The man sought by the FBI in connection with the string of pipe bombs left in mailboxes is a college junior who studied industrial design and played in a punk rock band called Apathy.
"The top things I care about are my girlfriend ... and my music/band," Luke John Helder, 21, wrote in an autobiographical capsule on his band's Web site. "I party, play guitar, and talk online to everyone. That's my life."
Helder's family lives in farm country near Pine Island, a town of about 3,000 an hour from the Twin Cities.
His father, Cameron, read a statement in which he urged his son to call home.
"I really want you to know that Luke is not a dangerous person," Cameron Helder said. "I think he's just trying to make a statement about the way our government is run. I think Luke wants people to listen to his ideas, and not enough people are hearing him, and he thinks this may help."
He added: "Please don't hurt anyone else. It's time to talk. You have the attention you wanted."
Officials at Pine Island High School declined to talk about Helder, as did several neighbors. But former classmates said Helder loved the grunge band Nirvana and was preoccupied with Kurt Cobain, its lead singer, who committed suicide.
Jacob King said: "In high school, he was good in science class _ chemistry and biology." Another former classmate, Jesse Frericks, recalled taking a machine shop class with Helder.
Justin Fogal, who drove past the home, said he graduated from high school in the same class. "He seemed like a quiet kid," Fogal said. "He didn't cause too much trouble."
Helder was registered at University of Wisconsin-Stout, located in Menomonie about 60 miles east of the Twin Cities. He was listed as a junior majoring in art with an industrial design concentration.
The FBI called the school Tuesday morning about him, and investigators questioned his roommates, said John K. Enger, the school's executive director of university relations.
Helder played guitar and sang in his punk rock band, based in nearby Rochester. More than 400 messages flooded the band's Web site Tuesday, many of them scorning Helder.
Two songs were posted on the band's Web site, "Conformity" and "Back and Black," but the lyrics were unintelligible.
(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
