After years of heading to snopes.com to check the credibility (or non-credibility) of forwarded emails making surprising claims, and politely reminding people that not everything one reads online is true, I just got snoped. An old friend forwarded a message from a seemingly very experienced earthquake and disaster relief expert with some very credible-sounding advice. Even though the advice ran counter to what most of us learned in school (it implores people not to hide under desks or in doorways but to huddle next to large objects instead, where triangular pockets will be formed by falling rubble), all of it sounded like good sense, and the guy’s experience sounded vast. So I forwarded it on to a bunch of friends.
As it turns out, “rescue expert” Doug Copp has a less-than-sterling reputation, the Red Cross disputes that techniques that may apply in 3rd-world countries will apply in countries with very different building standards, the scientific validity of his claims is in question, and he’s currently under investigation by a U.S. Department of Justice fraud unit.
I think part of the reason the article didn’t raise a bull flag for me is that it didn’t seem like anyone had an agenda at stake, anything to gain from giving bad earthquake advice.
Lesson learned: Snopes everything.
I end up snopes-ing every informative email I think I “need” to forward to people… I find that things rarely make it past that filter… :)
While researching this same question I came across some interesting information about Duck, Cover and Hold.
http://www.patentclothing.com/execution.htm
DCH is Execution… The position known to us as “Duck, Cover and Holdâ€? that we teach all schoolchildren in the State Of California and other states for earthquake protection is identical to one first used in England during the reign of Henry VIII…. as a means of torture and execution! In the Tower of London, the condemned were made to kneel in a head-down position and the executioner pressed down on the back or tightened a hoop around the condemned to put pressure against the chest. Suffocation preceded other injuries. Even though a hoop (known as a Skeffington’s gyves) was used to keep the victim in position, the physics of the execution is identical to accidental suffocation by Duck, Cover and Hold, depending upon pressure on the victim’s back to force the abdomen into the thighs. In both positions — the Tower of London execution and Duck, Cover and Hold — the person kneels with head low, the former using the hoop to hold the victim in position and the latter in which the students are taught to hold that position by the California school system. In the former, the executioner either presses down on the victim’s back (at the hoop) or tightens the hoop, causing death by suffocation long before blood flows from internal rupture injuries. In the latter, the victim suffocates when weight falls on his/her back. I expect to see a large number of victims of the coming earthquake with ruptured internal organs that duplicate the results seen in the Tower of London. This form of execution fell out of favor because it was not spectacular enough for the temper of the times. Other forms of execution, such as beheading or burning at the stake, were more entertaining to the masses as they could see the reaction of the condemned and the method of death. Suffocation, by comparison, was quick and quiet. In fact, it was used primarily when the authorities wanted to keep the execution quiet, even from other prisoners and guards.
A friend of mine who has completed CERT training asked his leaders about this and they discovered that several major rescue organizations agree with the Triangle of Life, even though they do not like Doug Coup. However, they thought it was to complicated for the general public to understand so they don’t teach it.
I’ll take my chances with the Triangle of Life!
Leslie
The truth is very different from Tom Lang’s slander ( publisher of Albuquerque Journal)
If you don’t receive all the scanned affidavits call me at 1-415-533-2231
I have approx 700 letters from Presidents, Prime Ministers, the Maharajah of Kutsch ( India), various world leaders and others thanking me or recognising my volunteer work , around the world. My submittals to the Victim’s Compensation Fund weighed 27 pounds ( FEDEX Shipping). Can you imagine that many documents, lab tests and Doctor’s reports?
I have several hundred hours of video at disasters all over the world. Tom Lang ignored it all and published his malicious slander…see below and please forward or print…
Uou might happen to use full view of your email to easily read the inserted documents.
doug copp
“The world’s most experienced rescue, disaster mitigation and disaster management organization with members in 59 countries.” June 2002.
American Rescue Team International (ARTI)
http://www.amerrescue.org
501 ( C ) 3, non profit, All Volunteer Organization
Head email:amerrescue@aol.com
Office Voice: 1-415-533-2231
Fighting the Monster
Think! Have you ever, in your life, seen, read or heard of a newspaper running 5 consecutive front pages with a total of 20 articles all of which focus on destroying a single individual. Not Hitler, not Saddam Hussein, not Stalin, no murderer, no assassin, no villain but a world famous rescuer? How about a full frontal picture, on the front page with this rescuer’s crotch ripped open and privates exposed?
Well, the world famous rescuer is Doug copp, rescue chief of the American Rescue Team International.
What did he do to warrant this attack? Well, let me tell you. Doug Copp stood up to the wealthy, powerful owner of this newspaper and maybe for the first time in this monster’s life he was refused. Doug Copp told Tom Lang: “No.�
Tom Lang had used his private jet and Copp’s credentials to get permission from the FAA to fly Copp to 911. Copp was to find out that Lang’s flight was not free, patriotic or humanitarian. Tom Lang was to be selfish, demanding and monstrously cold to the plight of the NYFD and the suffering of the victims of 911.
In a sworn affidavit, from Peter Donahue, an eyewitness, to the confrontation between Copp and Lang it all becomes clear.
An excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said: �Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave�. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:� Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?� Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back�. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Another excerpt from Peter Donahue’s affidavit:
. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:� You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge�. Doug said:� No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge�. Tom Lang looked at me and said:� Get the fuck out!� I told Tom Lang:� Go fuck yourself�. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:� I’m not giving you a badge�. Tom Lang said:� We’re out of here!�
More about Tom Lang and his writer Leslie Lithicum:
. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang wanted me to give him a badge; he wanted to have his newspaper write about him being a hero. Who knows why? Cocktail parties?
There is only one requirement to join ARTI. You must be a good person who wants to do good as a volunteer. Tom Lang and his writer, Leslie Lithicum didn’t qualify. Copp refused them.
All members of ARTI are unpaid volunteers. Tom Lang’s monstrous attack has resulted in the cancellation of humanitarian projects around the world.
Lot’s of people will pay with their lives for Lang’s rage against Copp and ARTI. Will there be justice? Who will the monster eat next?
Testimony of Rod Gale:
June 22nd 2004
To Whom It May Concern:
Hello:
My name is Rod Gale and I’m an addictions and career counselor; but for your purposes I guess its best for you to just know me as Doug Copp’s neighbor.
I consider myself to be an “everyman� in that I don’t think of myself as anything special… and I like it that way.
Last October or there about I noticed a unique jeep in my neighborhood and I had to meet the person who drove it; and I soon would- it was Doug Copp. What a guy! What a spirit and what heart…without a doubt the most inspiring person I would ever meet.
The reason I am taking the time from my day and writing this letter is that I was horrified and dismayed to hear of the recent attacks on Mr. Copp, his character; his deeds and integrity.
It sickens me to here that anyone could doubt Mr. Copp; I know that he seems bigger to life and his deeds impossible…but one only has to walk inside his motor-home and see the numerous articles written about him; or watch the television shows that he’s been featured in….for god sakes the man has a written testimonials from presidents and kings on his walls. Such assertions that he’s a fraud are in short –ludicrous and false.
What bothered me the most was the suggestions that:
1) Doug had not taken part directly in the rescue and recovery effort immediately following the terrorist attacks in New York
2) That he was not ill and suffering directly because of it.
All right!
It really does take a lot to anger me, but for someone to suggest that this man is not sick and somehow faking it- angers me to no end. As the person who had to drive Mr. Copp to his treatments at 6 in the morning for three months because he was too ill to drive his own automobile I can testify if needed as to the severity of Mr. Copp’s injuries.
· Do you know on those long morning drives that I had to stop the car on a couple of occasions just to check to see if Mister Copp was dead.
· Do you know that the man at times had trouble remembering his own name and what he had said just a moment before.
· Do you know that he would get physically ill and vomit at the smell of cigarette smoke
· We’re you there to witness Mr Copp unable to rise from his bed because he was too sick to move?
Well I was there to witness all this and more! What do you need to see the man dead of his injuries. I mean really! To suggest that the man is not ill is inhumane and heartless and just without any merit what-so-ever.
Now!
It has come to my attention that it has been suggested that MR. Copp did not take part directly in the rescue and recovery attempt in New York. Obviously I wasn’t there; but for someone, anyone to say this about Mr. Copp to me is mere madness and that person is obviously in denial and living in some sort of altered reality. Mr. Copp’s experiences in New York have become the focus of his life, because he has been in a struggle for his life to survive every day. His motor-home is a shrine to this moment in time; this moment in his life- this moment in his life when everything changed. There is video tape evidence of Doug Copp’s journey below “Ground Zero�…come on how can you deny that he was there. How can you deny the man- to deny the man is to deny the horror, tragedy and reality of September 11th
I could go on and if needed and I will if requested. Doug Copp is the real deal and I am honored to know the man and call him my neighbor.
Yours Sincerely
Rod Gale
Richard Burke Ward Letter
17 June 2004
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN
Re: Doug Copp, American Rescue Team International
First, in the interests of clarity, let me make it clear that you have my permission to quote from this letter only in a context which makes clear my own precise intended meaning. You expressly do not have my permission to use my words in any other context.
Doug Copp has drawn my attention to your plans run an article concerning him in a New Mexico newspaper, asserting that he and his rescue team ARTI are fraudulent and that Mr Copp has not in fact been involved in rescue and retrieval after large-scale disasters. I, and hundreds of others, can testify that these assertions are absolutely untrue. I have included all possible contact details below so that you can discuss this further with me – i.e., someone who knows. I am a producer of high-prestige international science TV programmes, with a string of awards and high-profile hits to my name (my CV is attached).
I know, first-hand, that these assertions are utterly untrue. In fact, under other circumstances, the allegations would be laughable. I spent several months in close association with Mr Copp in the latter half of 2002. He was kind enough to advise me on the topic of disaster management and rescue for a TV programme called Future Storm for Discovery Europe. After that, I spent time with him developing the concept for an autobiographical project. I have travelled with him around the regions of Peru worst hit by El Niño, and around Britain. I have spent weeks poring over every detail of his life. I have viewed extensive quantities of video material (upwards of fifty hours)of Mr Copp and other ARTI members in rescue situations, in disasters ranging across the world.
Here are a few facts that you may wish to consider:
1. All the footage I have seen of Mr Copp and ARTI in action at disaster zones is, in my very expert opinion, genuine. I have worked extensively on programmes with a huge content of manipulated imagery and special effects: these are not altered pictures. Don’t take my word for it: take the word of any expert producer. They will tell you the same thing. Whilst it is technically possible to fake a small number of such images, it is expensive, time-consuming, and requires a careful selection of brief and suggestive-but-not-definitive shots. Even then, some will fail to convince – and the expensive would be prohibitive on anything other than a full-blown movie budget. From assessing the type of shots and their quality (DV footage is hard to emulate in computers), and their sheer quantity, it absolutely certain that the images are not faked. I will be glad to explain in more detail when you contact me – as I trust you will. There is no doubt about this whatsoever.
2. When Mr Copp travelled with me to Peru for the TV documentary Future Storm, I met members of the rescue services from many of Peru’s northern towns. They enthusiastically told me many accounts of rescues where they had worked alongside him, and where he had shown exceptional bravery. In addition I saw Peruvian footage of rescues in which he was involved. Unless you choose to believe that Peruvian state television is collaborating with Mr Copp in faking impossible-to-fake rescue footage, the only conclusion is that Mr Copp was really there.
3. In Peru, Mr Copp was given an official hero’s welcome. He was greeted with open arms by the head of the Peruvian Fire and Rescue Service, and offered every facility, including free transport and a driver for the duration of his visit. In Trujillo, I lost a day’s filming to the mayor’s insistence on holding a special ceremony to welcome him. Simply because I was there with him, I too was given an honorary doctorate from Trujillo University. I subsequently lost another afternoon’s filming to the fact that he was requested to give a lecture on rescue to several hundred people in Chiclayo. These events had not been organised in advance. They were spontaneous gestures of gratitude. The level of regard in which he is held is incontestable.
4. I found Mr Copp through an extensive process of research, during which he was repeatedly recommended to me by rescue experts around the world as the best-qualified person to talk to about coping with disasters. They recommended him. They know what they are talking about.
5. Mr Copp was involved in several live reports from the site of the 9/11 disaster on Fox News. No one can deny this. The footage is readily available. Fox has had a long relationship with Mr Copp, which has led them to trust him as a genuine and reliable source – through disasters across at least a decade, through production and camera crews that were actually there with him.
6. I have been told that you have raised questions about his health. I spent many weeks in his company. On many occasions he was struggling to stay conscious. On a good day, he could walk about twenty yards before needing a ten-minute rest. On more than one occasion we had to spend evenings outside because a single person had been smoking in the pub we were using as a base for talking. (For the record, he was entirely unable to consume alcohol.) A single waft of smoke, at a substantial distance, was enough to precipitate protracted and violent coughing fits – fits so bad that on one occasion I was genuinely convinced that he was about to die. Five minutes in an atmosphere where I couldn’t even smell the smoke was sufficient to induce a coughing seizure that lasted the best part of twenty-four hours. I know what asthma sounds and looks like, from life-endangering attacks suffered by my son. This emphatically was not asthma. Mr Copp is lucky to be alive.
There is much more that I could tell you. I am sure that your journalistic ethics are unimpeachable, so I will doubtless be hearing from you shortly, and have confidence that you will use what I have to say responsibly and in context. In the meantime, I trust that the above information helps you understand that, at the very least, a story such as the one you apparently propose requires a far more intensive period of detailed and unbiased research than it has currently received. To make such extraordinary claims of fraud requires extraordinary proof – and, I am afraid, that there are many hundreds of witnesses worldwide who know Mr Copp well, and will gladly provide proof that your claims are false.
Yours faithfully,
Writing
2003 Writing 2nd novel, working title Redemption for Orion
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1st novel, Frozen, published by Orion, Christmas 2003
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TV and Writing
2002 Unlocking the Past for Readers Digest TV
Series Producer
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FutureStorm for Discovery Europe
Producer / Director
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2000 – 2001 SPACE presented by movie star Sam Neill for BBC1 / TLC
Series Producer
—
Wrote 2nd draft of novel, Frozen
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1999 TALKING WITH ALIENS for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
—
Wrote 1st draft of Frozen
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1998 EXTREME MACHINES, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE for TLC
Writer
—
Wrote 2nd draft of novel, The Signs of Life
(Now given a decent burial in a swamp at midnight)
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1995 – 1997 RAGING PLANET for Discovery USA (+ Channel 4 presale)
Series Producer
1995 DESIGNING DREAM MACHINES for Equinox, Channel 4
Producer / Director
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AVALANCHE for Equinox, Channel 4
Writer
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Wrote 1st draft of The Signs of Life
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1994 ELECTRIC SKIES for Equinox, Channel 4 and TLC
Producer / Director
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1993 – 1994 Development Producer, TV6
1989 – 1993 AP, BBC Science – Tomorrow’s World, and other delights
Awards
Several each for SPACE, RAGING PLANET, ELECTRIC SKIES
– RTS, New York, Banff, ICA
Pre-Television
Investment Banker for 2 years, Eng. Lit. at Oxford (scholar)
D.O.B. 31 August 1963
Rita Cosby, Host Fox News Doc:
Peter Donahue Affidavit:
October 4, 2004. New York City
Subject: My experiences with Doug Copp, a Hero of the American Rescue Team International, at the World Trade Center and My Personal Witnessing of the Appalling Behavior and Lies of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum, of the Albuquerque Journal, during the same period.
I, Peter Donahue, do hereby solemnly swear that the contents of the following affidavit are true and accurate to the best of my recollection. I am being very precise because I am aware of the importance of this document. I am swearing to it, in spite of, my continuing fear of Tom Lang and Leslie Lithicum. I know they have viciously destroyed Doug Copp in a false and malicious way. They published 5 front pages and 20 stories which were completely full of the most outrageous lies against Doug Copp. I was shocked, appalled and stunned. I wondered what they would do to me. I continue to fear these unscrupulous people.
Years ago, when I first contacted Doug Copp, it was after viewing Doug on a TV special, saving lives. I wanted to be involved in saving lives much like Doug was. I wanted to join ARTI. I believe the year was 1997. It was late summer or early fall when I finally reached Doug, on the telephone, He was gone to disasters all the time. At that point, Doug and I spoke, briefly. He was interested in the fact that I was from New York. Also, He was very interested because he stated he lived in Queens, NYC, for a while. Doug was happy that he might have found a person to represent ARTI in NYC. I joined ARTI.
During our conversation, Doug asked me about my rescue experience. I told him that I had been a NY Auxiliary Emergency Service Officer. (My ID number was # 413479). I was recognized by NYPD and Emergency Services. I served from 1985 to 1994. In my years as an Auxiliary Emergency Officer, I was assigned with the 94 precinct, in Brooklyn north. Our unit was a city wide unit.
I received training in Urban Heavy Rescue, Confined Space Rescue, basic first aid, advanced first aid for trauma, as well as other live saving courses. I was trained to use: air bags, Hurst tool and other equipment.
Doug sent me a video tape which contained video of a scientific test which ARTI conducted with the participation and co-operation of the City of Istanbul, the Turkish Federal Government and the University of Istanbul. This scientific test took survivability in collapsed buildings doing “duck and cover� from 0% to 100% doing what was described as the “Triangle of Life�. The tape contained a copy of the TV Program, ‘Real TV’, which broadcasted this ‘breakthrough’ in survival from building collapse, worldwide.
I took the tape and other ARTI material to Chief Ray Downey, who was the NYFD Chief of Special Operation Command. This elite unit controlled ‘specialized rescue’ for the NYFD. Chief Downey saw the tape and he said: “This is fantastic�. Chief Ray Downey wanted to meet with Doug, personally, to organize a repeat of this test in NYC. ARTI and NYFD would do this together. Doug was contacted and agreed to the cooperation but Doug was on his way to another foreign disaster and the project was delayed until 9/11 took Chief Downey’s life. Chief Ray Downey was killed while commanding the WTC rescue operations. Chief Downey was affectionately known as the “Master of Disaster�. His men thought of him in a God like-way, without being irreverent, his men called him by the nickname ‘God’. He was a hero’s hero that is why he wanted to meet with Doug. I believe, he felt they shared a ‘common heart’ and would be able to save a lot of lives, together, with this project.
Unfortunately, Chief Downey was killed, in the line of duty, and was replaced by Chief Norman. I believe that Chief Norman was misinformed by Tom Lang’s reporter, Leslie Lithicum. If the ’hate filled comments’ about Doug Copp were really said by Chief Norman; I believe, it is because Leslie Lithicum lied to him, just like she lied to me.
When I first met, Leslie Lithicum, it was just after picking up the team at Teteboro airport, NJ.
In the van, which I had arranged to be donated to the rescue team, along with a driver, Leslie Lithicum introduced herself to me as:’a rescue specialist’. In fact, Tom Lang also introduced himself to me as a ‘rescue specialist’. It was at least a week later that Randy Haverd informed me that Tom Lang was a newspaper publisher and that Leslie Lithicum was a reporter working for Tom Lang. I didn’t know what their game was but they were both lying to me.
Originally I had arranged for the team to stay at an inexpensive motel in Long Island City, Queens. I chose this motel because it was the closest and most convenient for ARTI to have as a command center. The choice of this place would make ARTI’s contribution to the WTC rescue most effective.
Doug said: “Let’s get to the motel. Drop off our equipment and get to work�. Upon finding out that the motel was not first class, and was not located near the tourist sites and entertainment center of Manhattan, both Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang said: “Let’s go to the Marriot Marquee�. At this time, (Mike Miller who I understood to be working with Tom Lang as liaison with ARTI, but I later found out he was actually working for Tom Lang) agreed with Tom Lang. I responded to Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum and Mike Miller:� Does it really matter where we stay?� They continued to insist that they wanted to stay in Manhattan.
Steve, the volunteer driver, pulled over to the side of the road and said: “Make your minds up�. Doug was irritated and wanted to get to work. At which time, Doug said:� Fuck it, Let them have what they want, I just want to get to work�. I agreed with Doug and wanted the same. We drove to the Marriot Marquee. Mike Miller went into the Marriot and arranged for the rooms to be donated while we waited outside. I felt and still feel that Tom Lang’s behavior was inappropriate. I understood that Mike Miller arranged for Tom Lang and his reporters to get their rooms for free, too; because, they were pretending to be ‘rescue specialists’. The only true ‘rescue specialist’ there was Doug Copp.
Tom Lang is quoted in his newspaper stating that Doug Copp was a “free loader� and that he (Tom Lang) ‘paid for his rooms’. I certainly know that Doug Copp was not a ‘free loader’. It cost ARTI and Doug thousands of dollars in worn out and destroyed equipment as well as other expenses. The Marriot Marquee needs to be checked to see if Tom Lang actually did pay for his room; because, Mike Miller had arranged for him to have his rooms for free. Tom Lang is a very rich man he shouldn’t have got his rooms for free. The Albuquerque Journal articles said that Doug ‘ripped of’ the Marriott. These were all lies.
En route to Ground Zero, Mike Miller took over and started arguing with Doug and me. I wanted to go to Roosevelt Island to meet with the Fire Department to arrange to work together. I knew they would be happy to know about the casualty locator and that we would allow them to work with it. Doug wanted to go directly to Ground Zero and meet them there. Mike Miller kept insisting that he wanted to meet with FEMA. Doug told him that FEMA was extremely political and would not want anybody or any rescue team from anywhere to be working at Ground Zero because they wanted all the newspapers focused on them and their careers. Doug said that they didn’t put the victim as the first priority like ARTI did. We are ALL volunteers. They are ALL highly paid Federal Employees most of whom are looking for promotion. We were willing to make personal sacrifices to help people, in need.
Mike Miller went to FEMA, in spite of Doug. Mike Miller failed. Doug was infuriated and angry and ‘almost needing to be tied down’, went over to the Police Command Post. Within ten minutes, Doug had arranged for us to have a police escort with emergency lights and siren to escort us directly to the Ground Zero checkpoint (which is as far as you can go in a vehicle, because the rest of the road was filled with rubble). Doug and Leslie Lithicum have told me that there is a video of the Police Escort. Doug appeared to be very irritated by the loss of time and frustrated by all these distractions. There appeared to be a ‘break’. Doug had ‘had enough’. Doug went his own way after that and wouldn’t let Tom Lang, Leslie Lithicum or the rest of these people get in his way of doing his rescue mission.
I left Doug to take care of family business till the next day.
It was soon after, that I got in touch with Doug. We met at the Marriot Marquee. Doug had told me that he had already found a hole, in the rubble, which allowed him to crawl inside far enough to gain access to the collapsed and flooded Path Station, at the very bottom of the WTC rubble. Doug was already coughing and ‘slightly disoriented’. I did not know what to make of it. I later came to understand that Doug was having reactions to being poisoned. Doug told me that the casualty locator had already been used many times to find victims. Doug has video of the machine finding victims with the NYPD. Doug told me that the NY Police Dept was great and working with them was wonderful.
At my suggestion, we went to Roosevelt Island, Special Operations Command,. I believe that Doug wanted to help the NYFD find their brothers. We wanted to help them. I went inside and saw some of the firefighters who I knew personally. I told them about the casualty locator. They wanted to see it. I went back to the van. I told Doug to bring the casualty locator inside to show to a retired Captain, who was a friend of mine and wanted to see it. Doug said:� Ok�.
Tom Lang wanted to go inside too. I was fed up with his attitude which looked like obsessive- compulsive disorder because he wanted to be in ‘control of everything’ and ‘have his own way’. He treated everybody in a very verbally abusive manner. He was condescending. I tried to explain to him that the people inside were looking for their ‘brothers’ whom they loved and did not want to deal with anyone with an ‘attitude’. He said:�Fuck that! I wasted my time here. I’m going to leave�. At this point, he turned to Doug and said:� Are you going to get me my ID to get me in or not?� Doug saw the firefighters waiting for him and me and said to Tom Lang: “I’ll be right back, we’ll discuss this when I get back�. Doug was trying to keep things together and stay calm.
Doug and I met with the firefighters. Doug took the lid off of a jar with rotten meat inside. The casualty locator started beeping and flashing. The Captain. and three firefighters from Rescue 3 were extremely impressed and they wanted to get the machine inside Ground Zero ASAP. Eric Wade, who was going to be involved in the manufacturing of the casualty locator, went with the firefighters to Ground Zero.
We returned to the van. Tom Lang and Mike Miller upon finding out that the casualty locator was going to be deployed by the NYFD at Ground Zero were happy. (Later, I was l told, by the NYFD that Eric Wade ‘froze’, jammed the machine, broke the machine and when seeing body parts, he ‘turned coward’. The Fire Department was mad at me because of the irrational, unprofessional behavior of Eric Wade, and the fact that I had suggested him, but they still wanted the machine. They wanted Doug to fix the machine and teach me how to use it effectively, so I could go with them. )
At the Van, Tom Lang still whined’ like a baby’, having a temper tantrum and insisted that he wanted Doug to get a badge for him. Then, Mike Miller said that if we can get a video of the casualty locator working at Ground Zero, we’ll make millions. I don’t remember his exact words, because I was arguing with Tom Lang. Doug never said anything about money or making money. At this point, Mike Miller offered me 10% of all sales of the casualty locator if I kept my mouth shut about the conversations and upset, in the van. Like me, Doug got very angry and starting yelling at both, Mike Miller and Tom Lang.
I left in disgust. All I cared about was finding my friends who were missing at this time. I know that Doug is a good humanitarian and he was between a ‘rock and a hard place’.
When I returned, later that night, several very bad things happened. I witnessed a verbal argument between Doug Copp and Tom Lang. Tom Lang said, to Doug:� You promised me that you were going to give me a good story; so that I could look good. You said you were going to give me a badge�. Doug said:� No! It’s about time people knew who you are and what you want. Enough is enough! I cannot take anymore. You are all evil bastards. I won’t give you a badge�. Tom Lang looked at me and said:� Get the fuck out!� I told Tom Lang:� Go fuck yourself�. At that point, Doug said, to Tom Lang:� I’m not giving you a badge�. Tom Lang said:� We’re out of here!�
Mike Miller and Tom Lang left to return to New Mexico. Steve Lentz always had a glass of booze in his hands, was intoxicated and he attacked me. Doug pulled him off of me. Lentz took off with the rest of Tom Lang’s gang.
They had all left the room. I understood they were all going to leave for New Mexico.
Doug told me:� Peter, go with Randy Haverd (Rescue Chief who has worked with Doug many times) while I recover from being sick.� I continued to stay with Doug. We were alone. The door was left open.
It was appalling when they wrote that Doug only had asthma. It was obvious to everyone that Doug was sick. During my phone calls with Doug over the next 3 years Doug has always been very ill.
At this point, the Doctor entered the room, I didn’t know his name, at the time, but I understand that it was Dr. Elliot Pierce, He examined Doug. Doug’s nose was bleeding. He was throwing up in the toilet. He was coughing and he appeared to have a fever. Doug spoke with the Doctor. Doug asked him what to do. If he needed to take medicine or stay out of the rubble. The Doctor said: Don’t worry: “You’ll cough it all out, soon.�
.
I stopped working with Doug, for awhile. I know he was sick. I went to work with Randy Harverd. Randy is, also, very distressed about the articles Tom Lang published. Doug told me that he has video of Randy using the casualty locator, to recover victims at several disasters, with Doug. Doug told me that the films show Randy, the casualty locator and actual dead bodies being recovered with the machine.
Randy said he felt sorry for Doug because of the Albuquerque Journal articles knowing that Doug
has given most of his life to help people and that Doug was ‘being railroaded’. He said people don’t know what it is like ‘giving everything’, as a volunteer, and then getting nothing. Not even thanks, in return. Boy did Doug get ‘murdered’.
More important information:
Eric Wade, when he returned from Ground Zero with the NYFD went inside a refrigerated van (parked next to the Fire Station) with a corpse inside. The machine wouldn’t work because the body was refrigerated and the bacteria were dormant. Wade didn’t understand that the machine only works when the bacteria are active. I later learned that he had been seen by the vendor for an equipment supplier who was visiting the stationhouse. Everybody was talking about Eric Wade being seen screaming at the corpse. Doug, later, told me that he was appalled because he had actually seen Wade punch the corpse. Doug said he was afraid they would kill Wade. Eric Wade took off in a hurry and left for New Mexico immediately. The guys at the station house were ‘mad as hell.’
Doug told me that he found out that the Albuquerque Journal had published stories about Eric Wade a year before 911. Mentioning him by name for his involvement in a pre-WTC stock swindle and that he had been punished by the New York Stock Exchange. He told me that Leslie Lithicum told him that she knew about it but didn’t think it was important enough to mention in her articles because she described Wade, in glowing terms, as a person who was ‘also against Doug’.
Mike Holley, Tom Lang’s friend appeared to be a real slimy character. I understood that he was in hiding from FEMA because he had been ousted, from FEMA, for misconduct. He was constantly pleading with Doug to take him Below Ground Zero or to get him a badge. He was rubbing dirt on himself and pretending to be a ‘worker’ so he could get by the guards and get close enough to have his picture taken at Ground Zero. Tom Lang published two pictures of him with the WTC, in the background. Underneath he says that Doug Copp was a fake and that he (Holley) went to work, on his own, at Ground Zero. He is lying. He is a disgusting phony. Holley said:� I am going to take over Copp’s Casualty Locator.� These guys are manipulators they accused Doug for the things they did. Doug always acted like a good and decent hero.
Doug later told me that Doug and his wife had witnessed, Holley stealing ARTI equipment and taking off with it before Doug could stop him.
Randy Harverd and I got WTC Badges like Doug’s. Also, Doug’s credentials were used to get permission to fly to New York when all non-military flights were prohibited.
I was physically issued my numbered badge by a National Guardsman. They were doing the processing for the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. It was a very intensive screening. They recorded my signature on an Official Document. They recorded the entire document numbers of my New York State Driver’s License, my NYC Auxiliary Police Id number and other documents. Leslie Lithicum had written an entire article titled: “No Credentials�. She said that Doug had no WTC credentials. She is lying. She more than knew the truth; because, she had witnessed all the uproar because Doug had refused to give Lang and Holley Badges like Doug, Randy and I had. She is a liar.
Doug told me that Raynar Ramirez of Dateline NBC, told him of their filmed interview with Leslie Lithicum. When confronted about Doug’s Badge. Doug told me that she said:� Doug Copp found it in the street�. (This can be confirmed with the interview video). This is a lie and is utterly preposterous. The Mayor’s Office of Emergency Services (OEM) has Doug’s Badge number recorded. Do you think that Mr. Feinberg, of the Victim’s Compensation Fund who has been repeatedly criticized in the ‘New Yorker ‘and other media for being so cheap with the compensation for victims would actually pay someone who found their WTC ID in the street? This is stupid and an indication that Leslie Lithicum would do or say anything to screw Doug.
Steve Lentz appeared to be very intoxicated, during this conflict. In fact he had a glass of booze in his hand. He was drinking throughout the whole exchange. In the article he is quoted as saying he never had a drink He is a liar. I saw him drunk and he attacked me when intoxicated.
I tell people that Doug is famous throughout the world as the most experienced rescuer, in the world. I have seen him on many TV programs, saving lives. . Doug hates it when I call him a hero but Doug is a hero. Leslie Lithicum and Tom Lang are disgusting liars.
I spoke with Leslie Lithicum before she wrote the articles for Tom Lang. I spoke with her at great length till the phone went dead. She never spoke with me again.
Our conversation was not reported in any of the 20 articles she wrote. She never mentioned me or any of the personal involvement she and Tom Lang had with Doug and me at the WTC. She never mentioned any of the arguments. She never mentioned their misconduct. She never wrote about the appalling and disgraceful behavior of any of them. Instead she wrote about them all as angels and Doug as the devil. I feel personally betrayed by these malicious and slanderous liars. They did not speak the truth they spoke with a’ forked tongue’. They are foul, evil people. They are disgusting! It was unethical for them to write any story about Doug. They slandered him.
It became obvious to me that she is mentally ill and a compulsive liar who would refuse to acknowledge the truth no matter what the facts were. She had a personal vendetta against Doug. The same way Tom Lang did and that she was not going to print the truth no matter what. She was out to destroy ARTI by destroying Doug and I was afraid that I was going to be her next victim.
She had already ‘gotten to’ Chief Norman. I am still afraid of the power that Tom Lang and the Albuquerque Journal have, of the ‘manipulation’ they can cause and have caused by hiding the truth of what I have disclosed in this affidavit. I am doing this affidavit to bring the truth out and to expose the hidden agenda of these people. I am exposing myself to danger because I cannot bear the burden, on my conscience, any longer for not standing up and bearing witness, by telling the truth.
It is incredible that Tom Lang has used his newspapers to destroy a good man like Doug for not ‘giving him his way’. I think it took courage for Doug to stand up to such a rich and powerful man like Tom Lang.
Doug was right when he refused Tom Lang. They are ‘evil bastards’ just like Doug told them at the WTC. I am afraid but feel relieved. I am praying that I will not be the next victim of these people.
Sworn to me on October 4, 2004 Witnessed:
. Valentine M. Jones, Notary Public,State of New York
Peter Donahue, No. 01-jo-24-4965974, King’s County
33 Ridge Road, Highland Mills, NY, 10930.
Lentz Affidavit:
For a man who’s supposedly too sick to launch a libel lawsuit against Thomas Lang, Doug Copp sure has a lot of energy to defend himself in blog guestbooks. I guess, on some level, he knows he’s a liar and that he’d never have a chance in a court of law.
And, no, I’m not buying this “Too poor to hire a lawyer” shit. The man just got over $600,000 tax-free dollars from the WTC fund (which, incidentally, was the whole reason the ABQ Journal launched the series); he can hire a lawyer. Or, if he really has friends all over the world, he can set up a legal fund. Put bluntly, his rambling side of the story makes absolutely no sense.
Bottom line: The man is a grade-A bullshitter who has not earned the right to be taken seriously.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/10016665.htm?1c
(If the site requires a login and password, visit bugmenot.com for the latest ones.)
You don’t listen to or pay attention to the affadavits from witnesses. Tom Lang has done this before.
I have the guts to fight a bastard with 120 million same as I had thwe guts to crawl below ground zero. I won’t die easy. I’d like to use profanity but I won’t.
more than once.
search for 25 richest men in New Mexico on Google.
. THOMPSON HUGHES LANG
and WILLIAM PEPPERDAY LANG
Albuquerque and Corrales
Albuquerque Journal, Journal Center, Starline Printing, inheritance
$120 million combined
INVISIBLE MEN
In 1971, Tommy Lang was supervising the installation of a new engraving plant at a newspaper in Hollywood, FL, when the phone rang. His father, Albuquerque Journal publisher C. Thompson Lang, had just dropped dead of a heart attack while watching the tube at his Albuquerque home. A college dropout, the 23-year-old Lang became publisher of New Mexico’s largest and most influential newspaper, which had been purchased by a great uncle in 1926. Younger brother Bill eventually joined the business.
Since then the two, whose families, according to federal filings, now split ownership of the paper 50-50, have benefited from New Mexico’s population growth and their own careful attention to management. Bucking national trends, the Journal’s daily circulation has risen 61% from 70,000 in 1971 to 113,000 today. Sunday circulation — the real money — has gone up 76% from 96,000 to nearly 169,000. However, over the past few years circulation growth has been flat despite population increases.
Under a 63-year-old pact that runs well into the 21st century, the Langs in effect must give 40 percent of their considerable profits to E.W. Scripps Co., the Cincinnati-based owner of The Albuquerque Tribune. In return the Langs get 60 percent of the far smaller Tribune’s profits — if there are any. But cry not for the brothers. They more than make up for this with a federally sanctioned monopoly that enables them to set advertising and subscription prices with The Tribune and charge far more than they could if the papers were economically independent and competitive.
Tommy Lang, 49, clearly pulls the levers at the Journal — he once said no political candidate gets an editorial endorsement without his approval. But even news industry publications have called him the “stealth publisher,” due to his extremely low profile on the public and political scene. Some date this to the mid-1980s when famed lawyer F. Lee Bailey sued him and the Journal for libel on behalf of Albuquerque lawyer William Marchiondo, who claimed the paper portrayed him as an unsavory character. Bailey tried to paint Lang as a power hungry bully.
excerpt:
I was sent the triangle of life yesterday.. i liked it. Someone i know right away pointed me in the direction of Snopes. All i saw was a bunch of writing by people that believed they had been deliberately confused. They were all negative and i told them that in a post. I decided to look further into it because it was too easy to jump on this bandwagon of immediate denial and i am glad that i did so that i could read Mr. Burke Wards’ replies on this site.. as well as Mr. Copps. Everyone just doesnt get it that organizations like the Red Cross are dinosaurs from another era bent on protecting their turf even at the general publics expense. -bill
The American Red Cross wrote:
http://www2.bpaonline.org/Emergencyprep/arc-on-doug-copp.html
“Identifying potential “void areas” and planning on using them for earthquake protection is more difficult to teach, and hard to remember for people who are not educated in earthquake engineering principles.”
I will take that advice and only send the “Triangle of life” to my smart friends.
One thing is for sure, being under a desk, or table robs you of your mobility in the event of a collapse.
I’m a Captain with a small Canadian volunteer Fire Department. I am blown away at the extent and extremes of this topic. I don’t know Mr. Copps but I do know, with my 15yrs experience in the field, that the triangle of life theory is solid and true. I am currently in charge of the Emergency Prep. Program at my boy’s school. I have suggested the concept of the Triangle of life, but am told that it is not “approved ” by the Government and we’ll stick to the old ways because everyone is aware of Duck and Cover under desks. But we’re told now doors are bad. do we have to wait till after the next big quake that oh you know what there were those “voids” again that we found people alive and those people who were crushed / suffocated because 50 lbs of ceiling tiles folded the “stamped tin” desk on a kid who only weighed 60lbs and couldn’t move. I’d like to think that our kids are smarter than us and can be taught how to survive and not be herded like sheep into doing what was taught to be the best survival position to be in during a nuclear bomb attack.
Lets help save people and not worry about selling newspapers or getting elected. Lets work together and prevent victim recovery and encourage survivor skills after a quake.
personally know mike holley and the report of him being a slimy character is dead on with him, he is a real p.o.s.
he lies about every aspect of his life, he cheats on his wife, tells everybody he some star swat cop,that he is rich but the truth is he is a small little man with a complex.his own son hates him and talks shit about him, not that his son has any room to talk, he just as much a poser as his dad, they are real pathetic actually, neither one has amounted to shit and probably wont!
First, I’m a “nobody”, meaning I have no credentials.
I received this same email from a friend of mine and thought that it seemed a pretty reasonable idea. Until I googled Copp’s name {which, ironically, the guy claiming to be Copp here suggests to do regarding Mr. Lang}. One site after another denounced him as a fraud and many have mentioned his being under investigation. Or maybe “Copp” wants to suggest that searching his name is actually the wrong thing to do in HIS case?
I’m not one to blindly follow anything the U.S. government states because I simply don’t trust politicians. But when you got a large number of sites {official and otherwise} saying one thing and one guy who claims to know better than ALL of them {plus a few people who, like me, don’t have the credentials}, I think I’ll stick with the tried and true {never been in an earthquake myself yet, thank the gods}.
From the American Red Cross:
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which collectsdata on injuries and deaths from all reportable causes in the U.S., as well as data from
three University-based studies performed after the Loma Prieta (September, 1989) and
Northridge (January, 1994) earthquakes in California, the following data are indicated:
Loma Prieta: 63 deaths, approximately 3,700 people were injured. Most injuries happened
as a result of the collapse of the Cypress Street section of I-880 in Oakland. Northridge:
57 deaths, 1,500 serious injuries. Most injuries were from falls caused by people trying to
get out of their homes, or serious cuts and broken bones when people ran, barefooted,
over broken glass (the earthquake happened in the early morning on a federal holiday
when many people were still in bed.) There were millions of people in each of these
earthquake-affected areas, and of those millions, many of them reported to have
"dropped, covered, and held on" during the shaking of the earthquake.
And just HOW is Copp “world famous”??? I never heard of him until I got this email. I may not be the most well-informed guy, but I’m not blind, nor deaf, nor uneducated.
Don’t just blindly follow what Copp says. Do your own research, by whatever means are available to you. You have friends and family. Are you seriously going to tell them to do this, against all available research, and POSSIBLY risk their lives. Go to your local college/library, make calls. Whatever it takes to get the truth. Because, quite frankly, I wouldn’t trust Copp if he told me grass is green.
Peace to you and yours,
Matthew “Dra’Gon” Stohler
Bottom line for me is if it looks and smells like BS it usually is. Whether the information Mr.Copps is attempting to convey has merit is not the point. The man himself is a shameless self promoter, anyone who refers to themselves as the “World’s Greatest” anything doesn`t deserve the time of day.
What strikes me odd though is the list of sources snopes.com has on this topic. They are all articles by Leslie Linthicum in the Albuquerque Journal, which Thompson Lang owns.