Poll: Freemen Shouldn’t Get Special Hearing

Most Montanans do not favor granting the freemen a special hearing before the state Legislature, a new poll for the Lee Newspapers shows.

More than 60 percent of the 800 respondents polled said the Legislature should not grant the fugitives any special treatment.

“Montanans are law and order people,” said Del Ali, the pollster who conducted the survey.

Legislators have suggested that they would convene a special committee to listen to the freemen if the FBI requests it.

The freemen, who have been holed up at their farm near Jordan for nine weeks, are wanted on charges of bank fraud and threatening public officials.

A slight majority - 51 percent - said that law enforcement officials should have moved to arrest the Freemen immediately after the initial confrontation on March 25.

Only about a third of those polled said the standoff has tarnished Montana’s image.