Calvin Greenup

A well-known militia activist in the United States and a Vietnam veteran, Calvin Greenup resides in Montana where he runs an elk ranch and is a key member of the controversial North American Volunteer Militia, Greenup has long argued that the United Nations is planning to attack the United States using Soviet-made weaponry.

In 1991, Greenup lost a legal battle against the State of Montana, in which they closed down the landfill site that he had been running. He responded by failing to file taxes from then on, choosing not to renew his driver's license and announcing that he was officially cutting ties with the government.

Three years later, in 1994, his refusal to register or pay fees found him in deep water after his militia colleague Joe Holland wrote a letter to the Montana Revenue Department claiming that he led the nation's largest militia and would mobilize a million men against the state office sending home the Revenue Agents in bodybags. Because Greenup didn't have a license for his elk farm (which was composed of a dozen domesticated elk) and therefore owed $25 in unpaid fees, legal action was started against him to recover some of the money he had withheld; at the same time, the local bank began to foreclose his mortgage.

In February of 1995, a National Guard helicopter flew over Greenup's ranch during a training exercise and Greenup, fearing that it was part of a Federal raid on his ranch, gathered two dozen of his militiamen who arrived too late to shoot at the helicopter which had at that point, disappeared. Greenup however issued an ultimatum to the Federal Government, that if he ever saw another helicopter over his ranch, he would shoot it down himself.

In October of 1995, Greenup was found guilty of operating a game farm without a license and sentenced to 120 days in jail, in addition to a $500 fine. He is also known for withholding his income tax claiming that it supports "crooked politicians".

From then on, he spoke of holding "Common Law Trials" in which he would preside and find federal and state judges guilty, sentence them to death, and hang or shoot them on his Elk Ranch property.

By 1999 it seems that his aversion to the courts had subsided enough for him to file a civil suit against his neighbours in an attempt to settle a property dispute. However when the ruling was not in his favour, he publicly stated his intentions to have the presiding Judge Jeff Langton summarily executed for his crimes against Greenup.

References

*Neiwert, David A. (1999). "In God's Country". Washington State University Press. ISBN 0-87422-175-7