Professor makes documentary of Olympic Bomber's hometown

When School of Communication professor Ken Wyatt moved to North Carolina, he had in mind certain things the state was known for -- mild climate, pork barbecue, college basketball and NASCAR.

Originally from Rochester, N.Y., he first came to North Carolina two years ago after accepting a job offer from ECU. It was then that he got an idea for a documentary.

"I was like, 'Isn't that where Eric Rudolph was hiding?' I wanted to know why people were supporting him," said Wyatt. "They even had t-shirts. Some people said they think like Eric. I wanted to know if it (Cherokee County) was a haven for extremists or were they getting a bad rap."

Eric Rudolph, a domestic terrorist, was convicted of the 1996 Olympic bombing in Atlanta and the bombings of gay nightclubs and abortion clinics. He was even tied to "Christian Identity," a racist, anti-government movement. He was captured in Murphy, N.C., in 2003.

With this information on Rudolph, Wyatt, armed with a camera crew, went to Western Carolina but not without some warning to film "Pray for Eric," a documentary about Eric Rudolf's home turf. "People told me to bring a gun. I went to Asheville first and talked to Karl Campbell, a professor at Appalachian State. I interviewed lots of people including Mark Potolk who's with the Southern Poverty Law Center. I talked to the mayor of Murphy and people on the street," said Wyatt. Gathering all the interviews, planning, filming and editing took a little over two years. However, Wyatt received some help from a few communication students. "There were James Gould and Chris Myers, who were photographers, Evan Golliher, who was the director of photography and Zach Pargeon and Kelsey Lamb, who were production assistants," said Wyatt. "All were extremely helpful and very good. I owe a lot to them."

With his crew's help, information was gathered about Rudolph and the town he is from.

"The film will include where he is from, but the film is really not about Eric, it's about the people in the area where he grew up. The film is about my neighbors. Who am I living amongst? I went to townspeople and did interviews. It is a beautiful area," said Wyatt. Wyatt's goal is to expose people to Western Carolina through his eyes. "I was on a journey to find out about my new neighbors, share this with an audience all around the world," said Wyatt.

To share his findings, Wyatt plans to enter the documental film festivals.

"We'll show it in festivals first, usually a distributor will come to you and want to buy your film. I may send it to independent film channels like PBS. If one airs it, they'll own it for three years," said Wyatt.

Once his film is released, Wyatt hopes viewers will learn from it like he did.

"I learned a lot about my neighbors and North Carolina. I think people should be more willing to meet people face to face rather than going off of stereotypes. If we all did this, it will be a better place to live. North Carolina is really diverse," said Wyatt.

This writer can be contacted at news@theeastcarolinian.com.