The Altamont Enterprise reports that Berne Supervisor Sean Lyons has posted a photo on his Facebook page where he displays a hand signal associated with the Three Percenters, a far-right militia group that has been accused of anti-government ideologies and plots. According to Wikipedia, the Southern Poverty Law Center categorizes the Three Percenters as an "anti-government" group and some experts consider the group the "most dangerous extremist group" in Canada. The group is connected to a failed 2017 bomb plot in Oklahoma. Lyons says, “I do not know much about the larger Three Percenter group and am not a member but I know the basic principle is the same in regards to the American Revolution. I would not agree with ‘far right militia’ as the New York Revolution was also labeled that way, unfairly.” The Three-Percenters co-founder, Michael Vanderboegh, was affiliated with the Oath Keepers, which the Southern Poverty Law Center describes as “one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U.S. today.” At the reorganizational meeting for the southern Albany County town on Jan. 1, the board voted to set a public hearing for the “Second Amendment Sanctuary Ordinance,” which would attempt to undermine state and federal firearms regulations in the town of Berne. Lyons would not reveal the text of the bill, and all the board members, save the lone Democrat, Joel Willsey, voted in favor. The public hearing on the bill will be at 6:30 p.m. March 11. Lyon also violated state law by removing Emily Vincent from the planning board without a public hearing. Lyons replaced Vincent with former state Supreme Court justice Thomas J. Spargo as Planning Board chairperson. Spargo was convicted of shaking down attorneys and soliciting a $10,000 bribe about ten years ago. Read more about this story in the Altamont Enterprise.