Newspaper Page Text
Christian Patriot movement
believes God authority, defies gov't
By Michelle Williams
ASSOCIATED PRESS Writer
FAYETTEVILLE, Tenn.
Tucked away offa narrow grav
elroad in rural Lincoln County is
an unassuming farm house
where geese strut in the front
yard and corn fields form rows as
far as the eye can see.
A pebble driveway leads past a
porch and a shimmering pond to
three outbuildings. One, bright
ly painted, seems lighted by win
dows. On closer look, all but two
on the second floor are painted
facades.
Inside, about 15 people from
Tennessee and Alabama met
with a California man who told
them how to stop paying federal
income taxes and how to set up
private banks to protect assets.
His lesson is just one part of a
Christian Patriot movement.
Members fear a one-world gov
ernment, warn of revolution, be
lieve God is the only true author
ity and the government is evil
and corrupt.
While a minority, federal au
thorities estimate that there
are about 200,000 people active
in the movement, and the num
ber is growing. At least 30 states
have large memberships.
“These people are going tobring
about change in America for the
better,” said Lowell Becraft, a
Huntsville, Ala., attorney who
represents anti-tax activists. “If
it’s just to decrease the burden of
taxation, the message is being
sent.”
Groups organize through an
underground network of news
letters, video tapes, facsimiles,
computer bulletin boards, short
wave radio programs and word
of-mouth meetings. Meetings
range from about a dozen people
in a church basement to 500 par
ticipants at a hotel ballroom.
The common denominator
among members is a belief the
government is out of control and
robbing citizens of constitutional
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While some in the movement
were motivated by greed or
hate, Long said most were
Christians concerned about
where the government is
leading the country.
rights.
Some are committed only to
the income tax issue. Some bring
other concerns, like federally
funded abortions.
Then there are fringe elements.
Patriot newsletters have circu
lated at Ku Klux Klan rallies.
Some people identified by au
thorities as white suprema
cists and anti-Semitics are affil
iated with Patriot groups.
“It’s difficult to determine
which people we need to moni
tor,” said Angie Lowery, a spokes
woman for the Southern Poverty
Law Centerin Birmingham, Ala.,
which monitors the Klan and oth
er radical groups.
“It’s definitely a growing move
ment and probably where the
movement is going today, this
type of coalition among right
wing groups,” she said.
Becraft said it was unfair to
judge the movement on radicals.
“I've met Neo-Nazis and anti-
Semitics, but those aren’t the
people I represent,” said Becraft,
one of only a handful of attorneys
nationwide who exclusively han
dle such cases.
“Irepresent the people like you
and me who always trusted in
the government and thought we
were doing our duties as citi
zens, but have learned that we're
being misled,” said Becraft, who
also doesn’t pay taxes.
Members include farmers who
felt abandoned by the govern
ment, unemployed parents
scared for their children’s fu
tures, rebellious teens and pris
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Located at the corner of Barnes St.
and James Brown Boulevard
oners,
Their radical, zealous activi
ties, survivialist camps, death
threats to federal agents, under
ground shelters, militia train
ing, peaked in 1983 with the
death of North Dakota farmer
Gordon Kohl, aleader of the Pos
se Comitatus, a right-wing,
grassroots, anti-tax group that
fed on farmers’ discontent over a
failing agriculture economy.
Kohl was killed in a shootout
in Arkansas that also left a sher
iff dead. Kohl had killed two
marshals and wounded a deputy
in an earlier shootout in North
Dakota.
Learning from their forefa
thers’ mistakes, a smarter,
wealthiermembership emerged.
They fight as many battles as
they can in the courtroom.
Since 1993, the IRS has con
victed 588 non-filers. There were
25 acquittals. IRS estimates
about 30 percent of their convic
tions are anti-tax activists.
Tax protesters are often suc
cessful in skirting the IRS be
cause they are often self-em
ployed, usually barter services
and goods with other protesters,
and sometimes set up their own
banks to protect their assets.
To break away from govern
ment control, they often return
their drivers’ licenses and social
security cards. They believe op
erating a vehicle and working
are rights, not privileges grant
ed by the government.
They disassociate with the
mainstream by educating their
children at home and using herb
al medicines to cure everything
from colds to cancer.
Most members are white, edu
cated, middle-class, Christian
people who live quietly in their
communities.
Despite fierce belief they are
abiding by principals set forth by
the country’s founding fathers,
they know they are a minority
against a powerful foe.
The IRS can still pursue civil
charges and file liens against
property or assets if they lose a
criminal case against a non-filer.
But if the non-filer has pre
pared for the fight, the govern- |
ment has a hard time extracting
payment.
“They’'ve made it extremely
difficult to track their manner of
income,” said then-U.S. Attor
ney Ed Bryant, now a Republi
can congressman from Tennes
see. Helost acasein 1991 against
17 tax protesters in Memphis.
“That will make it more difficult
to proceed from a civil stand
point.”
The flock which gathered at
the farm house, about 30 miles
north of Huntsville, Ala., was
told these facts.
A reporter and photographer
who arrived at the meeting were
soon escorted out. Strangers are
distrusted.
Some meetings are open, some
aren’t, said Tennessee farmer
Lloyd Long, who was acquitted
in 1993 on two counts of failure
to file income taxes.
“These people are very new to
this and a little scared,” he said.
While some in the movement
were motivated by greed or hate,
Long said most were Christians
concerned about where the gov
ernment is leading the country.
“Ifthe government starts fund
ing abortions with tax money or
decides to take away our guns,
then there’s going to be a show
down, I'm afraid,” he said.
“Christians are going to have
to make some tough decisions,
and some of them are just get
ting prepared.” b 0T RAT
AUGUSTA FOCUS April 27, 1995
Good Health—
Georgia doctor
publishes unique
nutrition guide
fLAVOR
WI\THOU Y
FAT
s %
AN McBABPROI M
T e o PP
’-4‘.,’.’ R e -
Flaver Without Fat is available
at B Dalton Bookseller at Regen
cy Mall.
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
In 1986, Jan Mcßarron
weighed 200 pounds. As a medi
cal doctor, she knew all too well
the extra strain that was putting
her heart through, not to men
tion the increased risk of cancer
and heart disease caused by a
fat-rich diet. So she put her spe
cialized knowledge about the
human body to work and changed
her eating habits, losing 70
pounds and catching the atten
tion of her patients, who were
eager to do the same.
As a result, she decided to spe
cialize in Bariatrics, or weight
control, and has since become a
best-selling author with her book
the Columbus Nutrition Pro
gram, first published in 1987.
Her book Flavor Without Fat,
first published in 1991, was re
leased for a second time in 1994.
According to Dr. Mcßarron,
Flavor Without Fat is not just a
cook book, but a “tool to help
people learn how ta take care of
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The first 12 chapters (63 pag
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of the three food groups — carbo
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the role each plays in our diet,
including how much of each we
need.
Remember protein? According
to Chapter 2, Americans “con
sume far too much.” Adult males
need about 56 grams per day;
adult females, 44. “To put thisin
perspective,” Dr. Mcßarron
wrote, “56 grams of protein are
provided by a meal containing
four ounces of white meat. tur
key, two slices of whole wheat
bread, an eight-ounce glass of
skim milk, and a banana.” .
The chapters following discuss
cholesterol, salt, fiber, and vita
mins, and Chapter 12 gives plen
ty of tips for “Low-Fat Cooking.”
The last 240 pages are nothing
but low-fat recipes like hash
browns made practically non-fat
by substituting chicken bouillon
for oil.
Then there’s Chapter 22:
Deserts. Angel food cake with
one gram of fat per serving. La
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amounts of fat. Blueberry cob
bler with two grams. ,
These are “good recipes,” Dr.
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Her husband, Duke Liberatore,
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In the coming weeks, Flavor
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B Dalton Bookseller in the Re
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mail order as well. Call 1-80 Q-,
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15
