Samantha Bell Is Dead Wrong, Joe Stack is No Hero Says Crash Victim's Family

By: Carlin DeGuerin Miller
Topics: Daily Blotter

(KTVT-TV)

(billyeli.com)

AUSTIN, Texas (CBS) Samantha Bell, the daughter of Joe Stack, who crashed his plane into an office building in Austin as a protest against the IRS, has proclaimed her father a hero, but the family of the man killed in the attack, Vernon Hunter, says she's got it backwards.

Photo: Crash Victim Vernon Hunter.

PICTURES: Austin Plane Crash

"How can you call someone a hero who after he burns down his house, gets into his plane ... and drives it into the building to kill people?" Ken Hunter told Good Morning America. "My dad Vernon did two tours of duty in Vietnam. My dad's a hero."

Ken Hunter told CBS affiliate KEYE on Saturday that he is outraged by the idea of Stack being called a "hero" for what he did and the alleged reason he did it.

Photo: Joe Stack.

PICTURES: Austin Plane Crash

Joe Stack's daughter Samantha Bell, speaking by phone from Norway, told Good Morning America on Monday that she felt Stack's actions were "inappropriate" but said that at least now "people will listen."

She said she agreed with her father's views on America's "very faulty" government and said she hoped that her father's attack will change "everything."

"Rome was not built in one day, but one small step at a time, Bell told the morning show.

But Ken Hunter says he believes Stack's actions won't change anything.

"The only difference he made was he took away from my family and murdered a 20-year U.S. Army vet," Ken Hunter said.

At a memorial service at the Greater Mount Zion Baptist Church on Sunday, Vernon Hunter's pastor said faith is made for moments like this. His "life had the signature of compassion on it, those are the kind of people that transform a church, those are the kind of people that can transform people"

MEDIA
PICTURES: Joe Stack
PICTURES: Austin Plane Crash

MORE ON CRIMESIDER
February 22, 2010 - Samantha Bell Says Father Joe Stack Was a Hero For Crashing Plane into IRS Building
February 19, 2010 - Joe Stack Plane Crash: Why Did He Hate IRS Enough to Kill?
February 19, 2010 - Joe Stack is a "True American Hero": Facebook Groups Support Domestic Terrorist
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Bomb Threat Called Off, FBI Clears Georgetown Airport After Austin Crash
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Plane Crash Austin Aftermath: 13 Injured, Two Critically
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack: Plane Crasher Talked Politics But "No Obsession," Says Woman Who Knew Him Through Band
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Bomb Threat: FBI Searching Georgetown Airport for Car Bomb after Austin Plane Crash
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Pictures: First Photos of Alleged Austin IRS Plane Crasher
February 18, 2010 - Joe Stack Suicide Note Full Text: "American Zombies Wake Up and Revolt"
February 18, 2010 - Austin Plane Crash: Joseph Andrew Stack Left Sick Suicide Note for IRS to Take "Pound of Flesh"

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by AustinNative March 1, 2010 9:44 PM EST: Regarding this article about Joe Stack's daughter calling him a hero. You didn't bother to mention that she never said "hero"--she responded "yes" to the interviewer's question: do you think your father is a hero? The interview took place only hours after learning that her father had died and she retracted the statement the same day--which was 3 days BEFORE the dateline on this article. Please stop calling what you do "News"--this is tabloid press and nothing more. Walter Cronkite is turning in his grave.; Reply to this comment


by fuji79 February 23, 2010 10:20 PM EST: So, joe stack's daughter thinks he's a hero and now people will listen to him ... well, is she wrong about that. A HERO does not kill innocent people in a temper tantrum because he believes he is the only one being treated unfairly. A HERO does not leave his wife and daughter homeless with the burden of apologizing for HIS actions. A HERO does not take an airplane he owns (so he is not destitute) and fly into a building full of innocent people simply because he has issues with the IRS. EVERYONE HAS ISSUES WITH THE IRS, EVEN THE PEOPLE WHO WORK FOR THE IRS. But, do any of us go get our PRIVATELY OWNED PLANE and fly it into the building? No one will listen to any of whatever legitimate complaints joe stack may have had now or ever due to his COWARDLY ACT OF DOMESTIC TERRORISM. Maybe is daughter should get a dictionary and look up the definition of HERO. Perhaps, then, she will be able to acknowlege that her father was not a HERO but a man who was a Domestic Terrorist and a Coward who lacked the courage to face his demons and his failures with grace and dignity like the rest of us.

May God bless the Hunter family. From one Veteran to another Veteran - Rest in Peace, Mr. Hunter, Rest in Peace ... You are Home Now.; Reply to this comment


by dhough1953 February 23, 2010 10:47 AM EST: The real Patriot in this tragedy is Vernon Hunter. He is the real American hero; someone who served his family and his country, and lived honestly. He was killed by a cowardly hypocrite, Joe Stack, who railed against the misfortune that he brought on himself. read the truth here http://******/9I5kt8; Reply to this comment


by dsouth01 February 23, 2010 1:51 AM EST: Well, if this isn't a sign of the times, I don't know what is. Americans are under tons of pressure, unless they have the title of CEO with a multi-billion dollar bonus yet to boot. Irrational junk like this is bound to happen from once sane and decent people, its just a matter of time before people snap under the pressure and we have "copy-cat" incidents.; Reply to this comment

by Aine57 February 22, 2010 4:13 PM EST

People certainly WILL listen, and they'll look, too, and they'll assume that somebody with Mr. Stack's views is a crazy, homicidal loony tune, and by extension, so is anyone who agrees with him. Committing arson and murder don't make you a hero; they just invalidate everything you claim to stand for.

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by novamba February 23, 2010 7:44 PM EST: agreed, his letter actually makes tons of valid points, all invalidated by his subsequent actions...