Traditional Day Near Compound Memorial Day Services Held As Freemen Standoff Continues

People here gathered for traditional Memorial Day services Monday as the freemen-FBI standoff at an outlying ranch reached 64 days with no apparent developments.

In Jordan, the Veterans of Foreign Wars held Memorial Day services in honor of the area’s war dead. The services at the VFW Hall and later at the Jordan cemetery did not mention the anti-government extremists in their isolated farm complex 30 miles northwest of this little town.

The U.S. flag was prominent in both veterans’ services, while at the freemen refuge it continued to flutter upside down for the sixth day.

Eighteen people, including three children, are believed to be at the 960-acre ranch. Some of the freemen face criminal charges that include allegations they passed millions of dollars in worthless checks, and threatened to kill a federal judge.

In Jordan and the surrounding area, many people are weary of the standoff, and just about everyone seems to have an opinion about how it should be handled.

“People are getting very well fed up with that whole situation,” retiree Lloyd Cox said Monday at the cemetery, where he visited his wife’s grave.

“I think it’s going to end with a shootin’ match of some kind,” said Cox, who is critical of the freemen.

Since March 25, the FBI has maintained armed patrols to isolate the foreclosed, 960-acre ranch occupied by the freemen, who do not recognize state or federal laws. A Colorado mediator who left Montana on Wednesday, after declaring the freemen impossible to deal with, said they appeared to have enough food.