FLORIDA

     Militias and their "patriot" supporters are operating
throughout Florida in the following counties: Alachua,
Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Marion, Orange, Brevard, Highlands,
St. Lucie, Martin, Volusia, Indian River, Okeechobee,
Pinellas. Sarasota, Pasco, Polk, Hillsborough, Palm Beach
and Monroe. Robert Gene Pummer, formerly of Martin County
and once the key organizer of the Florida State Militia, has
moved to Mayfield, Kentucky.

     On December 3, 1994, outside Melbourne, a collection of
anti-government activists and militia groups organized a
"Patriot Alert Rally." Martin "Red" Beckman, a tax protestor
from Montana, told the gathering, "The lied to us about
Pearl Harbor and Vietnam and Korea and the energy crisis and
the Kennedy assassination. We don't want to have to go to
the militia if we can help it. But if we don't have truth in
this country, part of the judgment that's going to come on
this country is going to come from the militia."

     Literature for sale at the rally included copies of The
New Federalist (a publication of political extremist Lyndon
LaRouche), The Spotlight (the organ of the anti-Semitic
Liberty Lobby), literature from the St. Lucie-based Florida
State Militia, 2nd Regiment, and a handbill from the Brevard
County Militia proclaiming: "Wake up America, Your country
is being taken over bit-by-bit. Join Your fellow PATRIOTS to
STOP this MOVEMENT."

     The same month, the Gainesville City Hall briefly flew
a United Nations flag. Members of militias from around the
state and the nation, including then-Michigan Militia leader
Norman Olson. issued a flood of complaints and threats to
the city and local business leaders. The flag was removed.
Gainesville's city manager stated, "The city commission
meeting that we had regarding the U.N. flag was probably the
meeting at which I felt more personal fear than any other
public meeting I've ever attended in 20 years."

On the airwaves

     In Pensacola, militias are promoted by Chuck Baldwin,
the pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church. Baldwin hosts a
radio show on the Christian Patriot Network and invites
listeners to call in: "We're talking about citizens'
militias, federal government's encroachment on individual
rights, New World Order, United Nations, gun control, it's
all related." Militias are also promoted on the public
access channel in Alachua County, which airs a pro-militia
video produced by the North Florida Patriot Association.


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

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