Quiet Missouri Backwoods a Hotbed for Racist Groups

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``These guys come strolling along singing songs and holding Bibles, which allows them a certain degree of legitimacy in the area. But behind it all is still the same message of hate and intolerance,'' he said.

Christian Identity espouses white Anglo-Saxon virtues and calls Jews, minorities and gays enemies of God. Some hard-core members believe in death sentences for those who violate ``God's law.''

In August, Identity follower Buford Furrow Jr. allegedly killed a Filipino-American postal worker and wounded five others after opening fire on a Jewish day-care center in Los Angeles. A month earlier, two brothers--also Identity adherents--allegedly killed a gay couple in California and set fire to several synagogues.

Through the 1980s, the Identity movement became associated with other extremist groups, including The Order, the Ku Klux Klan and The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, or CSA.

Many residents here say they have felt intimidated by supremacist groups like CSA and Winrod's church. Most decline to be interviewed or ask not to be identified for fear of retaliation.

``These guys would wear fatigues and walk into the post office with guns strapped to their waists,'' said Tim Morgan, owner of a marina in Pontiac, a town of fewer than 300 not far from Gainesville. ``They were intimidating because they were so military-looking.''

Winrod's church, called Our Savior's, consisted mostly of his adult children, their families and a few other followers. The sheriff said Winrod began distributing his racist mailings to every county resident.

``People would call and complain about it, but there is nothing we could do--he had First Amendment rights,'' Bartlett said. ``We could only keep an eye on him.''