George Harold Davis, who turns 45 on Friday, was not a particularly law-abiding man, judging by his criminal record, but neither was he a particularly violent man. He appears, however, to have been a very angry man.
Davis was arrested Saturday after allegedly shooting seven people outside an Ennis bar, one fatally, then leading police on a three-county chase before shooting and wounding a Ravalli County sheriff's deputy near Florence. He eventually was arrested near the Idaho border after officers in a patrol car rammed his vehicle. He remains hospitalized in Missoula with a gunshot wound to his abdomen.
According to records from the Washington Department of Correction, Davis first was convicted in March 1987, receiving a sentence of supervised release through June 1998. Then, a year later, the Tacoma court sentenced him for two more drug-related crimes, handing down five-year and four-year sentences, respectively.
Davis went to prison on those convictions in March 1989, and was released in November 1992. He remained under supervision until November 1993, when the file was closed.
He has remained out of prison since, although he was the subject of four separate restraining orders in Olympia, Wash., two in 1994 and one each in 1996 and 1997.
Complaints filed with state District Court in Olympia regarding one of those restraining orders indicate Davis was harassing staff at a local newspaper.
"Back in 1994, I got this phone call," said former Olympian newspaper reporter Mindy Chambers. "He was a very assertive, aggressive man."
Chambers had been covering stories related to gay and lesbian rights, and Davis called wanting the phone number for the Citizens' Alliance of Washington.
"At the time, that was a group pushing an anti-gay initiative," Chambers said.
She gave Davis the phone contact, she said, but he would not hang up. He wanted to know if the alliance was a white-supremacist group, as well.
"He didn't say he was a white supremacist," Chambers said, "but those were the questions he asked. He seemed to be a very angry sort of person."
Later, Davis called Chambers again, complaining that a letter he wrote to the paper had not been published. He subsequently sent her the letter, but the return address on his package was not his - rather, it was the residence of a Washington congresswoman.
"It was very, very strange," Chambers said.
In his letter to the paper, Davis wrote that "Only white separatism can save nature's finest." The letter complains about the "Jewish owned" mass media and recommends a book, "The International Jew: The World's Foremost Problem."
Hand-written at the bottom of the letter is his complaint that "The Olympian is a criminal organization which is psychologically controlled by the Jews."
At one point, newspaper staffers said, Davis admitted to throwing up on an Olympian newspaper and leaving the vomit-soaked pages on the company's front step.
Davis continued to call Chambers, wanting to talk about the letter, she said. He also sent her at least one racist newsletter by the National Alliance, a publication that insists "We must halt the flow of Third World immigrants across our borders, and we must take whatever other steps are necessary to reclaim our cities from the hordes of non-Whites who have invaded them during the past 50 years."
"About the same time," she said, "someone started leaving very racist literature around. I'm not sure if the police ever investigated this guy or not."
If they did, they did not arrest him.
"He made me really, really nervous," Chambers said.
He also made other news staffers nervous as he pursued his complaint regarding the letter to the editor.
Finally, the staff got together and filed for a restraining order, which was granted, forbidding him to come near the staff, their offices or their homes.
"I never heard from him again," Chambers said.
But others did.
Janna Crabtree heard from him, as did her family members as he pursued her around the country. She, like Chambers, was granted a restraining order by the court.
Then there was Tracie Toner, who also was granted a restraining order.
Toner complained Davis had tried to initiate a relationship with her, but she spurned his advances.
Then, she wrote in her complaint to the court, he began stalking her at work.
"I also received neo-Nazi literature in my yard ... and at my place of employment," Toner wrote.
But none of this background, of course, explains why Davis is said to have shot seven bar patrons and a policeman.
"Who knows why he would do something like this," said Mary Rosdahl, whose husband has for 12 years managed the Bar 7 Ranch in Ennis. Davis had worked at the Bar 7 for about two weeks before allegedly taking aim at a crowd of people outside the Silver Bullet Saloon.
Rosdahl said she did not know much about Davis' background before hiring him, adding that "he seemed very nice to me. You just never know, though."
On his application for work at the Bar 7, Davis listed among his previous employers the Hagenbarth family, who run a ranch near Dillon.
"He worked here October to May," said Dave Hagenbarth. "No problem."
Both Rosdahl and Hagenbarth said they received Davis' application from the local Job Service office and that they knew nothing of his criminal background or racial views.
Questions remain regarding Davis' whereabouts between the most recent 1997 restraining order and his appearance on Montana ranches more than a year ago. Rosdahl said Davis indicated his mother lives in Hamilton, and his Ford Taurus is licensed to a Hamilton post office box. His Social Security number was issued in Montana, but it is unclear whether he was born in the state.
Beyond those few hints, little is known about Davis. He worked as a carpet installer in Washington through the 1990s and as a ranch hand in Montana more recently. Where he was born, where grew up and went to school and hung out after work, remain a mystery.
"He was just a quiet guy," Rosdahl said. "We didn't talk a lot about his background, and you can't really check, what with all the privacy laws. Who knows what's in a person's history?"
Reporter Michael Jamison can be reached at 1-800-366-7816 or at mjamison@missoulian.com
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