DB Cooper and the FBI – video on the Citizen Sleuths now on YouTube

Posted on December 12, 2017 by brucesmith49

By Bruce A. Smith

The Citizen Sleuths segment of the DB Cooper and the FBI video series is now available for viewing on YouTube. Link is below.

The Citizen Sleuths are a group of private citizens recruited by the FBI in 2009 to assist in the analysis of evidence pertaining to the DB Cooper skyjacking, the only unsolved case of its kind in the United States.

Although the FBI officially closed the case in 2016, the Citizen Sleuths and other researchers are still investigating. In particular, the Travel Channel’s host of the “Expedition Unknown” series, Josh Gates, supplied monies to the Citizen Sleuths to advance their examination of particles found on the tie left behind by DB Cooper. In the January 2017 broadcast of “Expedition Unknown,” these sleuths – in conjunction with McCrone Laboratories – revealed that over 100,000 particles have been discovered, including such rarities as pure titanium, rare earth minerals, and stainless steel. Continue reading →

Posted in DB Cooper | 8 Comments

Details released on last week’s shooting at G-K High School – gunman in cusotdy

Posted on December 12, 2017 by brucesmith49

Special to the Mountain News-WA

From James Lynch, Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office

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Graham-Kapowsin Shooter Charged

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TACOMA, WA – Today, Prosecutor Mark Lindquist announced the alleged gunman in the drive-by shooting that happened last week near Graham Kapowsin High School has been charged. Continue reading →

Posted in Bethel News, Cops and courts, Graham News, Kapowsin | 1 Comment

More true tales of communist Bulgaria from local storyteller Lu André

Posted on November 28, 2017 by brucesmith49

Special to the Mountain News-WA

By Lu André

From his collection: Life Stories – For the Mind and Soul

Wipers

I bought my first car when I was 32. That was back in communist Bulgaria.

Bulgaria turned communist at the end of WW II—1944, and for the next 15-20 years you could think of this once beautiful and prosperous country as a large prison. People who weren’t communists, or didn’t turned communist to survive, were stripped of almost everything human. On top of that, most goods were exported to the Soviet Union, our “Big Brother,” so food, clothing and necessities were really sparse. Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Lu Andre, Politics | 1 Comment

Calling all Carolers – Eatonville Christmas Tree-Lighting is a community affair

Posted on November 27, 2017 by brucesmith49

Special to the Mountain News

From Karelina Resnick

Join the Carolers for the

Continue reading →

Posted in Eatonville News, Events, Family | Leave a comment

DB Cooper News: Flap over letters sent to FBI makes headlines nationwide

Posted on November 21, 2017 by brucesmith49

By Bruce A. Smith

Headlines this week ranging from Fox News to the Seattle Post-Intelligence have proclaimed the FBI has just released a letter from DB Cooper that they received shortly after his iconic skyjacking in 1971.

This news item was introduced to the world’s media by Los Angeles film and TV producer Thomas J. Colbert, who is best-known for appearing in the 2016 History Channel documentary on DB Cooper. In the broadcast, Colbert vigorously promoted Robert Rackstraw as the skyjacker DB Cooper, but was unable to prove it to the FBI’s satisfaction nor the public’s.

The flap over the DB Cooper letter appears to be the latest in a promotional campaign by Colbert to promote Rackstraw, apparently to build momentum for a docu-drama filmed by his colleagues in Hollywood.

Besides the lack of any definitive proof linking Rackstraw to the skyjacking, the primary eye-witness, Flight Attendant Tina Mucklow stated on-camera for the History Channel (HC) that a photo of Rackstraw from that era was not a picture of the skyjacker.

Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, DB Cooper, Entertainment | 1,190 Comments

DB Cooper news: Interview with author Martin Andrade

Posted on November 8, 2017 by brucesmith49

By Bruce A. Smith

With the 46th Anniversary of DB Cooper’s skyjacking approaching us – Cooper hijacked his Northwest Orient jetliner on the evening before Thanksgiving in 1971 – it is certainly timely to discuss this iconic crime with another DB Cooper author, Martin Andrade, Jr.

Continue reading →

Posted in Book reviews, DB Cooper, People Profiles | 14 Comments

DB Cooper news: New video on the money find released

Posted on November 7, 2017 by brucesmith49

By Bruce A. Smith

I am pleased to announce a new video release on YouTube where I explore the events surrounding the discovery of part of DB Cooper’s ransom money in 1980.

Over $6,000 worth of twenty-dollar bills was found in two separate places at a beach called Tina Bar, a spot along the Columbia River just downstream from Vancouver, Washington.

First, on Sunday, February 10, 1980, an 8-year old boy named Brian Ingram found three bundles of weathered twenties when he was digging in the sand. The next day the bills were discovered to be from DB Cooper’s ransom delivered during his skyjacking eight years earlier, in November 1971. Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, DB Cooper, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Life Stories – For Mind and Soul

Posted on November 2, 2017 by brucesmith49

Special to the Mountain News-WA
By Lu André

From his collection: Life Stories – For Mind and Soul

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Creation

At first I was going to have the title as “There is no God” and I knew many will not read any further. I also thought that this is not entirely true—there is God. Being that all words describe something, god, as a word, describes and means something to whoever is using the word. The association that most people have with this word is what I do not like much. Our programming still holds much of the old worshiping script of a god in the sky. The primitive man saw mostly everything unexplained and life-threatening coming from up above, from the sky—thunder, ominous clouds, hail, flooding rains, scorching sun, winds etc. He also saw many good things happen “coming from the sky.” So, he made a “god” in the sky and gave it different names throughout the millennia. This is programmed deep in our brains and in our DNA. Continue reading →

Posted in Folk tales and stories, Lu Andre, Moth Stories | Leave a comment

Local storyteller shares unique tales from his life in Europe

Posted on November 1, 2017 by brucesmith49

Special to the Mountain News

by Lu André
From his collection: Life Stories – For Mind and Soul

The Spy Who Never Was

It was a dark, almost medieval time for Bulgaria back in the 1950s and 1960s. For less than half a century, the communist craze managed to bring down a thriving agricultural country, which had provided top-notch produce all over Europe, to industrial disaster just to please their so-called “Big Brother”—the Soviet Union—in their military madness. In their efforts to secure the “ruling of the people,” the Communists transformed peace- loving people into humans afraid of their shadow. Many who rebelled against the oppression, and many who didn’t but were “on the wrong side of the fence,” lost their lives. The “lucky ones” ended up in concentration camps or in prison. Many others led a miserable life for years. Of course, I am not talking here about the communists themselves. They enjoyed the power they had, to do whatever they wanted and have a great life. How do I know all this? Because I lived there during those times. Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Folk tales and stories, Life Stories -For Mind and Soul, Lu Abraee, Moth Stories | 2 Comments

DB Cooper and the FBI – New video investigates the parachutes and the death of Earl Cossey, the FBI’s chute expert

Posted on October 28, 2017 by brucesmith49

By Bruce A. Smith

I am pleased to announce a new video on DB Cooper posted today on YouTube. It is part of an on-going series I am developing on the DB Cooper case – the only unsolved skyjacking in the history of the United States. This segment is on the parachutes and the death of Earl Cossey.

Earl Cossey was the FBI’s de facto technical expert on the parachutes, and helped develop the Bureau’s thinking in evaluating Cooper’s skills as a skydiver, and his likely fate. He was found murdered in his Woodinville garage in April 2013, and his death is also unsolved.

The parachutes that were given to Cooper are part of the few pieces of evidence in the case. They are highly controversial as are the capacities of the parachutes and their ownership is unresolved. Hence, these factors cast a long shadow over the homicide investigation of Cossey. Continue reading →

Posted in Cops and courts, DB Cooper | Leave a comment