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Militia member 'filled with rage,' plotted ambush
The Grand Rapids Press ^ | Friday, October 17, 2003 | Ed White

Posted on 10/17/2003 10:29:17 AM PDT by FourPeas

Militia member 'filled with rage,' plotted ambush

Friday, October 17, 2003

By Ed White
The Grand Rapids Press


It was a rural arsenal fit for war.

After the peaceful arrest of a Cadillac-area man, authorities who searched his 40-acre compound discovered a stunning collection of firepower, including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 550 rounds per minute up to four miles away.

A van and a Jeep Cherokee, described by the suspect as his "war wagons," had machine guns inside, with one "locked, loaded and ready to go," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Meyer said.

Agents found an underground bunker, thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of pounds of gunpowder and manuals on guerrilla warfare, "booby traps" and explosives.

There were chilling pictures of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with the cross-hairs of a high-

see MILITIA, A4

powered rifle scope drawn over them, Meyer said.

Norman Somerville, 43, was arrested last week on federal gun and drug charges as he shopped at Home Depot in Cadillac. Authorities then spent the weekend combing his property in Wexford County's Antioch Township, about 20 miles northwest of Cadillac.

Details of the search were disclosed in a court document filed Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids, four days before a judge will decide whether Somerville should remain in jail while his case is pending.

Somerville was "filled with rage and intended to ambush people, mowing them down in a hail of machine-gun bullets," Meyer said, quoting informants. He belongs to a "self-styled radical militia unit" whose members are upset over the death of Scott Woodring, the prosecutor said.

Woodring was the Newaygo County man fatally shot by state police during the summer, days after a trooper died while trying to serve him with an arrest warrant.

State police were told in September that Somerville wanted to cause a car accident, then "ambush and kill" any responding officers with a machine gun mounted in his Jeep, Meyer wrote in the court document.

An unidentified source, described as one of Somerville's "trusted associates," feared he had become "mentally unbalanced and would kill an innocent person or be killed," Meyer said.

Somerville may face additional charges linked to the search of his property, although Meyer declined to elaborate.

Two years ago, Somerville moved to Wexford County from elsewhere in northern Michigan. He served in the Army from 1978 to 1984 and was trained as an intelligence analyst assigned to the elite Special Forces.

During a brief court appearance last week in Grand Rapids, Somerville said: "The people will have their day. ... There's a quiet civil war going on in the country."

In Antioch Township, five miles outside Mesick, neighbors said he is not the type to share a cup of sugar.

"We told our kids to stay off his property. There was gunfire a lot," said Lynda Sherburne, a former township clerk who lives nearby. "Who knows where the stray bullets are going.

"He got angry very easily. No contact with him was the best contact."

Sherburne said her nephew's house shook as state and federal authorities detonated explosives found on Somerville's property.

"I don't think anyone realized he was stockpiling back there," she said.



TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: banglist
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To: samtheman
Gun-owning whackos do exist

Agreed; however, do you trust the media and the government to determine who the head cases are and who they aren't? I don't. Do you believe as the government contends that Korsh had a meth lab? I don't. Do you believe as the government contends that Koresh's sect practiced routine child abuse? I don't.

In a like vein, the article we were discussing was so utterly biased that I have trouble believing any of it. I can't tell what parts are true, what parts are distortions, and what parts are total fabrication. I can only believe that there are plenty of the last two categories in this story. (anti-aircraft gun my a$$)

241 posted on 10/21/2003 4:28:58 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy, and Bush is no conservative)
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To: from occupied ga
You make good points, but a cop was killed serving a warrant to a member of this group. Sounds like a whacko group to me. And this guy sounds like a whacko. I'm not on the jury. I'm not judging him. I'm just saying there are whackos on the far-right (they are NOT conservatives) and this group, and this guy, sounds like 100% whacko to me.
242 posted on 10/21/2003 4:51:26 AM PDT by samtheman
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To: samtheman
I think we're in agreement on everything except one point, and that is whether or not you can tell if this specific individual is a nut.

but a cop was killed serving a warrant to a member of this group.

I know a guy that killed a cop too (drunk domestic and a gun nut) - so what? That doesn't make everyone who knew him automatically engage in plots to kill government officials. In fact was everyone who knew him was appalled and surprised. And even the fanatically anti-gun Urinal/Constipation didn't go as over the top as this article was.

Sounds like a whacko group to me. And this guy sounds like a whacko

There you have the essence of what I've been trying to get across. Of course, he sounds like a wack job. That was the whole purpose of the hit article - to portray him as a head case, to to ignore factual reporting for sensational speculation (anonymous source). What I'm saying is that the newpaper was doing the goverment's will in screwing public opinion about the guy (of course he may even be worse, but without objective reoporting we'll never know).

243 posted on 10/21/2003 5:22:50 AM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy, and Bush is no conservative)
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To: _Jim
My recollection is a personal recollection of such stations coming out of Del Rio as XERF ... growing up in the Chicago - Grand Rapids - Detriot triangle we didn't hear a lot of other stations from the southwest part of the world - but I remember the 'corn' coming out of Del Rio!

If you'd grown up around Del Rio in the late '50s-early '60s, your memories of that time might well have included the hazy electrical corona around fence wires and railroad telegraph lines on misty damp or foggy mights, particularly those sections that ran more or less 90º or 180º toward XERF's antenna farm.

And if you'd moved to the downstate Illinois farmland at age 15, as my family did, you'd have felt slightly more at home in the new area upon finding that XERF still came in clear as a bell most evenings.

XERB with Wolfman Jack is the other *Texas Thunderer* station I recall from those days. There are a few audio clips from both [and other stations he worked at] *here*

-archy-/-

244 posted on 10/23/2003 12:09:55 AM PDT by archy (Angiloj! Mia kusenveturilo estas plena da angiloj!)
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Comment #245 Removed by Moderator

To: Squantos; Travis McGee; Mulder; glock rocks
Place marker to watch what happens next.
246 posted on 10/30/2003 9:07:33 AM PST by Eaker (Amateurs built the Ark, professionals built the Titanic.............hmmmmmmmmm ;<)
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To: archy; from occupied ga; samtheman; jmc813; Texasforever; Cultural Jihad; MineralMan; Destructor; ..
It seems that someone claiming to be personally involved in the situation has posted to the thread. I thought you might be interested. See #245
247 posted on 10/30/2003 9:19:23 AM PST by FourPeas (Preview? We don't need no stinkin' Preview!)
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To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet; Miss Marple; kattracks; Tench_Coxe; Bozo; tpaine; PhilipFreneau; ...
It seems that someone claiming to be personally involved in the situation has posted to the thread. I thought you might be interested. See #245
248 posted on 10/30/2003 9:22:13 AM PST by FourPeas (Preview? We don't need no stinkin' Preview!)
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To: shootingeyes
If you are who you claim to be, thank you for sharing your side of the story. Please be prepared to be viciously attacked by some folks, as the people around here who are fans of the drug war typically do not like guns either.
249 posted on 10/30/2003 9:42:55 AM PST by jmc813 (Michael Schiavo is a bigger scumbag than Bill Clinton)
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To: shootingeyes
Lisa, What was the real reason they picked him up at Home Depot? Those 7 pot plants?
250 posted on 10/30/2003 9:43:34 AM PST by hattend
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To: FourPeas
Post 245, if true, confirms by belief that the local JBTs had time on their hands.
251 posted on 10/30/2003 9:49:47 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy, and Bush is no conservative)
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To: shootingeyes
"this is just general information... I am Norman Somervilles girlfriend......DO NOT believe what you read in the papers... they are making a mountain out of a mole hill....yes we had guns ALL WERE LEGAL yes we were growing some pot.....7 potted plants BIG DEAL ever heard of medical uses for the stuff??? Our FARM was not a compound.... but oh yea we had bibles.... so we much be weirdo's......Have questions? Just ask.....Lisa"

Well, welcome to FR. How about going through the story and telling us all what is untrue about it? Give us your side of the news story at the top of the thread. That way, you'll be able to counter any of the things in the story that are wrong.
252 posted on 10/30/2003 9:59:00 AM PST by MineralMan (godless atheist)
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To: Eaker
Hmmmm lets see.....WOD, NRA, Militia, Anger management, Alphabet Agency Assholes (AAA), Explosives, Stockpiling, Assult Weapons, Rumor, Hate , Pretend, Religon , Wannabes, Stray Bullets......and deadliest of all........Opinions.

I didn't see "for the children" posted anywhere so I have no comment !

Ping me if I missed it........:o)

Stay Safe

253 posted on 10/30/2003 10:03:24 AM PST by Squantos ("Ubi non accusator, ibi non judex.")
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To: shootingeyes
There were chilling pictures of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with the cross-hairs of a high-powered rifle scope drawn over them, Meyer said.

Unless you can persuade me otherwise, I'll give the benefit of the doubt to the government on this rather than to Norman Somerville.

254 posted on 10/30/2003 10:11:47 AM PST by af_vet_1981
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To: Texasforever
IF the militia is activated the constitution is clear that it is the responsibility of the Congress to train, regulate and EQUIP the militia.

I have read it. It says the Congress has the power to PROVIDE FOR the arming of the militia, regardless of wether the miltia is activated, or more formally, "employed in service of the United States". Congress may only govern the militia when so employed. Their first exercise of that power consisted of telling everyone to supply their own weapons, specifying a "good musket or firelock" for each infantryman, and a pair of pistols and a sabre for each horseman. The Constitution gives Congress to provide the discipline, that is the "manual of arms" and "drill manual" and even the TO&E for the milita. The states, not Congress are to train the militia "according to the discipline prescribed by Congress". The states also are responsible fo the appointment of officers. In the early days the way the states did that was by election from the militia companies.

You need to read the document a bit more closely sir.

255 posted on 10/30/2003 10:16:43 AM PST by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: Poohbah
You referenced this thread--but in a way that made sure the link didn't work.

Sorry about that, I'll try to find the link that I intended to put there... Ah, here it is: http://www.carolmoore.net/waco/waco-affidavit.html.

Kopel and Blackman also mention the arrest warrant in an article in an article Hamline Journal of Public Law and Policy Volume 18, number 1, Fall 1996 as well as in their book on the subject.

I also found another referance to the two warrants, actually a referance to a referance. That was a referance from the June 9, 1993, House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, p. 93. Unfortunatly Congressal committee documents don't go back that far online.

256 posted on 10/30/2003 10:48:58 AM PST by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: shootingeyes
What was Norman's opinion of Bush and Rumsfeld?
257 posted on 10/30/2003 11:03:11 AM PST by kidd
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To: shootingeyes

Do you ... know ... Norman in the Biblical sense?

258 posted on 10/30/2003 11:33:25 AM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: shootingeyes
Scott Woodbrain ... Hmmm. Wasn't he the fellow who was cold-bloodedly executed merely for sleeping in someone else's car?
259 posted on 10/30/2003 11:46:48 AM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: samtheman
This guy sounds like a low level lunatic and loser. With the President and VP in his cross-hairs.

Somerville was "filled with rage and intended to ambush people, mowing them down in a hail of machine-gun bullets,"

Where do you get that this idiot is after the Pres or Vice Pres? Sounds like he didn't care who he hit, as long as it was somebody.
260 posted on 10/30/2003 11:50:08 AM PST by newcats
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