[Lingster]

Richard Jewell, who saved numerous lives at the risk of his own during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics only to face harassment from the FBI and widespread media ridicule, passed away today at the age of 44. 

Here's the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2007/08/29/jewell_0830.html

It's a damned shame he had such a lousy, short life.  He gave a hell of a lot more than he got.

[demented20]

I moved to Atlanta about a week after the Olympics ended back in '96 and that stuff was all over the news back then. I felt so sorry for the guy. The FBI tried to ruin a good man's life, and now he dies at the age of 44. I don't know what is health problems were, or if all that stuff drove him to drinking, but unless he had some sort of disease, 44 year olds don't die of natural causes.

[fbbfan]

He suffered from a tremendous amount of stress and depression for years after all those allegations.  I was really said for him, I would see him in interviews totally devastated and such, not to mention all the hate and threats he received from people all over when the allegations were going on.

Very sad that he has now died relatively young.

[philkansevin]

Yeah that sucks some people just get the short stick in life, the FBi probably harassed him years after.

[Lingster]

Yeah that sucks some people just get the short stick in life, the FBi probably harassed him years after.

I think once the FBI admitted its error and actually "cleared" him of wrongdoing (which is extremely rare for it to do following an investigation), that was the end of his trouble with the bureau.

[Michael Pouliot]

A great (but long) in-depth report on his whole ordeal can be found here (pdf).

HT: H&R

[cpbell0033944]

Poor guy. :'(  I knew nothing of the story, other than the fact that a nutcase was eventually sentenced over it.

[Lingster]

Poor guy. :'(  I knew nothing of the story, other than the fact that a nutcase was eventually sentenced over it.

I wouldn't primarily characterize Eric Robert Rudolph as a "nutcase".  "Terrorist" or "wannabe terrorist" are better designations, as is "monster".  I doubt he's the most mentally balanced person out there, but his defining characteristic is a willingness to kill people to achieve domestic political outcomes.

[cpbell0033944]

I wouldn't primarily characterize Eric Robert Rudolph as a "nutcase".  "Terrorist" or "wannabe terrorist" are better designations, as is "monster".  I doubt he's the most mentally balanced person out there, but his defining characteristic is a willingness to kill people to achieve domestic political outcomes.

Fair point – my language was a touch loose there.

[Lingster]

The really interesting thing about the Rudolph family in general is their level of commitment.  A lot of people don't know that while the FBI was hunting Eric Rudolph, as a statement of protest his brother Daniel Rudolph set up a video camera in front of a circular saw, applied a tourniquet to his arm, said "This is for the FBI and media," and then used the saw to cut off his own left hand. 

So I don't know where you draw the line between "nutcase" and "unusually determined".  Using a circular saw to sever one of your own limbs as a statement of solidarity is arguably on the nutcase side of that line.  Still, ya gotta admire that level of commitment.  The first time I heard about Daniel's purposeful dismemberment I said aloud, "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker."  And even though Eric is a murdering maniac, there's a little bit of me that admires how he was able to evade the FBI in one small corner of North Carolina for five years.

They're opposites, really.  Jewell was a man of limited gifts who did everything he could to be decent and to have a positive effect on the world.  Rudolph is a man of extraordinary talents who still wants to be a monster.  Both succeeded, but now Jewell is dead while Rudolph will spend the rest of his life in the "Supermax" Federal prison in Florence, Colorado.

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