MARK KOERNKE

HE WAS A BOY WHO LIKED TO JUMP OUT OF THE WOODS AND SCARE PEOPLE, A NEIGHBOR REMEMBERS OF MARK KOERNKE. EVERY DAY, FAITHFULLY, HE'D PLAY ARMY. HE WOULD RUN THROUGH THE WOODS OF THE SEMI-RURAL MICHIGAN ISLAND THEY ALL LIVED ON, CARRYING GUNS MADE OF UNPAINTED WOOD. THE BOY CLAIMED TO HAVE A SECRET FORT GUARDED WIT

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It was a time of considerable economic hardship for the Koernkes. Between 1980 and 1984, they had three more children. Mark joined the local Jaycees for a couple of years, where, in addition to working doggedly on his public speaking, he excelled at running clothing drives for the needy. Says a former fellow member: "I always thought that they [the Koernkes] were needy and should be on the list of families who needed help." Koernke's political philosophy, however, made great strides. In 1985, says Nancy, a man in Texas sent him a list of Federal Government employees who belonged to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Bilderberg Group (all bastions of the Establishment and longtime targets of right-wing conspiracy theorists). Long convinced that "an entity" was manipulating government affairs, Mark had found his culprits. Says Nancy: "It was like, boy, here we go, this makes sense. You know, because they have control of the media. They have a big influence in government. They have a large influence in the banking world, so they're going to, you know, power-grab. And it was-it all fits. It clicked."

Mark extended his research beyond secondary sources to legislators, whom he called repeatedly to help document secret language hidden in otherwise innocuous bills that he felt was eroding the intent of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He rang Michigan Senator Carl Levin's office four or five times a week, says Nancy. At least one lawmaker apparently felt harassed. Nancy reports that Mark's first visit from the FBI was prompted by the phone calls.

Ramon Martinez too was becoming more concerned about his friend. Watching Koernke buy uniforms and accessories at gun shows, he says, sometimes made him think Koernke was "outfitting his own squad." Once, he says, Koernke asked him if he would like to take part in some military drills -- with live ammunition. Another time, Martinez dropped by the house to find Koernke with a couple of teenagers. "He was talking tactics to them, fixing them up with gear, like they were soldiers. But they weren't soldiers. I didn't really want to know any of them."

Their dialogue had deteriorated. "There had always been these little hiccups," says Martinez. "I'd get irritated and he'd back off or laugh it off, but more and more, he was consumed with this stuff. He continued to talk about [a nuclear] Armageddon. In fact, he got target-locked on it. He was becoming obsessed with post-[nuclear]-holocaust government intrusion. And then you take the quantum leap from [nuclear war] and Soviet invasion to [present-day] government involvement, left-wing infiltration into the government."

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