The Nation - News from Feb. 16, 1988

Tight security was in place in Fort Smith, Ark., for the opening today of the federal trial of 14 reputed white supremacists who face charges of seditious conspiracy and plotting to assassinate federal officials. The men are charged in a 1983 plot to overthrow the government and establish a white nation in the Pacific Northwest. Their efforts allegedly were to be financed through robberies and counterfeiting and would include bombings, destruction of utilities, pollution of public water supplies and the assassinations of federal officials and minorities. Ten of the defendants are charged with plotting to overthrow the federal government, marking the first time sedition charges have been used against members of extremist right-wing groups.