Jailed Freemen Gives Surrender Thumbs Up

JORDAN, Montana: Authorities negotiating with the Montana Freemen said a resolution to the standoff could come in the next few days, now that a jailed Freemen leader has approved an FBI settlement. On Tuesday, the FBI flew Freemen spokesman Edwin Clark to Billings, Montana, to discuss terms of the surrender proposal with Daniel Petersen Jr. and LeRoy Schweitzer, whose arrest in March triggered the confrontation. Clark was returned to the ranch Tuesday evening and the Freemen gathered in a barn later, apparently to confer on the proposal. "Ed Clark puts a lot of stock in Schweitzer's opinion," TIME's Pat Dawson reports from Montana, "and he is under a lot of pressure from his family to leave the compound." Other Freemen may have more to lose by leaving, says Dawson. "Freeman also love to nitpick and fight over guidelines," he adds. "The remaining 15 could decide to come out today, or they could debate for the next two weeks." -->