Freemen Standoff Costs Piling Up

Thu., April 11, 1996

From Staff And Wire Reports

Montana has spent more than a quarter of a million dollars to support the 17-day standoff between federal agents and anti-government freemen near Jordan, Attorney General Joe Mazurek said Wednesday.

The state expects to be reimbursed for almost all its expenses connected with a siege that began March 25, he said.

The exception is the salaries of department investigators and Highway Patrol officers providing assistance to local law enforcement, he added.

Mazurek said 28 state employees are assigned to help more than 100 FBI agents standing watch over the freemen band holed up on a farm about 30 miles north of Jordan.

Mazurek said the state has an agreement with the federal government that the cost of provisions for the law enforcement officers - the food, shelter and clothing provided by the state - will not exceed $9,000 a day. So far, those daily expenses have averaged about $5,000.

That does not include salaries of the state employees.

The Justice Department, responsible for tracking the spending, estimates $251,688 in total expenses through Wednesday, Mazurek said. The FBI has been billed for $91,444 so far.

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