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Book Review.
Also, a statement in court by Schaeffer Cox.

In early October, 2019, I discovered the existence of a book that had a lot about Schaeffer Cox. It is authored by Bill Fulton, who owned a military surplus store in Anchorage called "Drop Zone". He later agreed to work as an undercover agent for the FBI to investigate Schaeffer Cox.

The book is titled:
  THE BLOOD
OF PATRIOTS

HOW I TOOK DOWN AN
 ANTI-GOVERNMENT MILITIA
WITH BEER, BOUNTY HUNTING
AND BADASSERY


BILL FULTON
AND JEANNE DEVON

I went to Barnes & Noble here in Fairbanks, to see if they had the book in stock. They didn't, but I ordered a copy through them. I received it in mid-October 2019. The book's copyright is 2017.

The book is not exactly pro Schaeffer Cox.
I, on the other hand, like Schaeffer, and think he's a good guy. I knew and talked with Schaeffer (and his wife Marti) in places such as at the weekly Republican Women's Club luncheons in Fairbanks and at his Fairbanks speech events, where Bill Fulton probably did not attend.

Of course, Bill Fulton had contact with Schaeffer at other times and places (like a militia meeting) where I was not present.

But I appreciate that this book was written, so that I could see the issue from a different perspective.

It's a good book and is very interesting.

I particularly appreciate the book because it presents some important testimony during the Schaeffer Cox trial. Some passages in the book are based on court transcripts as well as other sources.

The Schaeffer Cox trial occurred in Anchorage in June 2012 and he was found guilty of "conspiracy to murder" as well as guilty of possessing some illegal (unlicensed) weapons.

Argument in the car in 2010
In Feb. 2010, Schaeffer and Marti were in the car driving from Fairbanks toward Anchorage. There was an argument and a tussle in the car. Later, when they arrived at their destination, Marti told her Mother about the incident. Her mother (who did not like Schaeffer) initiated a call to the police. Schaeffer was arrested. But Marti did not want any trouble from the authorities about this. Ultimately Schaeffer received a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.

OCS
At some point, the OCS (Office of Children's Services) wanted to get involved, and wanted to interview Seth (Schaeffer and Marti's son), because he had been in the back seat of the car, when the tussle occurred in Feb. 2010. But he was only about 3 years old. Schaeffer was afraid that it was all a ruse, and that OCS was planning on taking his child away.

Concealed handgun
The other issue plaguing Schaeffer, was an impending court date for a violation in which he had not immediately told a police officer that he had a concealed pistol on his person. Alaska law says that it is perfectly OK to have a concealed pistol on you, but if you come into contact with a police officer, you are supposed to immediately disclose that you have such a gun on your person.

Schaeffer Cox statement in court.
The sentencing hearing for Schaeffer occurred on January 8, 2013.
Schaeffer spoke at the sentencing hearing and said the following:

 “I put myself here with my own words, and I feel horrible about that.
And I hurt my family, and that’s who’s really paying, and I feel horrible about that. And this is devastating to my life, and my wife is in a position of pain and uncertainty, and I know that that is my fault. And my children, who I love with all my heart, they lost their family as a result of this, and the thing that they need the most is their parents and their home there for them while they’re growing up. And that was the most important thing in the world to me, and I was so scared that something would jeopardize that, that I wound up running into the very thing I was running away from. I hurt my family first and foremost, and I put a lot of people in fear by the things that I said, and some of the crazy stuff that was coming out of my mouth, and I see that, and I sounded horrible. I couldn’t have sounded any worse if I tried, and the more scared I got, the crazier things I started saying. And I wasn’t thinking, I was panicking, and I lost all of my composure, and created a horrible mess.

You know, if I was the FBI, I would investigate me too. I don’t blame them for that. I don’t blame anybody but myself for starting this. But for all the crazy things I said, at the end of the day, I knew what I needed to take care of myself, and that was to remove myself from the situation and aggravating circumstances, and that’s what I was trying to do. I was obsessed with that. I was terrified and living in a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from … and it still is. It’s gotten even more now … sitting here, waiting to get sentenced is even worse. But I felt it, and they saw it, and they didn’t know what it was, and I didn’t know what it was, but it was there. But one thing that I really, really want you to know is that I had no intention of hurting anybody. I had no desire to hurt anybody.  I don’t think I could have hurt anybody. I didn’t have anger that would drive me to lash out; I had fear that drove me to run away. And I know I said a lot of scary, intimidating things, and when I listen to those now, I realize how serious some of the stuff I said was. But that was emotional, fear-driven bluff. And I’ve never been in a fight in my life. I’ve gone two years in jail now without getting into a fight, and that’s unusual. I’ll bluff and run.

  All I wanted was to leave, walk away from the situation, get away from the danger and the agitating factors and regain composure. I knew I lost all composure and was doing extreme things to try to get away. I am not a danger to anybody. And I want to apologize to the people I scared.

   And that brings me to my children. I have a two-year-old and a four-year-old, and my little girl was born just a couple days before Marti and I decided to move to a different country, and . . . My little boy is my best friend in the world, and I’ve had some really good friends who have lost children, and I will never ever understand the pain a parent goes through when that happens, but I know that it’s got to be really devastating for my children to be losing their parents and their home. There’s nothing more that I want than to be there for them during their young formative years. There’s nothing I can think of that’s worse to lose in this life than that, and I feel like I’ve lost it no matter how this goes. I would just ask you to have mercy on me, and my family, and sentence me in a way that allows me to be there for my children while they are still children. I read the psychiatrist’s report, and like I told Peter, I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t want to talk to her, I dismissed that, I was skeptical, and then I didn’t want to accept results of what her diagnosis was.  But after thinking about it. And after talking to family, mother, father, wife, and people who know me real well, and who I know love me and care about me . . . and they’re saying, ‘Yeah, we see that and it makes sense, and you need to accept that, and it makes sense of things that didn’t make sense before.’ I agree there’s something there and I want to listen to the people who love me. And I will do whatever I need to do to get better because life has been a horrifying nightmare for the last few years. And that’s all I have to say. But I know I put myself here and I still am saying I didn’t have any intention or plans to kill anyone or hurt anyone in any way, but I could have prevented this whole thing from happening and I didn’t. That’s my fault.”

The book (The Blood of Patriots) also features key testimony from others, including the prosecutor and defense attorney.

The co-author, Jeanne Devon, moved to Alaska more than 25 years ago and is an author, and the editor of "The Mudflats" internet blog. She has done extensive reporting on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, the Schaeffer Cox trial and other subjects.

"The Blood of Patriots" is somewhat of an autobiography of Bill Fulton, in addition to covering things about Schaeffer Cox.

Bill Fulton wanted to be a soldier ever since he was 10 years old, and as soon as he was of age, he joined the Army.

"The next six years were spent marching, and digging holes, and jumping out of planes. After marching and digging holes in the US, I got to march and dig holes in Asia, Africa and Europe."

Bill Fulton also served in the military in Alaska. But after 9 years, the rigors finally caught up with him. On page 17, he writes: "The curse of the airborne infantry had done me in. My knees and ankles were pretty well destroyed, and my back was trying to catch up."

The Army gave him an "involuntary medical discharge", though he tried to fight it. He wanted to stay in the Army.

The book has a lot of humor in it. For instance, Bill tells of meeting his future wife in a strip club. But he explains that it was he who was on the stage. "I thought it might be fun, so I was moonlighting from the Army and making a few extra bucks on the side." His future wife had accompanied her co-workers in this bachelorette party group, but looked very uncomfortable being there. Bill evidently was smitten by her and tried to talk to her after the show. She didn't want to talk to him, but eventually did.

Bill Fulton's "Drop Zone" military surplus store in Anchorage, was also involved in the fugitive recovery business, which helped out the police. He had military veterans working for him. He and his team captured around 400 fugitives. Some of the book's chapters, cover those separate operations. It's very interesting reading.

Sensitive ears should be warned, however, that Bill Fulton likes to cuss a lot. So, there are quite a few 4-letter words throughout the book. It's like watching the movie "Fargo", the obscenities add a little kick.

Bill Fulton first met Schaeffer way back in 2008 in a hotel room at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, where the Alaska Republican convention was being held. This was long before the FBI started putting Schaeffer under surveillance.
 
Up in the hotel room, was a meeting of several people planning how they could oust Randy Ruedrich as chair of the Alaska Republican Party. Schaeffer Cox had been invited to the meeting, and a little later he arrived with his wife Marti and knocked on the door. Bill Fulton let him in.
 
At the time, Schaeffer was running for the Alaska state house against incumbent Mike Kelly of Fairbanks. Schaeffer got to talking about his political philosophy and the constitution.
 
Then Bill Fulton in his book (Page 79) says:

He’d been in the room two minutes and I already wanted to bash my head against the wall. Or his. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew right then we would never get along.

     “OK. So, let’s leave the God talk, and crunch some numbers, shall we?” I said, ignoring his stump speech. He showed up almost half an hour late to an important meeting with important people and presumed everyone was here to listen to him talk about political philosophy.

(The above is an excerpt from "The Blood of Patriots".)

I guess different people have different tastes. I like to listen to and discuss political philosophy. I also thought Randy Ruedrich did a good job as the Chair of the Alaska Republican Party, and I would not have wanted to vote him out.

Another reason why I enjoyed "The Blood of Patriots" so much, is because it talked about Alaskan people that I have known of on a first hand basis, like Joe Miller, who ran for the U.S. Senate in 2010, and Randy Ruedrich and others.

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