Comments embedded in red. Thanks.
Man, I have a hard time replying when the post is within my own post cyber and with my tired eyes the red is hard to see but I will try to answer your questions as best as I can.
No I don't have a link. I read it here that he was suppose to be unloading a barge and no one unloads a barge in the dark. In fact no one works in the dark unless it is the men who work for the power company and the lights are out. Bright lights are always on. If not that would be a safety hazard. Lighting is a necessity. Tall poles with halogen lights illuminate yards once the sun goes down. It also is done so when the police come by checking they can easily see anyone who may be out on the yard that may be trying to steal something and take it from the yard.
We really don't know where the supervisor was. He easily could have been down at the barge supervising the unloading of the barge.
I have no clue what you mean by this part.
"Hmmm, it is big equipment that you would not try to sneak out through a hole in the fence but ... most companies have mutual agreements to take turns sleeping part of the shift or skipping off for a break 'offsite'. I am certain it wasn't that strict that Ron or others needed 'permission' as long as work got done and the supervisor looked good."
I have never heard of a bridge construction company affording their workers naptimes. And I certainly have never heard of a company allowing beer runs to be made on their property if they value their jobs and livelihood. From what I gather this is a prominent outfit who does work for the government including NASA. To qualify to do that they have to have strict rules in place and must be an alcohol and drug free workplace.
This is not the kind of company that is pouring concrete in driveways or home foundations. The bridges they build are massive and every bridge company I have ever known that is under government contracts is strict with their guidelines and what they expect of all of their employees. If something went wrong due to alcohol., drugs or plain negligence they could be stripped of their ability to bid government jobs. That would be devastating to a company that does this type of work with local, state and the federal government. So no, I don't think it was feasible they were paying them to take naps, go for beer runs or whatever.
The heavy duty equipment is not the only million dollar assets they have. There are all sorts of highly expensive tools on a bridge construction yard plus racks and racks of oxygen, acetylene and expensive huge welding machines. The list goes on and on... from semis to haul the precast H or I- beams, pick up trucks, and concrete mixer trucks that go out to the bridge span to off load concrete at the bridge site . No reputable company leaves a glaring hole in their fence welcoming thugs to come in to take what they have.
Since I had never heard of PDM before this of course I don't have a link to what security system they had before. However I don't think Ron's lawyer would mention what they have now if it wasnt the same system that was there when Ron worked there. It would make no sense for Shoemaker to comment on what they just installed when he was referring to Ron and him working there. I also have not seen a link that PDM did not have this system in place when Ron worked there.
And to answer this.
"Like Chelsea's speculation and recollections this is also pure counter speculation, right?"
It is absolutely not speculation. I worked for a large bridge company for 20 years. We had notices sent to us continuously by the government to make sure our oxygen, acetylene and all other bottled gases on the property were kept under tight security so they would not fall into the wrong hands. We had a large work yard too (acres and acres) and it was all fenced in with a 12foot high fence with razor wire at the top. Employees had to go into the gate inside the yard to park their vehicles and the gate had a key pad where a code had to be entered to open it up and the code had to be reentered when we were exiting the yard. When the OSHA inspectors came unannounced they always inspected our security measures.
We occasionally would have someone cut the fence with fence cutters and stole items on the yard. The yard foreman walked the fence line everyday checking it. When he found a disruption in the fence he immediately called the police to come out and after they did their investigation the fence was immediately fixed.
IMO
