ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 12, 1997 TAG: 9701110004
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: THOMAS G. WATTS THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
You're alone and can't find a date, let alone a mate.
Add the fact that you're a member of the extreme-right Patriot movement and you want a political/philsophical soulmate.
The field of prospects narrows exponentially.
Marilyn the Patriot Matchmaker may be your answer.
``Let Marilyn, the Patriot Matchmaker, help you find a Patriot/Survival-Minded partner to survive the uncertainties of the 1990s and the year 2000 plus,'' she exhorts in her ads. ``We all know the difficulties of relating to the uninformed. Time is short! We must seek the partner we need: NOW!''
Since February, Marilyn has routed hundreds of letters between the lovelorn of the right - from a survivalist in Alaska to a backwoodsman in Maine; from an Idaho Libertarian who hates government regulations to a female counterpart in Pennsylvania.
Members of the Patriot Movement - the term of choice for anti-government folks in militias, tax resistance and other far-right groups - who have sought out Marilyn range from the teens to the 70s. They write from as far away as Australia, Canada and Denmark.
Marilyn - who does not use her last name in her business and agreed to be interviewed only if it was not be printed - said her service has 240 members so far. They pay a $69 annual fee to be listed in her periodic newsletters.
She sets up her matchmaking shop at Preparedness Expos and other gatherings of the far right and advertises in publications such as American Survival Guide, American Freedom, Backwoods Home, Media Bypass and AntiShyster. She also appears on short-wave radio shows.
``If a person wants a really strong partner with strong traditional values,'' said Marilyn, who lives in Frederick, Colo., on the eastern slope of the Rockies, ``I've got those kinds of people.''
A sample of some recent listings:
From Tina, 34, a single white female. ``Attractive, gentle and kind. Good natured. Politics to the right of Attila the Hun. Looking for attractive WM, 35-40, who lives by reason and truth, has self-respect, is wise, strong-willed, established and has served in the armed forces.''
From Trapper, 40, a single white male who describes himself as a Mountain Man type. ``Enjoy livin', self-sufficient farm-ranch setup, huntin' fishin' trappin', rendezvous, antiques, horses, gardenin', etc. Have good sense of humor, faithful, don't lie, never tried drugs. Lookin' for slim woman, best friend, mate for life.''
Or there is Dennis, 47, a single white male. ``Own land in rural SW Colorado. Seeking female companion to live self-sufficient life and willing to ride down the river and not jump out of the boat. Seeking F 21-45, NS, NA, ND and No BS.''
Nearly all express a need for a partner with traditional family and strong Christian values. A few link themselves to racist Christian Identity churches or facist National Socialist philosophies.
So far, Marilyn hasn't heard any wedding bells, but the chimes are beginning to tinkle.
She put Trapper in touch with Susan, 44, a survivalist who lives in Alaska with her two daughters. She had advertised that she was ``enjoying the adventure but I could use a big, strong man to keep me warm in the winter & to play in the snow with.''
They wrote, exchanged photographs and began running up extensive telephone bills. Trapper said he plans to move to Alaska with his 7-year-old son next spring - once he sells his log cabin in Maine.
``She's old-fashioned and has her head on straight,'' he said of Susan, whom he has not actually met. ``I'm right at home where things get primitive. I can't wait to get started.''
He said the couple plans to marry and home-school the children. He'll provide the bounty from the forests while Susan tends the cabin he intends to build in an even more remote part of the nation's last frontier.
Trapper, who said his first two wives began using drugs and deserted him, said he also intends to support a movement to break Alaska out of the United States. ``Yeah, they're getting ready to secede and I want to be up there for that,'' he said.
Another couple that Marilyn introduced also plans to marry.
Gordon, an Idaho builder, was in Pennsylvania recently to help his new soulmate, Dee, 38, pack for the move West.
``It's difficult to find a companion who sees things in the world as they are,'' Gordon said. ``If's definitely difficult to find a woman who is willing to get on a limb politically.''
Gordon - a Libertarian who does not believe government has a right to control building standards and other matters - said he moved to a state that exercises minimal controls because he wanted to ``hide from a direct confrontation.''
``I wouldn't want to see anybody get hurt, but I'm not in favor of this government,'' he said. ``Jesus said, `If you take up the sword, you're going to die by the sword.'''
With Dee, who did not want to be interviewed, he said he has found a perfect companion.
``It won't be all roses,'' he said. ``Whenever you put two strong-willed people together who don't like what's going on in this country, there are going to be times when you don't always see eye to eye.''
But, he added, ``It's a real romantic thing that's happened here.''
For Mary, a 50-year-old Dallas-area woman, romance has not yet developed.
She said she has met a number of men through Marilyn's service and has ``had proposals, several proposals.''
``I'm not saying I wouldn't get married,'' she said, ``but some of these men are too ready to get married.
``I've been on my own since 1982 and raised three kids and put them through college,'' Mary said. ``I have a wonderful home and a new car that's paid for. I'm not willing to move somewhere else.''
Marilyn, an effervescent woman in her 50s, said she got the idea for her matchmaking service after she experienced the same difficulties in finding a soulmate.
After her 28-year marriage ended about a decade ago, she said she began looking at life and politics in new ways and was not pleased with what she saw.
The mother of three, who was living in Maryland, said she was horrified when she did her own income taxes for the first time. She said she thought at the time: ``This can't be the American way. This can't be constitutional.''
Her displeasure with the IRS led her to the movement that believes the Federal Reserve system is unconstitutional and then on an odyssey across the Patriot movement.
Along the way, she realized the need to help her fellow travelers meet their soulmates.
``I just knew that as a single person that it was hard to find a person who didn't think I was a kook,'' she said.
She said her business isn't self-sufficient yet, but she is getting along.
Marilyn hasn't found a mate for herself - though she has her eye on a man who is serving time in Texas on a money-laundering conviction. She says he is a ``political prisoner'' who did nothing wrong.
``The neatest thing about this business for me is the intelligent people I get to talk to,'' Marilyn said.
LENGTH: Long : 127 linesby CNB