In April 1995, a simple fertilizer bomb turned to rubble any and all illusions that acts of terrorism could not happen on American soil.
As unintended consequences go, the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City — orchestrated by a home-grown radical member of a militia — may also have delivered a crippling blow to the so-called Militia Movement by associating all militias with condemned killer Timothy McVeigh and his conspirators.
The result: Militias across the country — most founded on principles of constitutionalism, common law and rabid patriotism — found themselves under withering scrutiny from law enforcement agencies.
Some sounded the clarion of federal conspiracy while quickly backing away from McVeigh. Others folded their tents and walked away from the movement.
Militias remain active in Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Washington and Montana. In fact, most states have a militia or two, based on data compiled by militia watchdog groups.
But Utah militias are conspicuously absent from the list.
"We still have some (militias), but we don't have accurate counts," said Lt. Gil Garcia, investigator for the Utah Criminal Investigations Bureau. "They are not as predominant as they once were. There are other fundamentalist groups around now that are more noticeable."
Garcia agrees that Utah militias, while still present, have been "out of sight and out of mind" in the years following Oklahoma City. But he attributes the decline of Utah militias more to an absence of flashpoint issues like Waco and Ruby Ridge that would generate public sympathy and fuel conspiracy theories among radicals.
But with Oklahoma City, there was no public sympathy whatsoever, and militias across the country were forced to retreat from McVeigh's kind of radical rhetoric. Much as Tom Green's trial focused unwelcome attention on other polygamists in Utah, the McVeigh case focused attention on militias.
"They weren't too happy about the undue attention," Garcia said.
For some, the heat was just too hot. Samuel Sherwood, founder of the once-2,000-strong United States Militia Association, disbanded his group in September 1996 and moved his family to Hyrum, Cache County. (His telephone has been disconnected and he could not be located for this story).
"The whole movement is being distorted on one side by the press and the media, and taken over by nuts and crazies on the other," Sherwood said at the time.
Doug Christianson disbanded the militia he founded in Box Elder County the year before, saying patriotic militias could not function as long as people associated law-abiding patriots with the Oklahoma City bombers.
"We've been thrown in the same blackened kettle of fear and distrust with the anti-government radicals who preach anarchy and chaos," he told reporters then.
Although there remain dozens of militia Internet sites and chat rooms, most avoid any mention of McVeigh, focusing instead on traditional militia concerns: preparedness for an inevitable collapse of the government, diatribes against the New World Order and global banks, and rehashes of conspiracy theories surrounding Ruby Ridge and Waco.
Among the two dozen sites examined by the Deseret News, not one defended McVeigh (one suggested the FBI is covering up the identities of others involved who have never been brought to trial).
Northern Idaho, Montana and eastern Washington appear to remain a hotbed for militias, although watchdog groups believe that recruitment has suffered in the years after Oklahoma City and that some groups with militia Web sites are probably not more than a single person, maybe two or three at the most, who find the Internet to be an inexpensive medium for espousing their political beliefs.
No Internet sites were identified for groups active in Utah. Deseret News attempts to talk to various individuals associated with militias in other states were not successful.
Law enforcement officers from Logan to St. George routinely monitor militia activities, often by tracking groups on the Internet. "We have some tracking mechanisms in place," Garcia said, refusing to elaborate.
Utah militias are currently not very high on the intelligence-gathering priority list. But white supremacist gangs are.
Law enforcement officers in Washington County recently underwent specialized training on how to deal with white supremacists. According to Craig Harding, public information officer for the St. George Police Department, officers were told that white supremacist gang members from the Utah State Prison have been asking for transfers to a facility in Washington County, and those released from prison are moving there.
"They seem to be trying to get closer to Washington County, but for what reason I don't know," he said.
The white supremacist gangs, which operate much like informal militias, have come to the attention of state investigators, who say there is a definite "pipeline" between those in prison and those outside. And the population of supremacists is expanding into all parts of the state.
"We are concerned about them," Garcia said. "They are everywhere, they are very active and very radical and very violent."
Unlike traditional militias that espouse dogma outside the political mainstream, the white supremacists espouse hatred and violence, Garcia said. And that makes them a threat warranting a watchful eye.
E-mail: spang@desnews.com