PIPE DREAMS?

By ADAM COHEN/ATLANTA

The first anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing drew the nation's attention again to armed militia groups. Last Friday, a week after the anniversary, the specter of militiamen poised for violence returned. Federal agents raided a suspected bombmaking site in central Georgia, arresting two members of a right-wing paramilitary group on bomb-conspiracy charges. The agents seized enough material to make 40 pipe bombs. Robert Edward Starr III, 34, an electrician, and William James McCranie Jr., 30, a plumber, were said to be stockpiling the arsenal in preparation for an upcoming "war" against the government. Starr and McCranie, who were taken into custody by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, are allegedly members of an organization known alternately as the Georgia Militia and the Militia at Large for the Republic of Georgia, one of an estimated 17 such groups in the state.

Early reports on the arrests said the Atlanta Olympic Games had been targeted with more than a dozen pipe bombs. The news caused a wave of anxiety at an Olympic media summit in progress in Atlanta at the time. Federal and state officials, however, rushed to deny any link to the Games, blaming the reports on erroneous leaks. Georgia Bureau of Investigations spokesman John Bankhead clarified the militia's main enemy: "They want to protect themselves from what they see as government attacks." Officials are hoping Atlanta will not see other scares in the weeks ahead. But schedules are fraught with worrisome coincidences: preliminary proceedings in the Oklahoma bombing trial begin soon and may be in full swing as the Games start.

--By Adam Cohen/Atlanta