Time has passed, news organizations and police have moved on; but one question remains.  Where is David Earl Burgert?  A fugitive militia member and survivalist who fired on police during a routine traffic stop remains at large and no one seems to know how to find him.

By the SurvivalCache Team

David Earl Burgert’s criminal record dates back to 2002 when he was convicted on federal weapons violations after an investigation into the Project 7 militia, which he was associated with in Montana.  The former Marine has been described as a bully, confrontational neighbor, and a troublemaker by local law enforcement and people who know him.  He has also been diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder. What is interesting about David Burgert’s story is not that he is common criminal with mental problems, but the fact that he has survived in some of the harshest country on this earth for almost a year without support, or so it seems.

Rookies vs Pros

Around the same time David Burgert had his run in with local law enforcement, another group of criminals also started a crime wave in Florida.  In the summer of 2011 three siblings know as the “Dougherty Gang” also started their trouble with law enforcement with a minor traffic violation that turned into a high-speed chase with them evading police by shooting out the pursuing police car’s tires.  The Dougherty Gang went on to rob a bank a few hours later in Valdosta, GA and then led police on a nationwide manhunt.  Before their high speed chase, the Dougherty Gang had 20 felonies between the three of them (Ryan 21 years old, Dylan 26 years old, and Lee Grace 29 years old).  Not exactly a model family.

The Dougherty Gang lasted just 8 days before law enforcement in Colorado caught up with them after a customer in an REI parking lot identified them.  The trio had stopped by REI to pick up a tent to avoid staying in hotels while they made their way across country.  It is probably obvious to most observers that the Dougherty Gang, comprised of a stripper (Lee Grace), a pedophile (Ryan), and a pot head (Dylan), were way out of their league trying to avoid detection and live off the land while on the run.  Although we don’t know their level of survival training or preparedness, we can only assume they that would not be able to hold a candle to David Earl Burgert who walked into the woods never to be seen again.

It is interesting to look at these two somewhat similar cases and see how knowledge and preparedness can make a big difference in the outcome.  While we are not glorifying the criminal David Burgert, we do find it interesting that he has survived for almost a year while the Dougherty Gang lasted only 8 days.

So where is David Burgert now?

This is where we get into a little team SurvivalCache speculation and we invite you to speculate in the comments below as well.  After his disappearance police speculated that David Burgert planned this event and had made a series of survival caches and possibly stashed an SUV or other type vehicle in the woods.  It was believed that he was planning this event because law enforcement found a large stash of weapons, ammo, and survival gear in his jeep after the chase.  Also, the week before the shoot out, Burgert had a similar traffic violation and made comments to the officer that the next time it would take a SWAT team to take him down.

An episode of America’s Most Wanted put Burgert in Montana, Colorado, or Idaho.  Most likely we feel he is still in Montana getting support from former Project 7 militia members or friends and family.  Although we do not know why or how law enforcement came up with the theory about a stashed ATV or SUV, we would put that theory as doubtful.  The idea that David Burgert planned that far ahead and had an SUV secretly stashed in the forest near where he disappeared is remote at best.  A lot of things would have to happen just the right way for a police chase to end near the area where you stashed an SUV on public land.  Possible, yes, likely, no.  Stashing something above ground on public land goes against almost every principal of survival caching that we know of.  More than likely David Burgert spent 1 to 2 weeks in the woods with only the gear he had on his body when he disappeared into the forest.  He most likely waited out the dragnet by finding dense brush to hide in or simply hiked out of the search zone.  The police did not say it but we will say it for them, finding a person who doesn’t want to be found in the Rocky Mountains is like finding a needle in a haystack.  As for gear, all we know for sure is that he had a pistol on him because he fired at law enforcement as he fled into the woods.  The police reported a large amount of ammo and gear found in his jeep at the time of his escape.  This is another telltale sign that things did not go as planned for David Burgert.  We don’t know many survivalists who have a Plan A where they leave behind good survival gear and ammo.  Most likely Burgert was executing Plan B or even Plan C when he jumped out of his jeep.

Burgert’s trouble started when someone reported him driving erratically in his Jeep near a rest stop by Lolo, Montana.  Police soon caught up with him and the chase ensued.  Our thoughts are this: if you are a convicted felon with a car full of guns and ammo, not to mention a former militia member with anti-government behavior, why would you want to bring attention to yourself and get the government really after you?  Doesn’t make a lot of sense to us either.  We think he was drunk or stoned, got into a police chase and jumped out of his jeep, leaving all of his preps behind.   Again, this is our theory; but we feel it makes more sense than leading police on a chase to a hidden batmobile in the mountains.

Is Burgert dead?   While this is always a possibility, we feel that this is unlikely for a few reasons.  First it was early summer in Montana and although the mountains are unforgiving and the nights can be cold, a survivalist dying from exposure in those conditions is unlikely.  Second, even a lightly trained boy scout could figure out ways to find food and water in order to survive for a week in the mountains of Montana in the summer.  A seasoned survivalist and Marine such as Burgert would have few problems here.  Now if he stayed in the mountains through the winter then the chances of him dying would increase drastically.

Rambo or Bozo

Burgert surviving off the land?  We feel that this is also very unlikely.  From what we have read, Burgert is an anti-government militia man, not a mountain man.   We feel there is a big difference.  Even with survival caches in place, it is likely that Burgert is getting support from someone he is close to.  Also, based on what we have read, he is not exactly a folk hero among the locals so support would have to come from someone that he is fairly close to such as a family member, girlfriend, or militia member.  Anyone else who met up with Burgert would turn him into the police.  In 2002 he went to jail based on an informant who infiltrated the Project 7 Militia.  Based on this, we think he would most likely only trust a family member or girlfriend.

If we were trying to catch him, we would pinpoint all of the areas his friends and family live in, focusing on anyone that lived on the edge of the city or in the mountains.  From there, we would sweep a two-mile zone around those homes focusing on areas near running water.  Although he could be living in someone’s basement, we feel it is more likely that he is visiting a home at night to get resupplied.  Getting caught living at someone’s house means that person is going to spend a long time in federal prison for aiding and abetting a known fugitive.  Of course it is possible but you would really have to like David Earl Burgert and we’re guessing not many people do.

What do you think?  Is David Earl Burgert alive or dead?  Where do you think he is hiding and how would you catch him?  It might take a survivalist to catch a survivalist.

Photos by:
Associated Press
TrapZero

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Sam Web, the Communist Party USA (CPUSA ) Chairman, said to a gathering of local Communists in Arizona last year that if the 2012 election goes their way, (The re-election of President Obama) that they will have the possibility of setting the ‘Progressive’ Agenda. (Starts around the 2:00 Mark.)

State’s attorney reviewing cases after homeowners say they were victimized in tax sales

MIKE FITZGERALD
Beleville-News Democrat
May 7, 2012

Thomas Gibbons, the Madison County state’s attorney, is reviewing a list of 45 county homeowners who believe they were victimized by participants in property tax sales conducted by ex-county Treasurer Fred Bathon.

 Gibbons didn’t start this review until less than two weeks ago — or about 20 months after the News-Democrat published stories in September 2010 showing how Bathon had accepted large campaign donations from a handful of wealthy tax buyers.

 Bathon awarded these same tax buyers no-bid interest penalties of 18 percent on delinquent property taxes, the legal maximum. The interest penalties would then double every six months — surpassing annual rates of 200 percent in some cases — and costing hundreds of unsuspecting county property owners millions of dollars in fees and interest.

 Several tax buyers earned more than $200,000 apiece annually from interest on the delinquent taxes of Madison County properties.

 The state three-year statute of limitations on most felony cases could mean he won’t be able to consider evidence of wrongdoing that occurred before 2009, Gibbons said.

 ”The first step has to be, we have to determine whether or not there are any events that are still within the statute of limitations,” Gibbons said. “And so we’re just trying to fill in all the holes in the information we got. That’s step one.”

 If a suspicious event connected to the tax sales occurred within the statute of limitations, “Then we’d have to look at what happened,” Gibbons said. “And then we’d begin to try and flesh out whether or not there were any acts that occurred that would be criminal.”

 Bathon, of Glen Carbon, could not be reached for comment.

 Gibbons blamed the 18-month delay on the failure of Madison County Board member Chris Slusser, R-Wood River, to provide him the list sooner.

 Slusser had collected the list of names in September 2010, soon after the News-Democrat stories about the tax auction were published. Slusser at the time told Gibbons he wanted to share the list with Gibbons. But Gibbons did not follow up with a request to see the list, according to Slusser.

 Slusser expressed frustration that Gibbons waited so long to request the list of names — a request made after a reporter asked in April whether a probe had ever been launched by anyone.

 Also expressing frustration were some of the Madison County homeowners whose names appear on the list of those who believe they were taken advantage of through Bathon’s tax sales.

 Kim Riggins paid more than $5,000 in fees and penalties four years ago to a tax buyer on her house in Troy when she fell behind in her property taxes.

 Riggins said she was “totally surprised” that Gibbons had not started an investigation of the tax sales.

 ”I don’t understand why nothing’s been done yet,” Riggins said. “I thought they were going to investigate what had taken place with all the homeowners having their taxes purchased and some of us paying 180 percent interest.”

 Gibbons, the state’s attorney, said another hurdle in deciding whether to prosecute anyone in connection with the tax sales is the vague language of the applicable state statute.

 ”I think that would be a barrier to anything we would have,” he said.

 Under state law, the state’s 102 county treasurers are solely responsible for ensuring that tax sales are conducted fairly, even though this means they must police the investors who are allowed to give unlimited funds to their campaign funds.

 Greg Brown said the loss of his job in 2008 forced him to fall behind on the taxes owed on his Alton home.

 As a result of subsequent tax sales at the maximum rate to investor John W. Scott, of Champaign, Brown ended up paying $8,500 on a tax bill of $2,950.

 ”It was a huge rip-off,” Brown said. “I was within months of losing my house to a tax buyer … For somebody who is struggling financially, it becomes an almost no-win situation because you keep getting in deeper and deeper.”

 Brown, too, expressed surprise that neither Gibbons nor any other law enforcement official has looked into the tax sales conducted during the Bathon regime, which ended abruptly at the end of 2009 when Bathon announced his retirement from office.

 ”It’s almost as if the government was functioning in such a way so that people would lose their property,” Brown said. “Yeah, I would feel disappointed if there were no investigation.”

 The News-Democrat investigation into Bathon’s handling of tax sales led the General Assembly to approve a bill aimed at curbing abuses in how treasurer’s conduct overdue property tax sales.

 The reform measure sponsored by state Sen. Bill Haine, D-Alton, and state Rep. Dwight Kay, R-Glen Carbon, requires the state’s 102 county treasurers either to use automated, computerized bidding for tax sales or to document those sales relying on verbal bidding through digital videotaping.

 Bathon conducted his sales via verbal bidding and without electronic recording.

Kurt Prenzler

 Madison County Treasurer Kurt Prenzler, who campaigned in 2010 on a platform aimed at reforming the property tax sales system, said no law enforcement agency has contacted him.

 ”We’ve not heard anything,” Prenzler said. “We’ve not been asked for information. And we do have information.”

And this additional article came out on May 9th at the BND:

Madison County investigation delay puts justice at risk

It’s not certain whether anyone can be prosecuted for the tax auction ripoffs in Madison County, but it’s a crime that county leaders are only now trying to find out.

They’ve dallied so long that the three-year statute of limitations on most felony charges may have run out.

County officials have known for almost two years about the questionable tax auctions. In September 2010, following news stories, County Board member Chris Slusser compiled a list of 45 taxpayers who think they were the victims of former Treasurer Fred Bathon’s cozy arrangement with delinquent tax buyers. Instead of having the buyers bid against each other, which would have driven down the interest rates charged the delinquent taxpayers to keep their property, Bathon took the first, maximum interest rate bid.

During the Bathon era an 18 percent rate — the maximum allowed by Illinois law — was common. The rates doubled every six months, and the tax buyers made out like bandits. Several made more than $200,000 in interest a year off the Madison County tax sales. When Kurt Prenzler took office and ran his first auction, the average interest penalty was 3.9 percent.

Despite how bad this all looks, it’s only now that State’s Attorney Tom Gibbons is getting around to investigating, and that was after our reporter’s inquiry.

Gibbons, a Democrat, blames the lag time on Slusser for not giving him the list of names; Slusser, a Republican, says Gibbons never asked.

No need to argue, guys. There’s plenty of blame to go around.

Both Gibbons and Slusser can be criticized for not picking up the phone and cooperating. Prenzler said he had information. Why didn’t he do something with it? Indeed, every county official, Democrat and Republican, should have been pushing for an investigation.

For nearly a year, the National Association for Gun Rights has been contacting hundreds of thousands of Indiana Republican voters detailing U.S. Senator Dick Lugar’s decades-long anti-gun record. Continue reading →

Only this time it was in Chicago and Rebel Pundit was on the scene.

Obama’s excuses for the poor turn out include but are not limited to the following…….

- Cinco De Mayo

- Japanese Earthquake

- Arab Spring

- Global Warming

- George Bush

- The Internet

- The cops acted stupidly

- Reality

- Improper Tire Pressure

- His Racist Grandma

- Fox News

- The NFL Draft

- The Death of MCA

- Pitbull Sale at Whole Foods

- Tax Cuts

- Big Algae

- George Zimmerman

- The TEA Party

- El Nino

- The Avengers Opening

- Scott Walker

- Mad Cow Disease

- The GOP

- The Chevy Volt

- Rectal Itch

- Nebraska

- Jack Ruby

- Oil Speculators

- Hans Gruber

- The Constitution

- Ring Worm

- Joe Biden

…………

…….
- Chupacabra

- Super Pacs

- George Bush

- Gov Jan Brewer’s Book

- The NHL Playoffs

- Your SUV

- Cash for Clunkers

- Sanjaya

- Everyone was out looking for their lost dogs

- The bad roads he fixed

- Sarah Palin

- Junior Seau

- Dancing with the stars

- The GOP

- Fredo, Hyman Roth and his Sicilian messenger boy Johnny Ola

- Congress

- LBJ

………….

By definition the parang knife or more aptly described machete is by origin of Malay design.  Malaysia of course is dense with thick jungle terrain which by necessity demanded the creation of a handheld cutting implement for indigents to literally slice their way through the maze of tropical growth.

By Dr. John J. Woods, a contributing author to SurvivalCache.com

In modern applications the machete tool is useful for a variety of chopping tasks around the home, camp, farm, and ranch.  The most common type being a simple long blade up to or from 18-24 inches more or less with a wood handle held to the blade via 2-3 rivets or internal threaded bolts.  Some today offer molded plastic handles and many variations of design, size, and heft (Read 5 Types of Machetes).

Originally I think the machete was most likely created and designed as a utilitarian type tool and perhaps not intended to be a highly customized or finely finished blade as one might expect of a personal pocket or sheath knife.  Machetes are working tools.

The Gerber Rendition

Gerber makes good knives and tools.  I have only had trouble with one knife rusting heavily, but that was my fault for leaving it in the fabric sheath that apparently absorbed moisture.  Shame on me.

Gerber recently introduced their form of a machete that they have fashioned after some of the original Malay designed parangs.  The Gerber Parang design is an angled blade fixed for clearing brush and trail chopping.  The blade is a high carbon steel which should sharpen easily and retain a good edge.  The handle is a textured rubber grip over the tool’s full tang.  This is an important aspect to any quality cutting instrument that the blade be extended into the handle tang.

The specs for this machete include an overall length of 19.5 inches.  The blade itself is 13.5 inches long.  The weight without the sheath runs a tad more than 19 ounces.  The nylon sheath adds another six ounces.  This is entirely a manageable weight even if belt carried, but for me it resides strapped down to the rack of my Honda ATV.   The retail price is around $45.  I bought mine on line for $30 on Amazon.

Field Use

This rubberized grip has a good, tight in the hand feel.  A lanyard cord is attached that when looped over the grip can act as a sort of guard to help enhance the grip.  This cord loop also makes a good storage hanger or a way to tie the machete to a pull up rope for elevated hunting stands, observation points, or aerial hideouts.

Personally I like the angled blade design as it seems to aid in an improved ergonomic swing into the bush.  That angle also seems to naturally add to the down slice cutting momentum of the blade.  You’d have to handle one and use it to clear some brush to fully appreciate this.

The blade comes sharper than most cutting implements from the factory, so use regular care.  Sharpening is easy.   In thirty minutes of trimming hanging vines from a tree positioned in front of a hunting stand, it showed no signs of gumming up or dulling.  Afterwards a quick swipe with a gas soaked cloth to clean it, then a light coat of oil to hold off the rust kept the blade ready for the next job.

The sheath is in my opinion just “OK”.  Once the machete is slipped into the nylon sheath it is secured by metal snaps on the open side.  None of these snaps gave me a real secure “snap in” feel or sound.  I cleaned them with gun solvent then oiled the male and female snap components, but this did not alter their lack of a secure snapping together.  I think I will add one or two pieces of hook and loop strap for extra security.   Having these sewn onto the sheath from the factory would be a future improvement recommendation.

Bear Grylls

Also I cannot escape this review without a comment on the Bear Grylls marketing angle to a line of Gerber products with this guy’s endorsement.  I don’t watch his show for my own reasons.  I mean a guy who fashions a swimming “floatation” vest out of the skin of a dead seal simply has to have issues.  Perhaps it is all for the camera anyway?

The good part is that despite the Hollywood marketing hype, this product was still offered by a company with a solid reputation for making quality gear.  For that reason alone the Gerber Parang Machete deserves a place among your survival equipment.

Photos By:
Dr. John Woods
Wikipedia

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The supposedly “pro-gun” Republican State Senate voted to “table” HB-536 — effectively killing the bill.
Continue reading →

Details Here

Their goal is to DESTROY our right of self-defense by gutting or repealing Stand Your Ground Laws wherever they’re found and pass a host of new anti-gun initiatives.
Continue reading →