Officials Seek Protection From Militias Montana Legislative Committee Hears Of Death Threats

The growing problem of self-proclaimed citizen militias and anti-government freemen is enough reason to toughen laws against threatening and intimidating public officials, legislators were told Wednesday.

“Enough is enough,” said Hamilton City Judge Martha Bethel, who has been the target of death threats by militia members in Ravalli County. “I lay awake at night and wonder if they are going to come and get me.

“I am scared to death,” she said. “I hope blood is not shed before someone takes them seriously.”

She was among several people urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to endorse a bill broadening the crime of threatening government officials and increasing the punishment for impersonating a public official.

The committee took no action on House Bill 347.

The measure by Rep. Deb Kottel, D-Great Falls, makes it a crime to threaten the family or property of a public official in an attempt to influence the official’s decisions or actions. Current law applies only to the threats against officials.

The bill increases from $500 to $5,000 the fine for impersonating a public official.

The measure had its hearing at the same time militia groups and freemen have stepped up confrontations with law enforcement, judges and other local government officials.

Militia members were arrested in Roundup last week and charged with advocating violence through terrorism against Musselshell County officials following the arrest of two militia members.

Within the last two weeks, other anti-government residents in the Bitterroot Valley threatened to take over the Ravalli County courthouse.

“These people are terrorists,” Bethel said, adding that she and other judges in the area have been warned they will be arrested, tried and executed by the freemen’s bogus justice system.

“These people are anti-law enforcement,” she told the committee.