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Sheriff tires of fake legal filings Now he'll use the law to fight back By JULIE SWENSEN Jackson County Sheriff Bob Kennedy had seen the "legal" documents before from anti-government groups. One demanded that several inmates be released in 15 minutes or the sheriff's department would suffer the consequences "under the realm of King George I." Another subpoenaed Kennedy to appear before a group's own grand jury. One more several-page document argued the correct way to display a flag. But the last straw came last week when an attempt was made by an unknown person to file a lien on Kennedy's house (apparently the would-be filers were unaware the sheriff had sold his house and now rents). When the clerk refused, an attempt was made to file a lien against the clerk's house. "It's a harassment technique to see how far they can push local law enforcement," Kennedy said. Fed up, the sheriff's office now plans to prosecute people who serve false legal documents upon the sheriff's office and other county agencies. They'll use Oregon Revised Statute 162.355, which prohibits the false simulation of civil or criminal processes. If convicted of the felony, a person can be sentenced to five years in prison and/or a $100,000 fine. "We basically said enough's enough," Kennedy said. "We're not going to tolerate these people intimidating or trying to intimidate county employees. We're going to stop them from filing liens -- we're going to make sure that we send a message, if you will, to tell them to knock it off." Kennedy said the sheriff's department has come in contact before with members of anti-government militias or other groups. Some don't believe they have to pay taxes or register their cars and refuse to acknowledge judicial proceedings as legal. Paul Coughlin, a Medford author who just published a book called "Secrets, Plots and Hidden Agendas: What You Don't Know About Conspiracy Theories," said that filing liens is a common tactic by the Freemen, a militia group in Montana. Coughlin said militia members' actions are often driven by two factors: first, to get their financial houses in order by the year 2000, which they view as the "apocalyptic finish line", and second, Coughlin said, "I think they're just testing local law enforcement to see how far they can push `em." It's unclear who is filing the papers. The county clerk's office didn't have names or addresses of people who have tried to file them, and the people didn't mention representing a certain group when they came in. Kennedy said he doesn't know, either. Carl Worden, a representative of the Southern Oregon Militia, said his group has nothing to do with it. Kennedy said that regardless of who is involved, they're wasting taxpayer's resources. The sheriff said he has spent three or four hours looking through an inch-thick document peppered with "legal" citations that are difficult to read. A county attorney must review the papers, too, to determine whether there's any legality to them. And the clerk's office spends time dealing with the filing attempts. "It's a mess," Kennedy said. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA