enmonths ago, on the night of November 11I, large-caliber bullets T begancrashing into the headquar- ters of the Southeast Bomb Task Force in Andrew, N.C., almost literally parting the hair of one federal agent and barely missing another. Agents assigned to the search for accused bomber Eric Rudolph dived for cover as the assault continued. Then, as quickly as it had begun, the attack was over. The shooter, who had fired eight 7.62~caliber bullets while stand- ing in the open on a public highway just zyo yards away, vanished, simply strolling away or driving off into the darkness. The assault on this fenced and heavi- ly guarded compound was remarkable for its brazenness. Ifan agent bad been killed, prosecurors would surely have sought the death penalty for the perpetraror, and at the very least the attacker faced decades in prison. But the sniper, operating amid the wooded hills and anti-government senti- ment of western North Carolina, appar- ently felt secure enough to take the risk. He may have had a point. Anti-federalism in this mountainous pan ofrhe stare-and in adjoining areas of South Carolina and Tennessee - dates all the way back to the whiskey Rebellion of the 179os, when the government tried to force Irish settlers to pay taxes on their bootlegged brew. The Feds didn’t have much luck getting cooprration from the locals then, and despite a $1 million reward for Rudolph, they don’t seem to be doing much berter today. It is a region where Rudolph seems co have many friends. In recent decades, this area has become a magnet for many in the radical right, men and women who are drawn to a place where the land is still cheap, the living is private and the population is white. In 1972, Nerd Davis Jr., who was to become a leading patriarch of the racist and anti- Semitic religion, moved to the area. A decade later, Ben Klassen, founder of the neo-Nazi Church of the Creator (see p. 23) followed, sating up shop in Otto, near the line. Today, despite the deaths of both men in the ~ggos, extremist activity, supported pas- sively by some kc.&, is remarkably high Far a time, officials hoped that hunters like this one wwld help Imate fugitive Eric Rudolph.

- much as in the better-known radical enclaves of the Pacific Northwest and the Arkansas Ozarks. “It’s the legacy of hate and bigotry,” Jack Horton, a former Macon County (NC.1 o&ial now working in another county, told a reporter. “It just changes people.”

Cells, Bombs and Common law * While “common law” activities are declining in most of the counrry, court files in this part of the country bulge wirh arcanely worded documents filed by proponents of this pseudo-legal ide- ology. They include drclararions of”sov- ereignv” from the law, threats against officials and false property liens filed against those seen as enemies. * Militias and other “Patriot” groups are not only active here, they rake a hard- er line than most counterparts in other parts of rhe nation. A large number of those involved are adherents of Christian Identity, people who hold that Jews are the literal progeny of Satan, blacks are soulless “mud people” and whites are the true chosen people. In June, almost 60 militia supporters traveled from SCY- era1 .stxes co meet and train just across the border in Tennessee - about half of them so-called “seedline” Identity hard- liners. . Every year, as many as four major Identity gatherings are held in nearby parts of Tennessee, from the “Feast of the Tabcrnacles” IO the Identity version of Passover. These meetings have drawn key Identity figures, many of whom have criminal records. *An underground, largely the spinofl of Davis’ old organization, has developed In Asheville, 75 miles from the Andrews * A cottage industry of extremist su- a fairly extensive secret cell structure in area where o&i& believe Rudolph is still veillance of the federal agents searching for the area. composed in part of some of tht hiding, a bomb went off at the only abor- Rudolph has sprung up, with blizzards of estimated zoo Davis followers who came tion clinic in the western part of the E-mail and other messages warning that to the area where Davis moved 27 years state. The March 13 blast injured no one agents are really preparing to impose mar- ago. One cell is known to be stockpiling -probably because the powerful device tial law on unsuspecting patriots. The cell explosives and training on a sophisticar- only partly detonated. Five incidents at phone t&ic of barb agents and reporters ed gun range. central North Carolina clinics - arsons has been illegally listened in on with * Anti- violence, like that and unsuccessful dynamite attacks in sophisricared scanners, and notes have attributed co alleged clinic bomber Fayetteville and Greensboro - also were been left in motels to let agents know they Rudolph, has escalated since early 1998. recorded. are being watched. and Jews (the six-pointed star) and called for death for gays and race-mixers. Davis’ tracts were so widely disseminated that he broke the all-time record at the Andrew post office by sending out I I/Z tons of material in one day. Davis, who died of cancer in 1997. began his odyssey long ago. In 1958, he once wrote, his life changed after reading a book that alleged that Presidenr Dwight D. Eisenhower ‘iwas a conscious agent of the Communist Conspiracy.” Eisenhower was not the only subversive president in Davis’ eyes. So were Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Even Ronald Reagan was “a secret International Socialist.” Davis claimed he resigned from IBM in 1966 “to expose IBM’s sales of sophisticat- ed computers fo the Communists,” join- ing a group that belirvrd a Communist takeover was coming in 1973. American patriots managed IO foil the scheme, Davis wrote, but the plot was again put into effect in the 1990s with the coming of the “New World Order.” Aftrr the failure of a “Christian covenam community” that Davis XT up in Massachusetts between 1968 and 1972, Davis packed his four daughters andwife into a travel trailer and rook a trip through the mountains of several states. He was looking for moderate climare, a plentiful water supply, low taxes and a place where one could become economically self- su&ienr. He found all of this and more in the Nan&da mountains, in a com- munity just IO miles from Murphy, the town where Rudolph would grow up. Macon County, North Carolina’s west- ernmosc, was chosrn “because it had all of the above,” Davis wore, and was peo- pled with ‘pretty well-armed” Christians. Planting the Seeds and antique car buff. Nerd Davis started North Carolinians arc not more racist, out as the editor of the Model A Ford Northpoint and the Lone Wolf or criminal, than others. To a large ex~rnc Resrorers Club newsletrer, but he went Davis’ new projecr would be called the strength of the radical right in the on to become one ofthe nation’s most pro- Northpoint TacticalTeams, a name which area is the rcsuh of accidents of geogra- lific publishers of hxe material ~ includ- referred borh m Davis’ publishing opera- phy and history. But these accidents have ing a major 1991 treatise that Patriot leader tion and the group he structured into produced a local movement that is James “Bo” Grin calls “‘almost as explosive “teams” with a variety ofspeciakirs. At Icast remarkable. as anything set off at Oklahoma City.” 20 families followed Davis to the area in In many ways, these activities are rhc Entitled Star Wan, the 79-page booklet the next few years, serrling within a jT-mile direct result of the ideological seeds sown spoke of “perpetual warfare” betwrcn radius of his well-manicured home. Others by a little-known former IRM executive Chris&u (people of rhe five-pointed star) came to br near Davis afrer rhr r99j Waco

S”MMF.R ‘999 33 NORTH CAROLINA

IIns entrance to ffwd Davis Jr.3 Northpoint lactical these ideas. Brassmouth, he said, is the The Disciples leans compound is forbidding. English translation of “Phinehas” - a Davis spawned other disciplcsin the Biblical character who slew a race-mixing area, too. tragedy. Later that year, Davis claimed to couple. Davis said that Brassmouth . Ramon Sparks mow:d there from have 12 teams. referred to “the one who acts alone.” Ohio in 1995. after Davis am :nded a memo- But throughout, he emphasized the Indeed, others calling themselves Phineas rial service for Michael Hill, anOhio mili- power of the lone wolf - the unaccom- Priests have bombed and robbed banks in tia leader who was shot bmy policeafter panied terrorist who, like Davis’ follower the name of racist revolution -acting as allegedly pulling a gun in a (zonfiontation. Rudolph, would acr without aid from a tiny cell, without support from others. Davis transported an 8,~a)-pound stone others. A few month? after the 1997 Oklahoma monument honoring H ill from the %mmerica will not be saved by organi- City bombing, Davis repeated this theme. Andrew area to Ohio. splarkssewed as zations or groups,” he wrote in 1990. “If “If possible, one man is always the most Davis’ security chief, but after Davis’death you __. study what happened in the South effective when done am+. Enough said.” in September 1997 formed a new group, the after the War between the States, you will Rudolph appears to have taken the 91st Brigade USA Israel. Spa recently has see how America will be saved again. words of his mentor to heart. OftGals lost prestige because ofinfl;rmmatmy and Small groups, known by rhe Socialist rrai- believe that Rudolph, acting alone, widely circulated Internet 1~rexages which, tars ,.. as the ‘invisible empire,’ will meet bombed the Centennial Olympics Park in among other things, have attacked the “so- and work in secrecy and high security, 1996, killing two people and injuring 100; called Patriot militia set” as soft-liners. A and quietly eliminate the problem people. a lesbian nightclub and an abortion clin- manual used by Sparks’ grt,upcalls abor- . ..There will be no unified command struc- ic in the area in 1997; and a tion ‘the greatest arrocicy” and abortion- cure between the various groups so any Birmingham, Ala., in 1998, ists “contract killers.” infiltration will be both expensive and killing an off-duty police officer and maim- *John Roherrs, a formerSpecialForces time consuming.” ing a nurse. Rudolph has been charged in member and Vietnam vete ran, is another In 1992, Davis wrote a lengthy pam- all four bombings, and a $1 million reward Davis follower. Roberts he:adsthe Militia phlet called Brarsmou#h that reiterated offered. of East Tennessee, headqtwrered justa “Freemen activity has really picked up Anti-abortion activity in the area, perhaps over the last three to four years,” says inspired by Rudolph, has picked up, too. Richard Lightner, Macon Countyb tax Stephanie Mueller of the National Abortion assessor. “In Macon, maybe mo people Federation says there has been an increase show up for their meetings downtown in in bomb threats. Clinic operators, she adds, a government building. Peter Stern is the “have received calls from individuals saying, chiefhoncho. I’ve got a three- to four-inch ‘If you don’t call off the Rudolph search, stack ofpapen from him threatening to sue we’re going to bomb your building.“’ us, and his group has become more vocal Many in the area have expressed sup- lately.” Stern, identified in numerous por t for Rudolph, telling rcporrers that media accounts as a common-law leader, they see him as an anti-abortion hero denied to the Intrllignce Report that he rather than an alleged murderer. (At one headed any common-law group. Retorts point, Rudolph obtained a six-month Lightner: “He’s lying like a dog. Now he’s supply of food from the home of a local formed some kind of church. He figures organic food store owner - an owner with a church he can get away with any- who took four days to report being &i. He even wants to get his 1966 Cbay approached by Rudolph.) There have been exempted.” reports of federal agents posting guards outside while eating in area restaumnrs. At ‘We’re Going to Bomb Your Building’ one point, a resident shone a laser light at Common-law activists in Macon a federal helicopter, prompting a scare. County - some of them originally from Certainly, most in the the hills ofwesr- neighboring states - have spread their em North Carolina support the search doctrines through the region. Across the for Rudolph and the rule of law. But the South Carolina line in Anderson County. fact remains that antigovernment senti- Sheriff Gene Taylor says the situation is ment is strong enough there that it is fed- hearing up, “Common-law acriviry is get- eral agents, not right-wing extremists, who ting worse,” says Taylor, who was himself hole up in well-armed compounds. And hit with a bogus, $20 million lien against that is a fact that was clearly seen by the few miles from Andrews across the srare his property “They are inundating us with man, still at large, who fired on the line. On June II-IX, almost 60 Patriot stacks of paper.” Andrew compound. A adherents - from , Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina andTennessee - gathered on Roberts’ property They practiced long-range sniping and pistol shooting with man-sized steel targets and casualty-response medical training, and watched an attack-dog demonstration.

l Wayne Mack, an active member of a common-law court in Macon County, has helped spread his doctrine throughout the area. Officials say that people have filed pseudo-legal common-law documents in at least four western North Carolina coun- ties: Buncombe, Cherokee, Haywood and Macon. Among other things, the docu- ments have declared their filers to be “Freemen” - people supposedly exempt from state and federal law. In April, Mack addressed the Identity Passover gathering held in Sweetwater, Tam.

More that a year and a half after it began. the search for Eric Robert Rudolph ~0~s an.