[LeArc] More Pipe Bombs Found in Nebraska; Some Leads in Iowa, Illinois Bombs

[Duane Whittingham]

OHIOWA, Neb.  � Five pipe bombs were found Saturday in rural Nebraska 
mailboxes, heightening fears among Midwesterners already on edge 
after similar bombs injured six people in Iowa and Illinois the day 
before, authorities said. 


Federal officials had described the earlier bombings as an act of 
domestic terrorism and said anti-government propaganda and notes 
warning of more "attention getters" were found nearby. 

It appeared that the five devices discovered Saturday also were 
accompanied by letters, at least one of them identical to those found 
in eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois, FBI Special Agent Jim 
Bogner said. 

Unlike the bombs found Friday, authorities said, none of the bombs in 
Nebraska exploded. 

After Saturday's discoveries, postal inspectors in Iowa and Illinois 
curtailed inspections planned for thousands of mailboxes. Mail was 
suspended in the area and officials did not say how soon it would 
resume. 

"We're using all of our resources for investigation and apprehension 
of whoever is responsible," said Rick Bowdren, inspector-in-charge of 
the Midwest division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. 

He urged people across the Midwest to use caution in opening their 
mailboxes and said anyone who sees tape, wire or anything unusual 
around a mailbox should report it their local post office. 

"We are asking postal patrons to keep their mailboxes open. We would 
recommend they tape it open," Bowdren said. "That way the carrier 
making a delivery can look in and patrons can look in and that 
anxiety factor will be alleviated." 

The devices found Saturday, near the central Nebraska towns of 
Ohiowa, Columbus, Dannebrog, Davenport and Scotia, had been placed in 
the mailboxes, not sent through the mail, said Weysan Dun, assistant 
special agent-in-charge of the FBI's Omaha office. He said four were 
found by mail carriers and one was discovered by a resident. 

"For the individuals or individuals who may have been responsible for 
this and who may be listening: You have gotten our attention," Dun 
said. "We are not certain we understand your message. We would like 
to hear from you. You do not need to send any more of these devices." 

Earlier Saturday, Bogner said authorities had some leads on who may 
have planted pipe bombs in at least eight rural mailboxes in eastern 
Iowa and northwestern Illinois on Friday, but they didn't know if one 
person or several people were responsible. 

Four postal workers and two residents in Illinois and Iowa were 
injured in the explosions, including one woman who remained 
hospitalized in fair condition Saturday. 

The note that had been left with the pipe bombs said more "could be 
delivered to various locations around the country," and postal 
officials in Washington on Friday had advised mail carriers across 
the country to be cautious. 

A map of the bombs found Friday forms a jagged circle straddling the 
Mississippi River and covering part of eastern Iowa and the northwest 
corner of Illinois. 

Saturday's pipe bombs were found about 350 miles west of there, not 
far from Interstate 80, which runs through both regions. 

"You might find a beer can in a mailbox every once in a while around 
here, but not a bomb. Somebody obviously is screwed up in the head," 
said Cathy Meyer, an Ohiowa resident and former postmaster in the 
area. 

"This obviously is very, very troubling that someone would do this," 
Meyer said. 

Gorlyn Nun said he wasn't aware of the explosions in Iowa and 
Illinois when he walked down his gravel driveway Saturday morning and 
opened his mailbox to find a pipe inside with a battery attached to 
it. 

"I opened it up, my mail was there and there was a clear Ziploc bag 
in there. I could see it was a pipe and it had a 9-volt battery in 
there," he said. 

The 59-year-old carpenter said he took his mail out and left the 
device behind, then called the local sheriff. The state patrol later 
arrived and detonated the pipe bomb. 

Postal officials said the bombs that were found Friday were 
accompanied by typewritten notes in clear plastic bags that 
began: "Mailboxes are exploding! Why, you ask?" 

Then it said, in part: 

"If the government controls what you want to do they control what you 
can do. ... I'm obtaining your attention in the only way I can. More 
info is on its way. More 'attention getters' are on the way." 

It was signed, "Someone Who Cares." 

Officials described the bombs as three-quarter-inch steel pipes 
attached to a 9-volt battery, which appeared to be triggered by being 
touched or moved. 

Jon Petersen, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms, said some of the bombs went off when the mailbox was opened 
and others went off when they were moved. 

Postal officials were working with the Iowa state crime lab to devise 
a gadget similar to a fishing pole that would allow inspectors to 
open a mailbox without having to get close to it, said Ron Jensen, a 
postal inspector from Des Moines, Iowa. 

In Illinois' Carroll County, Sheriff Rod Herrick spent Saturday 
morning opening mailboxes for worried residents. He fastened a clamp 
to the mailbox handle, tied fishing line to the clamp, then stepped 
behind his car and pulled on the line. 

"It's no high-tech thing. I'm not a bomb expert," Herrick said. "But 
I need to do something to keep the calm here." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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