FD-350 clipping 'Revelers set for annual toast to D.B. Cooper', The Columbian

FD-350 (Rev. 12-5-78)

(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

Pg. B15, The Columbian Vancouver, Washington Date: 11/25/83 Edition:

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

Title:

Character: or Classification: 164A-81 Submitting Office: Seattle

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Revelers set for annual toast to D.B. Cooper

By SALLY JAMES The Columbian

ARIEL — Every year it starts in September, The water gets too cold for the boaters at Lake Merwin near here, and less traffic goes by the country store/tavern.

Tavern owner Steve Fisher, 34, begins preparations for the job of the annual party he throws to celebrate the Northwest's criminal folk hero: D.B. Cooper.

He goes into a drawer, where the mailing list for the D.B. Cooper Fan Club is stored. There are 250 members, scattered around the United States, who are waiting to get their invitations.

[illustration: Artist's sketch of D.B. Cooper]

It sounds like a labor of love than of capitalism. Steve works part-time at a store about five miles from his own. His wife does piecework for a local woman who sell puppets.

It takes money to make money, Steve said, admitting that he has had visions of grand profits. He would like to start a D.B. paraphernalia mail-order business. "I don't have the money for a good ad," Steve said. Early in the fall, Steve sits down to think up a new design for the annual party T-shirt. On the 10th anniversary, in 1981, a black shirt sported a $20 bill with D.B.'s likeness in the center. This year, Steve has ordered burgundy, black and navy blue shirts. Inside a briefcase depicted bulging with bills is written this ditty: "Some say DB was a thief; Others sit in somber grief. We think he's alive and well, Somewhere here in Ariel."

in case you didn't get one, the doors open at 10 a.m. Saturday. The party will last until 2 a.m. Ariel, the home of Merwin Dam, is about eight miles east of Woodland on state Highway 503.

Steve and his wife, Laura, and their two children, Rhiannon and Jeff, moved to this lonely outpost to live behind the store and tavern about six years ago. With the business, they inherited the idea of the party. The first party was put on in 1976.

According to news accounts-turned-legend, Cooper boarded a plane in Portland Nov. 24, 1971, claimed to have a bomb, and demanded $200,000. After getting the money in Seattle, he parachuted out of the plane into the dark Southwest Washington forests and instant fame.

Ever since 1976, Ariel has thrown a wild party to commemorate the apparent success of the wily Cooper. It costs about $1,500 to put on the party, and Steve won't say how much money he makes each year. But it

Most often, Steve sells out of the 100 or so shirts he prints. Collectors often arrive the day before the annual party, just to get shirts in mint condition.

For this weekend's affair, Steve invested $322 in building a stage in the tiny tavern adjoining the store. Besides the usual stocking up on toilet paper and paper towels and garbage cans, and trucking in about 100 cases of beer, Steve also buys 25 pounds of hamburger and makes chili. His crowds have numbered as high as 1,000. A giant pot of chili is kept hot over an outdoor fire in front of the store to warm bystanders who watch the annual parachute demonstration by local skydivers. National and local press people begin telephoning as early as October, Steve said.

People sit at Steve's bar and tell him their versions of the Cooper myth. "Someday I'd like to write a book on it," he said.

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SEARCHED _____ INDEXED _____ FILED _____

DEC 9 1983

TITLE

FBI/DOJ

11 [illegible] A-81 - 8741[illegible] DB Cooper-19451