Thursday, September 16, 2004

Blood meridian

Some of you may recall my posts about Casey Nethercott and Ranch Rescue, a so-called "border militia" operating in Arizona, one that has been growing increasingly radical and threatening.

Now real violence has erupted, indeed among the white supremacists who have recently been revealed as operating within their ranks:
Border militia backer arrested in Douglas; associate shot by FBI

Convicted felon and would-be militia organizer Casey Nethercott was arrested in Douglas Wednesday night by FBI agents who shot and seriously injured a member of Nethercott's fledgling Arizona Guard.

Douglas police were called to the Safeway parking lot at about 11 p.m. following the arrest and shooting, but their only role in the case is to assist the Federal Bureau Of Investigation, said Douglas Police Department spokesman Sgt. Mark Wilkinson.

He declined to release the name of the man shot, but other sources have identified him as Kalen Riddle, a member of the Arizona Guard, headquartered at Nethercott's Ranch about three miles west of Douglas.

Deatils are still quite sketchy, since the FBI -- whose agents did the shooting -- has not issued a statement. However, as the story indicates, Riddle was fingered by the Arizona office of the ADL as a serious neo-Nazi, one whose presence revealed the truly extremist nature of the Ranch Rescue operation and Nethercott's would-be spin-off. The ADL's press release of Sept. 10 reads in part:
The recruiting effort is being led by Kalen Riddle, a self proclaimed Nazi and white supremacist. On his website, Riddle, pictured toting a rifle and dressed in a Nazi uniform complete with swastika armbands, claims that two of his favorite things are "ethnic cleansing and weapon making." Riddle's occupation is listed as "National Socialist." In addition Riddle requests that "any WN [White Nationalist] volunteer is asked to keep WP [White Power] or Third Reich imagry (sic) to a minimum and not to talk to any press."

Just what we need: Another neo-Nazi martyr. Especially on the border, where the situation is becoming increasingly volatile.

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