Threats against hydrogen researchers?

Many people suspect that hydrogen feul cells may one day replace fossil fuels, although other types of feul cells have also shown promise. Hydrogen presents many problems -- including storage, transportation and the means of production.

Right now, natural gas produces about half of America's hydrogen, with oil and coal accounting for most of the rest. Using fossil fuels to produce a non-fossil fuel energy source seems rather beside the point. Eventually, it is hoped, we will discover efficient ways to use electrolysis to split the H from the O in H20.

Enter the garage tinkerers, the independent scientists, the dreamers who hope to accomplish in their homes those conceptual and technical leaps which our large research institutions cannot or will not make. Are these would-be Edisons cranks or geniuses? Or are they a colorful combination of both flavors?

Reach your own conclusions. Surely, though, we can all agree that these people should be allowed to proceed unmolested.

Not far from my home, in Ventura County, California, a team of independent researchers led by one Ken Rasmussen has been looking into the problem of producing hydrogen from water. Then something odd happened:

On May 16, a technician who was one of a team of garage experimenters investigating a hydrogen-on-demand technology was run off the road near a rural intersection and accosted by four white, middle-aged males in black suits, carrying Glocks and Mac tens. The assailants were driving a late model, black Lincoln Town Car.

This comes just one month after Bill Williams was similarly threatened because of his alleged experimentation with running a vehicle on a Joe cell.

I'm not sure what a "Joe cell" is -- a group of people who like this blog, perhaps? -- but let that pass. Here's a bit more:

"Using information which could only have been obtained by monitoring digital cell phones and e-mail, the assailants portrayed to the victim that they had total control over his personal life, and was told to remain silent and to not talk to government authorities." He was told that if he did not comply, a family member would be killed. The assailants produced extensive details about this target family member. The threat also included himself, his family and all associates if he did not stop work on the process immediately.

To be frank, I'm hesitant to accept this story -- the details seem rather melodramatic. I am fully aware that this field of inquiry attracts a few oddballs and unstable claimants. Still, let's keep an eye out for similar reports. Watch for a pattern -- and for verification.