posted 05-31-2003 10:54 PM            

Sat May 31, 5:02 PM ET

By Paul Simao

MURPHY, N.C. (Reuters) - The man suspected in a series of bombings in the southern United States, including at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, was captured on Saturday in the North Carolina town where he left his last trace, ending a five-year manhunt.

Eric Robert Rudolph was picked up before dawn by a young police officer on patrol in Murphy, North Carolina, in the remote mountain region where he is believed to have hidden out since 1998, law enforcement officers said.

Attorney General John Ashcroft hailed the capture of "the most notorious American fugitive on the FBI most-wanted list" and praised local police.

Rudolph, 36, faces federal charges in the July 1996 bombing at Centennial Olympic Park, which killed a Georgia woman midway through the Summer Olympics and injured more than 100 people.

He is also suspected in the deadly bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, in which an off-duty police officer was killed and a nurse injured, and blasts at an Atlanta abortion clinic and a gay nightclub, which caused injuries, but no fatalities.

Murphy, a town of about 1,500 people in western North Carolina, was where Rudolph's abandoned pickup truck was found after the Jan. 29, 1998, bombing of the Alabama clinic.

'NO ONE EVER GAVE UP'

"No one ever gave up on finding him, the search continued," FBI agent Chris Swecker told a news conference in Murphy. "We always thought he was up here in the mountains."

Officer J.S. Postell came across Rudolph lurking behind a store at about 4:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) while out on patrol. Postell, aged 21 and less than a year on the job, said the man ran from him and hid behind some milk crates.

Postell thought he might be dealing with a break-in and had no idea he had Rudolph in his clutches. He said he told the man to come out and he did, without resistance. He was "very cooperative, not a bit disrespectful," Postell told the news conference.

Rudolph initially gave a false name, Jerry Wilson, but he subsequently identified himself, and the FBI used his fingerprints to confirm his identity.

Rudolph was expected to make an initial court appearance in Asheville, North Carolina, on Monday.

The authorities declined to speculate on whether Rudolph had been helped in evading the intense and expensive manhunt, saying only that the investigation was still underway.

$1 MILLION REWARD

Cherokee County Sheriff Keith Lovin said Rudolph appeared in good health although he had lost weight. He had on blue work pants and a blue work shirt, with a camouflage jacket and a backpack when he was caught. He was not armed.

Postell did not want to comment on whether he deserved a $1 million reward offered for Rudolph's capture.

"It's just in a days work, I don't really deserve any credit," he said. "I was just doing what I was hired to do."

But he added, "I think I put a lot of people's feelings at ease ... I'm glad I was in the right place at the right time."

Rudolph was described by the FBI as a rugged survivalist and accomplished outdoorsman and was believed to have been holed up for years in the mountains.

In an area that traditionally distrusts outsiders and authorities, some people were sympathetic to Rudolph.

"There are people here who really liked him and agreed with him on abortion and other issues. They aren't glad that he has been caught," said Bill Gatti, 45, from the Murphy area.

Gatti said he knew women who had gone to school with Rudolph, who was considered a very good looking young man, adding, "I wouldn't be surprised if they had been hiding him."

The nurse disabled by the Birmingham blast, Emily Lyons, told CNN she would like to ask Rudolph: "Why, what was it that you picked that day, that place, for what purpose? ... What were you trying to tell everybody that day?"

Rudolph was believed to follow Christian Identity, a white supremacist religion that opposes abortion, homosexuality and foreigners.

posted 05-31-2003 11:03 PM            

Killing LIVING, breathing people for a fetus?

SAD.

By the way, those women going to get abortions aren't FORCED to get them by the State...they get them for a multitude of reasons. It's really none of my buisness seeing I'm a guy. As it should be.
I'll bet 99.9% of those women getting abortions
are going through a lot of drama. Demonizing them only makes it worse.

Not to mention the 100 people he maimed and the others killed in Olympic park.

Could have been one of your own Prof.

I hope they give that backwards RACIST @$$hole the shabbiest, dirtiest, most disqusting, cockroach ridden cell on the planet.

posted 05-31-2003 11:31 PM            

They are fetuses or exaggerated embryos.

Not fully conscious, sentient humans.

Second, I don't "hate" Christians or any other belief system for that matter. In fact I think Jesus the Christ (Esu Sananda) was one of the most enlightened persons living on earth at the time of Rome. Of course EVERY era has its PONTUS PILATE..I won't name names.ORGANIZED religion is where the trouble starts, because it's ruled by the word of man, not God.

This guy could have been LEGALLY a racist, and anti-abortionist and no one would have done anything to him.

He crossed the line and now he will pay the price.

posted 05-31-2003 11:51 PM            

I'm talking about being bombed at the OLYMPICS...not at the clinic. As an EXAMPLE.
Would you still say it's okay for your blood relative to get blown away because the bomber was a Christian/Anti-Abortionist?

PROF:"--State sponsored does not mean forced but yet it does nothing to prohibit.--"

What do you expect these women to do? Use a coat hanger in an alleyway like back in the dark ages? Who are you as a male to decide anyway? You aren't carrying it.

PROF: "-- Read between the lines mech. You rant at big government but don't mind state protected abortitoriums.--"

There is a BIG difference between having basic medical services and a "big government" and you know it.Safe Abortion clinics came about so women wouldn't have to resort to INSANE, damaging alternatives that risk their own lives and destroy their health.

Nobody "likes" abortion.That is pure fiction.

PROF:"--you don't mind collecting a state unemployment check either do ya--?

Personal insult.

Big deal, I collected for a few weeks when I got layed of from an FBO I used to work for..so what? I paid into it..and yours too.

PROF:"--So mech when does life begin?--"

Beats me...but I can only remember back to age 2. I don't remember.."coming down the chute" per se. I wouldn't call a fetus a fully functional, concious, sentient, thinking, breathing, human.

Do YOU remember being a Fetus Professor?

posted 05-31-2003 11:57 PM            

God incarnated Jesus the Christ(Esu Sananda) as a human on this planet to teach other humans at the time their lessons in "soul growth".

I wasn't living on ths planet at the time so I can't really elaborate on it..it's not my place to..or any other MAN for that matter.

posted 06-01-2003 12:16 AM            

Getting back to Rudolph...

If you are disputing the fact that he did indeed bomb Olympic park..that's your opinion and you are entitled to it. People working the case might have a different view of it than you do.

Just seeing what happen to that woman's face and the look of horror on those peoples faces in Birmingham is enough evidence for me if I was on a deciding Jury.

Age one?

posted 06-01-2003 12:45 AM            

life begins at conception...

abortion is to kill an unborn baby....

abortion is legalized culling...

promoted by the government (for the momment)

God is not a subject you need delve into mech...for you knowing nothing of God...

posted 06-01-2003 12:58 AM            

Sometimes I'll spit a little acid, but only when spat at first.

Again..a fetus is not sentient, thinking human being. It's more like a deformed zygote.

A baby is a crying,messy, burping, peeing, breathing, cooing, drooling, human being.

I respect your beliefs about abortion and agree with you somewhat, but I don't think they should be banned for reasons stated above.

As for my beliefs about God and Jesus the Christ..well insulting them is not very Christian of you.

Like I said, my beliefs are my own and I won't force them on anyone. Nor will I change any laws to suit them....unlike certain folks.That would be insulting to those who don't share my beliefs.

Seperation of church and state is the best way to avoid fighting between religious groups.

posted 06-01-2003 01:08 AM            

Is that "ungodly"? I don't think so.

It's up to the individual to define his or her beliefs in god on their own...not through the governments or another man's eyes.

By the way...some "righties" would agree with me...not just "lefties".

posted 06-01-2003 08:15 PM               

The FEDs setup a COMPOUND and moved in over 1200 there SUPPOSEDLY to look for Rudolph. What they were REALLY doing was surveillance on militia groups there.

Now these THUGS are saying they're checking into whoever HELPED Rudolph. So watch for Amerikans to be labled as 'domestic terrorists' and shipped off to Guantanamo's DEATH CAMP they're now touting.

NAZI GERMANY PART II run by sicko SATANIST PAEDOPHILES!!

posted 06-01-2003 08:37 PM            

"--May they and their disinforming lovers here BURN FOREVER IN HELL as they so richly DESERVE!--"

posted 06-01-2003 09:41 PM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by the professor:
Well I didn't find it so bad of what he did.

---

Imposing you own religious view on everyone else, despite the fact that abortion was never mentioned in the Bible.
You support another gospel than that of christ yet you assume the right to impose your hate filled agenda on everyone else.

Anyone actually opposed to killing would also be strongly agains war and capital punishment.

No posts against war/
No posts against state sanctioned murder/ capital punishment?

You are just a terrorist squalling support for murders committed in the name of (and in opposition to the teachings of) Gawd
You should be ashamed of yourself and your support of murder and terrorism.

posted 06-02-2003 12:51 PM            

Yes, islamic fundamentalists, christian fundamentalists, racist bigots, ......

.....any of these people who kill "in the name of God" or "superiority of race" or "because we need that oil"...need to spend their life behind bars.

But I won't let THE GOVERNMENT tell me WHO I need to believe is "a terrorist", frankly we have MANY of them in the Executive branch at the top.

As far as the death penalty? It should be illegal because this government can't be trusted with truth and justice. I am willing to bet many people have gone to the chair wrongfully accused...that is just the way our justice system works.

It works like this...Kill the poor...shelter and protect the rich.

posted 06-02-2003 02:28 PM            

show me where it says in the Christian Bible to "kill the infandel"

islam is a religion based on hate...

islam is a cult...

islam treats women as dogs

islam kills dogs

haven't heard of many Christian suicide bombers there mech...any as a matter of fact....

posted 06-02-2003 03:13 PM            

That's a fact.

Iv'e never met an islamic terrorist.

5 of my close friends are muslims and a few people I went to college with were.

Your definition of Islam is bigotted, unjust and completely without merit. I detect a hint of racism in it as well.

You'd make a perfect CIA terrorist Seeker.