Friday, April 18, 2008
Late-Night Berkeley Crash Death Man Was a Truth Movement Activist
Crime Anneli Rufus — Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 3:51 PM
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The Berkeleyite whose apparent initial suicide attempt was thwarted by a homeless person at Bancroft Way and Fulton Street around 1:50 a.m. today — and who minutes later died after driving his Subaru at around 80 mph into parked cars on Yolo Street near The Alameda — has now been identified as 46-year-old Jasper Summer.
While it remains unknown what caused him to attempt suicide or crash his car, Summer was an interesting and politically passionate person.
Summer was an adherent of the "9/11 Truth movement" — which holds that the US government either perpetrated the World Trade Center attacks or, at the very least, allowed them to happen. He attended the February 12 Civic Center Park rally sparked by Code Pink's protests at the nearby Marines recruiting center. Wearing a purple shirt adorned with the phrase "911 WAS AN INSIDE JOB," he handed out fliers.
He voiced his opinion in comments posted online. Regarding an article inveighing "every single American daily newspaper to join us in our demand for an independent council to completely and thoroughly investigate the deaths of nearly 3,000 American citizens in the attacks of 9/11," "Jasper Summer - Berkeley, CA" wrote: "You are on the right side of history. Those who perpetuate the cover up by refusing to speak out are on the wrong side of history. Peace."
At a site promoting the video Oil, Smoke and Mirrors (tagline: "There is no war on terror"), Summer wrote: "The truth will eventually be known because the winners establish the truth. Eventually, I believe, the USA/UK/Israel will lose this war of resources and then, there will be hell to pay. I have one question for the conspiracy deniers, ‘Who are you protecting?'" — Summer was also among the creators of a 2005 petition to recall Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "California should not be known," the petition reads, "as the state with poor schools, poor healthcare, and poor disaster readiness, all caused by a governor serving only the rich."
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I remember that guy with the purple "Inside Job" shirt at the Civic Center City Council thing on Feb 12. He was definitely one of those "true believers" in the whole Truther movement. He was there all day trying to convince people.
It's really weird that he's dead now. When you see someone in person, suddenly they're no longer just a headline. Even if you never really knew them. I wonder what caused him to snap? I don't remember him acting depressed on Feb 12.
RIP. Obviously this "suicide" was an assassination. Strange how his last contact was with the BPD, who are clearly the storm troupers of the Cheney/NSA cabal.
One of the things you find when you google Jasper Summer is his campaign donations: In 2004, he is listed as a landscaper living in a North Berkeley ZIP code, for instance; the and gave more than $2,000 to the Democratic Party and another couple hundred bucks to MoveOn. For this election cycle, he's listed as having contributed $500 tto Dennis Kucinich.
It would appear that Mr. Summer was the partner of Jane Witkin-Summer, listed in some databases at the same address in North Berkeley. In contribution records, she is also liisted as a landscaper; she appears to have been the author or co-author of several books on environmental restoration.
Jasper Summer also posted about a year and a half ago that he was working to create a new system of coinage to be used as local currency. There is a picture of his with this post: http://www.relocalize.net/node/5344 (larger version: http://www.relocalize.net/user/50504).
I was a friend of Jasper's. He was a caring, likable guy with some unusual beliefs that he'd arrived at after much rational thought. He truly wanted to make the world a better place for everyone, and worked tirelessly for what he believed in.
Even if you disagreed with him, he'd value whatever you had to say and talk to you with a good-natured big grin on his face. He just liked talking to people: he'd introduce himself to strangers who walked by his house, just to chat with them for a while (not politically motivated -- just in a neighborhood way).
I'm angry at the terrible mistake he made -- a spur of the moment judgment error that will forever alter the lives of many people.
His death seems almost impossible. I'll miss him.
Also a friend of Jasper's, I applaud Mr. Matthews for his excellent tribute to Mr. Summer's memory. Jasper was everything he described: gentle, kind, friendly, and committed to making the world a better place. As for the comments by drekke, nothing constructive is accomplished by digging up information that really serves no other purpose than to invade the Summer family's privacy at what is obviously a very difficult time. Show some compassion. Leave them to grieve in peace.
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