Word: justus
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Family has played a darker part in the Freemen drama as well, in the form of the twisted dynamic of the Clark clan, in which land, pride, stubbornness, greed and altruism all figure. Four Clarks are in the "Justus Township" compound: Emmett, 67, his brother Ralph, 65, Ralph's son Edwin, 45, and Edwin's son Casey, 22. But they no longer have legal title to the 960-acre farm occupied by the Freemen--or to some 4,000 adjacent acres once owned by Ralph, Emmett and Edwin. Mortgages on that land were foreclosed after the Clarks stopped making payments...
...within 24 hours. But apparently they misunderstood the terms, and realizing today that they would still face federal charges, they refused to surrender. Gritz says the group vows that it will only emerge on its own terms, which include a demand to be tried before a tribunal of their Justus township peers. "They say Yahweh created an invisible barrier around their sanctuary that cannot be penetrated by foreign enemies," Gritz said. He added that he was leaving Jordan, and did not intend to pursue further negotiations. The standoff with FBI officers is now in its fifth week...
...Kaczynski's arraignment, as the Freemen opened negotiations with lawmen, I was driving cross-country from New York. By the ominous tones of the radio talk jocks broadcasting from their coastal outposts, I half expected bands of crazed militiamen to stop me at the border. After demanding a password (Justus), they'd search my car for treasonous articles: heavy-metal or rap tapes, condoms, crack, high school textbooks that mention evolution. Once I was checked through and free to go, the men would give a crisp salute before proceeding to open fire on an oncoming Volvo with California plates...
...Federal Government, as well as the locals, can help it. Officials say that at least 10 Freemen, plus an unknown number of wives and children, remain at Justus Township. Those include Ralph Clark, 65, and his brother Emmett, 67, and Emmett's son Edwin, 45. On Saturday, Emmett's son Richard, 47, who had also been wanted by authoriteis but had not been involved in the standoff, turned himself...
Though the FBI has been worried that the scene at Justus could become a magnet for armed fringe groups, representatives of the self-proclaimed militias around the Western states have also been denouncing the Freemen as ordinary criminals. "Those people are crooks," says Bob Wright, who leads a militia unit in New Mexico. "This is not a militia issue...