
Daniel Cowart
“The boy you saw on TV was never the kid we saw,” said Scotty Runions, who employed Cowart at a grocery store in town. “He didn’t roam around the community like that. That’s why everybody’s so shocked.”
The Leaf Chronicle | Oct 28, 2008
By CLAY CAREY
BELLS, Tenn. — Folks around this small town who’ve met him paint a simple picture of Daniel Cowart: a quiet computer whiz, polite and shy.
But federal authorities who descended on this town last week cast the 20-year-old in an entirely different light.
Cowart and another man were arrested a week ago today, accused of plotting a hate-fueled rampage that would have claimed dozens of lives. Their alleged prized target: Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
The caper, which never came to fruition, and publicized images of Cowart holding a weapon were bizarre to local residents who know him.
“The boy you saw on TV was never the kid we saw,” said Scotty Runions, who employed Cowart at a grocery store in town. “He didn’t roam around the community like that. That’s why everybody’s so shocked.”
Those who’d never heard of Daniel Cowart before were surprised by the idea that the murderous plot he stands accused of spearheading could have roots in the small Crockett County town of 2,200, about a half-hour drive northwest of Jackson.
“It’s kind of shocking,” said Bells resident Stevie Johnson, 45. “You never think something like that is going to happen in a small town like this.”
“You think Jackson, Memphis, maybe Humboldt,” a town about 12 miles away. “But Bells? It’s really a peaceful place.”

Paul Schlesselman
News of Cowart’s arrest was kept quiet until Monday, when he and alleged co-conspirator Paul Schlesselman of Helena-West Helena, Ark., made their initial court appearances.
The story of their alleged plans struck a nerve in tiny Bells.
“People are scared. Nobody really wants to say anything about it,” said Johnson, an African-American in a county with a 14 percent black population, according to the most recent U.S. Census.
“I don’t have no fear myself,” Johnson said. “They got up on it in the nick of time.”
The two were arrested by Crockett County deputies last Wednesday on charges of possessing illegal guns, according to court documents.
Those arrests led to an array of federal charges including conspiracy to rob a federal firearms licensee and making threats against a major candidate for the office of president.
Cowart and Schlesselman, 18, are in federal custody in Jackson. A detention hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Cowart’s mother and grandfather both live in Crockett County. Neither could be reached Tuesday to discuss his arrest. His attorney, Joe Byrd Jr., did not return a call for comment.
Federal authorities said the two men fostered a friendship on the Internet based on racist beliefs, and started discussing a spree that would have involved killing 88 people and decapitating 14 African-Americans.
Both numbers hold significance in the neo-Nazi world — 88 is shorthand for HH, or “Heil Hitler,” and 14 is the number of words in a slogan of the white supremacist movement.
Authorities say they planned to target an unidentified predominantly black school and, ultimately, Obama. Investigators say the pair said they wanted to wear white tuxedos and top hats as they gunned down the Democratic presidential candidate.
To execute the plan, authorities said, the two stole firearms from family members and hatched a scheme to rob a gun store to expand their arsenal.
On Oct. 20, authorities said, Cowart brought Schlesselman to Crockett County to carry out the plan. They were arrested two days later, after drawing racist symbols and words on Cowart’s car with window chalk.
“These men have some frightening weapons and some very frightening plans,” said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who studies the white supremacy movement. “But with the part about wearing top hats … it gets a bit hard to take them seriously.”
Cowart and Schlesselman were “calm as they could be” when officers took them into custody, Sheriff Troy Klyce said. The sheriff would not discuss the specifics of the arrest that triggered the federal charges.
“I’m sure there had to be some thought put behind it. … They definitely had some plans,” Bells Mayor Harold Craig said.
Klyce and Bells Police Chief Ilandis Smith said police are rarely called to investigate crimes based on race.
“I’ve been here for 15 years,” Smith said. “I’ve not had any (racist) graffiti or anything of that nature.
“This is a quiet town. We don’t have that many problems.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center said on its Web site that Cowart had belonged to a group called the Southern White Alliance, which the center said was formed earlier this year. It posted a photo of Cowart at a group’s celebration of Adolph Hitler’s birthday. The center said the president of the alliance is the son of the imperial wizard of the Kentucky-based Imperial Klans of America.
A posting on a Web site for the Supreme White Alliance says Cowart had been a “probate” with the group but had been expelled.
Heidi Beirich, director of research and special projects for the Alabama-based SPLC, said there are several known neo-Nazi groups in Tennessee, including the National Socialist Movement and the Confederate Hammerskins.
The SPLC’s blog shows Cowart’s member page on the Supreme White Alliance’s Web site — a page that has been taken down. Cowart’s profile on that page said, “I’m 19 years old, from west TN. I am easy going and easy to get along with, so long as you are White!”
Those images stand in stark contrast to the Daniel Cowart described by Harold Craig and Scotty Runions.
Mayor Craig got to know Cowart when he worked at Runions’ grocery store and also knew Cowart’s grandparents. The mayor said Cowart “came from good stock.”
“He was a quiet boy over at work. … He was a nice young man,” the mayor said. “It’s a total surprise.”
Runions said he last saw Cowart about two weeks ago; his former employee helped him fix a problem with an electronic sign at another grocery store Runions owned.
“If he’s anything, he’s a little weird — a computer geek,” Runions said. But he never pictured Cowart as a dangerous man.
“That person never existed. I’ve never seen him like that. Nobody can explain it,” Runions said.
“He was a kid trying to find himself, and he went down the wrong path.”
Bob Smietana of The Tennessean, Bill Theobald of The Tennessean’s Washington bureau and Associated Press contributed.
Related

Alleged Plotter Against Obama Was Member of Supreme White Alliance
The SWA Ning site also carries a page showing “Daniel’s Friends,” belonging to Daniel Cowart, that lists as a friend Steven Edwards (posting as “Stevenfuckit08″), the current president of SWA. Edwards is the son of Ron Edwards, who is the imperial wizard, or national leader, of the Imperial Klans of America (IKA), based in Kentucky.

Imperial Klans of America
The Ku Klux Klan is a US Supreme Court recognized and protected Christian Organization in multiple Supreme Court decisions, and has received a Charter from US Congress.
Supreme White Alliance webpage