Conspiracy or simply storage?
Submitted by editor on Mon, 08/11/2008 - 13:50.
Theories surface around vaults stored in Madison
By Kathryn Purcell
Managing Edito
Type in “Madison, GA” under Google’s Blog Search, and it shows
up on the first page. Search “Madison, GA” on YouTube, and it’s the
first video that shows up. Web sites like Alex Jones’ Infowars.com and
AboveTopSecret.com are talking about it.
As of late, some of these sources have started to link the
government, particularly the Federal Emergency Management Agency
(FEMA), to rows and rows of black, plastic “coffins,” 500,000 to be
exact, currently being stored outdoor in a field within the city limits
of Madison.
Theories abound as to whether these are being stored near a major
transportation hub (Atlanta) in an effort by the government to prepare
for American victims of biological warfare, or whether they are being
stored for a natural, or man-made, disaster. Even more sinister, some
of these sources speculate that these “coffins” are part of a
conspiracy on the part of the government that involves the institution
of martial law, the separation of desirable and non-desirable citizens,
according to government opinion, and the establishment of American
concentration camps, some of which are currently functional, according
to these sources.
“Yep, these are cheap plastic coffins. Hundreds of thousands of
them. Don’t believe it? Why coffins? Why in the middle of Georgia?” the
entry “Half a Million Plastic Coffins?” on Alex Jones’ Infowars.com,
dated July 18, states. “Well, apparently the Government is expecting a
half million people to die relatively soon, and the Atlanta Airport is
a major airline traffic hub, probably the biggest in the country, which
means Georgia is a prime base to conduct military operations and
coordination. It is also the home of the CDC, the Center for Disease
Control. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but usually you don’t buy
500,000 plastic coffins ‘just in case something happens,’ you buy them
because you know something is going to happen. These air tight seal
containers would be perfect to bury victims of plague or biological
warfare in, wouldn’t they?”
While the origins of the theories are unclear, there are blog
postings that date back to December 2007 (AboveTopSecret.com), although
the majority of postings have come within the latter half of July.
And, according to Vantage Products Corporation Vice President of
Operations Michael Lacey, that’s exactly when the calls started pouring
in.
“It’s been going on for quite a while, about a week,” Lacey said.
Lacey maintains that the theories regarding the property, and what’s on it, aren’t quite accurate.
The “coffins” aren’t coffins at all, according to Lacey. Instead,
they are burial vaults, “the outer container for caskets,” Lacey said,
placed in the ground before the coffin to protect the coffin and
maintain level ground above.
There are currently 50,000 of these burial vaults on the property,
according to Lacey. As the vaults were placed on the site around 1997
or 1998, there may have been as many as 70,000 or 80,000 to begin with.
“It’s nowhere near the quantity they talk about on the Internet,” Lacey said.
This quantity of burial vaults, Vantage’s Standard Air Seal model in
black, also the least expensive model and the most in-demand, was made
to cater to what Lacey calls the funeral industry’s “pre-need.” This
“pre-need” occurs when people make arrangements for their funeral
before they actually pass away, so that the family doesn’t have to go
through the perceived stress of making the arrangements. When these
arrangements are made, the products are paid for; obviously, though,
they are not yet needed.
So, Vantage stores the product until the person dies, and the product is needed.
Further, pallets of the burial vaults are moved truckloads at a time, as there is space for a palate at the
Contrary to the beliefs of the theorists, then, the burial vaults
aren’t owned by the government, or FEMA. Instead, they’re owned by
individuals, or not yet sold.
“They’re not owned by any one individual, company or the government,” Lacey said.
Further, Vantage leases the land, located at 1200 Madison Industrial
Boulevard, from Conyers Welding & Supply and has for four to five
years, a fact confirmed by Conyers Welding & Supply. Conyers
Welding & Supply took over the lease when the property was
purchased from Robert Usury in 2000. Usury purchased the property in
1989, according to information provided by the Morgan County Tax
Assessor’s Office and the Morgan County Online Public Property Portal.
The answer as to why the vaults are being stored in Madison? To put
it simply, the Covington-based manufacturer got a good deal close to
home.
“It was the most cost-effective place,” Lacey said.
https://www.morgancountycitizen.com/?q=node/7524