Lynda Lyon Block: The Life of a Troubled Woman

Lynda Lyon Block

Enter George Everette Sibley

George Sibley

The Attack on Karl Block

Block with a Glock: The Shootout at Opelika

Officer Roger L. Motley

Roger Motley's patrol car, damaged and riddled with bullets following the shootout

Standoff

Police cars surround Lynda Block and George Sibley during the standoff

Lynda Block and George Sibley are taken into custody by police following a four-hour standoff

These weapons and sovereign citizen paraphernalia were recovered from Sibley and Block 's car

Trials and Tribulations

Lynda Block arrives in court for her trial

Justice: Lynda Block Goes to “Yellow Mama”

"Yellow Mama", Alabama's electric chair

The Execution of George Sibley

Alabama's lethal injection gurney

Homegrown Terror: The Seduction of Lynda Block and George Sibley into the World of anti-Government Extremism, and Why we Must be Vigilant

hen one hears the word "terrorist", the picture that comes to mind is probably one of a Middle Eastern man, clad in a guerilla outfit, carrying an AK-47, and yelling in Arabic. When we think of terrorists today, we often think about the Islamic fundamentalist militias that dominate the war-torn landscapes of places like Syria, Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia.But most people, when they hear the word "terrorist", probably won't picture people like Lynda Lyon Block and George Everette Sibley; white, conservative, anti-government fanatics with a distorted sense of American patriotism.Now, this story is about two homegrown terrorists, who were as American as apple pie. They came from humble backgrounds, were well educated, and, at first glance, appeared harmless.But Lynda Lyon Block and George Everette Sibley were anything but harmless. Their 1993 murder of a policeman in the rural city of Opelika, Alabama, was one of the first acts of domestic terrorism that brought to light the dangers of the "sovereign citizen" movement.This is the story of how Lynda Block and George Sibley, a seemingly harmless, all-American couple, became a pair of cold-blooded cop killers.From the very beginning, Lynda Cheryl Lyon had a privileged life. She was born to Francis Lyon and Berylene Owen on February 8, 1948, in the city of Orlando, Florida. The Lyon family was well-off; Lynda's grandparents owned the popular Howard Johnson Restaurant and large swaths of property around the country. The Lyons also had a rich family history, tracing their lineage all the way back to Baron de Lyon, who rode alongside William the Conqueror in his campaign against England in 1066.At first, Lynda Lyon seemed destined for a life of privilege and wealth. She and her father had a very close relationship, and went fishing together off the Florida coast.But all that would change on November 28, 1958. Francis Lyon's heart was weak from rheumatic fever, and when Lynda was just ten, he died from heart failure.Now, Lynda was left alone with her younger sister. The death of Francis Lyon noticeably affected her mother, Berylene Owen. She became verbally, physically, and mentally abusive towards her two daughters, and, as a result, Lynda never formed a close relationship with her mother. She preferred to spend her time with animals, and periodically kept pets such as kittens, dogs, birds, hamsters, snakes, and even a tarantula.Despite her tumultuous home life, Lynda Lyon showed herself to be unnaturally intelligent and gifted. In 6th grade, she was transferred to a school program for exceptional students, and at 13 she found a love of poetry and began writing novels. Berylene, however, didn't share Lynda's love of literature, calling it "useless". Probably motivated by extreme jealousy at her daughter's talent, Berylene Owen periodically ransacked Lynda's room and destroyed any of her writings she could find.Nevertheless, Lynda Lyon was persistent. She had an aspiration to become a journalist, and, in 1966, she graduated fourth in her high school class. She attended Orlando Junior College, but left after she became upset that the curriculum didn't fit her interests. For the next several years, Lyon alternated jobs, marriages, and homes, at one point even selling her possessions and living out of a sea yacht.In the 1980s, Lynda Lyon met and married a man named Karl Block, and they settled in a secluded lakefront house in Orlando, Florida, where they had a son named Gordon. However, Lynda's relationship with Karl Block was too rocky, and the couple eventually separated in 1991.After she separated from Karl, Lynda became interested in politics. She began attending meetings of the Libertarian Party, where she met a man named George Sibley.George Everette Sibley Jr. had led a very different life from Lynda. Sibley was an uneducated, racist, fundamentalist Christian from rural Indiana. He worked as a mechanic and a drag racer, and he harbored a festering hatred of the government. Sibley soon became involved in anti-government organizations, and began subscribing to the bizarre, right-wing anti-government ideology of the “sovereign citizen" movement.The Sovereign Citizen Movement is a loose collection of anti-government groups and individuals who do not recognize the authority of the US federal government. They spout anti-government conspiracy theories about a socialist, anti-Christian New World Order takeover of America. They also profess a hatred for law enforcement.Born out of racist and anti-Semitic groups like the Posse Comitatus, sovereign citizens believe that they are not subject to US federal law, and that the highest authority they can respond to is the sheriff. Sovereign Citizens often don't pay federal taxes, pay fines, or carry driver's licenses, and believe, among other things, that they cannot legally be arrested without their consent.Additionally, Sovereign Citizens are notorious for their use of bogus, vexatious litigation against county officials, police officers, and judges. They often clog up the courts with multi-million dollar liens and lawsuits. Most dangerous, however, is their love of firearms. Sovereign Citizens believe that it is their God-given duty to own guns to resist federal government tyranny.It was this movement that provided to Lynda Block and George Sibley an outlet for their frustrations. To them, all of their financial and personal problems were the fault of an evil, conspiratorial New World Order, while they, as Sovereign Citizens, were patriots to their country, fighting against government oppression and upholding the views of the founding fathers.After becoming involved with the Sovereign Citizen movement, Lynda Block, along with Sibley, began publishing an anti-government magazine, called. Sibley himself spent over $20,000 of his inheritance into publishing the magazine, which preached anti-government conspiracy theories, railed against the "liberal establishment", and gave tips on how to avoid taxes.Lynda also decided to try out some sovereign tactics against her estranged husband. Even though Karl and Lynda had separated on good terms, Lynda still maintained custody of her son and ownership of Karl Block's house, even though her divorce hadn't been settled in court yet.In the summer of 1992, Karl Block, who had been forced to live in an apartment after losing custody of his house to Lynda, petitioned a judge to give him his estate back, as the court hadn't settled his divorce with Lynda yet.Furious, Lynda Block and George Sibley decided to pay Karl Block a visit. One night in August of 1992, Lynda and Sibley showed up at Karl's apartment. They subdued him, tied him to a chair, and duct-taped his mouth shut. Lynda ordered her former husband to drop the pending legal action against her. When Karl refused, Lynda pulled out a knife. She said "I mean business", and then stabbed Karl in the chest.After duct-taping Karl's wound shut, Lynda and Sibley fled the house. Karl Block was later found by neighbors, who called the police.Lynda Block and George Sibley were arrested and charged with aggravated battery and assault. Not wanting to drag on the unpleasant divorce any longer, Karl Block asked to drop the charges, but the state attorney pressed the matter anyway. In July, 1993, after the prosecution agreed to put the couple on probation, Lynda Block and George Sibley pleaded "no contest" to the charges. They were scheduled to be sentenced by judge James Hauser on September 7, 1993.It was now that Sibley and Block began trying out their sovereign citizen tactics against the judge who was to sentence them. They filed documents in court claiming that Judge Hauser was an “illegal alien”, and that they were not subject to his authority.When the date of their sentencing arrived, Sibley and Block didn’t show up in court. They sent faxes to the judge declaring that they had “barricaded” themselves to await an “inevitable” confrontation with police. They proclaimed that they would never “live as slaves - but would rather die as free Americans”.When police arrived at the Orlando house to arrest Block and Sibley for contempt of court, they expected an armed confrontation, but there was none. The house was deserted. George Sibley and Lynda Block were on the run from the law. Police soon discovered that the couple had also taken along Lynda’s 9-year-old son, Gordon, with them.For nearly a month, George Sibley, Lynda Block, and 9-year-old Gordon Block remained on the run as fugitives from the law, a sort of redneck Bonnie and Clyde, if you will.The next place they would turn up would be in a small city in Alabama, where their crimes would escalate from assault to murder.At about 2:00 PM on October 4th, 1993, in the small, rural city of Opelika, Alabama, 39-year-old police sergeant Roger Lamar Motley was on routine patrol, sitting in his squad car in the parking lot of the Pepperell Corners Shopping Center. Motley was running an errand for his police department at the store, and was nearing the end of his shift.In that same parking lot, George Sibley and Lynda Block had stopped their Ford Mustang car outside a Walmart located along the shopping center. Lynda Block wanted to make a phone call, so she left Sibley and her son in the car while she talked on a payphone.A female shopper, Ramona Robertson, walked by and looked into the windows of the Ford Mustang. She noticed the vehicle was packed with pillows. It looked like the family was living out of their car. Robertson then made eye contact with 9-year-old Gordon Block, who was in the car with Sibley. As he stared at Robertson, Gordon began mouthing “help me”.Robertson was worried. She didn’t know if Gordon had been kidnapped or if he otherwise needed assistance. Either way, she wasn’t comfortable with the situation. Nearby, Robertson spotted officer Motley in his patrol car. She asked Motley if he would check on the child to make sure everything was all right. Motley agreed to take a look. He radioed his department that he was going to check in on a child in distress.Motley drove his patrol car up to the Ford Mustang, and he noted that the car's license plates were not valid. The plates read "UCC1-207", a reference to a section of the Uniform Commercial Code, which is often cited by sovereign citizens as proof of their supposed exemption from federal law.Motley parked his car behind the Ford Mustang. Block was still busy talking on the payphone, but Sibley noticed the officer pull up behind his car. Afraid that he and Block would be arrested, Sibley exited his car as Motley walked up to him.Officer Motley probably had no idea that Sibley and Block were fugitives, but he asked Sibley for his driver’s license anyway. Sibley stated he didn’t have one, as he had “no contracts with the state”. Showing the baffled officer some sovereign citizen documents, Sibley went on to try and explain why, as a sovereign citizen, he did not need a license.“Please step away from the car, sir”, insisted Motley, annoyed and confused by Sibley's behavior. "Do you have a problem with that?", the officer asked. "Yes, I do", continued Sibley. Motley again told Sibley to step away from the car. Sibley refused, and continued on his anti-government diatribe.Out of habit, Motley decided to rest his hand on the butt of his holstered service revolver as he listened to Sibley’s ramblings.Upon seeing Motley touching his gun, Sibley immediately reached into his pants and pulled out a Russian-made Norinco Tokarev handgun, aiming it directly at the officer. “Oh shit!”, Motley exclaimed as he ran back to his car for cover.Sibley chased Motley, firing two shots from his pistol at the officer’s back. Motley was hit in the left arm, but he was able to take cover behind his patrol car and draw his own weapon. Taking aim with his revolver at the gunman, the officer shot three rounds back at Sibley, grazing him once in the left forearm. Despite his wound, Sibley aimed and fired six more shots from his pistol at Motley, pinning the officer down behind his squad car.Bystanders and shoppers in the parking lot screamed and dove for cover as the two men exchanged fire. Lynda Block, who was still on the phone, heard the gunfire and saw Sibley and Motley exchanging shots. Block was behind Motley, who was now taking cover behind his patrol car. He hadn’t noticed her. He was too focused on Sibley.Block dropped the phone, pulled out a 9mm Glock pistol from her purse, and ran towards officer Motley. Crouching into a shooting position, Block fired two rounds from her pistol at Officer Motley, striking him in the back. As Motley turned around, stunned, to face Block, she fired a third time, hitting him square in the chest.Badly wounded, Motley struggled to his feet and got into his patrol car. Thinking the officer was trying to retrieve a shotgun, Block fired another four rounds from her Glock pistol through the patrol car’s back window, striking Motley several more times as he tried to drive his squad car away. The police car limped a few feet forward before striking a parked vehicle and coming to a stop.Officer Motley finally managed to get out a message over his police radio. “Double-zero Opelika! Double zero!”, he yelled, audibly wincing. He then slumped back in his car as Lynda Block and George Sibley climbed into their Ford Mustang, reloaded their weapons, and sped out of the parking lot.A “double-zero” means an officer is in trouble and needs assistance immediately. The alert went out over all police frequencies. “Pepperell Corners double zero…shots fired in parking lot”, announced the dispatcher. Every available police unit began racing to the scene of the shootout.An ambulance arrived at the shopping center within minutes, but it was too late for Roger Motley. The 18-year police veteran had been shot five times, with a fatal entry-exit wound to the chest. Despite the best efforts of doctors, Roger Lamar Motley died at the hospital. He left behind his mother, his wife, and four young children.Block and Sibley attempted to escape before the police could confront them, but Sibley, unfamiliar with the roads in rural Lee County, Alabama, took several wrong turns, and it wasn’t long before a police car spotted the couple’s Ford Mustang.“Notasulga, advise your units I’m right in front of ‘em now”, the policeman radioed. He turned on his lights and siren and gave pursuit, and within minutes Sibley and Block were leading dozens of police cars on a high-speed chase across the highway. The couple drove in excess of 90 miles per hour, trying to find a way out.Finally, Block and Sibley came upon a police roadblock at the city of Auburn, Alabama. The couple pulled their Ford Mustang over, loaded their weapons, and prepared for a final showdown with authorities. Not wanting 9-year-old Gordon to be caught in the crossfire, Lynda Block tearfully kissed her son goodbye, told him to be a “good boy”, and let him walk towards the police, who led him to safety.As the standoff progressed, a SWAT team arrived on scene, preparing to bring an end to the incident. They told the couple that if they didn’t surrender in five minutes, tear gas would be fired at them. Block and Sibley remained in their Ford Mustang, armed with an arsenal of weapons. They repeatedly shouted to police that they would not be taken alive. Both Block and Sibley debated killing themselves, but, in the end, Lynda Block decided to live to fight another day.After a four-hour standoff, Block and Sibley emerged with their hands up and surrendered to police. The couple were handcuffed and lay on the ground as police searched their van.Inside the Ford Mustang, the police found an arsenal of weapons. In addition to the couple's sidearms used in the shootout, authorities recovered a .22 caliber pistol, a .25 caliber Beretta handgun, a Star 9mm pistol, a Chinese-made SKS assault rifle, an M14 rifle with a scope, several military knives, and over 1000 rounds of ammunition. Also in the car was a large amount of racist and anti-government literature.George Sibley was taken to the emergency room to be treated for the gunshot wound to his arm. The doctors determined the wound was minor, and he was released from the hospital that same day.Both Sibley and Block were held without bail in solitary confinement at the Lee County Jail in Opelika, Alabama, to await trial.When Lynda Block and George Sibley appeared in court the next day to be charged with the death of officer Roger Motley, both pleaded not guilty. Although they did not dispute the fact that they had shot the officer, Block and Sibley both maintained that they had done so in self-defense to avoid “unlawful arrest”.To this day, it is still unclear who fired the shot that killed Motley, although, based on the circumstances, it was most likely Block who fired the fatal round.Nevertheless, both George Sibley and Lynda Block were charged with capital murder. Prosecutors intended to send the couple to the electric chair.George Sibley was the first to go on trial, in 1994. Sibley maintained that he had fired in self defense, but the jury didn’t buy it. On May 19, 1994, the jury found George Sibley guilty of capital murder. The following day, the penalty phase of the trial began. Sibley, in a last attempt to save his life, claimed that Block, not him, had fired the shot that killed Motley. While that may have been true, it in no way excused Sibley. He was just as guilty as his common-law wife.The jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for George Sibley on May 20, 1994. After a sentencing hearing, the judge upheld the jury’s recommendation, and, on June 10, 1994, he sentenced George Sibley to death for the murder of Officer Roger Motley. Sibley was sent to death row at Holman Prison to await execution.Next up was Lynda Block. Prior to her trial, Block had been argumentative against her own defense team. Block’s attorneys knew that an acquittal would be impossible, and were working their efforts on saving her from the electric chair, but Block was insistent that they try her “sovereign citizen” defense in court. She refused to express any remorse for killing Officer Motley, whom she referred to as a “bad cop”.Arrogant, sanctimonious, and deeply deluded in her sovereign citizen beliefs, Block ended up firing all of her attorneys, and, to the surprise of the prosecution, chose to represent herself in court.Block’s trial commenced in late 1994, a year after the murder of officer Motley. Ron Myers, the lead prosecuting attorney, painted Lynda Block as a remorseless, cold-blooded killer, a coward who had shot a dedicated policeman in the back.Lynda Block’s defense was typical of sovereign ideology. She claimed, inaccurately, that Alabama had never been readmitted into the United States after the Civil War, and hence the court had no authority to try her. She cited obscure or outdated documents, such as the Articles of Confederation, as proof of her “sovereign citizen” status, and, like Sibley, claimed that her killing of Officer Motley was in self-defense.But, as with Sibley, the jury didn’t buy Block’s defense. On December 1, 1994, after a four-day trial, they found Lynda Lyon Block guilty of capital murder.When the sentencing phase of her trial began, Block decided not to defend herself. She told the jury she had said all that needed to be said, and that she would not “beg for [her] life”. She even wrote in a letter from prison: “If the jury has to choose between death or life in prison, they would be far more charitable to give us death.”The jury agreed with her. They deliberated Block’s fate for less than one hour, and, on December 21, 1994, in a 10-2 decision, the jury voted to sentence Lynda Lyon Block to death in Alabama’s electric chair. Block became the third woman to join Alabama’s death row.Lynda Block was sent to Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama, to await execution while her appeals went through the court. Unlike male death row inmates, Block was afforded certain luxuries not available to other condemned prisoners. Her death row cell opened into an outdoor patio, where she could sit at a table, watch birds, tend to a small garden and read the newspaper. Block constantly wrote letters from her cell, communicating with her husband, son, and supporters. She never expressed remorse for the killing of Officer Motley.“I don’t regret it. I don’t regret saving my husband’s life”, Block told a reporter who interviewed her on death row, “even though doing so has risked mine.” Even if the state executed her, she said, she claimed she would “die knowing I did the right thing, and I do not regret that”.For eight years, Lynda Block remained on death row at Julia Tutwiler Prison, awaiting her date with death. Despite her earlier vows to fight “all the way to the electric chair”, Block ultimately decided to drop all of her pending appeals. Exhausted from her legal battles, she wanted her suffering to end.In 2002, the court finally set an execution date for Block. She was to die in the electric chair at midnight on May 10, 2002.A few days prior to her execution, Lynda Block was transferred to Holman Prison near Atmore, Alabama. Waiting for her was Alabama’s infamous, 75-year-old wooden electric chair, nicknamed “Yellow Mama” for it’s bright yellow color.The chair had been built by a prisoner in 1927, and had been used in the executions of 176 men and one woman from 1927 to 2000.On the eve of her execution, Block spent her final hours in an isolation cell down the hall from the death chamber. She talked with three of her friends from Florida and prayed with her spiritual advisor, a female chaplain from the prison.Block, claiming she was on a “spiritual fast”, refused to eat a last meal, drinking only water and milk.A few minutes before midnight on May 9, 2002, Block left her cell for the last time. Her head and leg were shaved, but she still decided to wear eye shadow and some pink lipstick. With the priest leading the procession, Block was led, shackled and wearing a white prison outfit, down the hall towards the execution chamber. At the door of the execution chamber, she exchanged some final prayers with her chaplain before being led into the room where she was to die.Block was seated in the bright yellow electric chair, and a team of correctional officers removed her shackles and secured her arms, legs, and chest to the chair with leather straps. A skullcap electrode helmet with a wet sponge was affixed to Block’s head, secured with a leather chinstrap. On her left leg, a second electrode was fastened on, and a wire run through it.At 12:00 AM on May 10, 2002, the blinds to the witness room were opened. Roger Motley’s widow, mother, and several journalists were inside. Lynda Block gave them a stoic, emotionless stare. One journalist later remarked that it appeared as if Block was “trying to stare a hole” right through him.The warden walked into the execution chamber. He read the death warrant to Block and asked if she had any final statement. Defiantly staring ahead with her piercing eyes, Block said only one word: “No”. As Block began to pray silently to herself, a black hood was put over her head and the warden left the chamber.Inside the control room, the warden activated the electrocution machine's power source and engaged several levers. After a guard put a bright yellow “ready” sign in the death chamber window, the warden pulled the switch and activated the electric chair.2,500 volts of electricity surged through the electrodes and into Lynda Block’s body. She tensed up and jerked back in the yellow electric chair as steam and smoke rose from her head and left leg. After twenty seconds, the machine switched to a 250-volt surge of electricity for another 100 seconds. Witnesses saw Block clench her hands into fists as a dull electric hum droned through the execution chamber. At 12:05 AM, the chair deactivated, and the machine shut down. Block's body slumped back against the chair, immobile and lifeless.After a five minute wait, Lynda Lyon Block was pronounced dead at 12:10 AM, becoming the first woman executed in Alabama since 1957 and, to date, the last person to be put to death in Alabama’s electric chair.On July 1, 2002, a state law went into effect mandating the use of lethal injections for executions in Alabama. The execution chamber at Holman Prison was renovated and remodeled, and the infamous Yellow Mama was placed into storage in a prison attic, where it remains to this day, ready to be used again if an inmate requests death by electrocution.Following the death of his common-law wife, George Sibley’s attorneys scrambled to halt his impending execution, which was set for November 7, 2002. Unlike Block, Sibley had no intention of waiving his appeals. He filed motion after motion trying to have his sentence commuted. He reiterated his claim that Block, not him, had fired the shot that killed Officer Motley.Sibley also petitioned Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to grant him clemency. He tried appealing to Moore’s fundamentalist Christian beliefs in his letter, claiming he had acted “within God’s law”, but Moore, in what was probably the only good decision he has ever made in his life, refused to grant Sibley clemency.Sibley would avoid his November 7, 2002 execution date, but that was the only reprieve he would get.In June, 2005, Sibley's final appeal was rejected. Another execution date was set for August 4, 2005. Sibley’s last hope for clemency was to get a commutation from the governor. He petitioned Alabama governor Bob Riley to stay his execution, but Riley refused, saying there was no reason to commute his sentence. Sibley’s time was up. At long last, he would pay for his crimes.At 6:00 PM on August 4, 2005, George Sibley was led into the white, six-sided execution chamber at Holman Prison, where a white and black gurney lay waiting for him. Across from the gurney were three separate witness rooms, where reporters, prison officials, and members of the Motley family were to watch the execution take place.Using a series of black belts, the prison officials strapped Sibley’s body to the gurney. With his arms secured to two black armboards at each side, leaving him lying in a crucifix position, Sibley’s eyes darted around the room, surveying his surroundings. A medical technician inserted an IV catheter into each of Sibley's arms, the tubes of the catheters running through a hole in the wall behind the gurney into an adjacent chemical room.At 6:10 PM, the curtains to the witness rooms opened and the warden entered the chamber. He read Sibley his death warrant and asked the inmate if he had any last words.Sibley stared into one of the witness rooms at the family of Officer Motley. “Everyone who is doing this to me is guilty of a murder”, he said before averting his gaze. Craning his head to look at his family in another witness room, Sibley continued: “My sister and my niece, I want to express my love and gratitude, and gratitude to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ”.Shortly after 6:15 PM, a medical technician in the chemical room administered a lethal cocktail of sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride into the catheters. The drugs began to flow through the IV tubes into Sibley’s veins as he lay strapped to the gurney.For another three minutes, the inmate kept his gaze fixed on the witness room where his family sat. Sibley then leaned his head back on the gurney's headrest pillow, gasped three or four times, and finally closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, never to wake up again.At 6:26 PM, George Everette Sibley Jr. was formally pronounced dead. The dramatic, 12-year saga was over, and Officer Roger Motley had finally been avenged.Lynda Block and George Sibley are gone forever, never to hurt anyone again, but, unfortunately, the dangerous movement that led them into a life of crime and murder is still very prevalent across the United States, and the threat posed by it cannot be ignored.Like I previously stated in my article on Gordon Kahl , many unsuspecting, troubled Americans, especially those in rural, conservative areas of the country, can and have fallen prey to anti-government extremism, and this story is a perfect example that anyone, regardless of gender, age, and economic status, can be drawn into these dangerous movements.Lynda Block and George Sibley could not have come from more different backgrounds. Lynda Block came from a very prestigious family. She was born into a world of wealth, was highly intelligent, excelled in her education, and had a real talent in writing. Despite her home troubles, it seemed like Block was destined for a promising life. But all of that would change when she met her future common-law husband.Unlike Block, George Sibley came from a rural, working-class family in Indiana. Sibley was uneducated, racist, anti-government, delusional, extremely religious, and possessed little, if any, talent. Sibley was the one who got Lynda Block involved in the extremist ideology of the sovereign citizen’s movement, and it was he who, in all likelihood, set forth the chain of events which would eventually lead to the stabbing of Lynda Block’s husband, the kidnapping of 9-year-old Gordon Block, and the shootout and murder of Officer Roger Motley.People like George Sibley are not as uncommon as we would like to think. All across rural America, especially in ultra-conservative states like Alabama, there are poor, working-class white Americans who, facing economic and social problems, seek to find a scapegoat to blame for their predicaments.Ideologies like the Sovereign Citizens movement provide a way for these troubled people to vent their rage against the establishment.People don’t join hate groups and extremist organizations for no reason. The individuals drawn to these groups are suffering. They have legitimate economic and social problems, and they feel marginalized and forgotten by the Washington establishment.These anti-government extremist groups give people like George Sibley a scapegoat to blame: the government. A secret, conspiratorial cabal controls the US government, they say, trying to impose a New World Order through “globalism” and forced diversity. Taxes, they say, are “legalized theft” of the American people, and true patriots have to take a stand against the “liberal elite” in Washington.America is now in a state of division rarely seen since the days of the Civil War, and that is, in part, due to anti-government extremist groups taking advantage of the ills of those in rural America, drawing gullible people into fringe, ultra-right-wing circles.This is very dangerous. The threat of homegrown extremism cannot be ignored. Right wing terrorists have murdered hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans, including over 100 police officers, since 1992. If we are to solve such divisions that currently trouble America, we must start looking to improve the situation here at home.While no one can deny the threat demonstrated by Islamic terrorist groups like ISIL and Al-Qaeda is very real, we must not become distracted from the terroristic threats present here at home.In short, like Sergeant Motley, we cannot afford to be so focused on one threat that we fail to notice another one preparing to shoot us in the back. It only takes one determined radical to do a lot of damage, and it is up to all of us to make sure that domestic terrorists like Lynda Block and George Sibley become fewer and farther between.