The Monitor from McAllen, Texas • 20

Sunday, October 27, 1998 THfc MONITOR, McAllen, Texas 7D Sect Continued from paa IB with conspiring to take control of the local, state and federal govern "He's disappeared without a trace," laid U.S. Marshal Gene Diaz, who hat led a four-month search for Lingenfelter, "This has taken us to several other states and back, but we still haven't found anything." Daniel and Lynn Hoverson, said, recently they reside at the compound and they knew Lingenfelter, but they don't want the group to be associated with Lingenfelter, even though he was a member. "It's not that we have anything against Mark," Daniel Hoverson said. "It's just, we don't to be connected with him." Federal officials believe Lingenfelter, now 34, may have been raised by a family with connections to the Posse Comitatus, a militia group that emerged in the Midwest during the 1980s. During his youth in Steams Coun compound for occasional meetings.

The vast house, valued at more than $98,000 according to tax rolls, sports tasteful cedar siding and a trim lawn. Several spotless cars often are parked safely behind the chain-link fence. Like Lingenfelter's whereabouts, the mystery of the house's inhabitants lingers. City officials say they have not contacted the group since the raid. The property, however, still lacks a water and sewage account, according to city records.

i City Attorney Ramon Vela said the group could legally be charged for services without a city account. But the city is not required by law to collect any fee and has no plans to inspect the grounds, he said. "These people are not hell-raisers," Vela said. "They are contributing citizens and should be respected." This year more than $1,100 in county, city and school taxes were paid under Nodrog's name, and electricity bills are paid regularly. U.S.

Marshal Diaz said he plans to question group members about Lingenfeltcr's whereabouts, but he quickly emphasized he is not investigating the group's activities. Diaz is in no hurry to find the fugitive, he said. The warrant is not expected to expire for another four years. But he does remain resolute about his duty. "That's why we have laws: to obey them," Diaz said.

"It's one thing to ignore the law. -It's quite another to aggressively break 'them' The group's secluded existence was broken suddenly in 1985, when; Wal-Mart began offering to buy the group's land. Their apprehension grew when then-Mayor Hector Farias called for a cleanup of the compound to attract development inter ests.A:;' "Nodrog was perturbed," said David Hall, a Texas Rural Legal Aid attorney who once represented the group. "He thought Wal-Mart was trying to buy his land out from under As he saw it, the city started putting pressure on him so he would sell." 0-J Farias recently declined to comment on the group. Wal-Mart soon gave up trying to acquire the land and built a store on property adjacent to the group's compound, city officials said.

Keith Morris, a spokesman for Wal-Mart at the corporate headquar- ters in Arkansas, said he was unaware of any past land controversy. He did say the national chain is not now interested in buying the prop- -erty. The raid At the time, the land a prime commercial location at the intersection of North Texas Boulevard and Expressway 83 was one of the most sought-after locations by land developers. To the group, however, the property was a sacred site where their god eventually would contact them. In February of 1985, there were indications the group continued to be unhappy with at least local gov- stopped answering their phones.

The Hoversons denied their group ever harassed the city. Instead, they 'say, the group had felt unfairly "persecuted" at the -time by local federal officials. Former associates were unsure' whether Nodrog, who would be 88 years old now, is atiil alive. No death certificate is recorded for Nodrog in the Hidalgo County Vital Statistics Department. The search continues Despite their introverted lifestyle, the Hoversons say they are not entirely isolated.

They do go out within the city, and recently traveled to Austin. Still, they remain suspicious of city officials. "Our whole lives were affected," Daniel Hoverson said, referring to the raid. "I have my own business, and it stopped almost completely after the raid." Looking like a harried, but friendly suburban couple, Daniel, 44, and Lynn, 43, on a recent day spoke fervently at the gate of the compound about their religious beliefs. Suddenly, in the middle of the conversation, they nervously shut their chain-link gate and retreated into the house.

They promised, to consider a more extensive interview, but later declined. Federal officials say they now know next to nothing about the group, except that the Hoversons luive at least one child. During the week, residents often: see cars coming and going at the emment. Local and federal officials, saying they believed an investigation of the group was warranted, after six months achieved a long sought goal: to get inside the On July 16, a team comprised of. federal agents, city police' and health officials raided the house.

They were armed with, a 'search warrant and a building inspection -Officials encountered 'Overgrown grass and an unkempt house lacking plumbing and sewage, Diaz said. Federal agents woke a group member sleeping in a school bus.outside; a building inspector discovered beehives inside the house. City officials, who believed the group's lack of plumbing and sewage violated a city ordinance, had sent building inspectors into the compound to look over the grounds. group members were very upset," Hernan Acosta, a former city buildings inspector present at the raid, said recently. During' the raid, federal officials and agents dug up the surrounding yard, searching for any sign of explosive material.

It was never found. "I'm sure they felt threatened," Hall said. "If someone swoops in and scoops up your land, you'd feel threatened, too." Instead of explosives, agents seized film, guns and Nodrog's antique truck. Authorities also found a list of 4,000 people interested in buying a $5 packet of the group's propaganda. After the raid, prank calls jammed the phone lines at City Hall.

For about two weeks, city officials ment "Mark Lingenfelter and his family have not and will not -'back off, Merlon Lingenfelter states in the appeal. "Even after Mark has. been contemptuously held, for nearly two years, as a political prisoner." The appeal was denied, and while serving out his sentence, Diaz said, Lingenfelter did not appear to change his ways. "He was a loner who resisted rehabilitation efforts," he said. The land dispute The 77-year-old leader of the group, Orville Thomas Nodrog, was known around town as a colorful but harmless eccentric.

Often, he was spotted driving through city streets in a vintage Chrysler with the convertible top down, his long silver beard flying in the Residents whispered about his offers to teach people how to fly spaceships, and his insistence in local letters' to the editor that his real last name was "Gordon" spelled backward. "It was always my impression that while Nodrog's thoughts were a little different, he wasn't such a bad guy," said Jack Wolfe, a former federal prosecutor involved in the Lingenfelter case. For years, several families lived relatively quietly on Nodrog's property, cultivating beehives for honey and occasionally venturing into town to hand out group literature. ty, Minnesota, Lingenfelter was. arrested for a weapons violation, but the charges rater were dismissed.

After a tax controversy, his family was evicted from its farm in a nearby county. Federal authorities believe they have just cause to investigate and pursue Lingenfelter, but some of his relatives don't agree. -4 In 1987, his father. Merlon Lingenfelter, filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit, calling for his son's release as a "political prisoner' and demanding $18 million in damages from the federal government.

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