Census Worker Death ‘Horrible for Appalachia’
New America Media, Q&A, Annette Fuentes, Posted: Sep 29, 2009
Editor’s Note: When U.S. Census worker Bill Sparkman, 51, was found dead in Clay County, Kentucky, reportedly with the word “Fed” scrawled on his chest, speculation about his death ran rampant although detailed information reported by the media has been limited and contradictory. While some commentators have suggested that Sparkman’s death is evidence of growing anti-federal sentiment, especially with the first African-American president in the White House, those who know rural Kentucky have a deeper understanding of long-standing sentiments and forces at play. Mimi Pickering, an award-winning documentary filmmaker and community media specialist at Apalshop, in Whitesburg, Ky., talked with NAM editor Annette Fuentes about the Sparkman incident and how to understand it in the context of Appalachia’s history and present day circumstances.
Tell me about Clay County, where Bill Sparkman’s body was found.
Clay County is one of the poorest in the country, perhaps number one or number two in terms of low income and life expectancy, lower than Cuba or Pakistan. That kind of poverty often leads to black market or underground economy activity. It backs up to the Daniel Boone National Forest, which is a place where a marijuana plant or two might pop up. And there is also the tradition of making moonshine, and the feds are the revenuers.
It is also a county where top officials were indicted and convicted for vote buying of various kinds about six months ago. More recently, there was a drug bust involving lots of pills—Oxycontin, I think.
So perhaps Sparkman just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There are people engaged in illegal activities who are going to see anyone working for the government as the enemy. Time magazine had a good piece on Sept.25 that looks at those issues. [“Government Distrust and a Dead Census Taker”] The most recent report I read questioned whether he was actually working at the time he was killed.
There have been conflicting accounts about the circumstances of his death as reported in the media, but perhaps that is owed to what information law enforcement is letting out.
The Kentucky state police are pretty straight and they’ve got the FBI down there working with them. I don’t think anything is being covered up, but it certainly has been strange.
Some have suggested that Sparkman’s death is related to a bigger, national anti-government sentiment, but maybe that’s not accurate.
This whole region has a history of people suspicious when others come around knocking on doors. It is a place where people know most everyone, so if a stranger shows up, everyone would notice.
What kind of employment is there for people?
There used to be coal mining, but not anymore. Now, of the biggest employers is the federal prison. Congressman Hal Rogers used pork barrel spending to bring some prisons into his district.
Sparkman’s death, under whatever circumstances, has certainly brought notoriety to the region. How do locals feel about it?
It’s horrible for Appalachia. It’s so easy to stereotype the region and this doesn’t help. But everyone is also shocked by what happened.
Related Articles:
Locals Parse Death of Kentucky Census Worker
A Census Martyr in Kentucky?
'Fed' Written on Chest of Hanged Census Worker in Ky. County
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User Comments
Census Worker on Sep 29, 2009 at 16:52:46 said:
Never mind part of my earlier comment: reports now are that the laptop was NOT in his truck.
Census Worker on Sep 29, 2009 at 11:12:51 said:
"...whether he was actually working at the time he was killed..."
I've read that his truck, found near the body, had the Census computer in it. If true, that indicates he was working, because we are not supposed have the computers [ten-year-old laptops] in our cars unless we're out working [mainly to protect the confidentiality of respondents; the data is encrypted and also under several passwords]. Otherwise the laptops are to be kept locked in our homes.
His Census Bureau ID being taped to his neck also indicates he was working when the killer met him; we don't display them otherwise.
JAWVMM on Sep 29, 2009 at 08:43:48 said:
"tradition of making moonshine, and the feds are the revenuers"
-->"top officials were indicted and convicted for vote buying of various kinds"
"people suspicious when others come around knocking on doors"
Why not list a bunch of stereotypes and then decry stereotypes? If this were not Appalachia, the local culture would not have come up. This is not in the least illuminating on the "context of Appalachia’s history and present day circumstances." To implicitly assume that Appalachian culture has anything to do with the murder is as bigoted as to assume that a crime was perpetrated by a black, a Jew, a Hispanic because of the circumstances of the crime. In this case, rather than assuming that this was a sick and twisted individual who had individual motives, there is talk about how the presumed group the murderer belongs to might tend to this type of crime.