CALIFORNIA

     California's militia movement has been growing rapidly,
with approximately 35 units throughout the state. The
locations of these groups range from urban centers to small
towns, and extend from the state's northern to southern
borders. Counties in which militias have been active
include: Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego,
Kern, Placer, Alameda, Marin, Santa Clara. Shasta, San
Joaquin, Stanislaus, El Dorado, Tulare, Sonoma, Mendocino,
Butte, Tuolumne and Tehama.

     This widespread activity has been encouraged on public
access television and radio. "The Informed Citizen." a
television program broadcast on Redding's public access
channel, Michael Zwerling's radio talk show on KSCO in Santa
Cruz, and "Truth Radio" KDNO in Delano, all promote
militias.

     Dean Compton, 33, a resident of rural Shasta County,
has founded the National Alliance of
Christian Militias in response to the perceived threat of an
impending "New World Order." The group, whose members are
armed, reportedly blends Biblical teachings and survivalism.
Training sessions are conducted on Compton's 130-acre ranch.

Visiting Activists

     Far-right organizer and former Green Beret Bo Gritz
(see Idaho) has promoted his SPIKE program (Specially
Prepared Individuals for Key Events - a paramilitary
survivalist training course) in California. Gritz conducted
a SPIKE session and gave a speech in Butte County in
February 1995. at which time the Butte County Militia was
forming. On that visit, Gritz reportedly said that Americans
might finally be awakening to the threats he sees: "Who
would have ever thought," he was quoted as saying, "these
militias would spring up everywhere?" Gritz also encouraged
the formation of militias in a March 1995 speech in
Glendale.

     Over the past year. Mark Koernke ("Mark from Michigan")
has spoken around the state as well. In August 1994. Koernke
appeared in Concord, where he reportedly described a future
takeover of the U.S. by foreign "New World Order" troops and
claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
will establish concentration camps for American citizens.
"The solution." he said, "is militias. It looks like we re
going to pull the trigger. We eventually will. No doubt
about that." In August and September 1994, Koernke also
spoke to audiences in Kern County, and in May 1995, he
addressed 600 people at a "Taking America Back" conference
in Palm Springs. The organizer of the event, Tom Johns.
claims to be the "intelligence officer" for the Morongo
Valley Militia.

     Bob Fletcher of the Militia of Montana addressed a San
Fernando Valley group called the Granada Forum in Tarzana in
March 1995. The group, which gathers regularly to discuss
"patriot" issues, has also heard speeches by longtime anti-
Semite Eustace Mullins and California State Senator Don
Rogers, who has proposed a resolution objecting to any U.S.
assistance in the formation of a "global government" and the
"merger of the United States" into such a world government.


~      
ADL Fact Finding Report, "Beyond the Bombing: The Militia
Menace Grows," Anti-Defamation League, 1995.

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