Man Sought for Photographing Texas City Refineries

[maddezmom]

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Law enforcement officials said on Monday they are looking for a man seen taking pictures of two refineries in Texas City, Texas.



Texas City, located on the Texas Gulf coast about 30 miles south of Houston, has three refineries including the largest U.S. plant operated by BP Plc., which is the third-largest U.S. refinery, processing 470,000 barrels of crude oil per day.


The man, described as white with dark hair, was seen taking pictures outside the refineries, all located on the same highway, at about 5 p.m. CDT on Saturday, said Bruce Clawson, emergency management and homeland security director for Texas City.


While it is not illegal to take pictures of a refinery from a highway or street, officials would like to talk to the man to find out his reason for taking the photographs.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20040719/ts_nm/security_refineries_photographer_dc

more terra alerts....

[Parche]

1. pictures

He thought it was a GAS to take pictures of them.

[stevedeshazer]

26. It is the USA PATRIOT Act (got links)

http://www.2600.com/news/view/article/1441

<snip>
PHOTOGRAPHER ARRESTED FOR TAKING PICTURES OF VICE PRESIDENT'S HOTEL
Posted 5 Dec 2002 06:03:48 UTC

An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area where Vice President Cheney was residing. Maginnis told his story on Wednesday's edition of Off The Hook.

Maginnis's morning commute took him past the Adams Mark Hotel on Court Place. Maginnis, who says he always carried his camera wherever he went, snapped about 30 pictures of the hotel and the surrounding area - which included Denver police, Army rangers, and rooftop snipers. Maginnis, who works in information technology, frequently photographs such subjects as corporate buildings and communications equipment.

more...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/007116.html

<snip>
Tuesday :: June 29, 2004

Man Arrested For Videotaping Building With FBI Office

by TChris

For the crime of videotaping a public building, Purna Raj Bajracharya spent three months in solitary confinement before being deported to Katmandu.

What's that? It's not a crime to videotape something that's plainly visible to the public? Tell it to the FBI.

Bajracharya was planning to return to Nepal. He'd overstayed his tourist visa, working odd jobs and enjoying the freedom and wonders to be found in the United States. He taped some street scenes to show to his friends and family, including some buildings in Queens (where Bajracharya had worked for a pizzeria). One of the buildings happened to house an office of the FBI. And so, of course, he was arrested.

more...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_7-7-2004_pg7_44

<snip>
Nepalese man’s post 9/11 ordeal angers many

By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: The arrest and solitary confinement of a Nepalese man for three months for no offence other than that he was taking pictures of New York city landmarks has triggered a spate of angry letters in the newspaper that carried the story.

The New York Times reported on June 30 that Purna Raj Bajracharya, a citizen of Nepal, was locked up in solitary confinement soon after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre, because he was found taking pictures. He was a tourist and most tourists who come to New York take pictures. The Nepalese was arrested because what the FBI agent thought were “Middle Eastern looks”, an ominous desecription of the colour brown that makes no distinction between Arab, Muslim, Sikh, Bhddhist or Hindu.

Asim Khan, a Pakistani from Bronxville, New York state, writes, “When I lived in Pakistan, if someone had told me that the United States would arrest and secretly hold a person in solitary confinement for three months, I would not have believed it. I thought that such things happen only in places characterized by this administration as “rogue states”. Where is this country headed? The strength of a nation is not characterized by what it holds dear in times of peace, but what it holds dear in times of war. Unfortunately, this administration has been all too willing to bend the rules and reinterpret the law. Pakistani administrations and law enforcement agencies routinely behave like this. It is terrible to see this country go down that path.”

more...

[bluestateguy]

2. He has no obligation to talk to anyone

Unless they plan to make it illegal to take the pictures, he is within his rights to tell them to buzz off.

[Old and In the Way]

3. Perhaps he's concerned with the pollution? Or he wants to show

his friends back home what a refinery looks like? I can think of a 1,000 innocent reasons why...but only one reason this story is being promoted: Fear

What the hell is this country coming to? We are morphing into the anti-America right in front of our eyes.

[Richardo]

4. Stop me before I terrorize again!

Picture of the Houston Ship Channel! :scared:

[hatrack]

5. Why do you hate America?!?!?!?

Huh, terror-dude, why do you hate our freedoms?

:evilgrin:

[Fenris]

6. Um, you can't point your camera anywhere in Texas City...

without getting a goddamn refinery in the frame.

[Ezlivin]

7. I was questioned by officers...

...while taking photos outside of a Tom Thumb grocery store in Texas.

My wife had gone in to do some quick shopping and I was playing around with my (then) new digital SLR. I was busy swapping lenses and taking pictures of everyone from my van, parked about 200 feet from the entrance. I wasn't focusing on any one person, but trying different settings and previewing the pictures.

A police cruiser came up and angled in front of me to "block my escape." Then two crew-cut men in tight black uniforms approached me and began their investigation.

I asked them when it became illegal to take photographs. They said "someone" had complained. We chatted, I showed ID, they left.

Apparently there is a new law on the books that makes it illegal to take photographs when the intent of the photograph is to sexually titilate the photographer. (Sorry, couldn't find a link; read about it in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram.)

[The Sushi Bandit]

8. WTF????

[damnraddem]

12. Well, maybe those cops get sexually titilated by ...

pictures of grocery stores -- and other places that sell doughnuts -- so they just naturally assumed that you did.

[donco6]

22. Did the cars say, "Gestapo" on the side?

Jeezus. Is it already too late to stop this fascist takeover?

[Ezlivin]

24. They are pretty heavy-handed...

They typically pull over out of town people under serious driving offenses such as "failing to signal a turn" or "driving too slowly" and then get them to unwittingly consent to a search. It's amazing at how many of these little offenses end up being "possession of marijuana under two ounces."

They stopped my wife a few times when we first moved here. She's blonde, nice-looking and drives a sports car. Never was she involved in any "offense", but the officers wanted to pull her over nonetheless for little "chats". Oh, she really liked that. (sarcasm intended)

I was stopped for speeding about two blocks from home and told it was "zero-tolerance" day. I had to stop myself from asking when the "tolerance" day was.

[pinniped]

9. Now you need a reason to take pics?

If found, the photographer should tell them to fcuk themselves.

But no doubt he would wind up in the Caribbean.

[The_Casual_Observer]

11. "They hate us for our freedoms"

Apparently, taking pictures isn't one of those freedoms anymore. One less thing to hate us for.

[damnraddem]

14. Have him send me pictures.

Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. LTTE in today's WP

911 Runaround

>>
Monday, July 19, 2004; Page A16

One evening a week ago, I saw a car parked on a shoulder of Interstate 395, near the Virginia end of the 14th Street bridge. A man standing outside it was videotaping planes on their approach to National Airport. It seemed like cause for suspicion.

I hoped to see a sign that had been advising motorists what number to call to report suspicious activity.
....
<<

For those who have never been there, the park at Gravelly Point, just north of Washington National Airport, is one of the best places on the planet for planespotting. Where the guy in question was parked is not as good. I have no idea why he parked where he did.

Directions to Gravelly Point



The plane is approaching from the north. You will recognize the Washington Monument in the background. The place is a good rest stop on the Mt. Vernon Bicycle Trail. It is usually chock full of scanner-equipped planespotters.

By the way, I didn't intend to reproduce the entire photograph. Is it possible to correct that?

[Parche]

19. spot

I love that spot, a retired FAA friend of mine and his family
went there once... it is awesome.

[Parche]

20. spot

I love that spot, a retired FAA friend of mine and his family
went there once... it is awesome.

[donco6]

23. Back in the old Stapleton days . . .

. . . I used to park by the runway and watch landings, along with several dozen others. It's fun.

Michael Moore said it all in Bowling for Columbine. We've become a nation of the terrorized.

[lostnfound]

13. Actually the last guy that did this shot a security guard, I think

[merh]

15. Well that was what the security guard said...

I never saw any follow up on it, the chief of police said that they were investigating the guards story, but did not think that terrorism was involve.

[lostnfound]

16. It was Freeport, and the guard was arrested on 'unrelated charges'

Not sure that the 'nutty guard' possibility is any more reassuring.

Houston Chronicle
01/25/04
Terror not suspected in incident at plant / Injuredguard : Gunman was taking photos

FREEPORT - The shooting of an unarmed security guard at a chemical plant here drew the attention of national security officials because the gunman, who was described as having a heavy accent, told the guard he was taking photographs of the area.

But after repeated interviews with the shooting victim, federal authorities Saturday said they have little reason to believe the incident was the work of terrorists.

<snip>

When the security guard asked the driver what he was doing there, the driver said he was "taking pictures of lights," Gonzalez said.
The guard turned to speak into a radio attached to his shoulder, turned back to the truck to see a gun barrel pointed at him and was shot in the right shoulder, Gonzalez said. The man in the truck then fled toward Texas 36, she said.

BASF's ammonia terminal, which has been in the area for about a decade, stores raw materials brought in by pipeline to manufacture the company's products, BASF spokeswoman Sharon Rogers said.

[JayS]

17. I guess, given the history of Texas City, I can't blame them...

...for being a little touchy.

[Solly Mack]

18. Back in the late 80's I took pictures of refineries at night

I still have those pictures. Someone better call Ridgeback and Asscrack...
ho hum...

[peacetalksforall]

21. This might be it...explosion at a refinery next October with the

claim that al-Queda was photographing it in July. Martial law follows.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. He's probably taking pics for the Texas City Chamber of Commerce.

[SangamonTaylor]

27. I'm glad to hear that the police are concerned and are rightfully checking

up on this. I live in Houston and would hate to see a refinery get hit.

I have nothing to hide from the police, and if I were ever taking pictures of a refinery (which brings up some interesting trade secret issues...I think I remember a Dupont case where some guy was sued for flyiing over a refinery and taking/selling picture) I'd be glad to share with the police why I was taking the pictures.

Hell, I'm just glad to see that Texas City even HAS a emergency management and homeland security director.

[DBoon]

28. Industrial photography is now ilegal?

See:

http://www.hfinster.de/StahlArt2/archive-en.html

A whole artform is now terrorism?