David Fine

Fine: "I've Paid Large Price" sterling Hall Bomber Regrets Act, Relishes Peace Efforts

David Fine figures the former 1960s student radicals and activists he'sjoining in Madison for a reunion this weekend will understand the context ofthe Army Math Research Center bombing in 1970 that has haunted him eversince.

It's the rest of the people of Madison who may not be so understanding, hefears.Fine, one of the four ``New Year's Gang'' members implicated in the bombingthat killed physics researcher Robert Fassnacht, wavered over attending thereunion.

``I guess I was a little concerned personally about what people would thinkabout my coming,'' he said from Portland, Ore., where he now works in a lawoffice.

``I'm not saying people should welcome me back, but I would like to comeback and visit and feel that I was part of a situation there in the '60s and'70s, and I'm coming back to share that with people,'' Fine said.

``I would like to think people feel I've changed as much as they have. I'mnot going to come back and attempt to justify things I was convicted of whichwere very tragic.''

He added he has ``paid a fairly large price for it myself in terms ofimprisonment,'' and also in terms of regrets.

``I have some real negative feelings about it, and a lot of regrets. I'mnot coming back to say how great everything was back then,'' Fine said.

He's still paying a price ``to an extent. But I don't like to emphasizethat. My life is OK.''

Fine is now 37, trying to build a career in law after spending over fiveyears as a fugitive and three years in prison.

After his release from prison, he earned a law degree from the Universityof Oregon and passed the state bar exam. But he was denied entrance to the barafter a panel concluded he was not sufficiently remorseful. He now works as``an associate attorney in everything but name,'' he said.

He insists his remorse is genuine and that he has changed a great deal innearly 20 years.

``Regardless of why the bombing happened and the feelings people had aboutthe center and the war in Vietnam, that in no way justifies the death and thedestruction, for that matter. So I have a lot of regrets about that. Alwayshave, and always will, I'm sure,'' Fine said.

``When I say I've paid my price to society, I'm not saying just forgetabout it. I'm just trying to say it was hard for the participants as well asother people in Madison, the family (of Fassnacht). . . I've had to live withthat myself.''

Fine was just 17, bursting with youthful idealism and zeal when he enteredthe University of Wisconsin in 1969. Fully radicalized in his freshman year,his social and political passions became all-consuming.

``Back then, in 1969, I think a lot of us were active not because it wasfun or exciting, but because we were getting kind of desperate about the warin Vietnam. It was just horrible beyond imagination, and we didn't feel we hada choice,'' he said.

It was that feeling that led Fine and three other Madison students, whobecame known as ``The New Year's Gang,'' to a desperate act. Early in themorning of Aug. 24, 1970, they loaded up a Volkswagen with several barrelsfull of fertilizer soaked in fuel oil, attached a fuse, and parked the caroutside Sterling Hall, home of the Army Math center that was associated in theeyes of radicals with the detested war machine.

They lit the fuse and left the scene; the warning Fine called in to Madisonpolice was not in time to allow them to clear the building, which was reducedto little more than rubble. The bombers did not know anyone was in thebuilding, but neither had they taken the trouble to find out.

``Really, after Kent State (in May 1970), I think people's viewpointsreally changed. They saw people shot and that sort of upped the ante, or so wethought. That was the real motivating factor,'' Fine said.

``I think we've all changed. A lot of years have gone by. I know I'vechanged. I don't have a family (but) my political views have changed. I'm notas active; few people are.''

Fine now is a registered Democrat who supported Jesse Jackson for presidentlast year. ``Twenty years ago I never would have thought of working within theDemocratic Party'' to effect change, he said.

One thing that has not changed is his conviction that the Vietnam War waswrong and that the anti-war movement - apart from the bombing - had animportant, positive effect on the country.

``I think it was extremely important,'' he said. ``I think the U.S.government went way too far in Vietnam. I think the foreign policies of thegovernment today certainly are shaped a lot by the events of 20 years ago, ina positive way. The United States is a lot more hesitant now to commit troopsto trouble spots around the world.''

Fine has not seen Karleton or Dwight Armstrong, or Leo Burt, since theysplit up shortly after the explosion and went underground, and he has not keptup with other friends from the anti-war movement.

Karleton Armstrong served a prison sentence, lives in Madison and isexpected to attend the reunion. Brother Dwight is in prison in Indiana on adrug charge. Leo Burt has never been found.

``It'll be fun to see people'' at the reunion, Fine said. ``I'm reallyinterested to learn what people have done.''