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Y2KAOS

Issue Number: 
92
 | 
Fall
 
1998

The Y2K computer bug fuels profits and hysteria on the far right. Antigovernment icon 'Bo' Gritz's bizarre suicide attempt is only one strange turn in his tale. A trail of death follows Chevie Kehoe and the members of his gang as they try to turn the American West into an Aryan republic.

In This Issue

Millennium 'Y2KAOS'

Fear of computer bug fueling far right
James Wickstrom warned a gathering of extremists in Pennsylvania of the end-times battle he expects in the year 2000 — a battle he believes will be set off by the so-called "Y2K" computer bug.

True Gritz

Will the real Bo Gritz please stand up?
By Stephen Stuebner
'Patriot' leader and former Green Beret Bo Gritz seems to have many faces. The man who has trained thousands of antigovernment zealots falls apart at the prospect of his wife leaving him.

Kehoe Republic

Trail of death follows white supremacist gang
The story of Chevie Kehoe and his family spans many states and years, and leaves a trail of death.

Chaos to Conspiracy

Racist Skinhead violence growing more organized
The Independence Day murders of antiracists Daniel Shersty and Lin Newborn in the Las Vegas desert, execution-style, signal a change in Skinhead violence.

More Features

The Disease is Hate

Editorial
By Mark Potok, Senior Fellow
The death of Matthew Shepard casts a light on the disproportionate likelihood of hate violence against members of the gay community.

Street Fighter

An anti-racist organizer's view of Skinheads
Shocked by the appearance of neo-Nazi Skinheads on the streets of her hometown of Eugene, Ore., Michele Lefkowith began working with anti-racist groups seven years ago.

Meeting Draws Racists, Pseudo-intellectuals

A group of pseudo-intellectuals obsessed with the 'race problem' rubbed shoulders with Klansmen, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists committed to 'the defense of Western Civilization.'

Fighting Terrorism

Leading FBI official discusses domestic terrorism
As the chief of domestic terrorism and counterterrorism planning, Robert Blitzer oversees FBI units dealing with analysis of the terrorist threat, investigations, weapons of mass destruction, domestic preparedness and other matters.

The Identity Connection

The Kehoe family was steeped in racist, anti-Semitic Christian Identity ideology, which may have contributed to the Kehoes' crime spree.

The Kehoe Gang: A Timeline

The chilling events of the Kehoe saga are detailed chronologically in this thorough list.

Briefs

Eric Rudolph Charged in Bombings

Eric Rudolph, suspect in a fatal clinic bombing in Birmingham, has been charged in the 1996 Olympic park bombing and two other Atlanta-area attacks in 1997.

Kansas Militia Leader Arrested

A Kansas militia leader was arrested with nine others in connection with a plot to attack an Army base, where the militia members believed that Communist Chinese troops were training in part of a plot to take over the U.S.

Klan Leader Sentenced to Life

Long-time Klan leader Samuel Bowers has been sentenced to life in the 1962 murder of civil rights worker Vernon Dahmer Sr., in a firebombing attack on the Dahmer home.

Klansman Behind SPLC Plot Convicted

A sixth man in the alleged plot to blow up the Center and assassinate co-founder Morris Dees has been convicted on federal conspiracy charges. Klansman Wallace Scott Weicherding, a 64-year-old former prison guard and the only one of the group not to plead guilty, faces sentencing later this year.

Hate Crime Alarms College Campuses

The murder of a gay university student has raised alarms among educators who fear that hate crimes on and around college campuses may be growing in the wake of a wave of recent bias crimes.

Public Radio Versus the Klan

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan has lost another battle in its bid to paint itself as a benign group merely interested in doing good for white Christians when a federal magistrate denied the Knights to underwrite 'All Things Considered' on National Public Radio.

Utah Skinhead Leader Jailed

White supremacist Johnny Bangerter has been sentenced to six months in jail on weapons charges.

Koernke Free on Bail

Prosecutors drop a felonious assault charge against Mark Koernke, the militia activist who is accused of attacking a court official attempting to serve him with a subpoena in late 1997.

More Clinic Bombs Found

Dynamite bombs found outside two North Carolina abortion clinics that had earlier been the targets of arson attacks were defused in October.

Federal Hate Law on Ropes Despite Slayings

By Brian Levin
Despite a national outcry over the gruesome murder a gay Wyoming university student, efforts to pass a strengthened federal hate crime law this year appear doomed.