On a decaying former Air Force base, antigovernment ‘sovereign citizens’ are battling the few remaining locals for control
Strange signage: No-trespass notices citing the Constitution were one of the early signs that something odd was happening in St. Marie, Mont. Residents soon learned that two “sovereign citizens” were behind the warnings.
It was just two years ago that Craig Cobb, a foul-mouthed neo-Nazi, attempted to take control of another near ghost town, Leith, N.D., to build a white supremacist enclave. And just two hours’ drive from St. Marie, the Montana Freemen, whose beliefs were close to those of today’s sovereigns, declared their own independent “Justus Township” in 1996. That group engaged in an 81-day standoff before finally surrendering to the FBI.
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FEAR AND LOATHING IN MONTANA