03/24/2004 Bernardsville News -
Notoriety for Richardt becomes a mixed blessing
by W. JACOB PERRY , Staff Writer
BERNARDS TWP Irwin Richardt's local notoriety as a man of principle has gained a wider audience in recent months, producing joy and headaches for the 76-year-old maple syrup farmer.
A lifelong resident of the 22-acre Sons of Liberty Farm at Allen and Somerville roads, Richardt has spent decades quoting the founding fathers and challenging government acts that he sees as violating the spirit of the U.S. Constitution.
His beliefs have twice put him in jail first, when he refused to buy automobile insurance; and later, when he tried to stop the township from condemning a strip of his sacred land for a road-widening project.
Unwilling to compromise, he gave up driving a car for bicycle riding, and refused to cash a check for the lost property.
If Richardt seems increasingly out of place in an affluent, suburban community, it's only enhanced his appeal to writers and even filmmakers, one of whom hopes to feature him in an upcoming documentary.
Richardt also caught the eye of Weird N.J., a magazine that has gained a large cult following by profiling overgrown, forgotten landmarks and offbeat characters.
Richardt now appears in a new Weird N.J. book, published by Barnes & Noble. In a two-page spread, he is referred to as a self-described Jeffersonian constitutionalist whose mind and lifestyle seem to be a throwback to the late 1700s.
It also took note of the homemade political signs he posts around his property. One, prominent for many years, said, That U.S. flag represents just one thing: the U.S. Constitution. Obey it or be cited for treason.
Items in Weird tend to draw waves of curiosity seekers. After a story appeared on the Blairsden estate in Peapack-Gladstone several years ago, the site was inundated with teen-age trespassers.
Attracts Visitors
Richardt himself is now an object of curiosity. He said he was home at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, March 8, when he noticed a large caravan of cars by his property.
I rushed outside and had a tremendous reception, and I was amazed, he recalled. He said the motorists were high school juniors and seniors from Bridgewater, Somerville and Manville who were eager to hear his views.
I was amazed at how receptive they were, he said. They were all firing questions at me left and right. I thought it was great.
In the meantime, a township police officer, seeing the cars outside, dropped in to make sure everything was all right. Richardt said he appreciated the gesture.
But the notoriety has a flip side. In two letters sent to Police Chief Thomas Kelly earlier this month, Richardt detailed recent problems with unwanted overnight visitors at his home.
At about 2:30 a.m. on this Sunday morning I was, as usual, awakened by those dregs of society who try to terrorize this 76-year-old man day after day after week after year,'' he wrote on March 14.
I quickly dressed, armed myself to the teeth and went out to confront them before which they departed toward The Hills, he wrote.
Later, he added, the car returned and I attacked them from their rear before they rammed their car in reverse up my driveway and drove off.
We were lucky they did not kill me and themselves,'' he said.
On March 10 Richardt wrote that he found that someone broke into his barn, took out a fire extinguisher and sprayed it on his property.
Please arrest those who are harassing me, he urged Chief Kelly.
Otherwise, he said, he and his neighbors shall be obliged to activate our well organized militia' after which time this criminal terrorism shall evaporate.
Richardt does not have an operating telephone at his home.
Police Checks
Kelly, contacted on Monday, March 22, said his department recognizes Richardt's notoriety and is extremely diligent in patrolling the area.
We do check his area all the time for people who would trespass on his property or do acts of vandalism, the chief said. He gets a high level of protection.
We're aware that he can be targeted. We know a lot of people seek out his property as well as the tree on Mountain Road, he said, referring to The Devil's Tree that was previously featured in Weird N.J.
As for Richardt's claim that he armed myself to the teeth, Kelly said he did not believe that Richardt owns any registered firearms. He declined to comment on the threat to call out a well organized militia.
Theft and vandalism at Richardt's property did not begin with the Weird book. Back in December 2000, he reported a series of incidents to police, including the destruction of a sign that said, Remember the My Lie' of Waco.
Richardt has no known record of violence but has occasionally alarmed officials with his use of language. Five years ago, while fighting the Somerville Road widening project, he declared that officials who abused eminent domain were guilty of treason and should be executed.
Those remarks, seen by some as threatening, spurred the township's purchase of a metal detector for the municipal building in December 1999.
Despite the vandalism and the battles with the township, Richardt said he welcomes visitors like those from the high schools.
Next week, he noted, he will continue a 25-year tradition by hosting a maple tour for first grade classes from a school in Morris County.
He also, as he surely does with many visitors, shared some of his unconventional views.
He said citizens who receive federal assistance should not vote because they are prone to back whomever protects their subsidy. Richardt himself refuses to accept Social Security, saying dependence on the government is a form of slavery.
He also lamented that the United States has become hated in the world because we're so hypocritical.
The truth, he said, shall set us free.
©Recorder Newspapers 2004 |
