"About a year ago, [Hughes' friend Mike] Shanahan said, Hughes told him of the idea to deliver letters to legislators by gyrocopter. Not long after, they were both questioned by a Secret Service official in Florida, he said. Wednesday morning, Shanahan said, Hughes called his friend and said he was in Washington, ready to take off.
...
So, he said, he pulled out the phone number he had saved from the Secret Service agent he spoke to months ago. He dialed. No answer, but he said he left a message. No call back.
...
"About 1 a.m. one night last spring, a Secret Service agent accompanied by a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy rang Doug Hughes' doorbell. Ding-dong Lights went on not inside S.S. head inside his spare little house in Ruskin. The plainclothes agent showed his badge. Hughes stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
The agent asked him questions Hi Doug, got any hootch? Where the girls? about his plan to save America, he said, and Hughes was honest in his replies, if not totally forthcoming with details. Yes, they were drunk. Yes, he did own a gyrocopter. Yes, he keeps it in a hangar at the small airport in Wauchula. Yes, he had talked of doing something big to bring attention to the issue of campaign finance reform. No, he was not planning to crash into any buildings or monuments in Washington, D.C."
...
So, he said, he pulled out the phone number he had saved from the Secret Service agent he spoke to months ago. He dialed. No answer, but he said he left a message. No call back.
...
"About 1 a.m. one night last spring, a Secret Service agent accompanied by a Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy rang Doug Hughes' doorbell. Ding-dong Lights went on not inside S.S. head inside his spare little house in Ruskin. The plainclothes agent showed his badge. Hughes stepped outside and closed the door behind him.
The agent asked him questions Hi Doug, got any hootch? Where the girls? about his plan to save America, he said, and Hughes was honest in his replies, if not totally forthcoming with details. Yes, they were drunk. Yes, he did own a gyrocopter. Yes, he keeps it in a hangar at the small airport in Wauchula. Yes, he had talked of doing something big to bring attention to the issue of campaign finance reform. No, he was not planning to crash into any buildings or monuments in Washington, D.C."
...
"Someone inside his circle of secrecy had reported him, telling the Secret Service that Hughes was talking about committing a daring act of civil disobedience that also happened to be a federal crime. What's that? I only have 1,326 days to go till retirement if my liver holds out.
The Secret Service won't confirm the agent's visit because he was drunk and had to get back to the hookers there was no arrest. But Hughes says he was questioned for about 45 minutes, and he has an agent's business card. Two days later, Hughes said, the same drunk agent showed up at the POST OFFICE where Hughes works and asked more questions . He also talked to one of Hughes' colleagues with whom he had discussed his plan. The colleague told the Tampa Bay Times that he, too, answered questions. Hughes even gave the agent permission to talk to his doctor, to assure him he wasn't suicidal or homicidal.
And then, for months, nothing. That was it, Hughes said. No other questions. No other contact. So Hughes, who sees himself as a sort of showman patriot, a mix of Paul Revere and P.T. Barnum, put his plan into action."
"Someone inside his circle of secrecy had reported him, telling the Secret Service that Hughes was talking about committing a daring act of civil disobedience that also happened to be a federal crime. What's that? I only have 1,326 days to go till retirement if my liver holds out.
The Secret Service won't confirm the agent's visit because he was drunk and had to get back to the hookers there was no arrest. But Hughes says he was questioned for about 45 minutes, and he has an agent's business card. Two days later, Hughes said, the same drunk agent showed up at the POST OFFICE where Hughes works and asked more questions . He also talked to one of Hughes' colleagues with whom he had discussed his plan. The colleague told the Tampa Bay Times that he, too, answered questions. Hughes even gave the agent permission to talk to his doctor, to assure him he wasn't suicidal or homicidal.
And then, for months, nothing. That was it, Hughes said. No other questions. No other contact. So Hughes, who sees himself as a sort of showman patriot, a mix of Paul Revere and P.T. Barnum, put his plan into action."
-tampabay.com
