Dubuque's Most Wanted

Wednesday Morning I woke up to what was probably the most unexpected bit of news in a long time, that Federal agents were arresting a man they suspected was "The Bishop". (OK, I will admit that the whole thing occasionally strikes me as something out of a Monty Python skit more than a serious news event.) It is more proof that you should never say: "It can't happen here!" (I actually quite saying that a few years ago after the "Smiley Face" mailbox bomber worked the area & we had to keep our mailboxes open for a few days.)

Basically, John Tompkins, allegedly "The Bishop", was charged with "sending pipe bombs and threatening mailings to investment companies in Denver and Kansas City, Mo., in an effort to drive up stock prices." ('Bishop' bomber suspect arrested, Telegraph Herald, 26 April 2007)

According to the same article here is how the whole thing went down:

"Federal agents, many with "FBI," "ATF" or "U.S. Postal Inspectors Police" emblazoned on their jackets, swarmed in front of the gray ranch-style house, located four homes down Grant from its intersection with Hillcrest. Hempstead High School sits atop a nearby hill.

A U.S. Postal Inspectors Mobile Command Center-Chicago Division van sat in the home's driveway. Local, Chicago and national television news crews congregated at the corner of Grant and Hillcrest, which had been closed to traffic by Dubuque police and federal agents.

Agents spent more than an hour loading a red four-door car onto the back of a flatbed truck. The car had been parked outside the residence. Agents also moved into and out of the home.

Earlier, agents determined from a photograph contained in one of the mailings that the man they were looking for may have been driving a red 1993 four-door Chevrolet Lumina -- the kind of car Tomkins owns.

Also Wednesday morning, bomb-sniffing dogs and a robot were dispatched to a pair of storage unit/garages at Penn Place Apartments, 3702 Pennsylvania Ave. -- about a mile from Tomkins' residence. An agent in a protective suit emerged from a Quad Cities Bomb Squad van and entered the storage units after the robot had breached the doors. Authorities detonated two small objects."

He is now in Chicago awaiting what will happen next. The question of bail will be 1 of the 1st things decided, tentatively next Monday. & depending on how the court sees the risk of flight, he either won't be given bail, or it will be set so high that he won't be able to raise it. It will probably be at least a year before he even goes to trial.

Like I said at the start, we tend to think "It can't happen here, not in DBQ." But, it can, & it did. Naturally, there was the article in Thursday's TH with all the typical "I can't believe it" quotes from the neighbors (Neighbor: 'The Bishop' bomb suspect a 'super cool' guy).

1 of the things that struck me is how many of these events are going on & we just don't notice them. These sort of things have become so common that they have become a bit of background noise we just ignore, until it suddenly becomes something here & now, involving us in some way. In this case, it turns out that he lives was not that far from where I do my laundry every week. In a way, that isn't all bad. It shows that we don't let these attempts at terror stop us from living our lives. &, in this case, it shows that the system works. That our law enforcement officials are doing their job & protecting us from harm. As much as they humanly can.

The VTech shootings are now in the what could we have done phase as far as reporting goes. & while that is good to do, esp if it turns out something that could have been done will be done next time, it also should remind us that there is only so much we can do. & that in a free society we will always live with risks that are never totally removable. (At this point I will refrain from going on about the attempts to turn the government into a nanny that will protect us from ourselves. I will just remind people who idealize the nanny state that even the best of nannies can't absolutely protect her charges. & that it is unrealistic, & undemocratic & unconstitutional to expect our government, federal or state, to do so.)

Anyhow, to get back to what I said about this whole thing being under my radar, here are a few of the articles, except for the 1 the day of the arrest, that I missed before now about the story:

Pipe Bombs Found in Kansas City, Chicago

Expert: 2 Bombs May Be From 'The Bishop'

Sketch Released in Pipe-Bomb Mailings

Authorities Release Sketch of Midwest Explosive Device Suspect Known as 'The Bishop'

Unabomber-Like Figure Baffles Feds

Unabomber-Like Figure Called 'The Bishop' Targeting Financial Institutions

Jan. Pipe Bomb Note: 'Bang You're Dead'

Authorities Arrest 'The Bishop' Suspect Accused of Sending Dud Pipe Bombs to Businesses

Meanwhile, I am wondering how long it will be til this is made into a Movie of the Week for television. & who will be cast to play "The Bishop" & the heroic U.S. Postal Inspectors Police officer who broke the case.

Until then, I am going to let my life go on, grateful that the case is apparently solved, trusting in God to protect me. I can't (& won't) let what has happenned lately with all the shootings, killings, etc, fill me so full of fear at what next that I will become so paranoid about every little threat. I know what common sense precautions to take, & with my job, I know what I need to do in an emergency. That is all I can do. To let fear rule is not only to let them win, it is to not trust God as I should.

(Update: 29 April 2007 - The Sat 28 Apr 2007 TH had an update on this that confirms my suspicions that this has all the makings of a Movie of the Week. Why? According to the article, Tomkins source of money for the investments that he was trying to manipulate through the threats he mailed were union funds that he had access to.

"The Chicago Tribune on Friday reported that investigators are looking into John P. Tomkins' activities in his role as secretary-treasurer of Local 1238 District 6 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

Investigators, unidentified by the Tribune, said they believe Tomkins could have used money from his union to purchase stock option contracts.

A spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers acknowledged the organization is "cooperating with the FBI and their investigation but we won't have any further comment until the investigation is completed." He did express curiosity over what he referred to as the Tribune's "vague references." "

Like I said, Made for TV Movie. Remember, you heard it here 1st, thus giving me a creative rights credit (& the money involved) to any future TV, or movie for that matter, project that may come along. & this includes book rights also.