Posted on 07/05/2003 12:19:18 PM PDT by George Frm Br00klyn Park
ECO - LOGIC
After the Pilgrims...
Park Service Rewrites History - and Law
By "McCarthy Annie"
Editor's note: This story is provided by the American Landrights Association, where you can find extensive coverage of the Pilgrim's plight. ALRA has established a Legal Defense Fund to help pay Pilgrim's attorney. Checks should be made payable to ALRA, with "Pilgrim Family" in the notation area.
Here are a few more examples of how the Park Service and other federal agencies are driving people off their land:
Bob Learzaf
Donald Scott
Diane Luppi
If you ever come to visit me in this rugged back corner of Creation, I'd love to offer you a ride in my old McCarthy Rig. She ain't so perty anymore, but she still runs, and she takes to these broken-down back trails like an old mountain nanny goat. Oh, the old gal's seen better days, but then, so have the historic roads she is accustomed to traversing.
Take the McCarthy-Green Butte Road, for instance. Built for the miners 100 years ago, this road follows McCarthy Creek all the way up to the Motherlode Mines on the other side of Bonanza Ridge. In the years since the miners' heyday, this road has been used and maintained by a variety of folks. Why, my old McCarthy Rig purred along that very roadway thirty years ago or so, when bridges were standing firmly in place and she could still pick her way along with dignity and ease.
Over time, age and neglect have taken their toll. Floods have washed the original bridges out, and those pesky willows have attempted a complete take-over. The hardy folks who range this valley have tried to keep the route passable, but with so few to help, and little in the way of resources, the relentless forces of nature have reduced this once-respectable road to a mere trail.
And lately, for the most part, my old McCarthy Rig sits quietly at home, just waiting. It has been a long time since the valley of the Motherlode has had a family to call its own, to care for it and protect it, to restore and once again inhabit the historic buildings, to rebuild bridges and wage war with the encroaching willows. The National Park Service has come and made claim to much of the land in the valley. Although they've seemed interested in preserving the historic Kennecott Mine, they've mostly ignored the roads and trails leading to other parts of this history-steeped region.
Until recently.
Part of the music-making, God-fearing Pilgrim family
You see, the family that the McCarthy Creek valley has been waiting for has finally arrived. Children's laughter now rings out and echoes back from the sheer mountains surrounding their homestead, affectionately dubbed "Hillbilly Heaven." Horses and equipment once again haul needed supplies along the McCarthy-Green Butte Road. Strong, capable young men have been skillfully restoring and rebuilding venerable cabins that the harsh elements have not yet been able to completely destroy. A new generation, life, love, and hope once again occupy the valley of the Motherlode.
You know who they are, for I have written about them before. When the Pilgrims arrived in our town last spring, they brought with them love, laughter, music and irrepressible joy. Their kindness and hospitality have touched us all, and their courage in the face of adversity has heightened our sense of respect.
Although the folks here at McCarthy have received the Pilgrims warmly, the family has encountered an entirely different reception from the NPS. You see, it's no secret that the biggest threat to the Park Service is the McCarthy-Green Butte Road, because according to federal and state law, this road is open to public use, and cannot be controlled by the federal government or anyone else. The Pilgrims' land is somewhere near the end of the road, and there is no other over-land access to their homestead, so for the last year, they've been using, improving, and maintaining the McCarthy- Green Butte Road, as is their right.
You know, it would seem to me that both this state-owned road (which accesses breathtaking scenery and the century-old Motherlode Mine) and the old-fashioned, hospitable family near the end of the road should be perceived as valuable assets to the Park. But if there's one thing that rankles those parkies more than public use of a public road which winds through the heart of prime park land, it is private landowners' use of a public road which leads to their private property in the heart of prime park land! You see, in the twisted view of those parkies, both the road and the inholders are perceived as some sort of "threat to park resources."
And they are willing to do anything-inside or outside the law-to get rid of both! It was about a week ago, on a Friday afternoon, when they made their move. The access issue was the hot topic of a town meeting that day, and some NPS rangers had attended. They failed to mention to us McCarthyites what they were planning to do that afternoon. If we had known, the riot would have been on a little sooner.
After the meeting had concluded and most of us had gone home for the day, Rangers Hunter Sharp and Richard Larrabee, acting on orders from Park Superintendent Gary Candelaria, quietly dropped a bomb on us, in the form of notices posted around our town. In these notices, Candelaria claimed that the McCarthy- Green Butte Road was an "illegal road bulldozed on federal land," and forbade the use of motorized vehicles on the road.
Now, if you've read history and the law, as I have, you already know that statutes such as RS2477 were written to protect citizens against just such federal "land grab" tactics as this. See, the parkies acted illegally on two counts: 1) The National Park Service has no jurisdiction over a state right-of-way. Hence, NPS cannot legally close a state road, such as this one, to motorized traffic. 2) According to ANILCA, "the Park/Preserve was established subject to valid existing rights, including rights-of-way established under RS2477." Therefore, it is illegal for the Park to deny landowners access to their home when that access is a valid, existing RS2477 right-of-way, as is the case with the McCarthy-Green Butte Road.
Evidently, other folks around McCarthy have been reading their law and history books, too, for before those parkies had dusted their heels out of town, all their notices had mysteriously disappeared.
A keen observer, however, would have noticed that, on the ground near where each of the signs had been, there was a very small pile of ashes. Except for one, that is-someone had torn it down, but hadn't burned it. Gotta keep one for the record!
Around here, we don't take too kindly to flak-jacketed government thugs trying to bully us around!
Next morning, bright and early, two friends of mine were en route to some prime rabbit hunting grounds-yep, you guessed it-up McCarthy Creek. On four-wheelers, of course. Steely-eyed and armed with a .22 and a tape recorder, they made just one stop on their way-at the door of our local park ranger.
The ranger was at home, all right, but he seemed to be having some trouble with his door, for as soon as he had opened it, the door slammed shut again, leaving Rick and Keith outside. Surprised but undaunted, Keith decided to go ahead and speak to the young man through the closed door. Normally quiet and mild-mannered, Keith's voice now rang out with blazing authority.
"I understand you park rangers illegally closed the McCarthy Creek Road, which is a state right-of-way. You closed it to all motorized vehicles other than snow machines as of yesterday. This morning, right now, in open defiance to that order, I am going up the McCarthy Creek State right-of-way on a motorized vehicle that is not a snowmachine! Thank you."
It was at this point that Rick decided to inquire about the problem with the door: "Why'd you slam the door on me, [neighbor]?"
Once again, the low, heavy door creaked open, and the young parkie peered suspiciously out. With a low, menacing growl, he spat out, "I didn't invite you here, you're trespassing on my property, you're not here with good intent, and I would appreciate it if you'd leave, and we'll talk when I'm working." Slam!
And so, with the NPS Good Neighbor Policy still ringing in their ears, the men went hunting. Curious thing, how that door kept slamming shut. Hopefully he'll get it fixed, or I'm afraid that, after a while, the good folks here in McCarthy may begin to think him an unpleasant sort of guy.
By Monday morning, scathing letters protesting the Park's illegal actions had arrived on the rangers' desks. Phone calls from angry citizens sizzled with outrage, and the e-mail circuit was humming. Politicians in the highest levels of government had been notified of our situation, and the mood at NPS Headquarters was becoming increasingly tense.
Desperately, the parkies tried to calm the situation, protesting to one caller, "We didn't mean for the notice to be aimed at your community... It was really just meant for the Pilgrims!" Well, fellas, this was the wrong thing to say, because if there's one thing that will unify a small, close-knit community in a hurry, it's this: Big, Bad, Powerful Government Men singling out a peaceable, law-abiding family with lots of adorable, defenseless children, and doing illegal and mean things to try to force them off their land.
In this neighborhood, we don't stand for nasty government shenanigans, so a few of us decided to do something about this outrage.
What to do? Well, of course! Get the locals together, fire up all the rigs we can find, and take a drive up that good old McCarthy-Green Butte Road!
A town/NPS meeting was called and scheduled for Friday afternoon. We wanted to give WRST Superintendent Gary Candelaria a chance to recant, apologize, and make an attempt to redeem himself, so it was decided that the McCarthy Creek Drive would be held off until after the meeting.
It seemed a mighty long shot, but maybe, just maybe, someone at NPS would read his history and law before he opened his big mouth in McCarthy.
They came mounted on park green four-wheelers, outfitted with their trademark park green bulletproof vests, and packing Sig-Sauer handguns and pepper spray. As they approached the McCarthy Lodge Friday afternoon, Gary, Marshall and Hunter could not escape the scene before them. Trucks, a huge bulldozer, a farm tractor, jeeps, and several four-wheelers, all lined up with their noses pointed toward McCarthy Creek. My old McCarthy Rig was there, and I could have sworn she was smiling.
There was a crowd of people, mostly children, surrounding these vehicles, along with dogs, a horse, and a black, shaggy Dexter bull. Closer inspection revealed that this "crowd" was actually just the Pilgrims-eleven of them-each carrying a hand-written placard denouncing this latest nefarious NPS edict. There were signs everywhere, plastered on the trucks and equipment, attached to the dogs and horse-even that formidable-looking black bull had huge signs hung over his back, stating, "I'm tired of being BULLED around." Four-year-old Lamb was there, with her wide blue eyes of innocence, sweet and tender as a mountain flower in spring. "Please let me go home to Mama," her sign read.
Not all of the signs had such a pleading tone, however. Consider this: "If God is for us, who can be against us? Who is the NPS?" Or this: "God is bigger than the NPS. Watch out, HE'S GETTING MAD!" Or, how about this one, seen on the blade of the bulldozer: "McCarthy Creek Trail Rides."
When you're on the right side, there's no need to hide, apologize, or give in. As expected, neither Gary, nor Marshall, nor Hunter had read their law or history by meeting time.
They still labored under the delusion that the McCarthy- Green Butte Road had been illegally bulldozed in recent days, although we tried to explain to them that the road had been built a century ago, and was an existing right-of-way which the Pilgrims had been maintaining and improving in recent days.
They were still completely in the dark about the meaning of RS2477, which guarantees the public the right to maintain and travel on historic roads such as this one (the McCarthy- Green Butte Road is listed as RS #135 on the DNR map). They seemed unaware and unconcerned that this law was written specifically to protect citizens from the very situation we were protesting here-ruthless, railroad-over-the- little-guy land grabbing by the federal government, under the phony guise of "protecting park resources."
Worse, they asserted that they would arrest us if we traveled on this route using non-"customary and traditional" means-and then they had to admit that they were unable to define "customary and traditional"! It seems to me, since a bulldozer originally built the road, then a bulldozer used to spruce up the road would be "customary and traditional"!
As if to add insult to injury, they asserted that those of us who call McCarthy home are now "inholders." Never mind that we've never been considered inholders before this meeting. For you see, if they can convince us that we are inholders, then they can exercise more and more control over us. Let me tell you, Control is the name of their game!
And, heaps of evidence and many eye and earwitness accounts notwithstanding, they have never, never, NEVER monitored anyone's phones!
Yeah, right!
Of course, the NPS men uttered not one word acknowledging that the Public Notice they had cooked up amounted to a complete revision of both history and law.
Truth to tell, only 5 words on their phony Public Notice were true: "This notice does not apply..."
We had a real good time on the Great McCarthy Creek Drive, my old McCarthy Rig and I, and I sure wish you could have been there. A fair-sized crowd of locals joined us in motorized vehicles of all sizes and shapes. It was a colorful and festive procession; there were smiles and cheer all around. Someone said we should call our demonstration "Civil Obedience," for when we drove up the McCarthy-Green Butte Road, we were exercising rights guaranteed us by federal and state statutes.
After all, we mountain folks know our history and law.
Funny thing about those parkies-we really went out of our way to make sure they were duly informed of the Great McCarthy Creek Drive.
But none of `em ever showed up!
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THIS article at ECO - LOGIC
Funny thing about those parkies-we really went out of our way to make sure they were duly informed of the Great McCarthy Creek Drive.All, Heh, heh,heh,heh.... I enjoyed this! Peace and love, George.
But none of `em ever showed up!
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JS, Yup. ILLEGAL invasion at that. Peace and love, George.
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