@bigfoot.com> wrote: > From my 83 year old great uncle in Idaho - who is simply enchanted since I > set him up on the internet. A new urban legend with a nasty anti-soc.motss > overtones. Also, my uncle's willingness to publish to EVERYONE he knows > gives a prime example of how these idiotic things spread.
> From my dear uncle Jim:
> I don't know if this is true or not BUT why take a chance. A friend sent it > to me so I am forwarding it to my mailing list. - Jim
> ***********DANGEROUS PRANK:***************** > Please read and forward to anyone you know who drives.
> My name is Captain Abraham Sands of the Jacksonville, > Florida Police Department. I have been asked by state and > local authorities to write this email in order to get the word > out to car drivers of a very dangerous prank that is occurring > in numerous states.
In article <8ih2rc$k2...@slb7.atl.mindspring.net>, "Dennis Lewis" <d...@sprynet.com> wrote:
[snip]
> E-mail called hoax
> An e-mail message titled "Dangerous Prank" circulating throughout the > country claiming there are hypodermic needles attached to the underside of > gas pump handles in Jacksonville is a hoax.
[snip]
Unfortunately, it will probably continue to circulate for a long time. Consider how long the "FCC petition" hoax continued to circulate, even after O'Hair's disappearance.
> Unfortunately, it will probably continue to circulate > for a long time. Consider how long the "FCC petition" > hoax continued to circulate, even after O'Hair's disappearance.
Con-tin-UED? I wish... Got it twice last week, even after telling the memory-impaired people about these emails less than a month ago. What if we mandate that every email tagline must include a hyperlink to an "Urban Legend" database? :-)
> > Unfortunately, it will probably continue to circulate > > for a long time. Consider how long the "FCC petition" > > hoax continued to circulate, even after O'Hair's disappearance.
> Con-tin-UED? I wish... Got it twice last week, even after telling the > memory-impaired people about these emails less than a month ago.
I would have thought that the publicity about the trials connected with her disappearance would have put the kibosh on further uses of the hoax. Evidently, some religious propagandists don't even have minimal competence. One of the later examples of the hoax was a Xmas version last year sent around by the pastor of the local MCC congregation. I informed her of the truth about the hoax, but she did not disavow the hoax, she just forwarded my e-mail around with no real comment.
> What if we mandate that every email tagline must include > a hyperlink to an "Urban Legend" database? :-)
Oh, you'd probably have someone whining that people's "freedom of thought" or something was being suppressed.
>From my 83 year old great uncle in Idaho - who is simply enchanted since I >set him up on the internet. A new urban legend with a nasty anti-soc.motss >overtones. Also, my uncle's willingness to publish to EVERYONE he knows >gives a prime example of how these idiotic things spread.
>From my dear uncle Jim:
>I don't know if this is true or not BUT why take a chance. A friend sent it >to me so I am forwarding it to my mailing list. - Jim
> ***********DANGEROUS PRANK:***************** > Please read and forward to anyone you know who drives. ><snip to:> >affixing hypodermic needles to the underside of gas pump >handles. ><rest of urban legend snipped>
It's an interesting twist on the one that a certain .net-god of my acquaintance forwarded to another list on which I'm active--in that one, the hypodermic needles were in the coin return slots of public phones.
The aforesaid .net-god ended by telling people to leave their change in the coin return slots for poor people to take, rather than risking the needles.
Chris "Of course, I and several others pointed out that this would mean that the poor people would get stuck with the needles in getting their change." Hansen -- Chris Hansen | chris at hansenhome dot demon dot co dot uk http://www.hansenhome.demon.co.uk
Edgar J. Lawrence II (elawre...@my-deja.com) wrote: : In article <8invto$9p...@nnrp1.deja.com>, : Gregg Johnson <gregg_...@my-deja.com> wrote: : > In article <8ilidk$ol...@nnrp1.deja.com>, : > > : > > [snip] : > > : > > Unfortunately, it will probably continue to circulate : > > for a long time. Consider how long the "FCC petition" : > > hoax continued to circulate, even after O'Hair's disappearance. : > : > Con-tin-UED? I wish... Got it twice last week, even after telling : the : > memory-impaired people about these emails less than a month ago. : : I would have thought that the publicity about the : trials connected with her disappearance would have put the : kibosh on further uses of the hoax. Evidently, some : religious propagandists don't even have minimal competence.
It's apparently been stirred up again due to misinterpretation of an actual FCC decision that *did* go against some of the Religious Right's interests. The FCC ruled that programming whose primary purpose was religious proselytization did not qualify as "educational" programming for purposes of deciding whether a station could get a license in the educational/non-commercial FM band (such stations are required to run a certain percentage of educational programming).
> Edgar J. Lawrence II (elawre...@my-deja.com) wrote: > : In article <8invto$9p...@nnrp1.deja.com>, > : Gregg Johnson <gregg_...@my-deja.com> wrote: > : > In article <8ilidk$ol...@nnrp1.deja.com>, > : > > > : > > [snip] > : > > > : > > Unfortunately, it will probably continue to circulate > : > > for a long time. Consider how long the "FCC petition" > : > > hoax continued to circulate, even after O'Hair's disappearance. > : > > : > Con-tin-UED? I wish... Got it twice last week, even after telling > : the > : > memory-impaired people about these emails less than a month ago. > : > : I would have thought that the publicity about the > : trials connected with her disappearance would have put the > : kibosh on further uses of the hoax. Evidently, some > : religious propagandists don't even have minimal competence.
> It's apparently been stirred up again due to misinterpretation of an > actual FCC decision that *did* go against some of the Religious Right's > interests. The FCC ruled that programming whose primary purpose was > religious proselytization did not qualify as "educational" programming > for purposes of deciding whether a station could get a license in the > educational/non-commercial FM band (such stations are required to run a > certain percentage of educational programming).
I'm aware of that decision, and I'm sure Militant Reactionary Christians don't like it at all. MRCs do have a surpassingly arrogant concept of what they ought to be allowed to do. However, since the decision occurred well after O'Hair's disappearance, trying to connect her with it would be uncommonly dishonest or uncommonly stupid (or both).
>It's apparently been stirred up again due to misinterpretation of an >actual FCC decision that *did* go against some of the Religious Right's >interests.
The ruling came in response to a "license swap" between WQED and WPIT in Pittsburgh. WPIT (I think those are the call letters) is Cornerstone Broadcasting, a fundamentalist christian broadcasting corporation. WQED has been bleeding money, so it wanted to "swap" one of its two educational licenses with WPIT, then sell the commerical license to raise funds. The FCC eventually approved the swap, but with the above conditions. WPIT called off the deal, saying the FCC conditions meant that it could not fulfill its religious proselytizing role.
> The FCC ruled that programming whose primary purpose was >religious proselytization did not qualify as "educational" programming >for purposes of deciding whether a station could get a license in the >educational/non-commercial FM band (such stations are required to run a >certain percentage of educational programming).
Actually, I don't think there was a percentage prior to the December ruling. it was just a vague statement about having an educational mission. The December rule imposed a percentage, and clarified the types of programming considered "educational". I read somewhere that the rule was withdrawn in January after political pressure was applied.
