Armed & Dangerous: As in other parts of the country, the recent rise of militias in
Idaho can be linked to four events: the Randy Weaver siege, the Waco
disaster, the passage of the Brady Law and the federal anti-crime
law. Idaho militias identify particularly closely with the Weaver
incident because it took place inside the state and because some key
militia figures in the region were allied with Weaver and indeed
participated in the events surrounding the siege.
Samuel Sherwood, an Idaho militia leader, has recruited hundreds of
Idahoans into his United States Militia Association. At a July
meeting in Blackfoot, Idaho, Sherwood reportedly told potential
recruits that President Clinton's crime bill authorized the
government to hire 100,000 former Royal Hong Kong police to come to
America to enforce gun control laws. As of August 1991, Sherwood's
association has organized militias in at least a dozen of Idaho's
counties.
Sherwood's recruitment campaign has met with opposition from law
enforcement officials. The Tri-County Sheriff's Association,
representing 16 eastern Idaho counties, has passed a resolution
against the formation of militias. Greg Moffat, Madison County
Sheriff and the leader of the association, has asserted that they
would "give absolutely no support to the idea of a militia."
Although his current project is not strictly speaking the formation
of militias, Bo Gritz's activity closely parallels the militia
movement. Gritz, the 1992 Populist Party candidate for president, is
a former Green Beret, well-known for conducting SPIKE (Specially
Prepared Individuals for Key Events) training throughout the region,
preparing participants in weapons and survival techniques.
Gritz is currently creating an armed community on a 200-acre piece of
land in Central Idaho known as "Almost Heaven." He purchased the land
and is now selling it in lots. A second community called "Shenandoah"
is also planned nearby. Gritz plans to live at Almost Heaven with 30
other families in a self-sufficient community which he has said will
obey all laws "unless they go against the laws of God and common
sense." Through rigorous military training, Gritz plans to prepare
his followers to prevent the government from making any attempts to
intrude: "I want a community where if the F.B.I. looks at us, they'll
end up saying it's more trouble than it's worth."
Gritz derives much of his support from his opposition to the federal
government s actions in the Weaver and Waco cases. He himself was
present at the Weaver standoff and assisted Weaver in surrendering to
the authorities. Gritz recently wrote in his newsletter, "The tyrants
who ordered the assault on the Weavers and Waco should be tried and
executed as traitors." But Gritz's extremist views go beyond
opposition to certain government policies. For example, in his book,
Called To Serve, he peddles the anti-Semitic myth that Jewish
families control the Federal Reserve System.
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