I ran across a facebook post (yes, I am still attached to that crazy social media) which I found to be quite unique. It told the story of a man who was driven to an A-Team style revenge against his city. The story follows:
June 4th 2019 marked the 15th anniversary of the Killdozer's rampage through Granby Colorado.
Sit down kids and let me tell you a tale, about a reasonable man driven to do unreasonable things.
Marvin Heemeyer was a man who owned a muffler shop in Granby Colorado. The city council ordained to approve the construction of a concrete factory in the lot across from Marvin's shop. In the process this blocked the only access road to the muffler shop. Marvin petitioned to stop the construction to no avail. Petitioned to construct a new access road, and even bought the heavy machinery to do so himself. Denied.
The concrete factory went up in disregard to the ramifications on Marvin's business. To add insult to injury, the factory construction disconnected the muffler shop from the city sewage lines. An indifferent city government then chose to fine Marvin for this.
His business and livelihood were in ruin. Rather than lie down and die, Marvin chose to fight back. Over the course of a year and a half Marvin secretly outfitted the bulldozer he bought to save his business with three inch thick steel and concrete armor, camera systems guarded with bulletproof glass.
On June 4th 2004 Marvin Heemeyer lowered the armored shell over top of himself, entombing himself inside the Killdozer to make his last stand.
He burst forth from the walls of his muffler shop and straight into the concrete factory that ruined his business. Over the course of the next several hours Marvin drove his Killdozer through 13 buildings owned by those officials that had wronged him, including the city council building itself.
Swat teams swarmed the dozer, but it proved immune to small arms fire and even explosives. Another piece of heavy machinery was even brought out to fight the Killdozer, but it too fell to the dozer's righteous fury.
In the end, Marvin's Killdozer became trapped in one of the buildings it was built to destroy. Marvin chose to take his life, the only life he took that day.
Today we celebrate Killdozer day and Marvin Heemeyer, the last great American folk hero. A man driven to the brink who chose to fight back against an indifferent system.
From notes left behind after his passing:
"I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."
When injustice becomes the law, resistance becomes duty.
I have to admit, it seemed like he was a hero against an uncooperative government. But there is always another side to the story. Some people consider him to be nothing but a schemer and agitator. So now, in the words of Paul Harvey...the rest of the story.
On June 4th 2004, a man named Marvin Heemeyer, a welder who owned a muffler repair shop in the small town of Granby, Colorado, took to the streets in his heavily armored custom bulldozer, outfitted with concrete-reinforced steel, bulletproof cameras, and gunports for the 3 rifles Heemayer brought with him. He dubbed it the "Killdozer". He began tearing down various buildings in the town, such as a hardware store, a concrete factory, the home of the town's former mayor, the town hall, and the police station. The police tried everything to stop him, but their weapons couldn't penetrate the vehicle. Colorado governor Bill Owens considered authorizing the National Guard to deploy an Apache Helicopter or a 2 man Javelin team to take it out, but backed off due to the risk of collateral damage. About 2 hours later, while rampaging through a steel building, the bulldozer falls into a ditch and shuts down, having given in to sustained radiator damage during the rampage. Heemayer then commits suicide with a .357 to the head, and police use a cutting torch to get his body out at 2 AM the next morning. Heemeyer's life was the only life taken that day. Nobody else was harmed, and the rampage damaged 13 buildings and caused over 7 million dollars in damages. A year later, the bulldozer was scrapped across several junkyards to fend off collectors.
Heemeyer organized the rampage as a means of revenge on the town against a failed zoning dispute over a construction company wanting to build on his land. After losing constant legal battles over said zoning and price negotiations (as well as being fined for dumping), there was nothing he could do. Furthermore, the local newspaper was slandering him over these deals, calling him greedy and such for wanting to sell his land for high prices. His mind snapped, and so he spent 1 1/2 years plotting his revenge, creating his armored bulldozer. His plan was never discovered. Recordings during this time stated that Heemeyer was on a "Mission from God" and that "God had called him to carry out his revenge", and his bulldozer was "a cross to carry out in God's name".
Defenders of Heemeyer state that he had zero intent to harm or kill anyone in the rampage, and just wanted the buildings he targeted to be destroyed. However during the rampage, Heemeyer did open fire at a man named Cody Docheff who tried to stop the bulldozer, as well as 2 officers and several propane tanks and power transformers that were within the range of a senior center, which could possibly explode and cause further collateral damage. Another statement is that many of the buildings were occupied moments before the rampage, which could further put innocents at risk.
More statements made by defenders of Heemeyer was that he was "doing the right thing" by getting revenge on the town's government. What he did, by definition of violence (causing property damage) for a political goal, was domestic terrorism. Even if he didn't intend to harm a soul, people were still at risk.
He could've simply sold his property and moved somewhere else to start anew, having accepted his loss, knowing that he couldn't win every fight. He isn't a hero, he isn't a patriot, he's a deranged lunatic for driving an armored bulldozer through a small Colorado town and putting everyone there at risk because he thought God told him to.
Two sides to a very intriguing story. The truth of what really went down died that day, nearly 16 years ago. The only one who knows the motives and heart of what really went on killed himself. There is a lesson to be learned though...don't believe everything you read. We will never know the whole story about a lot of things. There are mysteries that we will never understand...and maybe that is for the best. It will keep us wondering!
June 4th 2019 marked the 15th anniversary of the Killdozer's rampage through Granby Colorado.
Sit down kids and let me tell you a tale, about a reasonable man driven to do unreasonable things.
Marvin Heemeyer was a man who owned a muffler shop in Granby Colorado. The city council ordained to approve the construction of a concrete factory in the lot across from Marvin's shop. In the process this blocked the only access road to the muffler shop. Marvin petitioned to stop the construction to no avail. Petitioned to construct a new access road, and even bought the heavy machinery to do so himself. Denied.
The concrete factory went up in disregard to the ramifications on Marvin's business. To add insult to injury, the factory construction disconnected the muffler shop from the city sewage lines. An indifferent city government then chose to fine Marvin for this.
His business and livelihood were in ruin. Rather than lie down and die, Marvin chose to fight back. Over the course of a year and a half Marvin secretly outfitted the bulldozer he bought to save his business with three inch thick steel and concrete armor, camera systems guarded with bulletproof glass.
On June 4th 2004 Marvin Heemeyer lowered the armored shell over top of himself, entombing himself inside the Killdozer to make his last stand.
He burst forth from the walls of his muffler shop and straight into the concrete factory that ruined his business. Over the course of the next several hours Marvin drove his Killdozer through 13 buildings owned by those officials that had wronged him, including the city council building itself.
Swat teams swarmed the dozer, but it proved immune to small arms fire and even explosives. Another piece of heavy machinery was even brought out to fight the Killdozer, but it too fell to the dozer's righteous fury.
In the end, Marvin's Killdozer became trapped in one of the buildings it was built to destroy. Marvin chose to take his life, the only life he took that day.
Today we celebrate Killdozer day and Marvin Heemeyer, the last great American folk hero. A man driven to the brink who chose to fight back against an indifferent system.
From notes left behind after his passing:
"I was always willing to be reasonable until I had to be unreasonable. Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things."
When injustice becomes the law, resistance becomes duty.
 |
| The infamous killdozer |
I have to admit, it seemed like he was a hero against an uncooperative government. But there is always another side to the story. Some people consider him to be nothing but a schemer and agitator. So now, in the words of Paul Harvey...the rest of the story.
On June 4th 2004, a man named Marvin Heemeyer, a welder who owned a muffler repair shop in the small town of Granby, Colorado, took to the streets in his heavily armored custom bulldozer, outfitted with concrete-reinforced steel, bulletproof cameras, and gunports for the 3 rifles Heemayer brought with him. He dubbed it the "Killdozer". He began tearing down various buildings in the town, such as a hardware store, a concrete factory, the home of the town's former mayor, the town hall, and the police station. The police tried everything to stop him, but their weapons couldn't penetrate the vehicle. Colorado governor Bill Owens considered authorizing the National Guard to deploy an Apache Helicopter or a 2 man Javelin team to take it out, but backed off due to the risk of collateral damage. About 2 hours later, while rampaging through a steel building, the bulldozer falls into a ditch and shuts down, having given in to sustained radiator damage during the rampage. Heemayer then commits suicide with a .357 to the head, and police use a cutting torch to get his body out at 2 AM the next morning. Heemeyer's life was the only life taken that day. Nobody else was harmed, and the rampage damaged 13 buildings and caused over 7 million dollars in damages. A year later, the bulldozer was scrapped across several junkyards to fend off collectors.
Heemeyer organized the rampage as a means of revenge on the town against a failed zoning dispute over a construction company wanting to build on his land. After losing constant legal battles over said zoning and price negotiations (as well as being fined for dumping), there was nothing he could do. Furthermore, the local newspaper was slandering him over these deals, calling him greedy and such for wanting to sell his land for high prices. His mind snapped, and so he spent 1 1/2 years plotting his revenge, creating his armored bulldozer. His plan was never discovered. Recordings during this time stated that Heemeyer was on a "Mission from God" and that "God had called him to carry out his revenge", and his bulldozer was "a cross to carry out in God's name".
Defenders of Heemeyer state that he had zero intent to harm or kill anyone in the rampage, and just wanted the buildings he targeted to be destroyed. However during the rampage, Heemeyer did open fire at a man named Cody Docheff who tried to stop the bulldozer, as well as 2 officers and several propane tanks and power transformers that were within the range of a senior center, which could possibly explode and cause further collateral damage. Another statement is that many of the buildings were occupied moments before the rampage, which could further put innocents at risk.
More statements made by defenders of Heemeyer was that he was "doing the right thing" by getting revenge on the town's government. What he did, by definition of violence (causing property damage) for a political goal, was domestic terrorism. Even if he didn't intend to harm a soul, people were still at risk.
He could've simply sold his property and moved somewhere else to start anew, having accepted his loss, knowing that he couldn't win every fight. He isn't a hero, he isn't a patriot, he's a deranged lunatic for driving an armored bulldozer through a small Colorado town and putting everyone there at risk because he thought God told him to.
Two sides to a very intriguing story. The truth of what really went down died that day, nearly 16 years ago. The only one who knows the motives and heart of what really went on killed himself. There is a lesson to be learned though...don't believe everything you read. We will never know the whole story about a lot of things. There are mysteries that we will never understand...and maybe that is for the best. It will keep us wondering!
ReplyDeleteWe can say he went off the deep end.