Moon-Pies and Operation Exodus

I needed a gas and food stop on a quick trip to Alexandria La. last week, so I pulled off I-20 just over the Louisiana State line at the Love's station and store.

As I stood outside eating my double layer banana flavored Moon-Pie and drinking a bottle of milk I watched this camouflaged jeep all covered in mud pull in and stop. Four old white guys in camouflaged hunting outfits got out. They pulled a variety of shotguns and rifles out of the jeep and carried them to cars parked nearby, and put them into their trunks. Hunters, not likely, there were four guys and at least a dozen weapons. So I surmised I was probably watching some Militia types coming home from some sort of target practice. Having been raised in "it's none of your business" country in Southwest Oklahoma I tried not to appear too curious.

Imagine my surprise today when I heard that the local Sheriff has organized his own Militia/Posse and that I may have encounterd some of them right there in the Love's parking lot. Small world ain't it?

Bossier sheriff launches 'Operation Exodus'
"The Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called "Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.
"The buck stops with Larry Deen," said Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. "The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it."
Deen said he had been formulating a plan to protect Bossier Parish's vital resources, like food and gasoline, in the event of a catastrophic event, such as war or a terrorist attack. Deen said he had been thinking of the plan since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Local residents may remember then-President George W. Bush's address to the nation was made out of Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City immediately after the attacks. At that time, Deen's men and about 100 other patrol cars barricaded entry to the base to protect the president from what turned out to be the nonexistent threat of an assault on the base.
Deen's office contacted more than 300 parish residents it thought would be useful during a similar emergency. Two hundred were chosen. Most of these people are ex-police officers and sheriff's office deputies that the sheriff's office was familiar with, Deen said.
Under the plan, these volunteers, supplemented with active public safety personnel, will be dispatched to vital areas in Bossier to protect them from looters or rioters. Deen listed as examples food inside grocery stores and gasoline in gasoline stations, not to mention protecting hospitals and other public meeting places.
These volunteers will be armed by the sheriff's office, using, among other things, shotguns, riot shields and batons. The members are mostly white men. Five are black. Women involved will only be used in "support roles," Deen said, which indicated non-combat activity. One of their first official training sessions was Feb. 20 when they learned basic hand-to-hand combat techniques." (Click on the headline above to read all about it at the sherevporttimes.com)

Now next time your driving Interstate-20 in Northwest Louisiana keep an eye out for these guys and their War-Wagon. Be assured that at least along this stretch of road terrorism will be kept at bay.

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