Helder WAS trying to make a smiley!

AP | May 9, 2002

[Trust but Verify]

Helder was aiming to form 'smiley face'
UW-Stout student tells officer of pattern to targets
Associated Press

Last Updated: May 9, 2002
Reno, Nev - The 21-year-old Wisconsin college student accused of putting pipe bombs in mailboxes in five states told authorities he was trying to make a "smiley face" pattern on the map with his targets, a sheriff said Thursday.

The first 16 bombs were arranged in two circles, one in Illinois and Iowa and the other in Nebraska. On a map, the circles could resemble the eyes of the 1970s happiness symbol. The final two bombs, found in Colorado and Texas, form an arc that could be the beginning of a smile.

"There was a comment made to one of my officers about his hope to make a smiley face when he was all finished," Pershing County Sheriff Ron Skinner said.

Skinner said Luke Helder made the comments to an undercover county officer shortly after his arrest outside Reno on Tuesday.

"His demeanor was very jovial. He didn't seem to be taking anything seriously at the time," the sheriff said.

An FBI official would not comment on the sheriff's report.

[Trust but Verify]

Well, as usual, FReepers were right on this from the get-go!

[Shermy]

SFT rocks!

[Joe Boucher]

obviously a democrat.

[Revolting cat!]

Well, as usual, FReepers were right on this from the get-go!

Yep, we've been saying all along: arrest Mister Rogers and all those radical Sesame Street characters!

[Dr. Eckleburg]

I don't believe any of this.

"Two bombs" don't make an "arc"; they make a straight line.

[Poohbah]

The question is, where was the third bomb going to be planted?

[fieldmarshaldj]

"Helder WAS trying to make a smiley!"

Well bless his heart. Maybe he can serve as Gore's campaign youth coordinator in '04...

[Jorge]

I just saw this on FOX news.
Very weird.

[zoso82t]

The mouth was not completed...he got caught, remember?

[nimc]

Previous threads on this today. Go here

[nimc]

He chickened out when he realized that they could predict his next moves. That took him 38 hours.

[Revolting cat!]

Paging Johnnie Cochran: "If it's a smiley face, the state has no case!"

[Poohbah]

If the face has no zit, you must acquit!

[nimc]

Here is something interesting. I'm by no means a Nirvana fan however I found this on a site dedicated to the band. It's a zonked out icon used by the band. It's his pattern. I'll bet they have found a map in his car with this drawn on it.

[Cold Heat]

They are already laying the groundwork that the guy was mentally ill.(no mention of public scool education)

This idiot better do 20 or I am going to build a 40 ft high protective wall with gun emplacements to prepare for the barrage of nuts that will come out of the woodwork.

[Centurion2000]

The question is, where was the third bomb going to be planted?

Thinking about a map and the pattern he was going after .... Wichita Falls, Abilene, Dallas, Commerce, Texarkana, Little Rock Ark, Memphis Tn would have been viable candidates for filling up the smile.

[Revolting cat!]

Nirvana fan

With fans like this dude, I'd kill myself too!

[SheLion]

Anyone see a smiley face from the rear? Scary. LOL

[Shermy]

[cake_crumb]

I can only say...if that was supposed to look like a smiley, then the art student's artwork is as bad as his music. :- )