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Tuesday, June 1, 2004

check your art supplies: you might be a terrorist

Buffalo police were called to 60 College Street on Tuesday after the owner, Steve Kurtz, came home to find his wife dead. It’s believed she died of natural causes, but while officers were in the house they spotted some suspicious materials that were thought to be biological agents. The FBI’s hazardous materials team has been at the house since Thursday collecting evidence.

Steve Kurtz is an art professor at the University of Buffalo, and the materials inside Kurtz’ home are commonly used in artwork.

The materials initially looked suspicious, like biological or chemical agents.

update (2004.06.05): joi brought us a first-person account of the incident, and wired and usa today have picked up on the story, which then got picked up tonight at slashdot.

none of the information provided on slashdot backs up the assertion that kurtz is or will be charged under the patriot act. but, since we live in a hype-and-hypocracy world, now that it’s there, this thing “has legs.”

i’ll refrain from further comment until i see how absurd the charges are – that’s the point of the grand jury proceeding. if this turns into another case of creative prosecution from the ashcroft department of justice, you can bet i’ll be all over it. right now it’s just the painful wheels of justice turning. if the grand jury tells ashcroft to go find some real terrorists and leave this guy alone – well, that’s what’s supposed to happen if kurtz is just a crazy artist-type guy playing with dna to make a statement.

posted by roj at 1:20 pm