Almost Heaven is a land development near Kamiah, Idaho. It was pioneered in early 1994 by Bo Gritz and Jack McLamb, and former Arizona state legislator Jerry Gillespie. Gritz purchased 200 acres of land near the town of Kamiah, Idaho, and Jack McLamb purchased an adjoining 80 acres.

Gritz divided up the land into smaller parts and sold them to people interested in the "patriot movement." That year, the Idaho County auditor's office reported people filing documents declaring themselves "sovereign citizens, "not beholden to the federal government.

Included in the residents of the "Almost Heaven" development are the following:

* Dan and Barbara Fuller, a retired couple from St. George, Utah, built a log cabin with a $20,000 solar power system and stocked it with plenty of food.

* Stewart Balint, an angry man who had his family farm taken away by the IRS.

* Jan Astwood moved to Almost Heaven from New York City in April 1995 with the intentions of home schooling his two daughters.

* Ed LeStage, from Arkansas moved in with his 14-year-old son. LeStage constructed a dwelling for $600 made primarily of 130 bales of hay. Inside the house are a camping stove, an AK-47, a hideaway bed, and two portraits of Jesus.

Bo Gritz

A former green beret, Ret. Lt. Col. Gritz contends that the Federal Reserve is controlled by eight Jewish families. In 1988, Gritz accepted the vice-presidential nomination of the Populist Party. Later, Gritz claimed that he had no relationship with running mate, ex-klansman David Duke. Gritz was back in 1992, as the Populist Party's candidate for president.

Gritz denies being a racist or white supremist. Gritz has two half-Chinese children and an African-American godchild.

In August 1994 Gritz said that he does not file a federal tax return. He also told an Associated Press reporter that he had never failed to file one.

It is rumored that another community named ''Shenandoah'' is planned nearby.

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