I once believed everything the media (and Hollywood) had to say about Weaver. Then I met him (just out of curiousity) and came away even more curious about the truth. He was nothing like I expected him to be (or was told to expect). He is a serious, calm, intelligent man. Weaver admits that he was wrong about a lot of things - he also remains steadfast in his belief that he was right about a lot of things. It's plainly ignorant to argue about the LEGAL aspects of this case, as the courts clearly ruled in his favor. However repugnant his racial beliefs were or are - absolutely nothing justifided the Government actions - not by a longshot. Personally, I doubt if his beliefs are much different from many rich folks who live in gated mansions and belong to private clubs. They just have better guns and lawyers. As far as being an ignorant loser, or a lunatic, a fool, a coward, or a punk? I don't think so. And neither was Vickie apparently.
Regarding the frootloop SW message: Sorry, but I'd have to more proof than an internet post about a SW broadcast. I doubt if it's true.
http://www.crimelibrary.com/gangsters_outlaws/cops_others/randy_weaver/3.html?sect=18
"Randall Claude Weaver was born on January 3, 1948. He was the only boy of four children born to Clarence and Wilma Weaver, a farming couple from Villisca, Iowa. The Weavers were deeply religious, however they had a difficult time finding a denomination which matched their views, hence they often bounced back and forth from Evangelical, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches. As Randy grew up, he strove to make his father proud. He earned decent grades in school and enjoyed a variety of sports and ultimately accepted Jesus as his savior at the age of 11.
Graduating from high school in 1966, Randy enrolled in Iowa Central Community College, where he met a pretty young student named Vicki Jordison. Following a school dance the two started dating and began to grow very close. Vicki Jordison was a year younger than Randy and had grown up in Fort Dodge, Iowa, just 50 miles north of Randy's childhood home. Similar to Randy, Vicki had also been raised with conflicting religious teachings. Her mother was a Congregationalist and her father a Mormon. Throughout her childhood, her father would often attempt to foretell current events as he compared the Bible?fs prophecies with the newspaper. As she grew into a young woman, Vicki was considered highly intelligent by her peers. She excelled in school and eventually became vice president of the Pleasant Valley Future Business Leaders of America and an active member in the Pixies 4-H group. Her younger sister, Julie, later stated that she was the kind of person that everyone liked and envied. In 1967 Vicki graduated from Fort Dodge High School and enrolled in Iowa Central Community College.
Despite the growing passion between Randy and Vicki, the war in Vietnam was beginning to escalate and Randy had a strong desire to fight for his country. In October of 1968 he said his good byes to Vicki, dropped out of school and joined the United States Army. Randy excelled in the military and quickly qualified for the Green Berets. The training is extremely demanding. Candidates must learn to survive with little food and equipment in the harshest of conditions, while becoming an expert in all forms of combat weapons and explosives. Randy again excelled and was promoted to the rank of sergeant following his training.
Randy's first assignment was at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. While most would have relished in the state side duty, he highly resented it. Randy could not understand the point of going through all the special training and not being able to put any of it to use. Friends later said that he became bitter over the fact that men who wanted nothing to do with the war were being sent over every day, and yet he, a trained warrior who had volunteered to go, sat at an Army base with minimal duties. As Randy waited for combat duty, Vicki Jordison was finishing her college studies, earning a two-year degree in business and was busy securing a job at the United Way.
In 1970 Randy secured a temporary leave from Fort Bragg and returned to his hometown for a visit. He had already decided to finish up his duties with the Army as quickly as possible and wanted to inform his family of his plans. It did not take long for him to look up Vicki and the two picked up where they had left off almost two years earlier. Within weeks, they were engaged to marry.
Vicki's family was concerned when they learned of the couple's quick engagement. In their eyes, the two had not courted long enough and were rushing into something for which they both were not prepared. Vicki explained to her family that she truly loved Randy and that they would have probably married years earlier if Randy had not enlisted in the military. In striving to keep their daughter happy, Vicki?fs family relented and gave the couple their blessing.
On October 8, 1971, following three years of duty, Randy Weaver received an honorable discharge from the Army and moved back home. One month later, in November of 1971, Randy and Vicki were wed during a small ceremony at the First Congregationalist Church in Fort Dodge, Iowa. In an attempt to please Vicki's family, two ministers conducted the ceremony, one from the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints and the other a Congregationalist pastor.
Following the wedding the newlyweds moved into a small apartment two hours east of Fort Dodge, in Cedar Falls. Randy enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa to take criminal justice classes, intending to become an FBI agent. Nonetheless, the young couple found the cost of school to be too much for them and Randy eventually dropped out. The couple started selling Amway products to support themselves.
In 1973 the Weavers gave up on their career as Amway marketers. Randy secured a job at the John Deere tractor plant in Waterloo, just outside Cedar Falls, and Vicki got a job as a secretary at a Sears department store. They were both earning modest paychecks and eventually purchased a ranch-style home for $26,000 in a well-kept Cedar Falls neighborhood. They were seemingly quite happy „Ÿ they had plenty of money and Randy was always buying boats, motorcycles and sports cars.
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