Copyright 1995 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
April 27, 1995, Thursday, CONSTITUTION EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL NEWS, Pg. 7A
LENGTH: 438 words
HEADLINE: NATION IN BRIEF; Unabomber letter ridicules victim, calls him 'dumb'
BYLINE: From our news services
BODY:
The Unabomber taunted one of his injured victims for opening a mysterious package that blew up, calling him a "techno-nerd" in a letter released Wednesday.
The text of the letter to Yale computer science professor David Gelernter was distributed by the FBI the day after another letter from the elusive bomber was published by The New York Times.
"People with advanced degrees aren't as smart as they think they are," the letter to Gelernter said. "If you'd had any brains you would have realized that there are a lot of people out there who resent bitterly the way techno-nerds like you are changing the world and you wouldn't have been dumb enough to open an unexpected package from an unknown source."
Gelernter was badly injured when a mail bomb exploded in his office June 24, 1993. He needed extensive surgery on his right hand and also was injured on his abdomen, chest and face.
The letter was one of four mailed the same day as the Unabomber's latest package, which killed a timber industry lobbyist Monday in Sacramento, Calif.
-NO MORE EMISSIONS: Lawmakers in Maine voted to repeal the nation's first comprehensive auto emissions testing program and let the state take its chances in court. Gov. Angus King plans to sign the measure into law today, said his spokesman, Dennis Bailey. The bill passed in the state House 137-6 and in the Senate 29-0. Lawmakers approved the program with little fanfare in 1992 to comply with the federal Clean Air Act of 1990, which requires states to impose stringent tailpipe tests in smoggy areas.
-WELCOME TO THE CLUB: A woman used The Club to club a would-be thief. Robin Van Bortle was attaching the anti-theft device to her steering wheel Monday in suburban Rochester, N.Y., when a man tried to force his way into the car, police said. "I wasn't going to let him in," the 32-year-old woman said. "He opened up my door as I was putting in my Club and (I) just started to hit him with it." As the man ran away, Van Bortle and passers-by chased him down.
-REKINDLED DEBATE: New research contends that teenagers start on low- nicotine snuff and graduate to stronger brands that, because of gradual chemical changes in the recipe, may release more nicotine into the bloodstream. The studies, published in the journal Tobacco Control, promise to rekindle the debate over whether tobacco companies manipulate nicotine levels to make their products more addictive.
-DEADLY AVALANCHE: A helicopter airlifted two injured skiers and three rescuers off a Colorado mountain near Pikes Peak a day after an avalanche and high winds stranded them and killed one man.