Todd Bensman & Robert Riggs
Republic Of Texas - Separatists
Mon Feb 9 11:55:01 2004
67.30.32.49

http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:kBH231PjJEAJ:www.cailaw.org/ilea/brochures/2002/CI_02.pdf+police+chief+conference,dallas+texas&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cache:V_bAq1WopJwJ:www.cpcachiefs.org/conference2004/pdfs/spouse_reg.pdf+police+chief+conference,+feb.+2004&hl=en&ie=UTF Perry Jones ____ Peter Gent _____ Jae Dean Wendell _____ Winston Blake _______ Peter Hippsman _________ Michael Dean Schroeder ___--_____ http://www.wizardsofaz.com/waco/mike1.html http://www.republic-of-texas.net/ -8Republic of Texas Separatists

Dec 16, 2003 4:48 pm US/Central
By Todd Bensman and Robert Riggs
CBS-11 News

Six quiet years have passed since anti-government Republic of Texas separatists made headlines during a violent weeklong standoff with police.

The 1997 siege in the Davis Mountains of West Texas left one separatist dead, a hostage wounded and, with the imprisonment of self-styled Ambassador Richard McLaren, seemed to dampen the group’s rallying cry that Texas was a fully independent country.

But now a newly revived wing of the Republic of Texas is attempting to stage a visible comeback. The group has planted an 1836 Independence flag and declared the unassuming East Texas rail town of Overton their provisional capitol. The group’s so-called “citizens” and elected “President” Daniel Miller set up what they call their provisional government in a 16,000-square-foot building that once was a hospital.

Visitors are invited to apply for passports. Some adherents have blanked out the word “state” on their Texas license plates, in deference to their belief that Texas is not a state. Blue Republic of Texas flags are popping up on homes around town, and hundreds of interested patrons come on weekends for seminars about how the Republic interprets American tax and land use laws.

June Wright, recently of Dallas, moved to Overton permanently to manage the new capitol after attending a Republic of Texas meeting in Dallas. The owner of rental properties in North Texas, she says that onerous taxation eroded her liberty as an American citizen.

“One meeting is all it took, so I realized we were in bondage with the United States, paying all the taxes that we pay,” she said. “You can’t do anything. You know, without a permit or something. We just don’t have any freedom to speak of.”

The Republic of Texas hews to an ideology that the United States in 1845 did not legallly annex Texas, then an independent nation. The group stakes a claim that Texas remains a nation within 19th Century boundaries that include parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and northern Mexico.

What’s going on in Overton is reminiscent of Republic of Texas activities prior to the 1997 standoff, which began when police sought to serve arrest warrants on group members who took up arms and insisted that U.S. laws did not apply to them.

Miller, the Republic of Texas president, could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts. But he and other group leaders try to distance their organization from violent tactics and McLaren. They insist the Republic of Texas in Overton is kinder and gentler and that citizens will work within the system to achieve their goals.

“I can’t tell you no there’s not another McLaren out there,” said Overton native Dale Strictland, a self-described Republic of Texas citizen who helped bring the organization to town. “I can tell you I don’t know any, and I know most of them, most of them personally, and they all want to do it the right way. They want to do the paperwork. They defend their own home, but they’re not going to bear arms against the United States.”

Republic of Texas ideology has provoked an uneasiness among some Overton citizens and police who remember the 1997 headlines about how efforts by authorities to serve arrest warrants on followers sparked a violent standoff.

Recently produced Republic of Texas literature strongly condemns state and federal laws and calls on followers to repudiate them as “a system of legalized plunder.”

“Your rights are violated daily by the current system installed by the U.S.” one pamphlet reads. “The Austin government does nothing about preserving this right for Texans, but looks the other way when the courts and police violate them.”

The pamphlet goes on: “When any system of law or government is perverted from this purpose into one of violating the freedom of the People, it becomes a system of legalized plunder. We want the plundering of Texans to stop!”

But Strictland said he, perhaps unlike other Republic citizens, is willing to accept state and federal laws - until his nation is properly recognized as an established political entity.

“We don’t carry guns around and bully people around,” he said. “I get a ticket, I pay for it. I don’t like it, but…”

Other Republic of Texas followers in Overton, however, harbor some curious ideas. One idea is that police may only lawfully ticket commercial vehicles, not private property that is duly labeled.

Overton resident Karen Quinalty’s family pickup truck sports a white taped message on the tailgate: “PRIVATE PROPERTY.”

“Their jurisdiction is really to pull over commercial vehicles only, and this is a noncommercial vehicle, so they’re really not allowed to pull us over,” Quinalty said. “They do, but they’re not allowed to.”

A number of run-ins between local police and Republic of Texas followers has local officialdom worried.

Police in Overton and the nearby town of Bullard have issued several traffic citations and arrested Republic of Texas followers caught driving without licenses. They in turn have responded with a string of threatening letters to city officials. Familiarly, they have claimed that local laws do not apply to them.

One of those arrested, the Republic of Texas' "Postmaster General" Don Bennett, has demanded a $2 million remuneration in silver for his jailing on overdue traffic citations and the towing of his vehicle, records show. The other arrested man, Republic of Texas "Secretary of the Interior" Ed Brannum, reportedly threatened that he would fire the officers as soon as the Republic government took over, according to Overton officials.

“The Overton Police Department, and the city of Overton will make every effort to live in peaceful coexistence with these people,” Chief Edward J. Williams said. “However, abiding by the laws of the state of Texas is not an option for the Republic of Texas people, for myself or for any other citizen of the state of Texas.”

Chief Williams acknowledged worrying about what might happen should his six-officer police force ever has to serve an arrest warrant on a Republic of Texas separatist. Arrest warrants have triggered violent conflagrations from a host of other anti-government individuals and groups, ranging from David Koresh in Waco to the FBI’s fatal siege on Ruby Ridge.

“We would hope that we would not have to go to the extreme, or be pushed to the extreme, of when these laws are enforced, that their reaction would be to become more radical,” he said. “Or, to have more radical folks come to this area in response to what this policing agency may be forced to do, just by insisting that compliance by the laws of Texas be adhered to.”

Some residents told CBS-11 they don’t like having the newcomers around.

“I’ve lived in major cities all my life, and I came here to be comfortable, okay?” said Jerry Enlow, an area retiree. “And I’m not comfortable with them being here. I have no small children or anything, and I live outside of town, but then again, I bow to the laws of this city and this United States, and they should do the same or get the hell out.”

Overton City Manager Jeff Ellington acknowledges that residents are uneasy. He said group leaders initiated a friendly meeting with him in August, wanting to know how they would be treated.

“My statement to them was we would treat them like we would treat anyone else under the laws of the state of Texas and the United States of America,” Ellington said. “You know, we’re aware of what happened in West Texas.

“If they’re peaceful citizens, we welcome them. We welcome anybody who abides by the law,” he said. “But we’re not too happy about anyone who doesn’t abide by the law.” ______________(would that include the ADL/ATF/FBI/DOJ.......? What about Waco ?? ) Sure those "LAW ENFORCEMENT" guys talk tough about enforcing "POLICY" of the Occupation Government but do they ACT IN GOOD FAITH ? CAN THEY DEFINE MURDER....Or Is What we are looking at another INTELLIGENCE FAILURE ?

• Excuse me ... Texas Driver's License Defined — Bob Scheidt, Mon Feb 9 13:05
• Intelligence Failure : Lack of : Freedom Of Information — Robert Cohen, Mon Feb 9 12:29
• Poopaganda : WND on the Air — Joseph 'Zionist' Farrah, Mon Feb 9 13:15