The Southern Highland Reader

REGIONAL–Ken Wyatt, a New York native and a professor of communications at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC, is wrapping up a documentary about Eric Rudolph.

Eric Rudolph

Rudolph, a “domestic terrorist” responsible for bombings at the Atlanta Olympics, abortion clinics and gay nightclubs, is a western North Carolina native. An outdoosman, he took to the back woods near Murphy to avoid capture, and was able to do so for many months.

Rudolph was captured rooting through a dumpster in Murphy in 2003, but not before he became somewhat of a folk hero. Wyatt’s goal was to learn something about that phenomenon, and the people of Cherokee County in general.

Here’s an excerpt from a story in the East Carolinian:

“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.

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“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.

Read the whole piece here.