The Last Great American Folk Hero

This was written by Gabe, one of our student interns. The opinions expressed herein do not reflect those of Civitas other than respect for the value of open dialogue.

“God blessed me in advance for the task I am about to undertake. It is my duty. God has asked me to do this. It’s a cross that I am going to carry and I’m carrying it in God’s name.” –Marv Heemeyer.

On June 4^th, 2004, a Komatsu D355 Bulldozer ripped through the side of Marv Heemeyer’s muffler shop in Granby, Colorado. Save the blade in the front and the ripper on the back, the dozer was unrecognizable, covered in custom steel plate armor. The dozer was immune to small arms fire and explosives, and its immense weight, only increased by the armor, meant that smaller machines were unable to move the tank in a meaningful way.

The pilot: Marv Heemeyer.

The next several hours were chaos in the town of Granby, as local police evacuated parts of the town and tried in vain to stop the rampage. The first target, and the site of the first 911 call, was the concrete plant just down the road from the muffler shop. Heemeyer’s tank methodically ripped the walls from the plant and destroyed it. A brother of the owners took a front-end loader to the dozer, but it was too small, and unable to make headway. The dozer marched on. It entered downtown Granby with a list of targets, moving all obstacles with little effort. The town newspaper’s building was destroyed, half the city hall was destroyed, and the home of a former mayor was also demolished. Marv Heemeyer’s rampage ended when he marched the dozer through the Gambles Store. As he worked against the building as he’d done previously, smashing through the walls to collapse the structure, the right side of the dozer fell into the basement of the store. With an overheating engine and mountain of rubble and debris atop a dozer that could not escape, Heemeyer took his .357 Magnum revolver and killed himself. He was the only casualty.

Marv Heemeyer and his modified bulldozer, which gained the title “Killdozer”, immediately became a Libertarian folk hero. The most popular viral account of the Killdozer event celebrates Heemeyer as “the last great American folk hero. A man driven to the brink who chose to fight back against an indifferent system.” The account goes on to quote Heemeyer’s own claims that he was a reasonable man pushed to do unreasonable things. The account is almost entirely wrong.

“Marvin Heemeyer was a man who owned a muffler shop in Granby, Colorado. The city council ordained to approve the construction of a concrete factory in the lot across from Marvin’s shop.” The account begins. This is true. Heemeyer owned a muffler repair shop, and he was damn good at it. Many in town considered him the best welder they’d ever met. The batch concrete plant was also approved by the city council. This is nothing spectacular by itself, save the ones wanting to build it were a part of one of the oldest families of Granby. “In the process, this blocked the only access road to the muffler shop.” This is demonstrably false. “Marvin petitioned to stop the construction to no avail.” This is true.

From the very beginning, the folk account of the Killdozer is wrought with untruths and stretched truths. It does not become more accurate. “The concrete factory went up in disregard to the ramifications on Marvin’s business.” The account claims, which, technically, is true, except a concrete plant alone shouldn’t have any notable ramifications on any business, save competing concrete plants. “To add insult to injury, the factory construction disconnected the muffler shop from the city sewage lines. An indifferent city government then chose to fine Marvin for this.” The fine is true. Being disconnected from the sewage line is not. The muffler shop was never connected to the sewage lines. It was one of the first conflicts between Marvin and the rest of the town.

The legend’s account of the Killdozer’s crusade is mostly accurate. Although Marvin did not, as the account claims, “[entomb] himself inside the Killdozer”, there was a hatch. It was a really heavy hatch that couldn’t be opened from the outside, but it was a hatch. While the account is accurate in saying “Marvin chose to take his life, the only life he took that day,” it ignores the rifle fire Heemeyer shot at Granby police and the disregard for life the Killdozer had as it barreled into buildings evacuated minutes before.

Heemeyer saw himself both as an innocent victim and an agent of God. Leaving behind three audio tapes, his monologues grow increasingly enraged and zealous. He describes the moment the Killdozer idea appeared in his head as a holy epiphany. “A peace came over me where I knew God wanted to me to do it. And I didn’t understand. I said ‘why did you ask me to do this? Is that why I’ve never been married, so I didn’t have a family? Is that why I’ve always been successful, so that I would realize my rewards for doing this task?” But it has to be done. And the world will write stories about how wrong I am, and without a doubt, I wished it could be done a different way, but there is no way to make this right. You picked on the wrong man!”

Mind you, Heemeyer had a chance to avoid all of this. Cody Docheff, one of the owners of the concrete plant, had been offering to buy-out Heemeyer entirely. Heemeyer would consistently deny him. Additionally, Cody offered to pay for the sewage connection if Heemeyer would drop the lawsuit he had against the concrete plant. Heemeyer also refused and then lost the lawsuit. Eventually Heemeyer valued his property at $250,000, which was more than quadruple what he’d bought the land for at auction. Cody accepted the deal on the spot. Heemeyer immediately backed out. Several days later he returned to Cody with a price of $375,000. Cody accepted that price as well. Heemeyer backed out again.

I want Marvin Heemeyer to be the hero so bad; I want him to be a reasonable man pushed to do unreasonable things; I want him to be an American folk hero who stood up against a tyrannical government and uncaring elites; but he isn’t the hero. He was a man consumed by his own passions and beliefs and he tried very deliberately to harm those around him in a mission he saw as a righteous crusade. It’s a miracle, not a choice, that he was the only victim of his attack. Don’t meet your heroes, and don’t let your heroes exist without their flaws.