"I would strongly discourage you all from hitching your cart to this particular horse. While I have all manner of criticisms of the BLM and certainly of thuggish FEDGOV tactics, it is essential that one pick one’s battles very carefully, and this is NOT a good battle to pick. The guy in question has been grazing his cattle at essentially zero feed cost for upwards of twenty years (well, THAT makes the cattle business easier, doesn’t it!) because he stopped paying the BLM any lease charges. Again, we can debate all manner of things including the ridiculous rules about closing land to grazing in order to “protect” lizards or prairie chickens or whatever the fake “endangered species” du jour is, and certainly we can debate the existence of the BLM itself, but there is no free lunch; everyone else pays to graze. This guy is claiming, as I understand it, some grandfathered right to the land through the Mormon cult (again, BIG red flag), but I don’t buy it. This situation stinks all around to my refined sniffer, and I would NOT die on this hill. Since so many have asked, that is my read. Just be careful with this one."
I totally agree with your post. People are fed up and looking for the “Lexington” moment to start this thing but this is not the right fight to pick. This guy was freeloading for 25 years. Got caught and now is raising a stink. I worry because as I said people are looking to fight back. We are sick and tied of government overreach and want a cause to support. This ain’t it IMO.
A lot of suppositions in Ms. Barnhardt’s assesment. Trying to make a claim he is the only one is specious at best. This is open range. I see the sign that the location is 9 miles from Mesquite. Have you or Ms. Barnhardt ever been to the area around Mesquite?
You may be right about the legal situation, but it seems it’d be better just to send a single cop out there to arrest him to handle it.
I’m likely not as familiar w/the details as you are but consider that just because others pay the fees does not justify the situation either. I’m reading this as an abuse of power by charging unreasonable fees and this particular rancher is the only one protesting it. He did apparently pay them until they bumped them up for some turtle.
Keep in mind that others that couldn’t afford the fees probably went out of business. This is part of the problem of an overly regulated country. The little guy has not chance to get themselves out of poverty.
I agree with you this time. If this fellow owned the land and the government said he couldn’t use it for whatever reason, then I would be up in arms. But this is not his land, and for that reason alone, I don’t see this as anything other than what it is, a fellow pissed he didn’t get to continue grazing on land that didn’t belong to him.
Now if someone wants to make an issue that the government already owns too much land, that is fine, but it is another issue all together.
Thats exactly what I thought...This isnt his land....at all
This looks like a setup....for some bad press....its stupid.
Defame an entire demographic with coverage of this shyster.