COLORADO

     Sources indicate that militia organizing in Colorado
has been frozen in the aftermath of the April 19 bombing of
the Oklahoma City Federal Building. Meetings have been put
on hold, though it does not appear that the groups have
disbanded.

     Despite this development. anti-federal government and
conspiracy-oriented tirades continue to be phoned in by
listeners to radio station KHNC in Johnstown, which
broadcasts a steady stream of "patriot" programs. In recent
weeks some callers have expressed the view, held by many
militia supporters, that the government itself carried out
the Oklahoma City blast.

     Another important vehicle for pro-militia activism in
Colorado is The USA Patriot Magazine, edited by D. A.
Weideman and published monthly by the USA Patriot Network in
Johnstown. The periodical, whose cover price is "4 FRNs"
(Federal Reserve Notes), contains a "Telephone & Address
Book" listing dozens of contacts. Among them are lie Free
American a pro-militia periodical from New Mexico; Militia
Supply. identified as a "Patriot Hardware" outlet with a
catalog and a toll-free phone number; Mark Koernke (listed
as "Mark from Michigan"), whose speeches and videotapes have
encouraged militia organizing throughout the country; and
Bob Fletcher, of the Militia of Montana.

     Fletcher has traveled to Colorado on behalf of his
militia. In  a January 1995 speech in Fort Collins, he
instructed fledgling  militiamen that "you better damn well
learn how to use a gun if  you don't know how to use one
now."

     Prior to the Oklahoma bombing, militias had organized
in  Larimer and Weld Counties near the Wyoming border, in
counties around Denver, in Park County west of Colorado
Springs, and in
the southern region of the state.

Charles Duke

     Colorado's militia movement has been publicly defended
by State Senator Charles Duke, who has reportedly said that
"the few militia people I know practice a policy of
nonviolence, ... not altogether too different from a Boy
Scout kind of idea." Following the Oklahoma City bombing, a
Denver Post columnist reported that Duke raised the
possibility of a government role in the bombing: "They're
certainly capable of it. Look what they did to Waco. There's
many people around the country who believe they did it....
Is it unreasonable to see the continuation of a pattern
here?"


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

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