The Bishop

They arrested a man known as the Bishop - a pipe bomber in Dubuque. His name is John Tomkins, 42. He did not actually injure anyone, but threats were made to businesses and by mail making it a Federal offense.

We went to Jr high together and were both in the same Junior Achievement group in high school He grew up on Graham Circle and lives today just a few streets away from there on Grant street with his wife and 3 girls. About 2 miles from where we are.

Online video from 2003

I tried to find him in my collection from a wedding when we last spoke in 2003. He was not on camera. I have a cute photo of his 3 girls though. He called me by name that day after not seeing each other for 20 years. We chatted for quite a while that day. I feel very sorry for his family and girls.

Have to look back and try to analyze what kind of person he was. Very sweet, mild mannered, simple kind of guy. I cannot remember anything peculiar.

Makes me think back of someone that murdered his wife in Dubuque that I also knew. I look back now at a few little things that man did that were odd.

Believe what people tell you the first time - I once heard. People often say they look back and see signs but just shrugged them off the first time. Intuition is more powerful than you might think. Watch children. They often will back off from a stranger at an early age. Then mom or dad says its ok you can talk to him/her. Or, they can hold you in their arms and your intuition about trust starts to blur with what the people say around you.

I have gotten better about reading situations lately. When to say no and to avoid some of the oddities. Just hope I do not know any more people in the National news.