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thedrifter
08-23-07, 06:30 PM
Airman investigated for remarks on Web site
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Aug 23, 2007 16:35:31 EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — An aide to the California National Guard’s top general was suspended Wednesday, pending an investigation into Internet postings in which he advocates mass violence and denigrates state officials, women, minorities and gays.

The guard placed Senior Airman Travis Gruber, 27, personal assistant to Maj. Gen. William Wade II, on paid administrative leave shortly after the Contra Costa Times raised questions about his Web site, Howtokillpeople.com.

Investigators will “look into the content of the Web site and make a determination into whether any of it is a violation of military law and regulations,” said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Jon Siepmann, who confirmed that Gruber held his position for more than a year.

Gruber’s job gave him access to the state’s leaders, such as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. In one posting, Gruber questioned the governor’s intelligence, and in another, he posted a fake Internet conversation in which he used profanity to describe Schwarzenegger.

Military law forbids soldiers from using “contemptuous words” about civilian leaders.

Gruber said Wednesday in a statement released through Siepmann that he is “sorry if I have misrepresented or left a black mark on the California Military Department. I was under the impression that I was writing anonymously.”

In the statement, he added that he does not “condone acts of violence or aggression.”

Ellie