vault backup: 2026-05-13 21:30:09

20 - ORGANIZATIONS/PRIVATE/Park On Meter.md

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+---
+category: "Private Organization"
+tags:
+  - Organization
+  - Organization/Military
+  - Organization/Intelligence
+  - United_States
+  - Arkansas
+  - 1980s
+  - Contra_War
+  - Dark_Alliance_Investigation
+summary: Arkansas parking meter manufacturer allegedly used as a front for manufacturing weapons parts for the Contras, with connections to Webb Hubbell.
+---
+Park On Meter Inc. was a small manufacturer of parking meters located in Russellville, [[Arkansas]], that was allegedly used as a front for manufacturing weapons parts for the [[Contras]].[^1]
+
+### Weapons Manufacturing Allegations
+
+Former Air Force intelligence officer [[Terry Reed]] claimed that Park On Meter was secretly manufacturing parts for M-16 rifles as a subcontractor on a CIA weapons project to supply the Contras. The *Washington Post* confirmed in 1994 that the company "did make some gun parts for Iver Johnson," another Arkansas manufacturer that shipped weapons to [[Nicaragua]] through a Mexican distributor. The Post dismissed the parts as "firing pins, not M-16 bolts as the book contends."[^1]
+
+### Key Personnel
+
+Park On Meter's former secretary and corporate lawyer was [[Webb Hubbell]], who was also the brother-in-law of the company's owner. Hubbell admitted to a *Time* magazine reporter that POM was also making rocket launchers.[^1]
+
+Iver Johnson, the arms company near Little Rock that POM supplied, "did ship a load of weapons to Nicaragua through a Mexican distributor, according to former plant engineer J. A. Matejko," the *Washington Post* confirmed.[^1]
+
+### Footnotes
+
+[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Chapter 6: "They were doing their patriotic duty"