Make us your home page  Link to sovereign citizen movement
costly for police officer  SARASOTA — Last spring a respected
detective for this city's police department went to the local
courthouse and did something stupid.  At the time, Tom Laughlin,
a twice-married 41-year-old father of four, was worried about
the unstable economy. He found unsettling politicians' talk
about cutting the pensions of public employees, and he didn't
like President Barack Obama's health care plan. He had some
vague notion of wanting to get back to this country's "roots."
Following the advice of his older brother, he filed a set of
strange documents, declaring himself "a flesh and blood, living,
breathing, biological man," and an "American National
Sovereign." The documents seemed to say he was no longer a
citizen and didn't have to follow any laws. "I, one Thomas
Michael Laughlin Senior, Free man ... "   What he actually was
doing was affiliating with an estimated 300,000 disgruntled
Americans who believe the government is illegit