-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:99FWSHOOT108/1:99FWSHOOT1080916 99.html Updated: Thursday, Sep. 16, 1999 at 20:29 CDT Ashbrook sent letters to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this summer By Karen Rouse Star-Telegram Staff Writer FORT WORTH -- Larry Gene Ashbrook sent at least two letters to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram this summer giving bizarre accounts of encounters with the CIA, psychological warfare, being assaulted by co- workers and being drugged by police. In the letters, dated July 31 and Aug. 10, Ashbrook complained that some people mistakenly believed that he was a serial killer or child abductor, or was linked to several high- profile crimes. "There were outlandish things in these letters," City Editor Stephen Kaye said. The first letter "rambled. It was hard to follow. It didn't seem very plausible. "My immediate reaction was that there was not much we could do for him." Then Ashbrook visited Kaye at the Star-Telegrams downtown office. But the man Kaye recalls meeting was unlike the man the nation has come to know as the man who shot seven people to death and wounded seven others in the latest shooting rampage. Ashbrook also killed himself. "Frankly, he was just the opposite of someone you'd be concerned about," Kaye said, describing him as a tall, thin man with somewhat long hair. "He was very cordial. He was very apologetic for bothering me. "I kept saying: `You're not a bother; I just can't do anything for you. These are hard things to prove that are in your letter.' " Kaye, who had made one failed attempt to contact Ashbrook by phone after receiving the letters, invited him to send a letter to the editor. "He said, `I'm sorry to take your time up,' " Kaye said. "He couldn't have been any nicer." Managing Editor Kathy Vetter also received copies of the letters from Ashbrook, and she wrote him a short reply that the paper could offer no remedy for his problems and suggested that he seek an attorney. Nothing in the letters appeared threatening, Vetter and Kaye said. Had they been, police would have been contacted, Vetter said. "I see letters like that two and three times a week," Vetter said. They are often from people who feel they're being persecuted, she said. "Unfortunately, you just can't look at these things and see danger. I wish I could do that, because if I had that ability, those things would go to the cops every time. But 99.99 percent of them are just people who want to vent. "Never before in my career have they turned out to be anything, and it's hard to believe that they ever will again," she said. The letters were given to Fort Worth police yesterday, after Kaye heard a radio program about Ashbrook and realized his connection to the letters. Detectives said yesterday that they had not had time to read the letters. Meeting Ashbrook left an impression on Kaye. "I don't think you can go through a situation like this, where you've had a contact with someone and then this has happened, and not feel something," said Kaye, who is part of the team of editors coordinating news coverage of the shooting. "It's just a little eerie that he was here and that he was reaching out to the newspaper," Kaye said. Yesterday, after residents became concerned that letters warning about germ warfare might have come from Ashbrook, investigators interviewed a man who had been circulating them. The man said he stopped distribution a couple of days ago after a police officer told him that residents were complaining and that he should stop. FBI spokesman Bob Garrity Jr. said there appeared to be no connection between Ashbrook and the letters. Karen Rouse (817) 390-7620 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- � 1999 Star-Telegram -- Terms and Conditions -- Send us your Feedback. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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