BruceSmith

I am. And I never address myself in the third person, either.

I believe you have your Truth Villains reversed, Mrs. Cooper. It is I, Prince Bruce who corrected Sail's error.

Thanks for the corrections, Beaver One. And thanks for the stories. I enjoyed the lunch, as well.

I beg to differ: In my professional AND personal experience, people lie for several reasons: 1. SEX 2. MONEY 3. LOVE 4. POWER 5. RESPECT and INFLUENCE

Sail, yes it was a great time with Ralph Hatley, but I think you've mixed up stories. I had said that Bill Mitchell had told me that he had told Jo that Duane's ears were so huge that he would surely have remembered them, and he didn't. That interview will follow shortly.

Greetings Everyone, Sail, his wife Michelle, and I went to see Ralph Hatley today. Here is my report: ********************************* I traveled to see Ralph Hatley (RH-2) today at his DZ in Eagle Creek, Oregon, and was honored with a ride and the delightful company of Sailshaw and his wife, Michelle. Ralph is a robust looking 77-year old guy, with a big pot belly, a big smile, and twinkle in his eye. Yes, he comes across in a rough, authoritative manner that can easily be construed as that of a curmudgeon. But I found Ralph to be a delightful man to interview over lunch, chatting about DB Cooper. However, he is a man who is cautious and reserved. When we approached controversial topics, such as the role of Earl Cossey in Norjak, he rebuffed many of my questions behind a façade of “I don’t remember,” or I don’t know.” Hence, we had to warm up to our topics while eating a lovely lunch in bucolic Estacada, Oregon. At first, Ralph provided some wonderful background, historical points and factoids: He grew up in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, and his great-grandmother walked the Oregon Trail as a barefoot kid and her family. Ralph said that he joined the military in 1953 at 16, and served in the 82nd Airborne. He also claimed that he flew DB Cooper’s 727 after Northwest had sold it to a cargo company, and he flew a run to Salt Lake City with a friend who was also the pilot in command. Ralph has a commercial pilot’s license, but he is not rated for a 727, so he back-tracked during the conversation to restate his position, “I was invited to fly the plane.” RH-2 also told us that he jumped with the Golden Knights in Europe, but that he did not know Ted Braden. Ralph went to Gresham High School, along with Ted Mayfield, whom he taught how to skydive. Ralph not only confirmed the allegation that Ted had been arrested for armed robbery, but he also gave us the details. RH-2 told us that Ted had been a part-time delivery driver for a bottling company and knew the work schedules and cash flows of the grocery stores that he serviced. As a result he knew to rob them on Sunday nights when the till was at its fullest. Ralph said that Ted got caught, “the first time,” when he was robbing “Mr. G’s Market” in Oregon City. As for DB Cooper, Ralph told us that “there was nothing difficult about that jump.” He also said that he had told the FBI that the skyjacker was an experienced skydiver “even before they gave him the money.” RH-2 described many encounters with FBI agents throughout the early stages of the investigation, and joked that he told one agent that he in fact knew a skydiver named Dan Cooper in Moses Lake, but he was only 20 years old and wore glasses. He was also interviewed by Jules Mattson, the Portland SAC, and over a lunch RH-2 delivered a photo of the “Century Skydivers of Vancouver,” an elite group of local jumpers. Later, a special investigator from the San Francisco FBI office asked for an interview with Ralph and grilled him on the photograph. Ralph toyed with the G-man, and then in pique of disgust told the guy, who was named Special Agent Bond, that he was the person responsible for giving the photo to Mattson originally. Ralph was hard to pin down on the question of what parachutes were used and by whom, but he did say that if he was Cooper he would want to use a chute that had a rigger’s card, and one that matched the documentation on the rigging pins so that he would be sure he would have a “fresh chute” free of any electronic devices or tampering by the FBI. RH-2 also discussed his relationship with Earl Cossey, whom he described as a good friend. However, he hadn’t seen Coss in about ten years, and has never met Coss’ kids, who are now middle-aged adults. Nevertheless, he said that he had beaten Coss in many skydiving competitions, “But he beat me a few times, too.” Ralph characterized their friendship as mostly surrounding skydiving. Nevertheless, he said that Coss was only an average poker player and that he, RH, had to “save Coss' ass a couple of times to make sure he didn't get the shit kicked out of him.” Hatley also told us that the rental houses that Coss renovated had originally been embezzled by Cossey from his mother. So, Ralph knew about the alleged shady side of Earl Cossey, and agreed that Cossey could be provocative. But he also honored his friend by recalling how beloved Coss was by his students in the middle school where he taught. Further, Ralph didn’t have anything to offer on the murder of Earl Cossey, though. As for the Amboy chute, RH-2 said that Coos had indeed called him about the matter, but only spent the time bad-mouthing the FBI and ragging on their inept handling of Norjak. RH-2 shared many of the same opinions. “The FBI only has tunnel vision.” After a solid hour of chatting, Ralph suddenly announced: “I’m going to tell you something that’s going to blow your asses out of the water.” He proceeded to tell us a story that occurred in the 1977-1978 time period. Ralph said he was contacted by his attorney out of the blue one day. The lawyer said that he had a client that was looking for a “go-between” with the FBI, and wondered if Ralph would agree to carry the client’s requests to the Bureau. Ralph agreed. The attorney said that his client had knowledge of the identity of DB Cooper and wanted to “come out of the cold.” The client was looking for a promise of immunity from prosecution. Ralph contacted Ralph Himmelsbach (RH-1), whom he had become friends with through their mutual aviation activities. Himmelsbach said he was willing to hear the offer, but wanted to see a DB Cooper $20 bill before anything substantive could proceed. RH-2 relayed the information to the attorney, who responded that his client also wanted immunity for a murder. Again, RH-2 relayed the information. Himmelsbach replied that he would need to involve the District Attorney in the jurisdiction where the murder had taken place. Again RH-2 and the lawyer relayed the messages. The murder apparently took place in Washington, and Hatley told us that Himmelsbach had contacted the Washington state authorities, who turned down the murder-immunity deal. Subsequently, client’s offer to reveal the facts of the case was withdrawn, according to Hatley. However, Hatley told us that he got the full story on the attorney’s deathbed. He also said that the client is deceased, as well. This is what Ralph Hatley learned at that juncture. Hatley told us that the attorney was Jim Leubke of Portland, Oregon, and that the client was a man whom Hatley knew. In fact, Hatley knew the client’s wife as well, who was a teller at a local savings and loan bank. Even though Hatley refused to tell us the name of the client, he shared the details: The client was part of DB Cooper’s ground team, who all conspired kill DB Cooper for the money. They buried Cooper’s body on the slopes of Mount St Helens before it blew in 1980, and the fate of the money is a bit murky. RH-2 said he was told that the wife “got rid of it when she realized it was hot.” However, the client also told the attorney to tell Himmelsbach that he “would see some of the money before he retired.” Since this was taking place in 1978, it appears that it predates the money find at Tina Bar in 1980 and Himmelsbach’s retirement in early April 1980. Despite not revealing the name of the client, RH-2 said that Himmelsbach knows the name of the client, and in fact Hatley says that he told RH-1 everything about the story. “If you ask Ralph Himmelsbach for the name of the client and he gives it to you, I will confirm it for you - but I’m not going to tell you.” We all – Dwight, Michelle, and I – pushed Hatley for the name, but he wouldn’t budge. However, he did relent a bit and told us that the client was also responsible for another murder, one that occurred in the Sandy, Oregon area. Hatley said, “He got away with that one.”

A great offer, Bob. Can you give me your attorney's phone number and that of Richard McCoy? I'd like to begin the process of confirming the facts of your story. As you know, I got nowhere when I asked Nick O'Hara about your story. Lastly, how do you pluralize your name? Me, it's just "Smiths." Easy-peasy.

Hunh? "Knoss" is most certainly a noun, a proper noun as Sister Michaelangline taught me in 5th grade. Bobby! How can you make a mistake like this? And you want to be my editor? Whew....

Well, if we have a Tina Bar AND a Tena Bar, maybe we have two Knosses. Speaking of which, what exactly is the plural form of Knoss? Knoss's, Knossi, Knosses? Or the Latin form, Knossae? Georger, help! We have a syntactical problem, here.

Maybe D-Web took you to the wrong beach, Jo. The rest of us go to Tina Bar. I'm not sure where Tena Bar is. Please explain. T'anx.

Hi Everybody, Geoffrey Gray is entering the DB Cooper-Was-A-Spy sweepstakes. This time he is presenting information that DB Cooper was a Comic Book-reading French Canadian commando for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Security Services Division. And he got this from a guy who has subsequently disappeared. Information like this seems ideal for the DZ. Here is my synopsis of GG's latest: A Hot-ish Lead From Geoffrey 377 just sent me a link to Geoffrey Gray's db cooper site, where he talks about getting a mysterious lead to DB Cooper from an individual who has subsequently disappeared. But GG tells us the gist of what this individual told him, and basically it is that a Canadian "SOG" trooper did it after getting kicked out of the SOG unit, which is actually an RCMP unit. The motivation of the skyjacking gets a little murky, but it seems that the Canuck was being trained to do the hijacking as part of an official Canadian op to frame Quebec separatists, who just happened to be Marxists, and they would be blamed for the American skyjacking when planted Norjak money would be discovered in their possession. Why the guy went ahead and did the job even though he had been kicked out of his unit is not clear. Maybe he just likes skydiving in WA in the rain. Better than snow in Quebec, eh? Mon Dieu! Ironically, as it turns out my ex-wife was arrested on an RCMP sting operation under very similar circumstances. She did 6 months in prison before they kicked her out because she was pregnant, a total revolutionary and organizing an inmate union, starting an inmate newsletter, and was otherwise kicking ass and talking truth to power. She initially got stung by the RCMPs because some of her friends were blowing up buildings in Quebec and were hard-core separatists. If it wasn't GG, you would think it was Jo posting on huntfordbcooper. Remember, those Canadians use "loonies" and "toonies." Lastly, my first attempt to emmigrate to Quebec, in 1970, was turned down because they already had too many long-haired American hippies with no job skills who avez parler francais comme merde. My next attempt in 2001 went awry when the above ex chose not to file the necessary paperwork, which is when I got on a boat and went home.

A news article on Oregonlive.com dated Aug. 3, 2000 says this: http://www.oregonlive.com/special/current/dbcooper.ssf?/columnists/boule/00/0803_boule.frame "Duane took Jo on a side trip along the Columbia River. Duane knew the area well. "He told me what was up that logging road, or up on that hill." A short while later, Jo says her husband pointed and said to her, "That's where D.B. Cooper walked out of the woods." "I said to him, 'How do you know that?' And he says, 'Maybe I was on the ground.' I just took it as a joke." I don't understand how you can Discuss D.B.Cooper in 1979 and not know whoe he was until 1996. Explanation? Oh, Nimi, you is asking good questions. I'll be paying close attention to the answer you receive...

A Hot-ish Lead From Geoffrey 377 just sent me a link to Geoffrey Gray's db cooper site, where he talks about getting a mysterious lead to DB Cooper from an individual who has subsequently disappeared. (!) But GG tells us the gist of what this individual told him, and basically it is that a Canadian "SOG" trooper did it after getting kicked out of the SOG unit, which is actually an RCMP Security Services unit. The motivation of the skyjacking gets a little murky, but it seems that the Canuck was being trained to do the hijacking as part of an official Canadian op to frame Quebec separatists, who just happened to be Marxists, and they would be blamed for the American skyjacking when planted Norjak money would be discovered in their possession. Why the guy went ahead and did the job even though he had been kicked out of his unit is not clear. Maybe he just likes skydiving in WA in the rain. Better than snow in Quebec, eh? Mon Dieu! Ironically, as it turns out my ex-wife was arrested on an RCMP sting operation under very similar circumstances. She did 6 months in prison before they kicked her out because she was pregnant, a total revolutionary and organizing an inmate union, starting an inmate newsletter, and was otherwise kicking ass and talking truth to power. She initially got stung by the RCMPs because some of her friends were blowing up buildings in Quebec and were hard-core separatists. If it wasn't GG, you would think it was Jo posting on huntfordbcooper. Remember, those Canadians use "loonies" and "toonies." Lastly, my first attempt to emmigrate to Quebec, in 1970, was turned down because they already had too many long-haired American hippies with no job skills who avez parler francais comme merde. My next attempt in 2001 went awry when the above ex chose not to file the necessary paperwork, which is when I got on a boat and went home.

Yeah, Bobby, I feel pretty good about making the top ten.

Here's my vote: 1. 377 2. EVick 3. Parrot 4. Nimi Wrecks 5. Robert 99 6. Shut 7. Sail 8, 9, 10: 3-Way tie for last place: Jo, Bobby and me. Bruce, there is something wrong with your methodology if you rate me as being "nicer" than Shutter. Robert99 Robert- Nine-Nine. Are you actually going to argue with a bottle of red wine? Methodology? Harummph. You tight-assed scientific types can get me pissed. Y'know what I mean? GD, where's that bottle..... Speaking of wine, 377, what do you think of "14 HANDS?" I'm voting it the best cheap bottle of red wine available in grocery stores in Cooper Country!

Yup, me, too. C'mon, Jo. We's all waitin' for weeks for your Big Announcement. If you were truly NICE, don't you think you would tell us already???

It's my understanding that the exact spot is now about three feet in the air, as the river bank is much lower. I find that very satisfying in a Zen-kind-way. Up in the air, much everything else in Norjak. And 377 thinks I'm coo-coo for thinking so much about levitation, too! Oh, well, at least he's nice.

Yup. You?

Here's my vote: 1. 377 2. EVick 3. Parrot 4. Nimi Wrecks 5. Robert 99 6. Shut 7. Sail 8, 9, 10: 3-Way tie for last place: Jo, Bobby and me. Bruce, there is something wrong with your methodology if you rate me as being "nicer" than Shutter. Robert99 Robert- Nine-Nine. Are you actually going to argue with a bottle of red wine? Methodology? Harummph. You tight-assed scientific types can get me pissed. Y'know what I mean? GD, where's that bottle.....

Here's my vote: 1. 377 2. EVick 3. Parrot 4. Nimi Wrecks 5. Robert 99 6. Shut 7. Sail 8, 9, 10: 3-Way tie for last place: Jo, Bobby and me.

Nice Test: Who's the nicest in the DZ? That's right folks, it's time to vote for your favorite poster at the DZ in terms of niceness: Here are the top ten posters of the last few weeks. Rank in order of niceness: 1. Robert Blevins 2. Jo Weber 3. Cousin Brucie 4. Nimi Wrecks 5. EVick 6. Robert 99 7. Parrot Head 8. 377 9. Sailshaw 10. Mr. Shutter

Well, I suppose everybody would like me to be nicer. But let me ask you this: 1. Was Jesus always nice? 2. Okay, that might stick in your craw a bit, so how about this: Was Henry VIII nice, or his daughter, Elizabeth? Winston Churchill? Woodward and Bernstein? Bob Dylan? DB Cooper? Is Ralph Himmelsbach being nice when he charges $600 for an interview from a guy who gets 800 bucks a month in social security? That said, I've had three wives and one mother ask me why I can't be nicer. So, I get it that I'm a little rough around the edges. Bottom Line though, is: do you like reading what I write?

There is a special aspect to the Raleigh's. If you read Band of Brothers, you will realize how and why Raleigh's became the cigarette of "choice" for airborne troops, especially the 101st. To smoke a Raleigh was a signature moment - I'm an airborne trooper and you're not. Nicotine-tarred fingers and Raleigh's tell us a little about DBC.

It does. What it tells me is that Georger hates your guts. The rest of us are more restrained....and busy with other thoughts.

Half or more? Really, Bobby, that's overstating it a bit. I can see that math was never your strong suit. It's true that Georger went on a "Bobby Blevs" tirade after he left here, which is bizarre, and Shutter had to impose a two-post per day limit on the Big G, but a gander at today's posts show that you're not even mentioned once. Even if you go back a few pages in most categories, you're zip. So, I suggest you keep your day job and don't bank on those royalty checks coming in any time soon. Know what I mean? dbcooperforum.com for those who are wondering what the f..k we are talking about.