Militias: Fearing for our country
Created 6-30-95 by Dave Stroble, stroble@nr.infi.net
Posted 7-1-95 by Dave Stroble
Fearing for our countr
By SUSAN LADD and STAN SWOFFORD
News & Record Staff Writers

   Michael Chapman scans the Union County skies daily for the 
black helicopters he believes are part of a federal police 
force. Those police, he believes, are spying on him and his 
neighbors as they prepare to quash an expected citizen revolt 
and install a one-world government run by the United Nations.
   Meanwhile, at his home in nearby Monroe, Albert Esposito 
chooses his words carefully as he speaks into the telephone. He 
is convinced that powerful forces monitor his every word. 
Nevertheless, Esposito urges his listener to stockpile the four 
Bs: "bibles, bullets, beans and bandages."
   And almost 200 miles away, Nord Davis Jr. is putting the 
finishing touches on his underground house near Andrews in 
Cherokee County. It will be ready for the battle Davis is 
certain will come within the year.
   Chapman, Esposito and Davis have some things in common: they 
are white, male and middle-aged. They also share an intense 
feeling that the federal government has all but become their 
enemy, that it has alienated and oppressed them.
   They belong to a far-right movement, generally known as the 
"Patriot movement," that watchdog organizations such as the 
Anti-Defamation League and Klanwatch describe as growing in 
North Carolina and throughout the nation.
   While many Americans hold similar views as the Patriot 
movement -- that the government is too big and bloated, that 
federal agencies sometimes overstep their bounds, that citizens 
pay too much in taxes -- many Patriots see something more: 
ongoing economic and political events that conspire to enslave 
Americans by disarming the population and making the currency 
worthless. The eventual result, many Patriots believe, will be 
the New World Order -- a one-world government administered by 
the United Nations.
   Patriot groups are meeting or organizing in Union County, 
Waynesville, Fayetteville, Hendersonville, Greenville, 
Winston-Salem, Alamance County and Cherokee County. And as the 
Patriot Movement grows, so does a corresponding militia 
movement -- despite the fact that suspects in the April 19 
bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma 
City have militia ties.
   Although Patriots are reluctant to discuss militia activity 
in the aftermath of that bombing, paramilitary units have been 
reported as organized or as being organized in Haywood County, 
Alamance County, Union County, Pitt County and Cherokee County.
   Jim Coman, director of the State Bureau of Investigation, 
said he is aware of about a half-dozen paramilitary 
organizations in the state in which members carry guns and hold 
military-like exercises.
   "We know of their existence," Coman said. "There has been 
no indication that they pose a threat to the citizens of this 
state."
   Observers such as Ted Arrington, chairman of the political 
science department at the University of North Carolina at 
Charlotte, estimate that perhaps 2 percent of the population -- 
roughly 100,000 people in North Carolina -- either belong to or 
embrace Patriot views -- which range from moderate to militant. 
Nationwide, an estimated 5 million people support the Patriot 
movement, while 10,000 to 40,000 are members of the armed 
militia movement, according to Political Research Associates, 
an organization that monitors extreme right-wing movements.
   The Patriot movement is diffuse and largely disorganized. It 
includes tax protesters, proponents of county rule, gun rights 
groups, and Christian fundamentalists. What binds them are 
extreme libertarian views -- and a profound distrust of 
government.
   Patriots point to two seminal events that rallied disparate 
groups and gave rise to the militias.
   The first was the 1992 shoot-out at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, 
between federal agents and white supremacist Randy Weaver. 
Federal agents tried to arrest Weaver on weapons charges at his 
Ruby Ridge home. During an 11-day siege there, Weaver's wife 
was shot in the head. His 14-year-old son and a deputy marshal 
were also killed. Weaver eventually surrendered and was 
acquitted of all but two minor charges.
   Less than a year later -- on Feb. 28, 1993 in Waco, Texas -- 
federal agents tried to enter the Branch Davidian compound to 
arrest the sect's leader, David Koresh, for allegedly 
stockpiling an arsenal. Four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and 
Firearms agents and six Davidians were killed in the ensuing 
shoot-out.<p>
   Later -- on April 19, 1993 -- agents assaulted the compound 
again, using tanks and tear gas. A fire erupted and 80 
Davidians died, including 18 children.
   The ATF and the FBI maintain they did nothing wrong and that 
the Davidians burned to death in a mass suicide. A federal 
inquiry determined that both agencies exercised poor judgment 
but broke no laws.
   Many in the Patriot movement, however, believe the 
government deliberately burned the compound. For them, Waco and 
Ruby Ridge are a call to arms.
   "Every social movement needs a political opportunity 
structure," said Chip Berlet, an analyst with Political 
Research Associates. "An event comes along that the leaders 
seize upon, use as tool to galvanize people. ... For the 
Patriot movement, Waco was the spark to start the militia 
movement. Waco and Weaver fueled their paranoia."
   Similarly, many in the Patriot movement believe the 
government bombed its own building with its own people inside 
exactly two years later in Oklahoma City.
   "It's not hard for me to believe that the government would 
do that to divert attention from Waco and discredit the 
militia," said Chapman of Union County.
   Patriots across the country share their concerns instantly 
and almost constantly via a communications network that 
includes computer bulletin boards, fax machines, short-wave 
radios and newsletters. The latest theories and rumors are 
often conveyed as facts from one computer terminal to another 
among this network. Many Patriots say they are more likely to 
believe what they read in computer chat
 groups than what they see in the newspaper.
   "The media have failed in their responsibility," said 
Jeffrey Rudd, operator of the Spirit of '76 computer bulletin 
board in Burlington
   Computers, he says, allow Patriots to do their own 
reporting. The central theme on many of these bulletin boards 
and Internet sites is the New World Order conspiracy. The 
theory has its roots in a combination of long-standing and 
almost mystical ideologies -- the belief in the 
Illuminati/Freemasonry conspiracy, for example -- that center on 
a secret elite intent on controlling the world's economy
, culture and government.
   Some believe that America is now living out the "end 
times" foretold in the biblical book of Revelation, that 
America is reaping the consequences of turning its back on God. 
They see the "mark of the beast" -- described in Revelation -- 
in supermarket bar codes, in paper currency designs or in 
implantable computer microchips.
   Some, though not all, are openly racist and anti-Semitic, 
pointing to a Zionist elite they say are establishing the New 
World Order.
   The great fear of the Anti-Defamation League, Klanwatch and 
other hate-group monitoring organizations is that the white 
supremacy movement will be drawn into the Patriot/militia 
movement. They're seeing that already, said J.T. Roy, chief 
investigator for Klanwatch, part of the Southern Poverty Law 
Center in Montgomery, Ala.
   The Oklahoma City bombing was less than two weeks old when 
Col. James "Bo" Gritz made his sixth visit to Andrews in 
Cherokee County, headquarters of Nord Davis and his 
paramilitary Northpoint Teams organization. Gritz -- one of the 
most prominent militia leaders in the country -- leads 
survivalist, paramilitary training sessions he calls 
S.P.I.K.E., for Specially Prepared Individuals for Key Events.
   Gritz, a former U.S. Army Green Beret officer, has expressed 
support for the white supremacist "Christian Identity" 
movement, which preaches that Jews are "Satan's spawn," that 
non-whites belong to "mud races," and that Caucasians who 
settled America are the Bible's covenant people. Davis, who 
circulates publications to a mailing list of 25,000, shares 
these views. Firearms training for Gritz's S.P.I.K.E. session 
was held on Davis' mountainside property.
   The rank-and-file membership of the Patriot/militia movement 
is still "basically Joe Six-pack," said Roy of Klanwatch.
   "But there's a hard core trying to guide the white 
supremacists into their ranks. The danger for Joe Six-pack is 
that he's in a culture where he's going to be recruited into 
the white supremacy movement."
   In addition to Gritz, national figures in the Patriot 
movement include Linda Thompson of Indiana. Thompson produced 
the videotape, "Waco: The Big Lie," which contends that the 
government intentionally set the fire that consumed the Branch 
Davidian complex.
   Another is Mark Koernke of the Michigan Militia, best known 
for his shortwave radio broadcasts. The Militia of Montana, led 
by John Trochmann, circulates videotapes called "Invasion and 
Betrayal" that it contends outlines the coming of the New 
World Order.
   They are quick to characterize detractors as traitors or 
federal informants. They don't even trust each other. Thompson 
calls Bo Gritz a traitor, Koernke "bogus," and Militia of 
Montana leaders "agent provocateurs." The John Birch Society 
calls Thompson "a tool of the conspiracy."
   Extreme suspicion pervades the movement at every level. 
Waynesville common law proponent William O'Brien believes the 
FBI has broken into his office three times. Chapman, of Union 
County, wonders whether the FBI has surveillance equipment in 
the hanging plants at the local Shoney's where his group meets.
   Patriot members see evidence of a conspiracy everywhere. 
Even on the nation's interstate highway signs, which some 
Patriots believe contain secret, coded messages to guide 
invading U.N. troops when they sweep across the country 
stamping out opposition to the coming one-world government.
   There is evidence too in your own wallet, Patriots say. 
Chapman, 39, believes he found some in his wallet recently 
during an interview in Monroe. He picked carefully at the edge 
of a $20 bill until he uncovered a slender strip running 
through the middle.
   "This is an electronic bar code," declared Chapman, who 
belongs to a Patriot group in the Charlotte area called 
Citizens for the Reinstatement of Constitutional Government. 
"It can be read through radar systems and satellites. It's 
there so the government can tell how much money I'm carrying."
   Pierre Abbot of Charlotte, a computer programmer and 
Patriot, said the same bar codes "could easily be placed in 
people to watch our movements."
   Citizens need only look skyward and open their ears to the 
angry whap-whap of rotor blades to realize there is a 
conspiracy against them, Patriots say. Patriots and militia 
members from Montana to Monroe say they are being spooked by 
mysterious black helicopters that buzz their rooftops and 
training areas. They are convinced the aircraft carries a 
strike force assigned to stop anyone who rebels against 
establishing the New World Order.
   Chapman says the the Apaches usually fly in formations of 
six, followed by a larger Blackhawk helicopter: "The 
interesting thing is they have no markings except something on 
the engine that looks like a white star with a circle in the 
middle."
   The helicopters could belong to any branch of the military 
or almost any law enforcement agency, said Sgt. 1st Class Kiki 
Bryant of Corps Public Affairs at Fort Bragg. All U.S. Army 
helicopters are marked with "U.S. ARMY" and the serial number 
on each side of the tail. They might be difficult to see, 
Bryant said, since the Apaches are charcoal black with black 
markings, for security reasons. Bryant said there are no 
regular formations of Apaches flying over the Charlotte area, 
but some fly over from time to time en route to Cherry Point 
Air Station.
   A book written by Jim Keith, a supporter of the 
Patriot/militia movement, solidifies Chapman's suspicions about 
the helicopters. Titled "Black Helicopters Over America: 
Strike Force for the New World Order," the book pinpoints an 
area in the south central part of the state, not far from 
Chapman's home, as the probable site of a strike force base. It 
even lists alleged locations of "concentration camps" where 
those who resist the New World Order would be confined.
   People say the Patriots are paranoid, said Esposito of 
Monroe:
   "They say we're crazy. They say it can't happen here.
   "Well, we're talking about the government that experimented 
on its own citizens with LSD and radiation. We're talking about 
the government that dropped Agent Orange on its soldiers and 
then denied it did anything wrong.
   "Just wait till they knock down your door."

Patriot Aims/The Militias</b>, published June 25-27, 1995,
by the News & Record, Greensboro, N.C.
Copyright &copy News & Record and InfiNet

