FREEMEN COULD END STANDOFF : `MAJOR ISSUE' MAY BE RESOLVED BY BOTH SIDES.Byline: Tom Lackey Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. Negotiators reached a tentative tentative, adj not final or definite, such as an experimental or clinical finding that has not been validated. agreement Saturday Saturday: see week; Sabbath. on a ``major issue'' that could end the 55-day standoff stand·off n. 1. A tie or draw, as in a contest. 2. A situation in which one force neutralizes or counterbalances the other. 3. A standoff insulator. adj. Standoffish. between the FBI and the anti-government Freemen, a Colorado lawmaker said. ``We are not there yet, but we're closer,'' state Sen. Charles Duke Charles Moss Duke, Jr. (born October 3 1935), a retired USAF Brigadier General, was a United States astronaut for NASA. He is one of only twelve men who have walked on the moon. said at a news conference a few miles from the Freemen compound. He estimated that the proposal, which he said came from the Freemen, has a 50-50 chance of being approved by federal officials. Duke declined to specify the point on which the tentative agreement was reached. ``We have reached many items of agreement, but this one is a major issue,'' he said. It came in a 45-minute afternoon session under a canopy erected to protect negotiators from a cold, light rain. Duke said the talks reached a ``very low point yesterday (Friday),'' before Freemen negotiators returned Saturday with what he termed ``creative'' proposals. The morning meeting lasted two hours and 15 minutes, followed by an afternoon session of 45 minutes. Duke is a leader in his state's ``patriot'' movement, a loose confederation A union of states in which each member state retains some independent control over internal and external affairs. Thus, for international purposes, there are separate states, not just one state. of groups that believe established government has gone beyond its legal or constitutional boundaries. The Freemen group, believed to be heavily armed, says it is not subject to state or federal laws. The standoff began March 25, when the FBI arrested two members of the group. The FBI believes 18 Freemen, some wanted on federal check-kiting and other charges, remain inside the compound. Former Green Beret Col. James ``Bo'' Gritz, who negotiated with the Freemen earlier, put the number of people on the 960-acre compound at 22. |
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