SW Listeners Festival - The 17th running of the Fest will take place on 13/14 March 2004. The location is the Best Western Motel in Kulpsville, PA. Go to http://www.swlfest.com for a registration form, costs, and other details.

PROMETHEUS - Some former Radio Pirates formed a group called PROMETHEUS whose purpose was to help low-power FM radio stations to legally set up. Since 2001 several stations have gone on the air mainly in rural areas. The group recently won a decision from a federal appeals court which temporarily prevents the FCC from relaxing restrictions for big media companies from expanding.

Smart Police Cruisers - Project 54 borrowed its name from the Police TV comedy of the 60s "Car 54, Where are you?" Developed by engineers at the University of New Hampshire, the software controls multi-functions in cruisers so equipped. Testing was conducted for 2 years and now New Hampshire State Police have approximately 75 cruisers with the smart software installed and these cruisers are being used for patrol duties. The many functions now implemented by the software take the place of the officer being required to take such actions. For example, if a vehicle is to be pulled over, the flashing lights, siren, radio, video camera, and a position determing device must all be accomplished. With the new software, the officer only has to say "pursuit". All of the above are automatically activated. A similar system, called TACNET, was developed by a Michigan company and is being tested by State Police in North Carolina, California, Michigan and Maryland.

Public Safety Logs - The Martinsburg, WV Journal newspaper has a great feature with the periodic publication of excerpts from the logs of the Martinsburg City Police, Berkeley County Sheriff's Department, Jefferson County 911 EMS and Fire Activity Report, plus the Berkeley County Central Dispatch daily Fire and Rescue Call logs. These various logs are an excellent source of confirming details for activity you may have monitored. No doubt other communities also make such information available to the particular local newspaper.

Agentura.ru - Upon checking this web site, there was a very interesting interview with Edmond Pope. Pope was arrested by the FSB who claimed he was a spy. His arrest and subsequent prison treatment were included in his book "Torpedoed". He told of stones being placed in his prison food as well as poison. A FSB Officer also wrote a book about the matter giving the distorted Russian story. His book was titled "Spy Adventures of Edmond Pope in Russia". Pope stated he had read the translated version and most of Pope's friends agreed that the pages of the Russian book were useful for spreading on the bottom of bird cages! See the interview at http://www.agentura.ru/english/experts/pope

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