I love my city, and I love my job
“It’s starting to feel like a rock concert.” I agreed with the anonymous voice drifting over the mass of people, packed like sardines into the lobby of the Assembly chambers. Bright lights were on, TV cameras set up, and people were fanning themselves with folders, and papers. Everyone was here to testify on Ordinance 37, the mayor’s attempt to take advantage of the current makeup of the Assembly to push through a law that would restrict workers’ rights, and curtail collective bargaining for public unions. The turnout was impressive. I wasn’t sure if anyone had shown up to testify in…
EXCLUSIVE: FBI Informant Tells All – Part 3
We last left Bill Fulton working undercover for the FBI. After he was asked to make contact with militia leader Schaeffer Cox, now convicted on weapons charges and conspiracy to commit murder, Fulton recalled a disturbing meeting. He was in Fairbanks, attending a sale and fundraising event hosted by his own Anchorage military supply store and security company Drop Zone, and held at Far North Tactical, a similar store in Fairbanks, owned by his friend Aaron Bennett who had his own militia group in the area. Fulton’s initial conversation with Cox led him to believe that Cox had “gone crazy.”…
Accidents Happen
We’ve all done stupid things without thinking about it. I drove off once with two fresh pizzas from the Moose’s Tooth Restaurant on the roof of my car. I figure they blew off somewhere on the Seward Highway just south of Tudor Road. So, if you had a flying, steaming 16-inch disc of cajun halibut goodness slap down in the middle of your windshield a couple years ago, it’s my fault. Then there was the guy who absentmindedly left his Stradivarius violin, worth $4 million, in the back of a Newark cab. Even when there’s a lot at stake, we humans…
The NRA Board – It’s WAR!
Wayne LaPierre, the Executive Vice President and CEO of the National Rifle Association has been front and center in the public discussion about gun rights, and gun control. His extremist rhetoric has drawn criticism, and he’s become an iconic symbol of what progressives believe to be a tone-deaf and radical agenda in which “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” LaPierre may be the one most often in front of the cameras, but the board of the National Rifle Association actually has 76 directors who call the shots,…
EXCLUSIVE: FBI Informant Tells All, Pt 2
Bill Fulton, one of two undercover FBI informants in the recent Alaska Militia Trial I covered, continued his in-depth interview with me. After recounting the circumstances of his association with US Senate candidate Joe Miller, and the controversial arrest of a local reporter by his security company at a Miller campaign event (while working undercover), we were ready to begin talking about the Cox investigation and the trial. This portion of the interview discusses how Fulton began his company Drop Zone, his association with the FBI, and the beginning of the investigation of Cox, and other members of the militia….
Gun Bill Condones Arrest of Federal Agents
Mike Chenault, the mouth-breathing bully who also happens to be the Republican Speaker of the House in Juneau, has an awesome idea. As the country enters into a conversation about gun control, Chenault puts forward House Bill 69: House Speaker Mike Chenault says federal law enforcement officers should be arrested in Alaska if they attempt to enforce any future federal law banning personal possession of assault rifles or large ammunition clips or if they attempt to register any Alaska firearm. Yes. Really. “Tragedy is not a license for federal encroachment of constitutionally protected freedoms,” said Chenault. But don’t think this…
EXCLUSIVE: FBI Militia Informant Tells All
Bill Fulton, undercover FBI informant in the “Alaska Militia Trial,” gave a lengthy interview to The Mudflats about his role in the case, and his controversial life in Anchorage before it was revealed. In this article, he shares his candid opinion about local Anchorage media, national progressive media, Joe Miller, and what they got wrong. Yours truly didn’t even escape entirely unscathed. Bill Fulton came to Alaska, the biggest small town in the world, and became instantly “known.” He owned a shop in Anchorage that was utterly unforgettable. A military supply store, which doubled as offices for a security company,…
Militia Leader Cox Gets 25 Years
“Well, this proves one thing. Schaeffer Cox can still draw a crowd.” Reporter Michael Carey made the observation while sitting next to me on a wooden bench in the lobby outside Courtroom 2 in the federal courthouse in Anchorage this morning. It’s true. At the end of the day, Cox will be sentenced to 25 years, 10 months in prison, and his new lawyer will reveal the results of a recent psychological evaluation that diagnoses him for the first time as a paranoid schizophrenic, with paranoid personality disorder, and delusional personality disorder. But as the day begins, the courtroom is…
High Drama at Militia Sentencing
Today is the sentencing for the Salcha couple accused of conspiring to murder a judge and his family, and IRS agents as they anticipated seizure of their home due to a tax dispute. Lonnie Vernon is also being sentenced for his role in the “2-4-1 Militia trial” with co-defendants militia leader Schaeffer Cox, and militia Major Coleman Barney. Lonnie Vernon plead guilty of conspiring to murder the judge in exchange for the dismissal of many of the charges against him. Of all the characters in this tale, Lonnie Vernon is the most volatile and angry, and Karen Vernon is the…
Feds Ask for 35 Years for Militia Leader
Federal prosecutors have asked that Judge Robert Bryan sentence convicted militia leader Schaeffer Cox of Fairbanks, to 35 years in prison. Cox, a 28-year old father of two who founded the Alaska Peacemakers Militia, would be 63 years old when released if prosecutors get their way. Unhappy with his representation during the trial, Cox fired his sometimes lackluster attorney, Nelson Traverso, soon after the conviction. His new Seattle-based attorney, Peter Camiel, has indicated that he will ask for a sentence of 10 years for his client. Cox has already served almost two years in prison since his arrest on March…