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DATE=2/19/98
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
NUMBER=2-227025
TITLE=MILITIA REACT
BYLINE=GREG FLAKUS
DATELINE=LOS ANGELES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 
INTRO:   THE FBI ON THURSDAY ARRESTED TWO MEN IN NEVADA FOR 
POSSESSION OF A DANGEROUS BIOLOGICAL AGENT, ANTHRAX.  AT LEAST 
ONE OF THE TWO MEN REPORTEDLY HAD TIES TO ANTI-GOVERNMENT WHITE 
SUPREMACIST GROUPS, BUT, AS V-O-A'S GREG FLAKUS REPORTS FROM LOS 
ANGELES, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE YET THAT THEY WERE INVOLVED IN A 
WIDER PLOT INVOLVING ANY ORGANIZED GROUP.
TEXT:   AT A NEWS CONFERENCE IN LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, FBI AGENT 
BOBBY SILLER DECLINED TO COMMENT ON WHAT THE TWO SUSPECTS MAY 
HAVE PLANNED TO DO WITH THE BIOLOGICAL MATERIAL THEY HAD.  HE 
ALSO DECLINED TO COMMENT ON REPORTS THAT THEY MAY HAVE HAD LINKS 
TO THE WHITE SUPREMACIST ARYAN NATIONS.
ONE OF THE TWO SUSPECTS, LARRY WAYNE HARRIS OF LANCASTER, OHIO, 
WAS KNOWN TO SOME REPORTERS AND TO SOME MEMBERS OF THE SO-CALLED 
PATRIOT MOVEMENT, WHICH INCLUDES VARIOUS MILITIA GROUPS AND 
ANTI-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS.   BUT THE FORMER HEAD OF THE OHIO 
MILITIA, J J JOHNSON, WHO NOW LIVES IN NEVADA, SAYS MR HARRIS IS 
NOT PART OF THE MOVEMENT.
                       /// JOHNSON ACT ///
         I DO NOT KNOW OF ANY GROUP HE REPRESENTS-- ANY GROUP. 
         WHAT I CAN TELL YOU IS THAT NO GROUP THAT I KNOW OF HAS 
         CONDONED THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR-- NONE.
                         /// END ACT ///
HOWEVER, MR JOHNSON SAYS MR HARRIS WAS KNOWN TO SOME PATRIOT 
GROUPS IN NEVADA AND ELSEWHERE WHICH REJECTED HIM AND HIS IDEAS 
ABOUT THE USE OF BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS.
                    /// JOHNSON ACT  # 2 ///
         HE APPROACHED THEM AND THEY SHOWED HIM THE DOOR 
         IMMEDIATELY AND, IN MANY CASES, THEY REPORTED WHAT THEY 
         LEARNED TO LAW ENFORCEMENT.   NOW, HE HAD ALREADY HAD A 
         RUN-IN WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT BEFORE AND THIS WAS PART OF 
         THE REASON.   IF SOMEBODY HEARS ABOUT A POTENTIAL THREAT
         LIKE THIS, ONE THING I CAN SAY IS THAT PATRIOT GROUP OR 
         MILITIA GROUP, I AM NOT INVOLVED WITH THEM, BUT I CAN 
         SAY THIS WITHOUT RESERVATION, IF SOMEONE IN THOSE GROUPS
         HEARD ABOUT A POTENTIAL THREAT LIKE THIS, IT WOULD BE 
         REPORTED IMMEDIATELY TO THE PROPER AUTHORITIES. 
                        /// END ACT ///  
MR JOHNSON SAYS THE PATRIOT GROUPS SHOULD BE COMMENDED FOR ACTING
IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST BY ALERTING AUTHORITIES TO THE DANGER 
POSED BY MR HARRIS.  CRITICS OF THE PATRIOT MOVEMENT, HOWEVER, 
SAY THAT THE ANTI-GOVERNMENT RHETORIC PRODUCED BY SUCH GROUPS CAN
SOMETIMES INFLUENCE PEOPLE TO COMMIT VIOLENT ACTS.  (SIGNED).
NEB/GF/WDC/PT
19-Feb-98 6:23 PM EST (2323 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America