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Militia groups
return to spotlight Associated Press SEATTLE, WA - 10/23/01 _ Not since Y2K came and went
with little more than costly computer overhauls have militia groups,
everyday survivalists and conspiracy-minded "patriot"
organizations been more at the ready.
And never in recent memory have those who prepare for
the apocalypse felt more justified in their resolve.
Butch Razey, a member of the Yakima County Militia,
says people sometimes used to avoid him on the street. But since the
Sept. 11 attacks, he says he's being buttonholed constantly for advice
on such things as emergency food, medical supplies, gas masks and
chemical suits.
"Militias have been trying for years to get
everybody prepared," Razey told The Seattle Times. "Now it's
not just us weird old militia people saying it. It's the Red
Cross."
At least 40 people have signed up for the Constitution
Party's "family defense" classes, which plan to teach
everything from medicinal powers of cayenne pepper to finding a safe
zone in a nuclear blast or terrorist attack.
"We see this as a new type of war, a direct
attack on the American people," said Sandra Swanson, a leader of
the party, which, among other things, seeks a return to a U.S. dollar
backed by gold or silver.
"If you're in Washington (D.C.), and you're the
president or the Cabinet, you have a safe place to go. The average
American does not. We're teaching simple preparedness."
Militia of Montana founder John Trochmann said he has
received calls from New York to California seeking biological-warfare
suits and vials of a potassium substance that claims to protect
against radiation poisoning.
"We normally sell 500 bottles a year, but we've
sold that in a month," Trochmann said. "We're having
stockbrokers, lawyers, even doctors calling us from New York City
asking if we have any gas masks."
The militia movement was boosted by those disenchanted
by the federal government after the 1992 siege by the FBI and U.S.
Marshals at white separatist Randy Weaver's North Idaho cabin, and the
deadly 1993 raid by the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
But after fears of the millennium proved unfounded,
"People just didn't seem interested anymore," Trochmann
said.
"They thought Y2K was a big hoax and we were a
bunch of kooks. Well, I think we slid right next to a huge catastrophe
worldwide, and got lucky."
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a watchdog group that
monitors links between the patriot and white-power movements, reported
that the number of active groups dropped from a high of nearly 858 in
1996 to less than 200 last year.
Ardent groups, such as the Northern Michigan Regional
Militia, have disbanded.
Razey's group in Yakima has about 16 members who meet
regularly. Among its interests, the militia volunteers to work with
Habitat for Humanity, protests the World Trade Organization and
donates to food banks.
"The Yakima militia has staying power, and most
people would look at it and say, `Pretty harmless, pretty
community-friendly,' and that's true," said Eric Ward, with the
Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity. "But they're part of a
larger social movement that's not always so harmless." In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment for non-profit research and educational purposes only. [Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml] |