August Pankow BEGIN # 15 SIDE B AUGUST PANKOW   Theyv'e always had meetings once a month. So, it didn't make no difference to me. They want their meeting, let 'um have 'um. They just went overboard, got carried away.   Well, it went through my mind. There's more people that told me, outsiders, just strangers, different people you see, "You better watch out. You might get shot." So, just people in town, or wherever, friends or--it bothered me the first month after I got back. But, after so long, you know, it gets forgotten about.   I dreamt different times, not too often, about it--when the guy went around and blew this guy away. That did bother me. They did bring that up in court and showed it--showed you his skull--passed it right through the jurrors. Some of 'um did like this and some passed it by. It didn't really bother me at that time. But, things grow on you eventually, I don't know.   Yes, I can't remember which one it was but I really thought he was smart, well prepared lawyer. It was that short, little guy. I can't remember what his name was.   It was that first guy you mentioned. He was well prepared for his trial--whatever he had to do with it.   No, I can't say that. No, I can't PANK3 ...4/43...Well, I don't know. He's a human being, but he seemed to me like he was a just a small little cocky guy. he just, the way it looked to me, he had his gun that was supposed to protect him. He was a small guy with his gun to protect him. And, I was going to say Scott Fall, he, he struck me right away, he could really do a lot of damage to somebody, if he'd ever get mad or blow up just my impression of what I seen of him as he sat there--just his looks when you'd walk by him, you'd walk into the jury where you sat. You'd walk by and he'd just look at you with his eyes.. You say, looks is killing, and he's had 'um.   He was just a common guy. But, he was a lawyer more or less I'd say. He was--he could talk.   She was a timid woman. And, I don't--just because that she was really a nice woman, behaved well, did her, whatever she did at her, at the trial. When, but, I still think that she should of had probation out of it, 'cause she was with--she was at the meeting, and in the car, the get a way car, and whatever it was.   Not that sticks in my mind. There awas a few times where we got a little chuckle--little giggle, but it wasn't--most of it was pretty serious.   One Xmas, I think, one, I don't remember his name called one time and wanted to know if we could get together. We were leaving or something. We were to get together ove Xmas, just in Fargo someplace. And, It never did materialize, unless they did it and we weren't there-which would have been alright, I think. PANK3 No. I did run into Crooks one day at the sentinelle at Angus and it was four years ago. He come home here, and I did talk to 'um. And, we talked a little bit about it, how I liked it to been on that jury. It was really an experience--something everybody should do.   Well, at the time I was a single person, at that time. And, I was going with my wife, who is my wife now. And, I could only see her on Sundays for two hours. She would come up and visit. That was the only time we could have any company, Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4. And, I kinda missed her while I was locked up for a month. I did get to talk to her on the phone, but if you, you couldn't really--she said something about the newspaper, sometimes she said something about a newspaper and plunk, that was it, I was cut off. They just sit there and listen to you talk. I talked to my brother one time, and he mentioned something about seeing me on TV, seeing the jury on TV--and it was clunk. That was the end of it. They just cut you off. They're maybe scared you're going about, you know, what they seen in the paper.   (Note to Jeff. I didn't transcribe what the lady in the background said.)   Well, I don't know if it was really anger, or not, but it was--it got to be a long time. You just--you got up, like being in the Army. You got up. They woke you up a quarter to seven and pounded on your door. Seven fifteen you got downstairs, on the bus, then they would take you to breadfast. (lady in background again- I didn't transcribe it)   And I, about the pay. I didn't think they paid too good. For being gone a month at the busiest time of year. Putting in your crop and get what you're going to harvest, and what you're going to live on for the next--you only had that month to put it in. If you didn't get it in at that time--it's a certain time of the year when you have to do stuff like that. If it ain't there you're going to suffer for it for the next whole year. I think I got $800.   Well, I'm holding my own. But, it's been tough the last two or three years. But, right in this area we had some pretty good crops, you know. Like, this year, my corn wasn't as good as last year. Last year the whole state of North Dakota was dry, but we just happened to get a little rain right here in this area--twenty mile area here, and the corn was good, but the rest of the crop wasn't. We had good corn last year. We was fortunate right in this south eastern corner of North Dakota here. You just go west here forty miles there's just no grass there at all.   No, that's about it I guess.   Oh, I don't think they'll let you do it again. Maybe, once in a lifetime.   It didn't bother me a bit because I didn't feel that I did anything wrong. And, how it ended up is that I was owed them $800. I took my papers to Wopaton. He went through them, and he says "The way it looks to me--he says you got about--you got money coming back here." So, they made a mistake. They sent me $600. The guy made a mistake. I got $600. when I owed them $800. So, it wasn't no big deal to me. It turned out good.   END OF SIDE B # 15 AUGUST PANKOW   CREDITS with interviews of... Joan Kahl Yorie Kahl Lynn Crooks Toots Mathis Dennis Fisher John Noah Irv Nodland Bill Kennelly Prof. Ed Gran Jack McLamb Delores Everts Scarlet Skiftu Herman Widicker August Pankow Victor Seil Marlys Klimek Ron Perleberg Len Martin Brad Kapp Robert Holiday Tom Lee Ed Fitzpatrick Gene Nail Buford Terrell Marlene Gaysek Bob Ralston Darrel Graf Steve Schnabel Jack Swan Loreen Dyck Lorna/Loreen Mark Stagg Sheriff Ray Weatherby Jack Miller cinematography Tracy Adams Allison Hoffman Jeffrey F. Jackson production design Jim Haddon Peter Lloyd film editing Tracy Adams Martyn Hone Jeffrey F. Jackson original music by Tracy Adams sound department Tracy Adams Jeffrey F. Jackson stunts Rex Reddick produced by Jeffrey F. Jackson Angela Kaye writing by Jeffrey F. Jackson directed by Jeffrey F. Jackson CHRONOLOGY A timeline of the life of Gordon Kahl, from early childhood interests, to his marriage to Joan Kahl, his decorated military experience, his outspoken tax protest, the Medina shootout, and his unusual death in Arkansas in 1983. REVIEWS VARIETY /   Indie documaker Jeffrey F. Jackson sticks it to the IRS and the Feds in "Death & Taxes," a hard-hitting reinvestigation of the 1983 Gordon Kahl case, about which questions still linger. Jackson's unfazed, investigative reporting-style approach and inventive handling of familiar material make this a controversial item for fests and progressive webs. Non-U.S. viewers will also get a charge out of its conspiracy theme. read more CHRONICLES MAGAZINE /   Gordon Kahl was a simple farmer who became famous for not filing income tax returns. Imprisoned and hounded by IRS agents who never did prove he owed any amount of money, Kahl and his son were involved in a shootout with police. The son is still serving a prison sentence, but the father was surrounded and shot in Arkansas by police officers who mutilated and burned his body. read more GUNS & AMMO /   A new video documentary, Death & Taxes, details a case of government murderously out of control that was briefly mentioned in the October 1994 Guns & Ammo article "The Ugly Truth About Gun Control." Death & Taxes is the story of Gordon Kahl, a North Dakota farmer and decorated World War II veteran, and his apparent death at the hands of federal agents. read more

BUY ONLINE

Now Available!
This set of 6 DVD's comprises over 13 hours of uncut footage, including a 2+ hour prison interview with Yorie Kahl, and candid interviews with wife Joan Kahl. In this rich stockpile of research, you'll find many more threads than could reasonably be pursued in the final feature. A little-known fact regarding Death & Taxes is the surprising connection to Timothy McVeigh and the ATF / Oklahoma City Bombing. Here's a clip of Jackson sharing the story during a director's commentary on his film Postal Worker. The story of Gordon Kahl so captured the attention of mainstream America that it was turned into a highly-rated made-for-television movie titled In The Line of Duty - Manhunt In The Dakotas.

DEATH & TAXES is the story of Gordon Kahl, a North Dakota farmer who became America's "most-wanted" fugitive. How had a WWII war hero become the target of one of the largest manhunts in FBI history?

Was Kahl a racist, gun-toting fanatic? Or a victim of an IRS policy of harassing vocal tax protestors into silence to keep the rest of us intimidated? Did Bill Clinton conspire to cover-up the torture and execution of Gordon Kahl in Arkansas? Did federal agents mutilate and burn the body to cover-up the murder of the wrong man? DEATH & TAXES follows the trail of Gordon Kahl as his body is exhumed for a new autopsy. Building on newsreel clips covering two fiery shootouts and hundreds of interviews -- with IRS agents and federal prosecutors as well as Kahl's family and supporters -- D&T explores the myths and controversies surrounding a man who dared to challenge the federal income tax system. Some revile Kahl as a cop killer. Others revere him as an American patriot. Which was he?