Murphy & Eric Rudolph

Just a few ramblings about the situation:

1)Murphy NC went from obscurity to world reknown over night.
2) There is still a lot of FBI, local police and TV crews here checking out Rudolph's many campsites throught the area including right in town!! Murphy lies in a river valley with mountains/hills all around.
3) I shop at a local hardware where the nails were purchased for the '96 bombing.
4) He was caught about 2.5 miles from my house by a local policeman who has been on the force for 1 year and is about 5' tall.
5) The policemen and his family have already received death threats, just for doing his job!! Apparently there are a lot of closet-sympathizers around here.
6) I work about 1/2 mile from grain elevators that Rudolph says he colected grain from to eat.
7) Murphy voted to reject liquor by the drink and beer sales today staying with the 1948 vote of no booze!
8) For a man who lived in the woods for 5 years, he sure had an amazing haircut when caught. I say amazing because it is extrememly hard to give a good haircut on the back of one's own head, and his was perfect. (there may be a few others ultimately spending some time behind bars.) Rudolph is easily recognizable around here as his picture is/was more plentiful than leaves!! No one in Murphy/Andrews should be able to claim they didn't recognize him.
9) Murphy will never be the same!

George, you were the first person I thought of when I heard they caught him! He did look very clean and well kept! I also saw on the news that there are many people that think he did nothing wrong. He had to get help to be "on the run" for that long of a period! Small world isn't it?

It's exciting when big busts go down nearby.

About 4 years ago, we had the Secret Service take down a conterfiet ring bag-man, literally at the end of my driveway. And my driveway is one car length long. Guns drawn, lots of shouting. Quite exciting.

Things are proably quite similar to when we had the "Texas Seven" taken down here and nearby Woodland Park a couple of years ago. Local information is usually more reliable than national coverage. Conversation with the local police you know will reveal a lot more than they tell tye news. It pays to be friendly and be known by the local constabulary.

A partime Sheriff's Deputy who works for me here at the plant said that Eric was very polite, cooperative, and well groomed. The Deputy spent 2 hours on guard with him in the Murphy jail. There apparently is a lot of sympathizers around here based on bits of conversations overheard. Not surprising that he probably had "help" during the last 5 years..

They are uncovering "campsites" all over the local area (encircling my house!!) within about 10 mile radius that he stayed at at various times, some of which contain caches' of food and weapons. I now often wonder if the security lights I have that have gone off in the middle of the night were all animals or not????

Just think if you had only caught the guy.. what a reward! Think of the H-L goodies then...

The southside Birmingham clinic blown up remotely by some low-lifeform-coward is < 18 miles from here. It cost an off-duty Birmingham policeman his life - and mutilated a nurse. I have no sympathy for anyone associated with such a coward. When convicted, they - even his barber - should receive the maximum penalties. Very little difference in them and the terrorists of 9/11, in my opinion.

I still think about that $1 million reward... I'd even buy another Eddystone... maybe a real lighthouse!

John