The FBI arrested Richard Alan Meywes on March 25 after the North Carolina man allegedly sent out an e-mail offering $250,000 to anyone who killed Michael Schiavo, the husband of 41-year-old Terri Schiavo, who is at the center of an impassioned debate over end-of-life issues. The e-mail also reportedly offered an additional $50,000 for the elimination of Pinellas-Pasco County Circuit Court Judge George Greer, who had ordered Terri Schiavo's feeding tube removed March 18. The message, intercepted by the Pinellas County, Fla., sheriff's office, had been forwarded to the FBI's Tampa office March 23. Meywes — arrested in Fairview, N.C., without incident — faces charges of murder for hire and transmitting threatening interstate communications. The highly charged moral, political and judicial debate surrounding the case has pitted Terri's parents, the Bush administration and the religious right — who advocate keeping the brain-damaged woman alive — against groups that back her husband and believe she should be allowed to die. Activists on both sides of the issue have converged on Schiavo's hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., where the drama is playing out. The controversy surrounding the case and the media attention it has generated has attracted a number of controversial people. Among the most notable is Bo Gritz, an adherent of the Christian Identity movement and a luminary in the anti-government militia movement. Gritz's appearance in Pinellas Park is an example of the occasional overlap between the right-to-life movement and the militia/white supremacist movement. More than likely, militia members are taking advantage of the media attention surrounding the Schiavo case to speak out against the judiciary, their longtime nemesis. In addition, Randal Terry, a religious activist and founder of controversial anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, has vowed to mobilize his followers to save Schiavo. The presence of many radical, fringe elements from militias, right-to-life movements and religious extremists, all feeding off of such a charged issue amid intense media attention, is a volatile combination. The situation in Pinellas Park is similar to that witnessed in Florida in the 1980s and early 1990s when anti-abortion groups descended on Pensacola. The large number of protests at abortion clinics in that city died down after the 1993 shooting death of abortion doctor David Gunn and the 1995 shooting death of abortion doctor John Britton and his bodyguard. Michael Griffin was sentenced to life in prison in connection with the Gunn murder, while Paul Hill, a former Presbyterian minister and radical anti-abortion activist, was convicted and executed for the double murder. Since the mid-1990s, many militia groups have become more vocal in their anti-abortion stance, while some anti-abortionists have begun to ally with militia groups. An example of this merger is Eric Rudolph, an anti-abortionist allied with the militia movement who is on trial on charges stemming from the 1998 bombing of a Birmingham, Ala., women's health clinic, which killed an off-duty police officer and left a nurse severely maimed. He also is accused of the 1997 bombing of an Atlanta-area abortion clinic, a bombing at a nightclub frequented by gays in Atlanta and the 1996 Olympics bombing in Atlanta, which killed one person and injured 111 others. Militant activists who commit crimes in the name of the anti-abortion cause have been known to have access to support networks as they attempt to elude law enforcement. Rudolph remained a fugitive for five years until his 2003 arrest. During this time, he likely was harbored by and received assistance from individuals sympathetic to his cause. In 1998, abortion doctor Barnett Slepian was shot and killed with a single bullet from a high-powered rifle in his Amherst, N.Y., home. Less than two weeks after the killing, a warrant was issued for James Charles Kopp in connection with the case. Kopp allegedly fled to Mexico and then to Scotland, Ireland and France. Jennifer Rock, a friend of Kopp's, testified that she drove Kopp to Mexico and along the way helped him disguise his identity. Before his death, Slepian's home address was posted on a Web site naming abortion providers. More recently, the home addresses of both Michael Schiavo and Greer have been posted on the Internet — and protesters have gathered outside their homes. Both men have personal protection details assigned to them. As the Schiavo case plays out, radicals seeking the opportunity to exploit the opportunity to promote their own agendas will make the situation increasingly volatile. Should Terri Schiavo die, the controversy — and the possibility of violence — will remain.