This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Add Hill Air Force Base to the list of alarmists spreading sensational misinformation about the Occupy Wall Street protesters who have exercised their constitutional right by peacefully assembling at Pioneer Park in Salt Lake City.

An email to Hill employees was sent out last week by Ray Ross, director of security for the Defense Logistics Agency at the base.

It passed on information purportedly from the government's Joint Terrorism Task Force and said the protesters have "a desire to destroy the government."

The email added: "The local FBI Office believes this to be a left wing extremist group and anticipates some incidents of cars being rolled and rocks being thrown through windows."

But Debbie Dujanovic Bertram, spokeswoman for the Salt Lake City office of the FBI, says that isn't true.

"That didn't come from us," she said, noting that one news organization that saw the email erroneously reported the warning was from the FBI. Once notified, the news organization removed the story from its website.

A warning accompanying the email says it is anti-terrorism sensitive information, is immune from mandatory disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and "should not be released to unauthorized persons."

But once the email was sent out to Hill employees, many passed it on to people on their email lists, with some of those recipients telling me they were appalled at the propaganda being launched against the peaceful protesters.

Richard Essary, chief of media relations at Hill Air Force Base, said: "Several organizations on Hill Air Force Base employ security managers who are responsible for the safety and security of their organization's assets and workforce. Part of a security manager's job is to provide workers with routine updates about activities occurring in the area, which can include protests. The email was sent to the security manager's fellow workers."

It might have been a reaction to the numerous politicians who seem bent on destroying the credibility of what appears to be a growing and increasingly effective protest against the way powerful Wall Street bankers have done business and their effect on the economy.

Republican congressional candidate Chuck Williams, who plans to challenge Rep. Jim Matheson in Utah, joined the bandwagon on Thursday.

He said the protesters "have been contrived and orchestrated by Obama White House allies … to manipulate and distract Americans away from the real source of our economic problems: big government and the socialist programs of the Democrats."

And he took a shot at Matheson.

"When his vote really counts, he always votes along Democrat Party lines," Williams said. That must mean Matheson is secretly funding the terrorists in Pioneer Park.

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What's good for the goose …: Gov. Gary Herbert spoke to students via a live broadcast that reached 110 schools across the state. He spoke about the importance of a good education and urged students to stay in school.

Funny. Schools did not require parental permission slips or opt-out forms for students whose parents might fear their students would hear political propaganda. Those forms have been required in some districts when President Obama has given his back-to-school address, in which he urged students to stay in school and get a good education.

… Is good for the gander: Remember when Republican politicians and conservative commentators in 2008 blasted then-candidate Obama for not denouncing his Christian pastor, Jeremiah Wright, for some of his past comments criticizing his own country? Where are those voices now that Christian minister Robert Jeffress, endorsing GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry, made bigoted and hateful remarks against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, claiming that Mormon Mitt Romney was not a Christian but belonged to a cult?

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