America has lost a true hero and patriot, John Baptist Kotmair, Jr., 83, of Westminster, Maryland, who passed from this world on December 13, 2017.
He is survived by his wife, Nancy L. (Blunt) Kotmair, two daughters, two sons, 10 grandchildren, 17 great-granchildren, and many American patriots who will always remember his unremitting efforts on their behalf.
John served in the Navy for four years and with the Baltimore Police for eight years. He was a custom home builder during the 1970s, served as a patriot in federal prison camp in the early 1980s, and was the founder and fiduciary of Save-A-Patriot Fellowship from 1984 onward.
Most patriots will remember John Kotmair as one of the strongest voices of the tax honesty movement, fearlessly striving to educate the public about the limited application of the federal income tax. He and his wife Nancy took to the road for two and a half years, visiting patriots and recruiting for the Patriot Network and then for the National Patriot Association. In addition to founding Save-A-Patriot Fellowship, he was founder and fiduciary of Liberty Works Radio Network Fellowship.
John Kotmair’s passion was, and the mission of Liberty Works Radio Network is, to educate the public about the Christian heritage and legacy of a Constitutionally limited government left to Americans by the founders of our nation. He fervently desired that government at all levels be held to the confines of the Constitution. He was no fair-weather patriot, but rather, as his hero, Samuel Adams, he desired to be a grand incendiary in the great cause of Liberty, understanding that it takes a “tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men” to prevail.
To that end, he was identified as an enemy of the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service, and they attacked him and the Fellowship without cause numerous times. In 1981, using a stacked jury, they convicted him of “failure to file” and sentenced him to two years in federal prison. In 1993, they raided the Fellowship and attempted to shut its doors and put him in prison once again. God, the Author of Liberty caused those attempts to come to naught, and John and the members of the Fellowship prevailed.
After the raid, Mr. Kotmair and numerous Fellowship members set up Liberty Works Radio Network to inform Americans of their God-given heritage. Among other accomplishments, he recorded a 12-hour lecture series entitled “Just the Facts” on the taxing powers of the Constitution and the application of the Income Tax, wrote a book entitled “Piercing the Illusion,” and published a booklet entitled “Do Courts have Law-making Powers?”
Despising Liberty and all those who exercise their First-Amendment rights, the Department of Justice sued in federal court to shut down Save-A-Patriot Fellowship, an action which —without the benefit of any trial on the facts — culminated in a permanent injunction in 2008 against Mr. Kotmair and some of the First-Amendment activities of the Fellowship. However, due to the faithfulness and dedication of fellow patriots, the Liberty Works Radio Network Fellowship and the Save-A-Patriot Fellowship are still active.
The family of John Baptist Kotmair, Jr. will receive friends on Thursday, December 21, 2017, 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Eline Funeral Home, 934 S. Main Street, Hampstead, Maryland. Funeral services will be held on Friday, December 22, 2017, 11:00 a.m. at the Eline Funeral Home, and internment will be in the Hampstead Cemetery.
Gifts will be appreciated to help defray the costs of the funeral. Please send your gifts − and personal correspondence − to:
| SAP Fellowship ATTENTION NANCY P.O. Box 91 Westminster, MD 21158. |
Please note that only completely blank postal money orders or federal reserve notes (a.k.a. “cash”) can be accepted as gifts.
Tributes to John B. Kotmair and his accomplishments, and memories of how his passion for justice and liberty affected you, are also welcome, and the Fellowship hopes to publish some of them in our next Liberty Tree. You may email your memories and tributes to
Above all, John Baptist Kotmair believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and looked to him, the Author and Finisher of his Faith, for help in the battle for Liberty. He often quoted Gcalations 5:1:
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.”
May you and your family do the same.
