
By: David Rice
Re: Bomb #3

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (ITN) * They stockpile weapons and ammunition,
conduct military field exercises in isolated forests and warn of an
apocalyptic showdown with tyrants plotting to enslave America.

Established a year ago this month, the Michigan Militia is in the
vanguard of a nationwide "citizens' militia" movement aimed at
confronting what members say is a federal government run amok.

"If this country doesn't change, armed conflict is inevitable,"
commander Norman Olson proclaimed at a recruiting meeting last
August.

Federal officials investigating Wednesday's bombing of a federal
building in Oklahoma City wouldn't answer questions about hate,
separatist or militia group connections to Wednesday's bombing.

One federal law enforcement official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said a raid on a Decker, Mich., farmhouse targeted people
"that the militia doesn't want to be associated with."

Authorities questioned and released the farm's owner, James Douglas
Nichols, who is the brother of one of two men in custody in
connection with the bombing.

Militia leaders Friday denied any connection with the bombing. "Our
stand

in the militia is defensive," Chief of Staff Ray Southwell said.
"This obviously had nothing to do with defense." Southwell, a real
estate

agent from Alanson, and Olson, a gun shop owner and Baptist
preacher, say they were inspired to create the militia by a number
of signs of creeping tyranny.

The last straw was enactment of the Brady gun control law and crime
legislation that banned some types of assault weapons. Other ominous
signs, leaders say, range from military helicopters hovering over
citizens' houses to stickers on road signs with mysterious numbers
that could be signs for foreign troops.

The date of the bombing -- April 19 -- is significant to the
militia, headquartered in the northern Michigan town of Harbor
Springs.

Southwell and Olson frequently cite the federal raid on the Branch
Davidian complex in Waco, Texas, as a sign that no gun-owning
citizens are safe. The "doomsday 'cult's'" compound burned April 19,
1993, after a standoff with federal agents.

The militia describes its members as spiritual heirs of the
Revolutionary-era citizens who took up arms against British tyranny.
On April 19, 1775, British Redcoats fought American colonists at
Lexington and Concord, Mass.

The federal crime law lists 19 specific weapons that it bans, though
it also includes scores of other firearms.

Time magazine reported in its April 21 issue that two men thought to
have rented the truck used in the Oklahoma bombing provided a fake
South Dakota drivers' license with a birthdate of April 19, 1979.

Militia members meet and hold military-style drills regularly. They
are required to own firearms but are vague about what might lead
them to armed confrontation.

The group frequently cites Idaho white supremacist Randy Weaver as a
sign that no gun-owning citizens are safe. Weaver spent 18 months in
prison after a deadly 1992 standoff with agents that left one agent
dead, along with Weaver's son and wife.

Various neighbors said the Nicholses had attended some meetings of
the Michigan Militia, Patriots and We The People militia and
tax-rights groups. But the groups themselves aren't a very visible
community force.

"In this area, if you were a member, you'd hide it," said autoworker
Eugene Lonuski. "We're conservative farm people."

From its beginnings in rural Emmet County near the top of Lake
Michigan, the militia movement spread rapidly across the state. The
Militia claim 12,000 members and chapters in 70 of the state's 83
counties.

Soldier of Fortune, a magazine for mercenaries and other military
enthusiasts, describes the Militia as "superbly organized."

Militia members pledge allegiance to the original Constitution and
Bill of Rights, which they contend the government wants to usurp.
Gun control, they say, is essential to carrying out a broad
conspiracy to impose a world government controlled by the United
Nations.

Southwell and other leaders strongly deny links to white supremacist
or other hate groups. But some militia members have ties to such
groups, said Maryann Mauney, a researcher at the Center for
Democratic Renewal, an Atlanta organization that tracks hate and
militia groups.

"The question, which no one can answer just yet, is what, exactly,
the militias intend to do with their guns," concluded a report
released last year by the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.


... Bigot? Racist? Fundamentalist? Hate women? The Republicans want YOU!
 * DaveRice@EdenBBS.com

