Weaver Confronted By Freemen Foe

James “Bo” Gritz and Randy Weaver were among the observers Friday as victims of hate groups launched a petition drive to toughen Montana’s law against the tactics of the anti-government freemen, who have been holed up in a farm complex near here for 33 days

The initiative petition would ask voters to approve a new law letting individuals sue for damages if they receive threats or false liens against their property.

A brief confrontation developed between Weaver and rancher Cecil Weeding, an outspoken critic of the freemen. Weaver criticized the petition as an extension of police powers, and Weeding disagreed, saying Weaver was an outsider with no business here.