Militias: Officers can do little about militias
Officers can do little about militias
By SUSAN LADD and STAN SWOFFORD
News & Record Staff Writers
   As Patriot/militia groups spring up in North Carolina, state 
and federal law enforcement officers can only watch and listen 
-- and hope the rhetoric never becomes reality.
   They can do little but wince when they hear that someone 
like Nord Davis Jr. of Andrews is saying publicly that the 
blood of U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and other federal 
officials must be spilled to atone for the people who died at 
Waco.
   Federal regulations prohibit law enforcement officers from 
investigating or infiltrating any group unless they have reason 
to believe that the group has committed a crime or is about to 
commit a crime. So far, despite the inflammatory rhetoric from 
Davis and others, state and federal officers say they have no 
reason to investigate Patriot/militia groups in North Carolina.
   "The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms characterizes 
these groups as being potentially very dangerous," said Earl 
Woodham, spokesman for the ATF in North Carolina. "We're 
talking about only 1 or 2 percent of the population, but their 
hysterics drown out the silent majority of decent people in 
this country."
   Lou Iliano, second in command of the ATF in North Carolina, 
said the ATF, FBI and other federal agencies have taken special 
precautions since the bombing of the Murrah federal building in 
Oklahoma City.
   FBI agent Ken Patton, who is in charge of intelligence for 
the bureau in North Carolina, declined to discuss the 
Patriot/militia movement, citing FBI regulations that he says 
prohibit him from doing so.
   Sheriffs of counties in which Patriot/militia groups have 
been organized say they are either unaware of the groups or 
believe they pose no threat.
   Sheriff Frank McGuirt of Union County, home of Citizens for 
the Reinstatement of Constitutional Government, said he had met 
with the group: "They asked me a lot of questions about gun 
permits and so forth. I certainly believe in a citizen's right 
to bear arms. I've heard nothing so far to indicate they'd be 
dangerous to anyone."
   Sheriff Tom Alexander of Haywood County did not respond to 
repeated requests for comment on the Patriot/militia groups in 
his county.
   Sheriff Jack Thompson of Cherokee County, home of Nord Davis 
and his Northpoint Teams, said he doesn't think Davis is a 
threat to his county: "He doesn't fool with us and we don't 
fool with him."

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