-Caveat Lector-

McVeigh listened to militia-inspired Arizona broadcaster

<http://www.azcentral.com/news/0506cooper06.html>

Mark Shaffer
The Arizona Republic
May. 6, 2001

EAGAR - He lives in the only house atop a high mesa with a bird's-eye view
of scenic Round Valley.
Better to broadcast that way and look out for agents of the federal
government, say friends of William Cooper, whose apocalyptic,
militia-inspired shortwave radio programs attracted Timothy McVeigh as a
regular listener in the months before the Oklahoma City bombing.
When McVeigh needed written inspiration, he repeatedly read William
Pierce's The Turner Diaries. However, McVeigh is said to have turned his
shortwave dial to Cooper's invective for verbal inspiration. James Nichols,
brother of Oklahoma bombing co-defendant Terry Nichols, testified about
Cooper's broadcasts in 1996 during a pretrial hearing in Oklahoma City.
McVeigh even paid a personal visit to Cooper, who at the time was living
and broadcasting 30 miles up the highway in St. Johns, a couple of months
before the bombing in early 1995, said Nolan Udall, an Eagar repairman and
close friend of Cooper.
"McVeigh wanted his (Cooper's) help but wouldn't tell him what for," Udall
said. "Finally, Bill just got frustrated with him and told him to leave him
alone."
Cooper refused to respond to interview requests by telephone and e-mails to
his Web site, which peddles audio of his past broadcasts on his show, The
Hour of the Time, and keeps a running diary of his "siege" by the federal
government.
"Kiss my (expletive), and don't ever call this number again," Cooper said
before hanging up.
But Cooper, in his late 50s, has legal problems of his own as McVeigh's
execution draws near.
About three years ago, Cooper didn't appear in U.S. District Court in
Phoenix on charges that he failed to pay taxes from 1992 to 1994 and
submitted false information to a bank to obtain a loan. Federal law
officers vowed at the time that they would arrest Cooper eventually.
However, they cautioned that there would not be a repeat of Waco, where
more than 80 Branch Davidians died when their compound was burned in 1993,
or Ruby Ridge, where federal agents laid siege to Randy Weaver's backwoods
Idaho cabin and killed his wife and son.
Eagar Police Chief Scott Garms said his department has had a number of
discussions with the U.S. Marshals Service and the FBI about the best way
to take Cooper into custody.
"I've made my opinions known that there's no reason to go in and storm that
house and make a martyr out of him," Garms said.
Tom McCombs, chief deputy marshal for the district of Arizona, did not
return phone calls regarding Cooper.
Cooper noted on his Web site that he sent most of his family out of the
country in 1999 for "security reasons" and that "they are now safe from
Nazi Jack-Booted Thugs."
In more recent entries on his Web site, Cooper says that he was not able to
attend his mother's funeral because of a threat from the "Nazi Gestapo" and
that federal agents had attempted to coerce his daughter into helping with
his apprehension.
"I am prepared and ready for them. I will resist this tyranny even unto
death," Cooper posted on his Web site.
Udall said the only way the situation can be handled peacefully is if
federal agents will answer Cooper's questions about the government's right
to collect taxes.
"Someone is going to die if they go up there with force because Bill
carries a handgun on himself at all times," Udall said.
Just getting Cooper out of town would be a relief to many people living in
the Eagar area. Udall said his family owns land on the mesa near Cooper and
has been subdividing it. There have been numerous run-ins between Cooper
and real estate agents and Udall's brother, Jeff, a former Eagar town
council member, Nolan Udall said.
Jeff said he was accosted by Cooper near Cooper's house one day on a public
road when Jeff was checking on his family's land.
"He started screaming obscenities, and I've never been so startled in my
life," Jeff Udall said, adding that Cooper also "waylaid" a new football
coach at Round Valley High School who had come for a vantage point to shoot
a videotape. "He sits up there isolated and locked in his little world,"
Udall said. "The people in town have talked about the situation with him
being here but figure it's best just to leave him alone because it really
could be another Ruby Ridge."
Glenn Jacobs, a longtime Eagar resident and newspaper publisher and once a
close associate of Cooper, said Cooper has "burned a lot of bridges" since
moving to Round Valley in the late 1990s.
"We had our break when I denounced him as a murderer and he said I was
Judas," Jacobs said, adding that he was wrong in his accusation against
Cooper. "But the good thing is that he started a low-power radio station
here that plays old music, which I like."
----------
Reach the reporter at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or (602) 444-8057.

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