Patterico's Pontifications

5/12/2010

Report of Shots Fired at Census Worker

Filed under: Crime,Government — DRJ @ 11:10 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Austin American-Statesman reports five shots were fired at a federal Census worker, allegedly by a Texas attorney:

“Williamson County sheriff’s officials have charged an attorney with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, saying she fired five shots when a U.S. Census Bureau worker visited her home Saturday, court records show.

Carolyn M. Barnes , 53 , could face up to 20 years if convicted of the second-degree felony. She was being held in the Williamson County Jail on Wednesday afternoon with bail set at $50,000 .

Williamson County sheriff’s office Sgt. John Foster said the census employee, Kathleen Gittel , went to Barnes’ home on Indian Trail, just north of Leander, about 5:40 p.m. to collect information.

After Gittel identified herself as a census worker, Foster said, Barnes came outside with a handgun and told Gittel to get off the property.

Gittel “was apparently not getting off of her property fast enough, and Ms. Barnes decided to shoot five rounds in her direction,” Foster said. He said Gittel was not injured.”

More at the link.

— DRJ

30 Responses to “Report of Shots Fired at Census Worker”

  1. i blame Bush…..

    (and lawyers in general.)

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  2. Well, who can we pick on here???
    Baby Boomer…
    Lawyer…
    Female…
    Gun-owner…
    (was she wearing a crucifix, or holding a Bible?)
    Political affiliation?

    I hope Mayor Bloomberg doesn’t hear about this.

    AD - RtR/OS! (04f5c9)

  3. Get off my lawn.

    Walt Kowalski (fb8750)

  4. I guess this is more newsworthy than “woman raped by census worker.”

    Kevin Murphy (5ae73e)

  5. AD, there’s more, she’s a medical malpractice attorney who practices ‘native’ healing. Also, she’s a member of BORDC (which is basically concerned with civil liberties that are infringed by the PATRIOT act). Not that I have a problem with civil liberties groups, but I don’t think she’s very ‘conservative’.

    This woman was disturbed for quite a while, according to the Statesmen.

    Of course, the readership there is calling her some kind of exemplar for the Tea Party. Joe Stack was one of us too, according to these folks, so I guess anything nutty in the world must be a partisan bullet point.

    When you send 600,000 people out there, you’re going to run into some problems. Some from the census workers, and some from the unwashed masses.

    I’m speculating that these were warning shots from someone who tends to try to bluster angrily at authority.

    She’s a UT Law Grad, which surprises me because I’m naive like that. She fired that gun of hers only a couple of miles from where I live.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  6. There’s the castle doctrine in Texas. Maybe she thought the census taker was stealing her freedom?

    BradnSA (980254)

  7. her other website, carolynbarnes.pro gives a pretty good picture of what this person is all about.

    I think she’s probably just a disturbed person who is paranoid about the government. I read civil libertarian sites that have a vocal minority of people who start speaking violently about cops when they see a youtube video of an abuse. She seems to be of that persuasion.

    I see a lot of ‘get rich quick’ style business proposals on her site, such as pseudoscience health sales and some kind of wealth success coaching business. All in all, a goofball who needs help and is probably very difficult to fit into the partisan blame game, but the MSM will figure out a way.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  8. lol, bradnsa

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  9. Don’t mess with Texas.

    Paul Albers (23002d)

  10. Is she by any chance a former astronaut ?

    Mike K (82f374)

  11. Facts be damned, the media will portray her as a leading Tea Party organizer.

    MU789 (8034a8)

  12. What’s this country coming to when revenuers think they can walk about the countryside without getting shot at?

    SPQR (26be8b)

  13. “five shots in her direction”

    I suspect she shot in the air five times. I have more respect for Texas gun owners – if they shoot at someone five times, they are going to hit at least once.

    I also suspect the census worker was running like hell and did not look and see which way the bullets were flying.

    TomHynes (2e563b)

  14. Well, sounds like she was using a Peacemaker with an empty chamber under the hammer when not in use. That would be why 5 shots not 6.

    PCD (1d8b6d)

  15. Always a good move to insert a firearms’ safety reference to a comment, PCD.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  16. I’d like to know why my friends in the City of Philadelphia were sent a second census form. Which neighborhoods were sent a second form, and why? Are duplicate forms being eliminated?

    Amphipolis (b120ce)

  17. i’ve gotten two senseless forms here at the FOB, and they are on the desk right next to the PC monitor….. which is where they are going to stay for the foreseeable future.
    i’m waiting to see who comes ’round to ask questions, because they are going to have to answer one from me first:”are you a vet?”
    if the answer is “no”, i’ll tell them they can come back for their information when they bring a written and signed explanation from the senseless bureau as to why they were hired with fewer points than i scored to w*rk my neighborhood.

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  18. Amphipolis, I think DRJ said that happened to her as well. I guess if they didn’t get the first form quickly enough, they sent the second. But that seems wasteful. Why not wait a week after the deadline before doing this?

    Regardless, if they didn’t get your info, they will visit you.

    red, it’s lame how bureaucrats often make some strange hiring choices, but as a vet, you agreed to uphold the Constitution that calls for the people to be counted. I know that won’t explain the hiring decision or pay the rent, but still, it’s not like the poor slob asking you how many people live in your house wronged you.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  19. SPQR, I just received my 25 round clip for my Marlin. Safety is don’t pull no crap around my house.

    PCD (b3210f)

  20. Peacemaker with an empty chamber….
    No, probably a snub-nose .38 five-shooter in her pocket.

    AD - RtR/OS! (2aae98)

  21. Census Long-form…
    They sent it to me also in a typical SoCal suburban neighborhood.
    Filled in the blanks that duplicated the short form – no more, no less – and sent it back.
    We’ll see what the response is.

    AD - RtR/OS! (2aae98)

  22. Dustin: “…so I guess anything nutty in the world must be a partisan bullet point.”

    Damn, I hope that beautiful pun was intended!

    GM Roper (a0b04a)

  23. AD, I hope you let me know, because I was curious about that myself. My understanding is that they haven’t hassled people who simply gave the number of people living in their house.

    GM Roper, I groaned as I typed that.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  24. An interesting forum thread with details about Barnes, her rep, her past hijinks link

    SarahW (af7312)

  25. Comment by Dustin — 5/13/2010 @ 1:13 pm

    No news is good news.
    If I hear back from them, I suppose my BP will stay at an elevated level for some time, which will adversly affect my range scores, until I shoot it out of my system.

    AD - RtR/OS! (2aae98)

  26. I really seriously doubt the Census takers story.

    I can’t speak for Williamson County, because its been largely taken over by erstwhile hippies.

    However, in say, Trinity County, when you pull up in the driveway off the dirt road to see somebody, you honk two or three times first and wait.

    If someone comes out the door, he or she will tell you if you’re welcome and, if not, it’s probably best to go on down the road.

    If that property owner fires five shots and none of them hit, then the trespasser has received a message that should be abundantly clear.

    It’s not rocket science and involving the county authorities tells me more about the Census taker than the property owner.

    In urban areas, different rules apply.

    Ag80 (f67beb)

  27. Lotta race-based questions on this thing. I answered the ones that struck me as legitimate, and scratched through all the ones that did not.

    I see little reason for the census to be asking about race at all, in its basic, stated purpose.

    IgotBupkis (79d71d)

  28. my grandfather is also a baby boomer and he is also a war veteran:~;

    Maryam Kaur (32d9e7)

  29. my grandfather is a baby boomer and i am quite proud of his longevity all these years-,’

    Carson Washington (1cead1)

  30. my grandfather is a baby boomer too, he is very old now but he is the best grand daddy’:~

    Zak Fisher (ef3aa0)


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