stand-off,” says Duke. “The U.S. Governmentrnpromised the Wards that hernwouldn’t be arrested and charged.” Sornmuch for promises.rnYou’ve probably heard of Catch 22.rnHow about Rule 35, the federal prosecutors’rnwin-at-all-cost tactics? “When a personrnagrees to plead guilty to the charges,rnyou can throw in what’s called Rule 35,”rnDuke explains later in a brief interview.rn”The judge can give the defendant arnbreak on the sentence, if he cooperatesrnor gives substantial assistance to the government.rnIt’s from the Federal Rules ofrnCriminal Procedure.”rnAccording to Duke, this rule is oftenrnused by the feds to coerce small fish intornteshfying against the big fish. “In the federalrnsystem there’s no parole, as opposedrnto the state system, when you can get outrnearly if you appear before a parole board.rnWhatever sentence you get, that’s thernsentence you have to serve. The only reliefrnavailable to you is what’s called Rulern35. It’s very common,” continues Duke.rn”Anybody who doesn’t want to go to trialrnand plead guilty instead has the ophonrnto enter into a Rule 35 with the government.”rnSentencing in the federal systemrncould accurately be called draconian —rnand don’t forget the mandator)’ sentencingrnguidelines. In this case, the usualrnintimidation tactics didn’t work. Thesernare not the big fish the feds desperatelyrnwanted.rnThen there is defendant EdwinrnClark’s testimony. He was credited withrnresolving the so-called standoff so itrndidn’t end up like Ruby Ridge or Waco,rnin which the FBI killed first and askedrnquestions later. A lifelong resident ofrnMontana and a Vietnam veteran, Clarkrnlooks like actor Wilford Brimley of thernQuaker Oats commercials. According tornhis testimony, he had been married forrn25 years to Jan Clark and has two children.rnDawn, 21, and Casey, 23. His occupation,rnhe says, was rancher-farmer.rn”My grand-dads on both sides of my familyrnhomesteaded in the area [GarfieldrnCount}’, Montana] in 1913,” he says.rnWhen his attorney, Steve Hudspeth,rnasks him about his farm, Clark replies, “Irndon’t own nothing now. It’s all been takenrnfrom me.” Why? He failed to make arnland payment, and the property revertedrnto his uncle under a contract-for-deedrndeal he had made. “It was a very longrncomplicated dragged-out affair,” he says.rn”We’d been fighting this foreclosure forrn18 years. We said it was an unlawfulrnforeclosure.”rnSo how do you get recourse when corruptrngovernment practices have a strangleholdrnon your life? People look for alternativesrnto a legal system dominated byrnlawyers and federal agencies. Hence thernpopularity of classes in common law andrnother exotic tactics.rnFighting against intimidation and corruption,rnClark’s father was charged withrn48 counts of fraud by the government,rnbut they were later dropped. Then, accordingrnto Clark, “the government said,rn’we’ll give you a new security agreement.’rnThen the FmHA [FarmersrnHome Administration] filed for foreclosure.rnI was aggravated.”rnAnd what about the FmHA? Accordingrnto Brian Kelly, author of Adventuresrnin Parkland: How Washington WastesrnYour Money and Why They Won’t Stop,rnthe Farmers Home Administrationrnis widely believed to be one of thernworst managed government giveawaysrnever. Whatever you think ofrnthe philosophical arguments of savingrnfarms or not saving farms, thernway the government goes about itrnis a disaster for everyone concerned.rnAs James Bovard wrote inrnThe Farm Fiasco, “The FmHA is arnwelfare agency that routinely destroysrnits clients lives.” In repeatedrnstudies the General AccountingrnOffice had found FmHA an incomprehensiblernmess.rnIt sounds like a case for Willie Nelsonrnand Farm Aid.rnClark continues, “I didn’t know RodneyrnSkurdal [one of the Freeman defendants]rnor any of them. I didn’t tiust legalrncounsel. I couldn’t afford it, so I wasrnforced to learn as much as I could. Myrndad took me to see Schweitzer.”rnWas it your intent to learn anything illegalrnfrom Schweitzer, asks the attorney.rn”Oh, absolutely not,” replied Clark.rnCriminal intent is indeed sorely lackingrnin the prosecution’s case. In Clark’srncase, frustration at government corruptionrnis rvinning high. “Our county governmentrntotally shut us out —commissioners,rnclerks and recorder,” says Clark.rn”They were so much against us. We hadrnno redress.” Concerning his involvementrnwith Leroy Schweitzer’s “system,”rnHudspeth asks Clark, “You wouldn’trnconsider yourself gullible, would you?”rnClark replies, “I’m starting to find outrnI »> am.rnOn March 31, Edwin Clark wasrnfound not guilty of all charges. ElwinrnWard was released with time served.rnThe rest who had not “cooperated” awaitrnsentencing.rnIt was a major setback for the federales.rnClark, after all, had been accused of depositingrna Freemen check based on perfectedrnliens for $100 million. TheAPrnhad been calling it a “hot check operation,”rnreferring to “worthless comptiollerrnwarrants,” “phony checks,” and thern”Freemen’s bogus warrants.”rnThe AP headline read — “FreemanrnTrial: Five guilty, one released.” Likernfishing, catch and release justice is alivernand well in America.rnUri Dowbenko is the CEO of NewrnImproved Entertainment Corporationrnin Pray, Montana.rnLetter From Romernby Andrei NavrozovrnSupply and DemandrnWell, from New York actually, with arnstopover in London where we took onrnboard and I was able to read again England’srnfour competing and mutually adversarialrn”serious” daily newspapers, notrncounting the specialized FinancialrnTimes: the Times, the Daily Telegraph,rnthe Independent, and the Guardian.rnNone of them is perfect, or perhaps evenrnvery serious, on its own, but added togetherrnthey amount to something withoutrnwhich political life is meaninglessrnand delusional, a culture of broadlyrnpolarized debate that is in its own way asrnmiraculous as a great Bordeaux andrnas much a product of human art as thernTrevi Fountain.rnI am now happily restored to Romernand can hear the famous fountain outsidernmy front door taking in $5,000 arnweek in fives and dimes like one of thosernmaximalist. High Baroque cash registers,rnall opera-diva curves and flora-shapedrncurlicues, that they used to have inrnWoolworth’s before the revolution.rnWhat revolution, you may ask.rnOne morning in New York I was hav-rn36/CHRONICLESrnrnrn