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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Freemen Prepare To Farm Land

Associated Press

Hopes that the freemen might surrender soon took another knock Monday when one of the group mounted a tractor and briefly worked an alfalfa field.

“They were probably disking it and found out it’s still too muddy to work,” a nearby farmer said. “They’ll try it again in a couple of days.”

The field work suggests the hold-outs are not ready to end the siege, which entered its fourth week Monday.

Meanwhile, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh met with agents near Jordan, to talk about Sunday’s death of agent Kevin Kramer in a car accident. Freeh refused to speak with reporters, and the FBI refused to even confirm his visit until he had left, even though reporters and photographers on the scene could see him.

Kramer, 34, died when his Ford Bronco overturned, ejecting him from the vehicle. His funeral is scheduled Wednesday in Sioux City, Iowa, his home.

Freeh earlier had visited Kramer’s family in Sioux City and his co-workers in Omaha, Neb. He was spending the night in Billings and returning to Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, said FBI spokesman Larry Holmquist.

The freemen are heavily armed anti-government extremists who contend they are not subject to federal or state law and have set up their own jurisdiction, which they call Justus Township.

Some are wanted on federal and state charges ranging from bank fraud to assault on police officers to threatening to kill public officials.

The FBI has surrounded the place and maintained a loose surveillance since March 25, when agents captured two of the freeman leaders. The FBI has made no effort, however, to force the freemen out, but is trying persuasion instead.

“I don’t know what’s going to persuade them to come out,” said Cecil Weeding, one of many area ranchers who have tried to find a peaceful resolution.

“They’re pretty comfortable compared to jail or prison, which is what most of them are pretty sure to face if they come out.”

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