Outside the Beltway

TurkeyGate

James Joyner · Wednesday, January 5, 2005 · 2 comments

Where did turkeys go? Gleaners asks if Conyers’ staff helped needy people (Detroit Free Press)

The director of a Detroit food bank wants to know what happened to 60 turkeys — 720 pounds of frozen birds — that his charity gave to members of U.S. Rep. John Conyers’ local staff two days before Thanksgiving to give to needy people. Conyers’ Detroit office promised an accounting of any turkey distribution by Dec. 27, but the Gleaners Community Food Bank had received no paperwork as of Tuesday, said the charity’s director, Agostinho Fernandes.

Fernandes said he became suspicious that the turkeys didn’t get to poor people after hearing from a friend that a federal court worker had said he was offered free turkeys from a member of Conyers’ staff.

My guess is The Big Guy, Art Carlson, is involved somehow.*

Wizbang’s Paul has more, including a link to Ed Morrissey, who is not amused. Nor is Steven Taylor.

*“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!!!”
— Arthur Carlson, WKRP in Cincinnati

WKRP’s Thanksgiving Fiasco

The above quote is from the famous “WKRP in Cincinnati†episode where Station Manager, Arthur Carlson (played by Gordon Jump), arranged to have live turkeys dropped from a helicopter as an advertising stunt.

The TV “Drop”

Unfortunately, this turned out to be a serious miscalculation. The poor birds plunged to earth, never even having a chance. Their tragic “last flight” was relayed to WKRP listeners by reporter Les Nessman, played by Richard Sanders: “It’s a helicopter, and it’s coming this way. It’s flying something behind it, I can’t quite make it out, it’s a large banner and it says, uh – Happy… Thaaaaanksss… giving! … From … W … K … R… P!! No parachutes yet. Can’t be skydivers… I can’t tell just yet what they are, but – Oh my God, Johnny, they’re turkeys!! Johnny, can you get this? Oh, they’re plunging to the earth right in front of our eyes! One just went through the windshield of a parked car! Oh, the humanity! The turkeys are hitting the ground like sacks of wet cement! Not since the Hindenberg tragedy has there been anything like this!â€

Click here for an audio clip.