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“Ooooh. Tell us more...”

Well, one time, feds show up at the ranch when I am in the field — all civilian clothes, marked suburban, everyone with a sidearm and an AR-15 (or M4, no way I could tell).

I’m fixing an internal gate.

They get out, rifles pointing at me, slam me to ground and accuse me of trespassing and smuggling drugs.

Mind you, this is fee (not BLM or NM state or even Mescalero) land. I own it.

Cuff me, scream at me for a few hours, saying I am a liar for saying I am on my own land. They all had Yankee accents. Mixed group of people: FBI, Homeland Security, ATF.

They cut multiple chains on gates to get where I was.

Then release me, with no comment or explanation (or ride back home from ALBQ). My wife had to drive 2+ hours from Ruidoso to come get me. She had been panicking because the hands found my truck, keys still in it, tools everywhere. She assumed I had been taken by illegals or drug smugglers (both of which use our ranch as a highway).

I still assume it was retribution for complaining about the hundreds of illegals that cross the ranch every month.

I have great sympathy for Cliven Bundy, et al.

This observatory closure could be some great conspiracy and coverup, or it could be typical government incompetency.