25th anniversary of Gordon Kahl shootout

[Demosthenes]

Officials remember Medina shootout 25 years ago today...

Feb 13 2008 9:27AM
Associated Press
Officials remember Medina shootout 25 years ago today

MEDINA, N.D. (AP) Today is the 25th anniversary of one of North Dakota's most notorious crimes.

A quarter century ago, U.S. Marshal Kenneth Muir and Deputy Marshal Bob Cheshire were killed during a gun battle just north of Medina with tax protester Gordon Kahl, his son and another man.

Gordon Kahl was later killed in a shootout in Arkansas.

Former Medina police chief Darrell Graf says that with each anniversary, feelings of hopelessness, emptiness and a reminder of an unnecessary tragedy come flooding in. He says no one in Medina talks about it anymore.

Jerry Fisher was the Medina school superintendent in 1983. He says people outside the town are more interested in recalling the shootout. He says people in Medina just want to forget it.

U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley says he remembers everyone in the area being riveted by the shootout and the events that followed.

But he says something else that sticks out in his mind are the photos of Cheshire and Muir that still hang in the foyer of the U.S. Marshal's office in Fargo. He says the losses will never be forgotten.

[Prof]

Kahl and the murders by the Order are always reminders that one path that the "militia" and the followers of the TP gurus can follow is violence.

The Brown story illustrates just how close to the surface this sort of violence can be.

On the other hand, I am sorry to say, the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents show just how poorly the government can behave when confronted with a "militia" mentality.

Again, the Brown story illustrates that some in the government have learned from the past and have determined not to repeat prior mistakes. (See also the Rangers and TxDPS and the "Republic" standoff in far West Texas, which also ended well.)

[Doktor Avalanche]

Ah, Gordon Kahl...there's a name I haven't heard in, well, 25 years.

I remember discussing him in my Freshman social studies class. I seem to recall having the opinion this guy saw "Harry's War" one too many times.