Shopping for new winter tires...my local Suburu dealer sells Cooper
tires...I am alarmed by my research of this tire company...is this a
safe tire brand?

They most certainly are not a safe brand, personal recommendations
nonwithstanding; obviously not all the tires have problems, but those
that do are unlikely to complain to a little newsgroup.

Rather, they take legal action:
http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/class_action/articles.cfm?ID=6650

Three employees from the company came forth to proclaim their
eyewitness testimony that there was a lot of problems with how the
line was set up:
http://www.tiredefects.com/cooper/Default.htm

Again, while it is possible that you may not have problems with your
tires, and you may or may not have problems with *any* tires, I
certainly would not trust my life or the life of my friends/family to
that increased risk of a company that has had enough issues that they
have become publicly shamed and crusaded against.

. bookface-ga

It would be helpful if you explained what research you've found so
far, so we don't end up showing you the same information you've
already found.

Initial opinions of people on groups.google.com seem positive, though:
"Well the best set of tires I ever owned was a Cooper sport tire, the
name
escapes me at the moment.  They had an excellent ride quality, but
still
gripped the road like the car was on rails.  I loved those tires."

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22cooper+tires%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=Oegq4.4%24dV3.640%40news1.onlynews.com&rnum=1

"I bought my car used with a set of Gran Espirit hp130's(205/55 R15). 
I
was told by a friend that works at a tire max that "those are cooper
private label tires".  He then went on to add that they were a nice
tire
for the money(about $90-$100 each). FWIW though,
if the tires on my car are Cooper tires as my friend suggested, yeah,
I'd reccommend them."

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22cooper+tires%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=34E0817A.4A4D%40kodak.com&rnum=2

"I have tried many brands and I was very satisfied with the Cooper
tires."

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22cooper+tires%22+subaru+winter&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=FN4D7.4763%24OE1.362090%40carnaval.risq.qc.ca&rnum=1

"I had very good experience with the Cooper Wintermark"

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=%22cooper+tires%22+subaru+winter&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=OKxA5.745%240P6.39442%40wagner.videotron.net&rnum=2

I'm not sure if you're looking for more than just personal
recommendations, but, for what it's worth, I didn't find any negative
comments about Cooper tires on google groups.