All this news about Dave Burgert, "militia leader" in Montana gives cause to find the story behind the state-sponsored b.s.

It was the year 2000 on a snow swept highway in NW Montana...

The red and blues started flashing in the rear view mirror. Bob Ceznik [CHECK SPELLING] was nervous driving south on highway 93 in Kalispell Montana. His big tan duelly offered no sense of comfort, with the creeping unease of (as he put it), becoming a victim once again to police brutality.

Bob chose not to stop, but reduced his speed to 35 in a 45. He had no idea why the law enforcement behind him wanted to pull him over, but he was nervous. He pulled a U-ey in Kalispell and returned North on 93 with the intent of stopping at his friend's house: Mr. Dave Burgert. Bob had tuned into a local LPFM and had been introduced to the New World Order, and as an alleged victim of police brutality, he didn't want to be stopped along the road without a witness.

It was a strange time in the Flathead Valley. Agenda 21 was a new concept Bob had been introduced to. He was familiar with the Wild Land Project from Michael Coffman's presentation down in town. On the local talk radio, people were telling of torching Forest Service gates, driving out to Klamath Falls to save water. Heck, Bob had even heard this guy Alex Jones on a local "pirate radio" station. Things were strange. Life was changing, and it wasn't just Bob Ceznik worried about what the future had in store.

The slow speed chase (35 in a 45) continued as the big tan duelly traveled North on Highway 93 to Dave Burgert's house. A second police car joined the slow motion column through the wintry weather. Ceznik pulls into Burgert's house and steps out and Burgert emerges from the door. The arresting officer's microphone strangely shuts off at that point as two officers advance towards the figures Ceznic and Burgert on the porch of the house.

From the recordings collected by the arresting officer, it can be heard that Ceznic is uncooperative with questioning, and Burgert tells Ceznic to "go inside Bob." At this point, the two officers attempting to question Ceznic for a traffic violation attempt to enter Burgert's home. Burgert solely and physically denies them entry and within the recording one can hear the spraying of pepper spray, scuffling and Burgert vocally stating they will not enter his house without a warrant. Burgert tells his wife to call and put the word out... the officers chose to leave the situation for another time.

This is the first event in several events where good, bad, right or wrong, one citizen among millions will eventually chose to pull the trigger on a pistol aimed at a law enforcement officer.

Burgert was now charged with (?interfering with a LEO?), and the local department had taken note of his determination to physically deny them entry to his house without a warrant on a non-criminal traffic violation. They also took note that he seemed to have friends who may or may not be willing to come and aid him should things get nasty.

Burgert was a process server on the side, and actually liked the job. He was working for an attorney familiar with the Montana liberty movement (Matt ???????). Not long after the scuffle on his porch, Burgert was serving papers in downtown Kalispell, MT when several city police approached him. Burgert, unfazed by costumes and metal buttons, reported that he was a court ordered process server and would not be detained. Incident number two unfolds.

Somewhere, within the dungeons of some police data facility, there is video of Burgert taken into the station wearing a black hood. He has been pepper sprayed and "black bagged" like in V for Vendetta. The hood is removed and he is snotting, spitting and tearing as the audioless video shows... again the bag is placed over his swollen face. Officers would later say that he was spitting at them, and they were forced to use a black bag to contain his bodily fluids. Most who have seen this video, I included, have felt the same way Evey felt watching Deitrich carted off in the movie.

Newspaper reports then carry the story through the faked death, the hiding in the woods, the living with a girlfriend married to another man. If one were to pick up the story here, he might seem totally nuts, devoid of reason, cocky and looking for trouble. While I'm not saying that isn't the case, I'm saying that if you don't understand that this man felt that he could not find justice, that a police baton and black bag were what he had learned -Pavlovian style- well, you'd be missing an important part of the story.

Now comes again the state propaganda, touting him as a "militia leader" while they prepare the next round of anti-free state legislation (that's 2nd Amendment for the unlearned). State doctors have officially diagnosed him with some paranoid disorder. He's been in prison for the last 10 years, gulping down whatever psychotropics Dr. Mangela has given him... on parole... and we're supposed to see this fella as some kind of anti-government militia sort?

Has the state media machine mentioned that within this "Project 7", they pledged allegiance to the Constitution of the United States? Well, for the sake of MIAC, they might as well start. That is was an educational organization designed to teach self-sufficiency? Have they mentioned that the whole basis of the "allegations" that this group was beset upon killing judges, police and even the dog catcher, was due to a collection of "Intel Sheet" akin to any SALUTE report one finds in any guard post on some military installation? That the dog catcher was among those listed would show the transparency of such a hollow allegation. Heck, even the Jews were alleged devils to the Nazis! Does the lame-stream-media refer to them as such? Has any reader of the Washington Post pondered the simple fact that if this was some sort of anti-government militia with the intent of murder, that some five or six people were convicted of charges because they hadn't paid a $200 tax?

I write this because I am fully aware that there are gargoyles perched within the District of Criminals, peering down for some opportunity to turn a problem into a reaction and through Delphi get you into their solution. They've been perched like vultures, salivating about some domestic troublemaker with ties to some "militia" who pledges allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. Especially one who is shooting at police.

The story, unwritten by the state licensed media worms, is much deeper. They've taken a man, who had pledged his life for vigilance and truth, who was beaten with bats, gassed and black bagged, ground into hamburger and drugged in a gulag prison system now with a heart to escape this place... and made him an example of you. If they so flippantly can gut the story from Burgert, do you think for a moment that you won't next wear a yoke with his appellation?

Dave Burgert is no hero of morals. He is no mob boss of some secretive militia gray man operation. He is a wounded soul, ground back and forth upon the shredder of a police state. His actions are his own, and he will live and die by them. No, I don't envy nor hate the man. I do know the story however, and I know that if his life can be summed up, I would say that he's been an Amerikan Solzhenitsyn who actually picked up that axe, hammer or poker. Two days ago, newspapers reported that he picked up a pistol and actually pulled the trigger on police... More than 10 years after police forcibly attempted to enter his home without a warrant chasing a suspected traffic violator.

Who will fault Solzhenitsyn for his words today?

Chump

Here's an old thread from the time...
http://www.awrm.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=21;t=000162

Also, we have this...

The Real "Project Zero" Story

Over the course of a couple months, I investigated the so-called Project Seven story. (If you want to read the original articles by Cheryl Sabol go here and search for "Burgert"). The result of my investigation ended up with a 3000 + word article revealing vital information such as:

* A World Exclusive No-Holds-Barred Interview with Dave Burgert
* The Names of Members of "PROJECT SEVEN"
* The Approximate size of "PROJECT SEVEN"
* Never Before Published Information on the "informant".

I viewed it as my best piece of work. It examined the evidence and came to a fair and realistic conclusion. Donald Cyphers, however, totally and completely botched this story, rewrote it, omitting key facts which he viewed as negative to the case of Dave Burgert as well as the County Sheriff canidacy of Larry "Chance" Chezem. In the process, he stripped the story of its credibility and thus hurt both Burgert and Chezem in the process.

The fact is that Larry "Chance" Chezem was a member of the group the government called "Project 7" (though he disputes that name), something he admitted to quite freely, while saying that the group had no violent intentions. Regretably, Cyphers saw it as necessary to hide a fact which Chezem had no trouble admitting himself.

Mr. Cyphers inserted his own unfounded opinions into the story without designating them as his own, thus inferring that these were my opinions. As a journalist, I believe it's vital to correct the record of what I really wrote. If this story floats around in Cypher's form, I may never be able to work as a reporter again. So, in the interest of telling the truth and correcting the record, I am publishing the complete story as I wrote it.

Items that were inserted by Donald Cyphers in the September 3, 2002 issue of Montana News Association are in Italics. I did not write them or endorse them.

Items that Donald Cyphers omitted from the story are underlined

(Notes) are in bold

Before I get started, on the front page of the Montana News Association, Cyphers makes two unfounded assertions.

First, the headline over my article on the race between Chezem and Sheriff Jim Dupont reads, "Chezem vs. Dupont: Good v. Evil?". Now, I give Cyphers credit for at least posing this as a question. However, it's a totally ungrounded question.

"Evil" can quickly be devalued if we overuse it. Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Tim McVeigh, Osama Bin Laden are all examples of people who are legitimately evil.

The worst things that I found about Dupont is that while I interviewed him in his office, he revealed Chezem's membership in "Project Seven". While Chezem admitted it to me, it wasn't public information and to reveal investigative information as relates to political opponents strikes me as distasteful.

Dupont also could be somewhat discourteous when he gets upset and was not cooperative when I tried to get the interview with Burgert set up. Does this make him evil? No. His opponents made allegations against him, but none have I really seen proven that would suggest he was "evil".

In addition, by planting the question in the reader's mind, you're not reporting the news, you're trying to tell people what to think. If someone is truly evil, we should be able to judge that just by reading the facts. We shouldn't need the paper to tell us.

Second, below the headline, Cyphers writes, "Public Opinion suggests DuPont(sic) has become a "Lame Duck" and is ineffective."

I found no evidence to suggest this is the case, beyond Chezem telling me that he thought that he might just surprise Dupont with a win this Fall. Candidates for office generally believe they're going to win and they receive a lot more contact with people who support them than those who don't. I tend to think he's mistaken, but he may be right. However, we have no evidence to say that the majority of Flathead County thinks Dupont is an ineffective lame duck.

Finally, in the story, Cyphers replaced "I" several times with "Montana News Association". Generally, I wouldn't have a problem with this except that he never paid me for writing this article. Therefore, Montana News Association didn't do anything, I did.

Now, below is the story I sent to Mr. Cyphers.

Project Zero: A Critical Examination of the Project 7 Story

By Adam Graham

Independent Correspondent for the Montana News Association

Kalispell-Last February, the national news media was focused on Kalispell because of an alleged plot to kill several local officials including Sheriff Jim Dupont, Justice of the Peace David Ortley, and District Court Judges Stewart Stadler and Katherine "Kitty" Curtis.

The alleged mastermind of this plot was Dave Burgert, a man who according to police informants took a Constitutionalist group and turned it into a terrorist cell determined to wreak violence on the county, provoke a national guard counterattack, and set the stage for a national civil war.

Six months after the story broke and the FBI began investigating this case, Dave Burgert remains in jail. Not charged with Conspiracy, nor for federal weapons violations (1) but while awaiting trial or appeal on prior issues with police including charges for bail jumping assaulting a peace officer, obstructing a peace officer, and resisting arrest.

Since February, while much has been said and written about the "Project 7" story, generally media accounts have sought out and quoted officials, witnesses in Burgert's misdemeanor trial, and outside groups.

However, except for a brief interview back in April, few have sought Burgert's story. In the past couple weeks, I've taken a fresh look at this case and talked to several people who the mainstream media hasn't, including a wide-ranging interview with Dave Burgert.

Dave Burgert is very candid about his past. A recovering alcoholic and former AA officer, Burgert admits that he committed three felonies, mostly while under the influence.

According to Burgert, it was this history that began his problems with Sheriff Jim DuPont. According to Burgert, DuPont ordered search and rescue chief Jack Thompson to take him off of Search and Rescue due to his prior felony convictions and afterwards informed him in a 1996 phone call that he was not going to be allowed to participate in the County's EMT because of the Felony convictions. Dupont has a history of using his position to try and hinder those that his department may dislike. In this case, according to Burgert, this is exactly what happened.

According to Thompson, this isn't quite accurate. "Dupont had nothing to do with it!" Thompson exclaimed when asked. County insurance rules bar the hiring of convicted felons for Search and Rescue and this process isn't directly handled by DuPont. Due to these insurance rules, the county had no choice in removing Burgert from Search and Rescue. The public may find it interesting that Burgert in fact was already on the Search and Rescue team and was not being hired. So the insurance excuse may be just that--an excuse to carry out Dupont's orders. (2)

Still, over the next five years, Burgert and local law enforcement battled back and forth over police and public safety issues. Burgert made several calls to the police and prosecutor's office regarding concerns about issues such as trespassing, unlicensed drivers, bad check complaints, and assault charges and didn't receive satisfaction.

Burgert developed a reputation for not liking law enforcement. According to Burgert, his friend, Bob Cesnick a 20-year veteran of AA had suffered a near fatal confrontation with police. By January, 2001, he had been cited twice by police for a bumper sticker that says, "Bob C says ---- you, Californians."

On January 5, 2001, Cesnick was driving to a local bar to sing when the Highway Patrol began pursuing him, allegedly for having blue lights on his car instead of the state mandated orange and red. The video of the chase, as taken from the police car showed nothing irregular on the car's lights and Cesnick was never charged with having illegal lights on his car.

Nervous, Cesnick drove to Burgert's house. The video record of the event provides less value after Cesnick's arrival as the the audio is muted for 37 crucial seconds while the audio recording method is switched from recording inside the police car to outside.

According to Cesnick, Burgert told him to go into the house and calm down. Flathead County Deputy Tom Snyder entered the house to grab Cesnick. Burgert told Snyder to get out of his house because he didn't have a warrant. According to a transcript, Burgert warned Deputy Synder that he would "die" if he entered without warrant. Burgert then yanked Snyder out of the house and according to Snyder, punched him.

Burgert's alleged punch was not seen by either of the two highway patrolmen accompanying Snyder, who were only a few feet away. Snyder described it as a "glancing blow". According to Cesnick, no punches were thrown. He said that because of the tightness of quarters, there may have been some accidental elbowing going on, however.

Cesnick said that he had his arm around the back of Snyder's neck "to prevent him from assaulting me". Burgert told him to let go. A highway patrol officer sprayed Cesnick in the face with pepper spray. The can, malfunctioned and didn't give a complete spray, and rather than eliminating Cesnick's "desire to resist", it merely made him more agitated.

After getting Snyder out of his house, Burgert was the calmest of the group. He tried to cool Cesnick down, while Cesnick hurled several expletives at the officers.

The chief highway patrol officer on the chase with obvious fear in his voice, offered "to do this just like we would have on the side of the road" but Cesnick refused. Burgert tried to explain Cesnick's behavior, saying, "Officer, this man is afraid of law enforcement." To which the officer replied, "He shouldn't be."

Burgert wanted his wife, Yvonne to contact neighbors to come as witnesses to what the police were doing. The Highway Patrol officer, however, became nervous and fearing an ambush, declared that he was leaving but that he was going to file charges with the County Attorney.

The police left Cesnick at Burgert's house without decontaminating him. Cesnick said he was unable to sleep that night as his eyes and throat were burning all night long.

Even though he didn't see the any punch thrown, the Highway Patrol officer in charge asked that five separate charges be filed against Cesnick including Disorderly Condust, operating a vehicle with blue lights, obstructing, and attempting to elude in addition to the assaulting a peace officer charge. Burgert, he suggested, should be charged with obstructing and disorderly conduct. Only the Assaulting a Peace Officer charge was filed.

However, careful analysis of the law suggests that even if Deputy Snyder is correct about receiving a glacing blow from Dave Burgert, Burgert may be not guilty, as Snyder himself admitted that he didn't receive any physical damage as a result of the alleged punch.

The State law on Assaulting a Peace Officer (42-5-210) requires that in order to be convicted of assaulting a peace officer, a person must "purposely or knowingly cause" (a) bodily injury to a peace officer or judicial officer; (b) reasonable apprehension of serious bodily injury in a peace officer or judicial officer by use of a weapon; (c) bodily injury to a peace officer or judicial officer with a weapon; or (d) serious bodily injury to a peace officer or judicial officer.

As Deputy Snyder wasn't injured and Mr. Burgert wasn't using a weapon, it seems difficult to imagine that Mr. Burgert committed the offense alleged. :

The next chapter in the Burgert saga happened in November of 2001 when Burgert's attorney and friend, Matt Sisler along with professional process server Dusty Williams were trying to serve papers on a Flathead County woman. They were following her husband, in hopes of locating her, when the husband called police to say he feared he was being stalked. Sisler and Williams were stopped by two Kalispell Police officers, who were investigating the stalking allegations.

Sisler and Williams had given the process papers to Mr. Burgert, who was in the process of catching up with them. According to Burgert, he asked Sisler over a cell phone whether he should remain where he was or come on down to their position. According to Burgert, Sisler told him to come on down.

Burgert arrived, got out of his car and stood still where he was 45-80 feet away. According to the officers on the scene, Sergeant Rick Parker of the Kalispell PD allegedly shouted to Burgert to get in his car and drive away and he'd talk to him later and according to Parker, Burgert shouted back an obscenity. Burgert said he never heard Parker shouting that. Indeed, the videotape by Matt Sisler doesn't record Parker telling Burgert to leave. Burgert blamed Williams' vehicle which he described not only as loud but "extremely loud" for drowning out whatever Parker may have said.

The video does record Parker contacting Officer Kevin McCarvel and telling him to "get him (Burgert) to leave or arrest him." The video records McCarvel walking across the street, pepper-spraying Burgert in the face, and finally beginning to arrest Burgert.

McCarvel testified that he told Burgert to leave and Burgert asked, "Why?" While according to Burgert, McCarvel didn't say anything and he didn't even see McCarvel until he had pulled out the can of pepper spray and was about to spray him.

The video doesn't show great detail of what happened during the first part of the arrest as Sisler pressed the wrong button and instead of zooming in on the scene he froze the scene for 13 seconds. When filming resumed Burgert was yelling at officers for pulling on the wrong arm. Screaming, "You already got that one (expletive)."

Burgert was then taken to the squad car, his face red and eyes tearing up. Burgert fell to the ground in front of the squad car door and according to McCarvel asked for treatment. McCarvel promised treatment when Burgert got to Kalispell's City Jail.

Burgert got in the car, which sped away. And this was all that the jury saw during the Burgert trial. The video records almost half an hour more.

Sgt. Parker finally received enough evidence for him to feel comfortable that Williams and Sisler were acting lawfully. Sisler begged for Burgert's release, asking Parker if its possible for them to "forget this happened" given that Burgert had a legitimate reason for being there and this was all just a "misunderstanding".

Parker, much calmer than at the beginning of the video said that he wished Burgert would "listen to me for once in his life." Parker also said that if Burgert had only gotten his car, Parker would have talked to him later.

The prosecution led by Kalispell City Attorney Charlie Harball argued that Burgert by refusing to comply with officers' requests had obstructed them in the conduct of their investigation. And his falling to the ground and the problems with handcuffing him were a sign of "passive resistance".

Burgert's friends believe that police over-reacted and that Burgert's collapse to the ground was in response to a high dose of pepper spray. According to Missoula Police Officer Mark Horner, the recommended amount of time to use pepper spray on someone is 1 to 2 seconds. From what I saw in the videotape, McCarvel sprayed Burgert for at least three or four seconds. The argument of passive resistance is hurt by Horner's testimony at trial in which he said that the use of pepper spray on a suspect will generally cause them to cease resistance and give up any ideas except getting immediate treatment.

The jury believed the prosecution as Burgert was found guilty in June on both counts and sentenced to one year in the county jail. Burgert's conviction is now under appeal.

After being arrested, Burgert was taken down to the booking room at the City Jail. Many of Burgert's friends cited this as evidence of police brutality as Kalispell Police draped a bag over Burgert's head and Kalispell Police Chief Frank Gardener turned off the decontamination showers that a Kalispell Police Officer turned on.

Burgert was extremely angry after being pepper sprayed. Burgert was spitting up colored sputum as soon as officers left him alone. When they returned to put him in the decontamination shower, Burgert continued to spit up colored sputum. Officers feared that the caustic substance would land on them so they placed a bag over Burgert's head, viewing this as an intentional and voluntary action on Burgert's part.

At this point, Gardener entered the scene and turned off the shower, apparently to save on water. Gardener told Burgert to calm down. Burgert explained that he was in severe pain and having trouble breathing. Gardener told him that they wanted to help him but first Burgert needed to calm down. Burgert restrained himself and was put in the decontamination shower with his clothes on.

After the shower, Burgert sat on a bench and was given a trash can to spit into. Gardener sat down and talked to him. Gardener found Burgert's behavior threatening and hostile and said he was going to go to court to get Burgert's bond repealed. Burgert said he would do whatever it took "to protect himself and his family" and when Gardener mentioned the threat of going to jail, he warned Gardener that no matter what he was sentenced to, he would eventually be released.

Burgert also refused to cooperate with a police officer who wanted some medical information from him. Sgt. Parker came into the booking room and tried to engage Burgert in some conversation. Burgert told Parker to go ahead, leave, and work on trumping up, "whatever felony charges you're going to bring against me."

In January of this year, Burgert went fishing but didn't return from his trip. Burgert said that he was accosted when he went to the fishing hole. And, according to Burgert he feared that if he went home, he would endanger his wife. He decided that if "they were going to come after him" it would be best if he was alone. A month later, Burgert surrendered himself to local police after an all-night stand off.

While he was gone for more than a month, he missed a court appearance. Because of this, he was charged with bail jumping.

Burgert said that he didn't intend to miss the hearing. Cesnick, Burgert's co-defendant missed the same hearing and was not charged with bail jumping. Cesnick said that County Attorney Tom Esch contacted him and told him that he'd missed the hearing and they simply rescheduled it. Burgert contends that if Cesnick was not charged for missing the same hearing, then he shouldn't be charged either.

After Burgert surrendered to police, new allegations came out in the press regarding the alleged plot to kill local officials, a charge that Burgert and his associates deny.

According to Burgert, the group was set up for those interested in survival training and learning to use weapons properly. Burgert denied that he had anything to do with alleged illegal weapons that law enforcement officials have connected to him. Burgert also said that local law enforcement's presentations of weapons to the media made it look like all the weapons found were illegal assault weapons, when, in reality, many of the weapons and ammo found were perfectly legal (including shotguns and rifles).

He said that there was no "hit list" of local officials or encrypted computer files. He did say, that as one of the few people willing to serve legal process papers on public officials, he had a written list of the names and addresses of judges and police officers. He said that he obtained the information whenever he could, so that when people asked him to serve a police officer, he didn't have to pay $75 to obtain their name and address.

When I interviewed Ortley about the Justice of the Peace race last month, the Project 7 case came up. He said that he was "surprised" when he found out that he was on the alleged hit list. He said that Burgert had been in his court many times over the years and that he'd ruled for him about as often as he ruled against him. If Burgert's explanation is correct, Ortley's presence on "the list" may make more sense.

As in a prior phone interview with the Interlake, Burgert was evasive on the question of the size of the group known as "Project 7", refusing to even indicate whether there were more or less than five members of the group. However, another member of the group was more forthcoming. Chance Chezem, the Libertarian Candidate for County Sheriff said that there were approximately fifteen people in the group. Chezem didn't remember who all the members were, but he identified Burgert, himself, Steve and Alice Crawford of Columbia Falls (3), and Tracy Brockway and John Erdman of Kalispell.

According to Chezem, the group never called itself "Project 7". "Project 7" was the name of a militia group that was started back in the 1990s which was totally unrelated to this case. Furthermore, Chezem said that his group had no interest in committing violence, as it would violate their principles.

Chezem said that they generally engaged in innocent activities such as first-aid training and eating Thanksgiving dinner together. According to Chezem, they were also seeking out a potential challenger to Sheriff Dupont.

Several members of the group, including Burgert, had had problems with local law enforcement previously. They believed many officers to be overbearing with a disregard for the U.S. Constitution or that they were unresponsive to their complaints. According to group members members of the public (4) , they never intended to take violent action and only were going to use weapons in self-defense or defense of their country. referring to Project 7.

The evidence leaves room for questions regarding the official law enforcement story (5). During my interview with Dave Burgert, I mentioned another associate of Burgert's whom I was going to talk to. Both Mr. and Mrs. Burgert cautioned me that the woman was mentally unstable.

After leaving the jail, I talked with Mrs. Burgert who said she thought that the former associate's idea for getting her husband out of jail was to break him out.

"With all the trouble I have right now, that's the last thing I need," said Mrs. Burgert.

While many officials have alleged that Project 7 planned to take on the National Guard (which probably outnumbers them at least 5:1), they have not tried to take on the understaffed county jail where Burgert is being held.

The second incongruity in the official story lies with Chezem and Crawford (a write-in candidate for HD 83). Both are seeking political office this Fall. However, to prepare to take violent action against the government, one would have to conclude that peaceful action through elections and legislation was a lost cause. If Chezem and Crawford have reached this conclusion, why are they running in this election?

Furthermore, one also has to wonder why--if these two people have committed serious crimes--are they are not only still in the Flathead Valley but also seeking publicity for their campaigns for public office?

These questions may be best answered by examining the source of the allegations. Burgert's friends hadn't made a big deal out of who the informant was. When I called Mrs. Burgert with a question about the case, the subject came up and she said that the informant wasn't an adult but rather a seventeen year old boy with a history of mental health problems.

According to Mrs. Burgert, the boy came to stay with her and her husband because Mr. Burgert had in the past, helped out troubled boys. When Mr. Burgert disappeared, Mrs. Burgert said the boy pledged to protect her. She said he would often be drinking and firing guns into the air. She finally had to ask him to leave. Mrs. Burgert said she later learned that the boy had been in and out of mental hospitals several times. One initial report that has since been eliminated from newspaper coverage was that Burgert had a romantic relationship with another member of Project 7, Tracy Brockway. Something that could be explained by the boy's attachment to Mrs. Burgert.

Cesnick said the boy had "a Napoleon syndrome" and wanted to be somebody important, in addition to having a "fixation with weapons". He said he was never comfortable when the boy was around.. Erdman, who has had a falling out with Burgert called the informant, "a really disturbed kid".

While Burgert's associates have very self-serving reasons for making their statements and attempts to locate the boy's mother have been unsuccessful, if the story came from the mind of mentally disturbed seventeen year-old, the inconsistencies in this case would be explained.

If this is true, the question that must then be asked is why did local law enforcement believe the boy's story? The large cache of weapons may have been one part of the equation, but more than anything else, the issue can probably be summarized with one word : history.

When I contacted Kalispell City Attorney Charlie Harball about Burgert's conviction back in July, I asked why the city had given Burgert a costly trial given the serious felony charges pending against him? The Prosecution stationed four officers at the trial, used a metal detector to scan all incoming spectators, in addition to flying in witnesses from as far away as the FBI crime lab in Quantico, Virginia for two crimes for which Burgert could serve a maximum of 1 year in jail, ten months of which he'll have already served by the time his trial is held in Havre this November.

Harball mentioned the fact that it would give the FBI more time to complete their investigation, but he also said that it was due in part because Burgert "had a history" with local law enforcement.

When I examined the conduct of Officer Kevin McCarvel, the Kalispell PD officer who pepper sprayed Burgert, in the booking room tape, he was calm, professional, and courteous. He showed no malice towards Mr. Burgert in his conduct. Therefore, its safe to assume he believed Mr. Burgert was a threat when he sprayed him. The reason he viewed him as a threat may be because of his history with local police.

And the same thing could be true on the part of the Flathead County Sheriff's Department. In spite of the fact that Dupont's administration has a history of treating members of the public as common criminals whether compliant or suspect. (6) Given Burgert's history including his statements to Gardener in the booking room tape, and the discovery of the cache of weapons believed to be linked to Burgert, it was easy to believe the story of the informant. In the end, they may have guessed right, only time will tell.

However, it would appear that Project 7, thought to be the story of the year in Western Montana, may be little more than a phantom, created and fed by paranoia, counter-paranoia, and media sensationalism.

Even if it is, the damage has been done for Dave Burgert. Burgert has lost his business. I asked him what he had left, if he was found innocent.

"My wife." He answered. "If I get out soon and get working, we may have a chance to save the house."

Burgert is set to go on trial in Havre on October 31 on charges of Assaulting a Peace Officer and Bail Jumping.

Notes

(1) Written before Federal Weapons' charges were filed against Burgert.

(2) Mr. Cyphers did not contact me before writing any of this. If he had, he would have found out that other felons had been barred from Search and Rescue for the same reason. Burgert was on Search and Rescue for all of two months before being pulled off. Thompson said that the reason he had been allowed on is that the county didn't get the background check done earlier.

(3) In a subsequent conversation, Chezem said that he mis-spoke and that Crawford was not a member of Project Seven but rather another man named Steve Morey.

(4) This makes no sense at all. As a reader, there's a huge difference between what actual, real members of the group said and what some "members of the public" think.

(5) Left out of original story. Copy editors didn't catch it either.

(6) Not only is it unproven, it's also a fragment.

Yea, it ia all over our news today...

They claim he is the leader of a large militia group intent on killing police, judges and Government officials...

But strangely they have reduced the amount of LEO searching for him.


Is the new child porn on the computer BS now he said he would kill judges and cops BS.


I don't know the man, but something smells with the charges here.

Project 7 huh? sounds like something LEO would come up with.

Don't (at least some of us) wish!

You remember that dude in Oakland last year or so, shot two motorcycle cops then made a last stand at his sister's home with an AK-47, took out a couple more SWATzis? You remember why he went down for a escort to Valhalla?

Its because his probation officer systematically fucked with him that's why. The enemy wants recidivism because it keeps people enslaved, it keeps the crime rate up to give them business and frightens the sheep. Plus the kind of fucker that becomes a probation/parole officer gets off on the absolute power they wield over their charges. Which is what happened with Mr. Mixon; his POS probation officer kept scheduling meetings then cancelling them, making Mixon waste valuable time going to his office only to get jerked about. The one time he blows it off because the probie established a firm pattern and the fucker puts a warrant out for his arrest. And this guy was your run of the mill Ghetto-American.

Imagine the shit that the enemy inflicts on their ideological arch enemies-oh wait, we don't have to.

Not letting them know where you really live helps, but sooner or later all of us will have to confront the beast... or do it again. David Burgert decided not again. I just hope he's got more of a plan than simply hide in the wilderness because sooner or later you will subconsciously want it to be over with and you do something stupid to get caught. Then you're really in hell.

Incorporated this thread into an article at Freedom Guide: http://freedomguide.blogspot.com/2011/06/run-dave-run.html

Actually, he used an SKS, and yes, that episode caused alot of local the LEOs to crap their panties.

I hope Dave Burgert stays in the outback twice as long as Eric Rudolph played cat and mouse.

Eric Rudolph! That was that guy's name!

Yeah: his undoing was all he did was hide after his abortion clinic bombings. NO further actions, just raided cabins and garbage bins. After five years he subconsciously had had enough, let himself get caught by some rookie.

The point is, if you wind up like either of these gents, you'd better have a plan beyond looting and hiding or you'll wind up captured of your own accord. Have a goal, figure out concrete measures to continue your mission.