CONTRARINESS SETS TONE FOR COURT APPEARANCES.

Byline: Cary Goldberg The New York Times

They denied their own names. They refused to let any court-appointed ``Bar Association'' lawyer defend them. They proclaimed the Bible their only law, stared at the judge as if he came from another planet and objected to the very fact of their arrests.

The last Freemen may have surrendered peacefully to federal agents Thursday night, but in their first court appearance Friday, 14 members of the anti-government group signaled clearly that they plan to go to trial kicking and screaming every step of the way.

When the federal magistrate asked one group member, Rodney Skurdal, his name, saying he just wanted to check that he was the right person, Skurdal bridled: ``I object to your calling me a person, your honor.''

When the magistrate asked another member, Dana Landers, a similar question, she reeled off: ``I am a Christian. My flag is red, white and blue; it's an American flag. The Holy Scriptures are my law. I'm not familiar with your tribunals.''

As if parroting a prescribed text, the 14 Freemen members one after another demanded their right to ``effective counsel,'' meaning that they thought they should be able to choose their own lawyers but that the court should pay for them.

Most objected to how their names were printed in the charges, apparently because of the capital letters, leading to strange spelling-bee moments like the one when Dale Jacobi, a former Canadian policeman, insisted that his name should be written ``Capital D, small A, small L, small E, capital J, small A, small C, small O, small B, small I.'' Almost all the others went through similar orthographic exercises.

Their contrariness was enough to try the patience of Robert M. Holter, a visiting magistrate whose manner was kindly, but who reached a point where he routinely cut off each group member, saying, ``I do the talking here.''

The preliminary appearances in federal court in Billings served only to allow the Freemen members to get acquainted with the charges against them, which range from weapons violations to fraud and threatening federal officials. They were allowed to state whether they wanted a court-appointed lawyer and received dates for their next appearances. Most will have their bail hearings Tuesday, arraignments Thursday and additional hearings June 21.

Sherry Matteucci, the U.S. attorney handling the case, said five of the 14 were facing charges directly related to their 81-day standoff with federal agents. Two women who were among the 16 who surrendered Thursday night but face no charges had been released, she said.