In September of 1995, two Freemen cells merged near Justus, Montana.  Local tax protest leaders Leroy Schweitzer, Rodney Skurdal, and Daniel Peterson moved in with the Clark family.  Schweitzer and Skurdal were infamous for teaching classes on how to pass fraudulent checks and file bogus liens.  Earlier that year, the Clark family, who owed $1.8 million in mortgage payments and taxes, had convened a "common law court" and issued warrants threatening the life of the local sheriff and the county judge.  When the two groups joined forces, they renamed the Clarks' farm, their base of operations, "Justus Township."  They continued to threaten local authorities and teach seminars on how to execute classic Posse Comitatus scams.<br /><p>Local law enforcement realized they would have to confront the Freemen, but Justus's sheriff didn't have the manpower to ensure that the confrontation went smoothly.  The FBI, suffering from what the press dubbed "Weaver Fever" (the fear that a confrontation with militants would go as badly as the Ruby Ridge standoff had) was also reluctant to get involved.  Local residents began to resent the apparent impunity with which the Freemen were flouting federal authority.  "Call the IRS and ask them why they haven't seized their property," a local car dealer insisted.  "Why do they get special treatment?  I think the federal government has a responsibility to the people who are paying taxes."(quoted in Pitcavage, 10) <br /><p>Finally, on March 25, 1996, the FBI arrested Leroy Schweitzer and Daniel Peterson, and demanded the dozen or so Freemen  for whom they had arrest warrants leave Justus Township.  The Freemen refused, and a standoff which was to last 81 days begun.<br /><p>The FBI was determined not to make the same mistakes that were made at Ruby Ridge.  The standoff was managed by the FBI's Critical Incident Response Group, which implemented lessons learned during the Ruby Ridge confrontation.  Agents wore civilian clothes instead of camouflage and drove civilian vehicles instead of armored cars.  Federal officials made repeated, televised pleas to the Freemen to surrender peacefully.  Instead of surrounding the Clark ranch, FBI agents merely stopped and questioned anyone who tried to enter or leave.  Finally, the FBI notified paramilitary groups across the country before arresting a single Freeman, which pre-empted conspiracy theories and actually won the support of some militias.  Several prominent figures in the militia community, such as the attorneys of Randy Weaver and families who died at Waco, actually served as negotiators in attempts to end the standoff.<br /><p>At first, the Freemen showed no signs of willingness to compromise and deliberately made unreasonable demands to stall negotiations.  For example, they insisted at one point that they would only negotiate if Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork acted as a mediator.  The also issued a press release declaring independence from the "de facto corporate prostitute also known as the United States." (<a href="http://www.cnn.com/US/freemen/april.html">CNN.com</a>) The standoff dragged on for weeks, then months, without any sign of a breakthrough.  On day 71, the FBI cut power to the Freemen Ranch.  Finally, on June 13, 1996, the remaining members of the Freemen surrendered peacefully, and the FBI arrested those for whom it had warrants, effectively ending the existence of the Montana Freemen.<br />