THE EDGE 'D.B. Cooper Was Here' by Ken Lizotte

Come on now, could D.B. New, but in all sincerely I ask you: Do cover sto[ry illegible] [illegible] doing with mid-terms, o[r illegible]

[...] has a strength and fortitude that probably makes him a greater man than m[ost] [illegible] man, you ought to write greeting card[s] I'm impressed.

[Top right fragment:] ...do the liberals think Ted Kennedy is any different than Richard Nixon, a liar and a cheat?

---

Lookout

D.B. Cooper Was Here

by Ken Lizotte

I have been passed more evidence that D.B. Cooper, the 1971 hijacker who escaped with $200,000 somewhere over the Southern California countryside, actually surfaced—at least briefly—in Cambridge. Cooper has been eluding the F.B.I. rather successfully all through the seventies, but my source (let's call him, The Lark) claims that a D.B. Cooper lived in the Boston area from 1977 to at least late 1978. He also maintains that prominent U.S. officials knew this but did not report it to the Bureau. The Lark also says that former New Hampshire Governor Mel Thomson gave information to Cooper concerning the possibility of transmigration to South Africa. The question, then, is what this the Governor Thomson think it was?

Also, who did Arthur F. Burns, former chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, think he was communicating with when he received a letter from a D.B. Cooper dated December 30, 1977? This letter is noteworthy, since Cooper indicates that if Burns is interested, Cooper might actually send him some Money. Why? Surely, Burns has enough of his own, and yet here was a D.B. Cooper (!) offering money to the ongoing chairman of the F.R.B.! One can only surmise how much and for what reason and in any case, why, like Thomson, did Burns say nothing about the matter to law enforcement officials?

The Lark has offered this portion of the letter as evidence: "I've been watching you work very closely all the years you've been head of the Fed. and I think you've been a great job. Better than I could do, that's for sure. I mean, it ain't easy keeping money from getting out to the people the way you have ... somebody's got to keep money..."

Page 4 THE EDGE - March 24, 1980

[Center column continuation:]

...from falling into the wrong hands.... I will most regret your leaving your job because I will not be able to hear of you anymore. Maybe they'll write a story about you in People? I hope so, because I would miss not being able to read about what happens. be active. Don't let the economy get you down. it's not your worry anymore."

Huh? This is an outlaw speaking! Is this on the level or what? The Lark says it is, but offers no explanation. Why then would D.B. Cooper, the outlaw, commend Arthur F. Burns for his work with the FRB? Could this be code? Does Cooper know what he's talking about when he writes, "It ain't easy keeping money from falling into the wrong hands?" The F.B.I. has certainly been wringing its own hands as it's scoured high and low for the two hundred thou from Cooper's hijacking ransom.

The kicker here is that later in the letter, Cooper offers Burns a loan! "I could send you a few bucks," he says. "Nothing's too good for a pal like you. AND FOR ALL, YOU'RE DONE." (Emphasis mine!) The letter ends: "I wouldn't charge as much interest as the banks do, so don't worry about that part! Please contact me if I can help. I'M ALWAYS AROUND."

(Emphasis, once again, my own!)

Most importantly, however, there is a reply from Burns, dated January 6, 1978, on FRB stationery and addressed to D.B. Cooper, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Unless The Lark has somehow stolen FRB letterheads, Arthur Burns must have a copy of this reply somewhere in his own files! Does the Bureau know this? Again, why didn't Burns report these communiques in the first place?

The reply is terse, even perplexing: "It was good of you to write me so graciously. I deeply appreciate your kind thoughts."

That's it! Maybe Burns is merely simple, maybe it never crossed his mind that this might be the same D.B. Cooper.

But how, really, do any of us know for certain that it was not?

---

Ronald Reagan is calling for tax cuts across the board for all taxpayers. People a freeze on wages, prices, rents, interest rates and profits. He does not mention a freeze on TAXES, the one thing that is killing all American wallets and pocketbooks. Kennedy is calling for the [illegible] Full Employment Bill, and the National Health Insurance Bill, and the process of legislation are highly inflationary and totally unnecessary. This legislation will hurt the very people that Kennedy is so concerned about: the poor, elderly, minorities and women. This proposed legislation would tax these people even more, because the hidden tax, inflation, hurts these groups the hardest. Miss Riley, Ronald Reagan and his "performance" in New Hampshire may not be to your liking, but I'll take him any day over out [guess: our] ballo[o]n from Massachusetts.

Lawrence A. Cunningham Quincy, MA.

---

Ohl Revisited

Dooooooooooooon Ooooooooooooooooooohhllllll!!!!

Landed forward, sweat poured, demons churned, heaved screeching:

Doooooooooooooooooon Oooooooooooo-ooooohhllllllllppppp

Thundering throughout psyche, reverberating, echoing against inner walls of stainless steel...

Doooooooooooooooooooooooooooon Oooo-ooooooooooooollllllll!!!!!!

God himself delivering the word from on high... The paradox of human achievement had been presented—the invisible star—infinite geometry demanded an existence remembered only by those so twisted... so possessed... Rocky Ryan...A Jim Schpeiser. For this garden had seen and forgotten a team of Ohls...sing along—

Lory Dishinger— Doooooon Oooooo-

---

[Largely illegible small-font column; partial readings:] him: Last him: Flyi[ng?] him: Can hlllu: Pa R Ch[illegible] Ro[illegible] unkn[own] woma[n] even as 1956 suicide: Oohllll •Edit[or/orial?] Boston G[lobe?] LETTER encour[age] limitatio[n] eligible fo[r] with a [illegible]

---

Page 12 - THE EDGE - March 24, 1[980]