FBI Takes Rocket Enthusiast/Terrorists Into Custody
ROCHESTER, NY Members of the Monroe Astronautical Rocket Society (MARS) of Rochester, NY were dumbfounded yesterday when FBI agents stormed their weekly meeting at the Denny's on Route 32 and took into custody one of their long-time members, Ray Halm and his son, Ray Jr. The two model rocket enthusiasts are being held on charges that they are conspiring to take down a commercial aircraft with one of their homemade "Fat Boy" model rockets. These arrests come in the wake of a German report that Al Qaida terrorists are planning on using remote control airplanes and model rockets to attack commercial jets. Andy Schecter, lifetime friend of the Halms, was completely perplexed at the arrests. "I've been at most, if not all of Ray's launches, and I can tell you right here and now that there was never any airliners in sight." When asked how difficult it would be to hit a commercial aircraft with a model rocket, Mr. Schecter added, "That would be harder than hittin' the exhaust shaft of the Death Star. Those guys were the best but they weren't no Luke Skywalker X-wing fighter pilots." Ray and Ray Jr. were being held without bond and have not been given access to their attorney.
