With Rudolph Plea, Some Wonder if He'll Tell Who Aided Him as Fugitive

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBA82IJD7E.html

MURPHY, N.C. (AP) - Kenny Jane Wade understands the anti-government sentiment that may have led some people here to help feed and shelter serial bomber Eric Rudolph during his years on the lam.

Wade, who owns a cabin near where some of Rudolph's stash of explosives was found this week, said the mistrust has been part of mountain culture since the days of the so-called revenuers - federal agents who arrested people for making moonshine during Prohibition.

"My grandfather owned a store," said Wade, a 58-year-old retiree. "He knew people that ran moonshine and he wouldn't turn them in because he knew their families would starve."

Although no one has admitted assisting Rudolph during his five years on the run in the Appalachian wilderness, investigators suspect he had help. Some here are wondering if there will be additional prosecutions now that Rudolph is talking to authorities as part of a plea deal to spare his life.

Sounds like the knuckledraggers are getting nervous.

[Ms_Mary]

1. Rudolph is NOT from NC. He's from Florida

and I'm really fricking tired of him being associated with us (ETA - media wise). The Knuckledraggers of which you speak came following a freak white supremecist named Nord Davis (the group was Northpoint), also associated with Bo Gritz. They came to the mountains with their anti-government group b/c they thought they'd be out of the goverment's eyes. They were not ever related to the native people here in any form or fashion. Half the idiot assholes quoted supporting him on the media are not from here.

I have to tell you, it really freaking frustrates me, can you tell? He is not one of us. PERIOD.

[Ms_Mary]

2. I'd be interested in knowing who helped him out too

I do think somebody did. He was stealing corn out of a silo in sight of my store. When my mom called me and told me to turn on the news, they'd found him, I thought she'd lost her marbles. He looked far too good to have been living in the wilderness for years. I do not believe he lived in the woods for all that time.

[Warpy]

10. What the plea bargain has prevented you from knowing

is who paid those folks to help Rudolph escape for so many years. That's a pretty hardscrabble part of the country, and I'd guess those folks had to have some financial help to keep Rudolph in groceries, clothes, and the occasional box of allergy medicine.

[Ms_Mary]

13. Hardscrabble? We aren't rich here and income potential is low

but the COL is lower too and it's not as if we are all impoverished. The comment just struck me as curious.

[NNN0LHI]

4. I didn't see no bumper stickers around where I live that said...

..."Run, Eric, Run" or any that said "98 US Hide and Seek Champion." Did you see any?

Don

http://edition.cnn.com/2001/LAW/07/27/harris.otsc/

<snip>HARRIS: Great question. There are many people in the area who, in the early days, resented such a massive invasion, some would call it, of law enforcement. Helicopters flew over Wednesday night church services, disrupting sermons and hymns, and normally easy roads to travel were clogged by police cars ferrying troops back and forth. So, some in the community initially began to cheer him on as some sort of hero. Bumper stickers said "Run, Eric, Run" or another one I saw that said "98 US Hide and Seek Champion." Add to this hand-me-down hostility in many families from the days when the revenue agents busted moonshine stills in the area. So, while there may be still some lingering sympathies, there's no evidence anyone is helping him, but one agent told me he believes one person is giving him some sort of aid, and that's why they're trying to stay in close touch with anyone who knew him.

[Ms_Mary]

5. Oh, yeah, my SIL's husband has one

Not because he supports Rudolph. There is a weird cultural sense of humor that left some people really amused that we were overrun with federal agents for years and they couldn't find him. Believe it or not, that wasn't really something supportive of Rudolph. Call it mountain sarcasm.

[NNN0LHI]

6. Strange sense of humor if you ask me. Rudolph is a fucking terrorist

Have you seen any "Run, Osama, Run" bumper stickers too? You know. Just to be sarcastic.

Don

[Ms_Mary]

7. I agree with you. Just providing some clarification.

And it is weird humor and most people around here weren't sympathetic once they figured out that he probably was guilty. The media has a way of picking the most outrageous or sensational story, or the person with the biggest mouth and the least common sense. Just Saturday at the salon, I was listening to a little old woman, native to the area, who was angry that he got off easily by making a guilty plea. Most people here actually do agree that he is a domestic terrorist. That doesn't mean they weren't irritated by the barrage of agents, some of whom were not easy to get along with.

[Bluebear]

3. "Kenny Jane Wade"??

Hoo boy!

[DemoTex]

8. Rudolph spent about three months working as a roofer around Brevard, NC ..

I know the roofing contractor and have seen correspondence to him from the FBI, ATF, and other law enforcement agencies. Rudolph had a fake identity, complete with NC drivers license and SS number. The roofing contractor did not find out it was Rudolph until after he had moved on to other things. Rudolph was clean-shaved with short hair, quiet, and a very good employee. And there he was, under their noses all the time!

[Ms_Mary]

9. I hadn't heard that one. My DH will be interested

he's an officer here so he was also involved in the search here to an extent. The people I know that knew him mostly say that he was quiet and polite and they had no idea he was into that kind of thing. *shrug* I never met the man, no clue myself.

[mitchum]

11. The Justice Department should make NO deal with that murderer...

until he is willing to roll over on his accomplices. He had many of them. Their assistance resulted in a prolonged search which cost additional millions of taxpayers' $$$

[NNN0LHI]

12. Usually these type of "deals" require him to tell everything he knows

And if they later catch Rudolph in just one lie the deal is void and off to death row he goes. As in do not pass Go and do not collect $200.00. I suspect he will be very careful not to make that mistake. That is why there is good reason for some folks to be sweating right now who may have helped this piece of human excrement while he was on the run. I hope they roll up the whole bunch of them.

Don