World

Joe Stack's daughter says her Dad a 'hero'

by Susan Marie Kovalinsky | February 22, 2010 at 05:56 am

472 views | 24 Recommendations | 10 comments

Joe Stack, who flew his small plane into Austin, Texas' IRS building last week is being hailed as "a hero" by his daughter Samantha.

In a telephone interview with ABC, Samantha Bell told Good Morning America that "now people will listen".

Stack has been - supposedly - hailed as an American hero by some in the Tea Party movement.

AUSTIN, Texas -- The daughter of a man who crashed his small plane into an IRS building in Texas is calling her father a hero.
Joe Stack's adult daughter, Samantha Bell, tells ABC's "Good Morning America" the plane attack was "inappropriate." But she praised his anti-government and anti-tax views.

Asked if he considered her father a hero, she said "yes." She spoke in a telephone interview from Norway, where she lives.

Bell says her father was not a hero for taking a life, but "because now maybe people will listen."

Authorities say the 53-year-old Stack targeted the IRS office building in Austin last week, killing employee Vernon Hunter and himself, after posting a ranting manifesto against the agency.

1 See all footage | View Slideshow

Share: email story | add to any | | facebook | stumbleupon

recommend This comment thread is now closed

Dwightwannabe (not verified)

at 06:37 on February 22nd, 2010

Uh... No. Anybody who read Stack's manifesto and has an IQ over 70 can see that Stack was a left wing loony. He ends his manifesto with the communist's creed and a punch at capitalism.bigjournalism.com/rtrzupek/2010/02/19/tragedy-in-austin-how-long-will-it-take-the-media-to-transform-a-left-wing-nut-into-a-right-wing-nut/

Mary Richard

at 07:44 on February 22nd, 2010

Vernon Hunter, the 20 year war veteran that Stack killed during his rampage, is the hero in all this.

"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?" Hunter told "Good Morning America." "My dad Vernon did two tours of duty in Vietnam. My dad's a hero."

How anyone can justify manic behavior and the killing of other people is beyond me.

marianmo

at 09:06 on February 22nd, 2010

i dont know how anyone who caused the death of another person can be called a hero by even a daughter...if you disagree there are measures you can take. sounds like this man flipped

Frank Crappie (not verified)

at 09:28 on February 22nd, 2010

If I read the newspaper right, the daughter states her father did two tours of vietnam?? if he died at age 53, that means he was born in 1956,the last American Ground troops were out of Vietnam January of 1973, that means her father would have been 15-17 years old when in vietnam, something is wrong here......

Rory Cripps

at 12:29 on February 22nd, 2010

Frank: I see your point. However, America pulled out of Nam in April 1975 if my memory serves me. There were still a lot of troops there at the time.

marianmo

at 09:48 on February 22nd, 2010

yep

Mary Richard

at 14:16 on February 22nd, 2010

The VICTIM of this man's terrorist actions was 67 year-old IRS worker Vernon Hunter - a veteran of the Vietnam war.

Stack's daughter has since called ABC and retracted the hero part.

Bell later called "Good Morning America" to retract her statement and say unequivocally that her father was "not a hero."

Rather, she said the only hero involved in the attack was its victim, Vietnam veteran Vernon Hunter, the only person besides Stack killed in the attack.

"I don't want to hurt anybody," Bell said. "We are mourning for Vernon Hunter."

Jesamyn (not verified)

at 14:53 on February 22nd, 2010

These stories are almost as annoying as the ones where people kill and then blame Mom/Dad/anyone but themselves. Most all of us have times when things are damn unfair or unjust, here in Australia a man lived in a tree for 3 months after a dispute over his land rights, and only came down when near death, not hurting anyone else.. Wanting to make a point need not involve dying or killing others, or changing your own family's life afterwards forever.