The feds couldn't do anything until a grand jury convened? Isn't this incident terrorist in nature? What if I, a dark skinned American, had said, "I hate America" on a plane or anywhere for that matter--would the feds wait for a grand jury to convene before throwing me in some kind of detention center? Looks like someone at homeland security dropped the ball on this.

I suspect the reason for pouring epoxy into the locks was not to break in later, but rather to plug the lock so that the lock could not be opened.

You're right Eric the Red. Old Yippies did that years ago to the New York Stock Exchange.

Vandalism to keep them from opening their doors.

It's all so stupefyingly familiar. I guess until women stand up as one and say, enough, we are only going to vote for people who will respect us, it will continue...

I've worked at clinics in the past, several times. Tampering with locks is a frequent form of vandalism. It's done as just another form of harassment and intimidation, not really to set up a break in (security systems at clinics are too sophisticated for that). My guess is that the reason the authorities didn't act immediately is that is happens all the time. I actually carried a bolt cutter in my trunk at the last clinic I worked at, and had to cut the locks off of our parking lot fence at least twice a week because they had been glued or otherwise tampered with.

Umm, excuse me, the important point here is the notion that an FBI agent won't investigate a potential threat to a clinic until a grand jury is impaneled, because that is complete and utter bullshit and clearly a form of stonewalling when you don't care to take the report seriously. I don't care whether the vandalism was trying to prevent entry or facilitate a break in.

You need to arrest someone in order to bring something in front of a grand jury. A grand jury focuses on things like indictments and does its work after law enforcement has brought potential crimes to its attention.

Talk about missing the forest.

Police and FBI agents frequently follow up on this sort of suspicious activity because, among other reasons, they know that sometimes just showing up and questioning someone lets him know that he is on their radar screen and can have a deterrant effect.

Consider in contrast, the local a federal responses to vandalism by fringe environmentalists.

Thank you, rb6, for helping my blood pressure return to a safe level as I was reading this thread. The posts about trees were starting to make me crazy.

Let's just review here, shall we?

If I -- a white, middle-aged woman with nothing worse on my record than a speeding ticket -- were to walk over to the gas station across the street and throw a brick through the window, then jump in my own car in view of a witness, we all know the police would be waiting for me when I got home, and I'd probably have to go to court and pay a fine and damages, at the very least. SOMETHING would happen to me.

BUT a man with a criminal record is witnessed vandalizing a high-profile building and law enforcement can do NOTHING?

When I was in journalism in the '80s, this would have been the muckraking story I had been waiting for all my life. Now? I can't think of a single journalist who's likely to even raise an eyebrow.

"reported it to federal authorities, who told him nothing could be done"

There better be a DOJ investigation of this lapse of duty - and persons fired. They do not need to be in Law Enforcement is they are not willing to do their job.

"Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which specifically banned such acts as blocking clinic doors, trespassing, making violent threats, arson, vandalism, stalking clinic employees, and other forms of violence. Many of these acts were illegal already, but the law made clear that targeting a clinic with these crimes merited a federal response."

Roeder was clearly TRESPASSING, and this law specifically allows for any arrest and investigation involving clinics - especially knowing that they are always targets of vandalism and threats.

If this Law enforcement person was hired during the Bush Administration - and is lax for personal reasons - or just too lazy to do their job - they need to be gone now!

Start the Journalistic Investigation into why the federal authorities took no action when they were given evidence of trespassing or a threat.