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Thursday, April 24, 1997

Woman first of 25 sued by Morales to be arrested

AUSTIN (AP) - A judge today set a $25,000 bond for Republic of Texas member Jo Ann Canady Turner and a court date to hear two contempt charges filed against her.

Mrs. Turner was arrested Tuesday on the contempt charges. The charges stem from a lien she filed against an Austin moving company that stored her possessions after she was evicted from her Lake Austin home last year.

State District Judge Joe Hart set the bond and scheduled a hearing on the charges for May 27 at 9 a.m.

Mrs. Turner is among 25 Republic of Texas members named in a suit filed last June 25 by Attorney General Dan Morales, alleging illegal restraint of trade, intimidation, retaliation and falsifying government records.

An injunction was issued to prevent the defendants from filing false liens against businesses and individuals. Morales claims that thousands of liens filed by the group are clogging up the Texas property records systems.

"When they arrested her, they enacted a declaration of war," said Richard McLaren, chief ambassador and legal consul of the Republic of Texas, on Tuesday.

On Tuesday night, the group released a statement saying it had issued warrants for who it called "foreign agents" responsible for Ms. Turner's arrest. Those named by the group included Morales, "the unlawful state legislature, all United States federal judges and all IRS agents on Texas soil."

The case stems from Ms. Turner's eviction from her Lake Austin home on March 11, 1996. She told a constable that she wanted her possessions stored and a moving company was called - Alar Moving & Storage Co., of Austin.

When she failed to pay Alar's $13,000 bill, her possessions were auctioned. She still owes about $2,000, according to Alar.

Karl Kimball, Alar's general manager, said he tried to work out a payment schedule with Ms. Turner, but after she called off a voluntary auction of the goods and no payment came, he had the items sold.

Then letters came to him from the Republic of Texas and with her signature explaining how he illegally sold her possessions. Ms. Turner filed a lien against the company.

"I think our first reaction was sort of like (this is) out of left field," Kimball said. "It wasn't something that appeared to us to be warranted, I mean, we were working with her ... then to suddenly have a change in temperament, it sort of didn't make sense." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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