Texas Separatists Grab 2 Hostages

Armed militant separatists who believe Texas should be its own country took two neighbors hostage Sunday, and dozens of police moved into the remote area of West Texas.

Richard McLaren, the self-styled “ambassador” of the Republic of Texas, told San Antonio radio station WOAI that the group would end its standoff at the couple’s home in exchange for the release of two Republic members under arrest and another key concession.

“We want them to . . . agree to a referendum to allow Texans to vote on the independence issue,” McLaren said from his group’s headquarters in the Davis Mountains, 75 miles north of the Mexico border.

About three dozen local and state police surrounded the area and, by nightfall, began negotiations with the group from a mobile command center, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lucila Torres.

The separatists stormed the home of Joe and M.A. Rowe, about 15 miles from the headquarters, firing shots at about noon, authorities said. Rowe was injured by broken shards of glass in the gunfire but “declined” to be exchanged for a volunteer firefighter who offered to replace him, a man identifying himself as White Eagle, a top aide to McLaren, told WOAI.

Torres said Rowe also broke his right arm and was being cared for by his wife, who is a paramedic.

Torres said the Davis Mountains Resort subdivision was sealed off, and other area residents remained inside. “We would like to advise them to stay calm,” she said.

Reporters were being kept several miles from the entrance to the subdivision. Telephone calls Sunday night to the McLaren and Rowe homes were answered by a message saying the lines had been disconnected.

Authorities said the FBI also has been contacted, but the FBI’s El Paso office could not be reached Sunday night.

Torres refused to say how many people are believed to belong to McLaren’s group or where they were situated.

Residents had been complaining for months about McLaren, a wild-haired, lanky rancher who filed property liens against his neighbors and threatened them with machine guns. He had been avoiding an arrest warrant since December for filing the bogus liens.

Last month, McLaren, 43, threatened to fight back against the government and compared his situation to fatal standoffs near Waco, Texas and at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

The Republic of Texas contends that the annexation of Texas as a state in 1845 was illegal, that Texas should remain an independent nation and that the group’s leaders constitute the legitimate government of the independent nation of Texas. Texas was an independent republic from 1836 to 1845.

A man who answered the phone at the Rowe home identified himself as Lt. Keys of the Republic of Texas Militia and referred calls to McLaren.

The Republic has had a long-running feud with the Rowes, who lead an area homeowners association and whom McLaren has called “federal moles.”