Marshal: They Invited Us In, and We Escorted Them Out
By Peter Jamison
Valley News Staff Writer
The Browns' neighbors -- who have endured regular intrusions from reporters, law-enforcement officers, and anti-government activists visiting the Browns -- were jubilant yesterday at the news that life on their quiet country lane could resume as normal.
“Everyone's looking at each other and giving each other high fives,” said Craig Wehde, who lives with his wife and two children just two doors down from the Browns. Everyone is smiling today. Everyone's saying, ‘Ah, finally.' ”
News of the Browns' arrest was less welcome to their supporters, who say government officials persecuted the couple for asking reasonable questions about the lawfulness of the income tax. One of those supporters is Randy Weaver, whose wife and son were killed in a confrontation with federal agents in 1992 at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
Weaver, an icon of the radical right who paid a well-publicized visit to the Browns over the summer at their Plainfield estate, said yesterday in a telephone interview with the Valley News that the U.S. Marshal's deputies were “selling their soul for a buck” and should never have gone after the Browns in the first place.
“It's wrong. It's plain wrong,” Weaver said. “(U.S. Marshal) Stephen Monier is a coward. He's just a mercenary.”
He added, “It's a fact that there is no law that the average American has to even file an income tax return. The IRS has deprived the American people for years now, and it's got to stop.”