label: Fremont County

Traditional political foes in Fremont County have set differences aside to seek freedom, they say, from an oppressive outside force: The federal government.

Specifically, the USA Patriot Act and its offspring have stirred the ire of area environmentalists, Quakers, libertarians and staunchly conservative People for the West leaders alike.

"An invasion of personal privacy that exceeds the issue of terrorism that this law is supposed to address," has been the galvanizing force behind the effort, said Donn Kesselheim, who frequently turns his Quaker ideals to speaking against war and for civil rights.

"There's been a remarkable degree of cooperation between these diverse groups in reaching an agreement on the wording of a resolution," he said.

The group is scheduled to present a simple resolution to the Fremont County Commission at the commissioners' regular meeting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Kesselheim said.

The resolution spells out the group's fundamental concerns that the USA Patriot Act and the rules that enact it threaten "constitutionally guaranteed civil rights and liberties … essential to our democratic republic."

If it passes the resolution, the commission would endorse and amplify the concerns of the group. Moreover, it would formally ask Wyoming Republican Sens. Mike Enzi and Craig Thomas and Rep. Barbara Cubin to advocate for "the repeal of the USA Patriot Act and other laws and regulations which unconstitutionally infringe on rights and liberties" and take a lead in congressional action to prohibit passage of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, also known as "Patriot II".

In speeches defending the Patriot Act, Attorney General John Ashcroft has underscored the idea that the Patriot Act is a tool to "provide the security that ensures liberty."

The Patriot Act does three things, Ashcroft told a gathering of law enforcement officials during a major speech in Boise, Idaho, on Aug. 25.

"First, it closes the gaping holes in our ability to investigate terrorists. Second, the Patriot Act updates our anti-terrorism laws to meet the challenges of new technology, and new threats. Third, the Patriot Act has allowed us to build an extensive team that shares information and fights terrorism together," Ashcroft said.

Access to business records, the ability to conduct searches without telling the subject a search warrant has been issued and roving wire taps are all elements of the law that allow law enforcement to keep up with criminals in today's a high tech and complex world, Ashcroft said.

But the Fremont County patriots see the law as overstepping its bounds.

Outspoken Libertarian Dennis Brossman sees the law as the jack boot of authoritarianism.

"All of it is so egregious. Things like where they monitor everybody's transactions and monitoring any group for any reason. It can be something as benign as the beef growers. It infringes or endangers 6 or 7 of our basic 10 amendments," he said. "With this thing everybody is a Huey Newton or a Randy Weaver, "Brossman said.

"Nobody is safe. The most kindly old grandma on the block that has no political interest at all may be under the boot of this authoritarian thing. It smacks of Soviet Socialism and Nazi Germany very much," he said. "It watches so much of what you do, from what you read at the library to your mail transactions to your financial transactions and who you meet with and what they discuss."

If the Fremont County Commissioners pass a resolution condemning the USA Patriot Act, it would not be the first time the body has stood in public opposition of federal undertakings.

The commission voted to ban grizzly bears, wolves and other "unacceptable species" currently managed by the federal government from their county. They have fought against federal rules on food management in bear country. And intense debate in the county that transcended partisan affinities led then-Gov. Mike Sullivan to scuttle studies about nuclear waste storage in the count.

County Commission Chairman Doug Thompson summarized the commissioners' feelings about federal authority recently in explaining the commission's vote against food storage orders: "We just don't like the Forest Service stuffing these orders down our throats."