U.S. Attorney Sherry Matteucci and Freeman leader LeRoy Schweitzer have a past in common -- Bozeman -- but their ideologies could not be further apart.

Those ideologies will clash when the Freemen trials start in U.S. District Court in Billings later this year.

Matteucci will be the federal government's lead prosecutor against the Freemen, the anti-government group that held off hundreds of FBI agents in an 81-day standoff near Jordan last year.

Schweitzer is thought to be the mastermind behind the Freemen's tactics of using state court and financial laws to harass government officials. Schweitzer and other Freemen held seminars on how to create allegedly bogus checks and file nuisance liens.

The Freemen standoff began when Schweitzer was arrested March 25, 1996, and ended June 14 when the last Freemen holdouts surrendered to the FBI.

Politics in the family

"The militia movement is extremely widespread and growing nationally," Matteucci said recently in an interview in her office in downtown Billings.

Anti-government extremists have rejected the rewards provided by the system, the rewards of family, money and power that keep most people in the mainstream of American political and economic life, she said.

"The majority of the people recognize we have a wonderful life in Montana and the United States," she said.

Although many think Freemen and militia members fit one profile, Matteucci said, she believes they are very diverse.

"Some are motivated by gun issues, some feel personally wronged, some look for acceptance, validation (within militia groups)," Matteucci said.

At times it is difficult to understand the logic behind some extremist behavior, she said. "It's important not to discount emotionalism behind people's actions," she said.

The U.S. attorney said she never uses the word "Freemen" and she isn't interested in the group's political philosophy. Only criminal actions demand her attention, she said.

As a youth attending junior high and high school in Bozeman, politics were often on the dinner menu at her parents' South Ninth Avenue home, she said.

Those parents, Shirley and Jerry Scheel, contributed at Democratic fund-raisers. Her father was a self-taught electronics specialist, one of the first three workers hired by TCI when the cable company was founded in Bozeman.

"My folks' discussions often focused on being skeptical about political pronouncements," Matteucci said. "I grew up knowing the distinction between politics and the role of the government as a servant of the people."

Once people are elected to office or become government officials, Matteucci's faith in them increases.

"I expect elected officials to do a good job," Matteucci said.

"I don't think most people become involved in politics for personal gain. Most, in my experience, want a situation to improve and think they have something to offer."

Matteucci wasn't active politically while attending Bozeman High School from 1961 through 1965. The first political involvement she remembers occurred during the mid-1970s when she attended a rally for women's rights in Bozeman.

She says the uphill battle she fought to become a lawyer has been richly rewarded. She worked her way through the University of Montana while supporting two young sons. A divorcee, she became the first single mother to graduate from the University of Montana's law school in 1979.

She was hired out of law school by the largest law firm in Montana -- Crowley Haughey Hanson Tool and Dietrich of Billings. She eventually became a partner there, and worked 13 years for the firm.

Matteucci has campaigned actively for Democrats in Montana, such as former U.S. Rep. Pat Williams and gubernatorial candidate Dorothy Bradley of Bozeman. Democratic Sen. Max Baucus recommended Matteucci for appointment to the Montana U.S. attorney post after Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992.

A brother's perspective

LeRoy Schweitzer's brother, Larry, was in business with him for years before LeRoy ever became affiliated with the Freemen cause. Both brothers were cropdusters and owned their own planes.

Larry, who recently moved to the Lewistown area from Bozeman, describes his brother as a nice guy who knows the difference between right and wrong.

"They don't come any better," said Larry, 55.

Larry believes he can trace the beginnings of LeRoy's dislike for the government to a disagreement over an income tax deduction.

The Schweitzer family, including parents Mary and Michael and their nine children, grew up in Denton, Mont., where the family farmed and ranched. LeRoy played on the football and basketball teams and played the saxophone at Denton High School. He graduated in a class of 18 seniors in 1956.

That same year the Schweitzers moved to Bozeman to be closer to Montana State University, Larry said. LeRoy and Larry started their cropdusting business, L & L Flying Service, in Denton. They worked in Montana, Washington state and Arkansas.

Early in his cropdusting career, LeRoy had purchased an automatic "flagman." The flagman worked when a pilot hit a switch in his plane, sending out a paper marker that would indicate which part of a field had been sprayed. It replaced a human flagman on the ground.

He deducted the mechanical flagman purchase from his income tax return. For the first two years, the government wouldn't allow the deduction. That's when his anti-government feelings started, Larry said.

Over the years, Schweitzer began to develop his own ideas of what he felt was a legitimate government and judicial system. He said he was not subject to the authority of federal officials or courts. Tax evasion charges had been pending against him from 1992 until his March 1996 arrest. He holed up in various Montana towns during that time.

His actions cost him a home and at least three planes, said Craig Fountain, a Moscow, Idaho, pilot who has known Schweitzer since the late 1960s.

"He started out trying to right wrongs," Fountain said the day after Schweitzer's arrest by the FBI outside the Freemen's compound.

"He tries to do everything right, and if he gets off on something and he's not on target, it's because of the weight of what he's doing," Fountain said.

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