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Nevada rancher standoff turns on a states’ rights debate
CBS ^ | April 14, 2014

Posted on 04/14/2014 11:30:47 AM PDT by Jim Robinson

MESQUITE, Nev. - A day after blinking in a showdown on the range, federal land managers pledged to pursue efforts to resolve a conflict with a southern Nevada rancher who has refused to pay grazing fees for 20 years.

Bureau of Land Management spokesman Craig Leff said the agency would continue to try to resolve the matter involving rancher Cliven Bundy "administratively and judicially." Bundy owes more than $1 million in grazing fees, according to the bureau.

"The door isn't closed. We'll figure out how to move forward with this," he said Sunday. He declined to comment on possible options.

Bundy did not respond to requests for comment.

The fight between Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management widened into a debate about states' rights and federal land-use policy. Bundy does not recognize federal authority on land he insists belongs to Nevada. The debate over who is right became so heated that a self-described armed local militia has come to his aide.

~~~snip~~~

In April 2012, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a notice of intent to sue the bureau for canceling a planned roundup of Bundy's cattle at the last minute.

The dispute that ultimately triggered last week's roundup dates to 1993, when the bureau cited concern for the federally protected desert tortoise in the region.

The bureau was implementing two federal court orders issued last year to remove Bundy's cattle after making repeated efforts to resolve the matter outside court.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; US: Nevada
KEYWORDS: 10a; 10tha; blm; bundy; bundyranch; statesrights
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To: HMS Surprise

Read the Federalist, then read the Constitution. Otherwise you will be easily confused.


101 posted on 04/14/2014 2:31:48 PM PDT by HMS Surprise (Chris Christie can STILL go straight to hell.)
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To: taxcontrol
As for the backhoe, have you ever maintained a dirt road? I have, depending on the situation, there are a lot of reasons why a backhoe might come in handy. Washed out dirt roads need to be repaired before vehicles can use them.

Why, yes, I have.

Of course, we never felt the need to beat the crap out of spectators and handcuff them for watching while we worked.

How about you?

Why did the Fedcoats need to do that to Bundy's son because he was curious about their backhoe?

102 posted on 04/14/2014 2:40:41 PM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: Georgia Girl 2
They also alluded and I read this somewhere else that there is some suspicion at least a few of those BLM guys were not Aericans.

My guess is that the Fedcoat @ the gate in the underpass was a Special Forces type. His hair was cut high and tight, but he had the scraggle-beard.

The beard is kind of a "flip-off" to his masters. I've seen it before. I'd also be interested to know what sort of sunglasses he was wearing.

103 posted on 04/14/2014 2:45:18 PM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: taxcontrol

The clause was demanded by congress in order to prevent any claims that may have flowed from either Spanish rule or Mexican rule of the lands prior to the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

baloney and you know it.


104 posted on 04/14/2014 2:48:02 PM PDT by rolling_stone
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To: taxcontrol; mad_as_he$$
tortoiseForts wrote:

The Taylor Grazing act (1934) created the legal basis for collecting grazing fees for cattle grazing on US government owned lands

Bundy paid those fees until 1993 when he stopped paying

Bundy has continued to allow his cattle to graze on those lands without paying the grazing fees.

Let's cast a little bit more light on the Taylor Grazing Act and Mr. Bundy, shall we?:

Since most of the state is desert, ranchers have always had to use tremendous acreage to feed cattle here. Our state was brought into the union around 1865. Prior to that, and after that, up till 1934 ranchers had legal free reign to graze cattle with no restrictions. This was called forage rights.

In the 1930's the ranchers had arguments between themselves regarding territories. So a few of the larger ones got together and asked the fed if they could hire them, by paying minimal fees to "manage" the land and break it out into sections. This was made into the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934.

The fees are minimal. $1.74 per cow & calf per month. Ranchers had no problem paying that just to have disagreements settled.

Ranchers were also required to secure water rights and maintain and make improvements on the land. Mr. Bundy and his predecessors have always done that. No one is arguing that fact.

Bundy's ranch was established in 1877. His family purchased it later, in the 1880's. But when they did, they had to PAY for the water and forage rights.

After the 1934 act they continued to pay grazing fees and make improvements up until the 1990's.

Somewhere along the way the Bureau of Land Management was created. I don't know what year.

Around 1990 or so they told him that he could no longer graze more than 150 of his 600 or so head of cattle there.

He told them to pound sand and kept paying his fees and grazing his cattle.

Around 1994 they told him he could only graze them in the summer, fall and winter and said it was so that the cattle didn't disturb the Desert Tortoise. (more on that later)

He told them that they were HIRED by the Taylor Grazing act to MANAGE the land for the ranchers. So he FIRED them and started paying his fees to to the state of Nevada. Soon they didn't know where to put it so they quit taking payments.

Meanwhile they came at him from another angle. When they saw they weren't going to be able to force him off the land the BLM SOLD the rights to the land to the state of Nevada under the condition that the state RETIRE the grazing rights permanently. Nevada legislators, being idiots, did their bidding. That was around 1996 or so.

But the state left him alone and let him forage all those years.

105 posted on 04/14/2014 2:52:27 PM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: kiryandil

Mr. GG2 said some of them look like Crisp or Blackwater. Not suprising.

I wonder how they liked being surrounded by 500 armed militia and had to call LVPD to come save them?


106 posted on 04/14/2014 2:55:20 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Tammy8
You would sound more knowledgeable if you had the name of HOOVER dam correct.

I've been mocking him about it since the end of last week.

Don't let his "dxylesia"* excuse fool you. He's just stubborn, and won't take correction - about much of anything.

*Yes, I did that a-purpose. :-)

107 posted on 04/14/2014 2:56:57 PM PDT by kiryandil (turning Americans into felons, one obnoxious drunk at a time (Zero Tolerance!!!))
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To: taxcontrol
Bundy paid those fees until 1993 when he stopped paying

There is more to the story than that.

.

53 Ranchers forced out by BLM

108 posted on 04/14/2014 3:04:44 PM PDT by Karl Spooner
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To: kiryandil

“Washed out dirt roads need to be repaired before vehicles can use them”

Well in this case they needed a backhoe to dismantel his water pipes and cisterns which they had piled up in the back of the dump truck. I think its called vandalism or destroying infrastructure. Take your pick.


109 posted on 04/14/2014 3:07:28 PM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose o f a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

........very interesting post, thank you!


110 posted on 04/14/2014 3:09:21 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid!)
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To: Chunga85

“The most complete data is from the Beaver Dam Mountains. Woodbury and Hardy reported a tortoise population density of 150 per square mile in 1948. BLM reduced cattle grazing a few years later and eliminated cattle in 1970. Coombs reported a tortoise density of 39 per square mile in 1974. In these 26 years cattle use was reduced 100 percent and tortoise numbers were reduced 74 percent.

“These tortoises were doing so poorly a veterinarian, Dr. Jarchow, was consulted. He reported all six specimens were suffering from osteoporosis caused by a protein deficiency in their diet. Dr. Jarchow examined five specimens from the same mountains that shared their range with cattle. He reported these specimens were all healthy and well nourished.

“The historical record proves conclusively that tortoise thrive when cattle are on the range with them and without cattle grazing they are always malnourished and unhealthy and their numbers plummet.

http://www.vinsuprynowicz.com/?p=80


111 posted on 04/14/2014 3:35:37 PM PDT by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
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To: Karl Spooner

Let me update your post. When hoofed animals walk on desert soil they break the top sun baked, crusted layer. This enable seeds to get caught in the soil and the evening winds cover them in light dust. Then the morning dew waters them and they start sprouting. It is these render shoots that tortoises dine on.


112 posted on 04/14/2014 3:39:52 PM PDT by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
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To: B4Ranch

And that certainly makes perfect sense to anyone who knows what poop does.


113 posted on 04/14/2014 3:49:29 PM PDT by Karl Spooner
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To: B4Ranch
I don't think it was about taxes or grazing fees either.

I'd like to know what "J. Special Forces Operator" was doing there.

It's him...the same guy that was at the gate right before BLM pulled out is at the 3:40 mark of this Discovery Channel video on youtube below...

Special Operations Americas Secret Soldiers

The youtube video below has what looks to be the very same guy at the gate starting at about the 1:30 mark.

Historic! Feds Forced to Surrender to American Citizens

If it's not the same guy they're twins.

114 posted on 04/14/2014 3:52:58 PM PDT by Chunga85
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To: Chunga85

Probably a merc.


115 posted on 04/14/2014 4:03:56 PM PDT by B4Ranch (Name your illness, do a Google & YouTube search with "hydrogen peroxide". Do it and be surprised.)
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To: taxcontrol

.......thank you for your response. Perhaps without meaning to, you make my point, indeed everybody’s point, at least on the right side of the line (politically). And, that is that this whole affair in Bunkerville was not about cows and grazing fees. Indeed, it is ALL ABOUT the Mood of the American hard-working patriot and how sick and tired he/she is of the Obama Administration and all it’s Czars and Marxist’s Cabinet members ignoring the “Rule of Law” and just making it up as they go along. Obamacare, just to name one example, has been illegally modified 37 times for the sole purpose of giving the Dems some electoral boost.

I can’t speak for all but speaking for myself, and what I THINK I saw in these cowboys and others, I am just sick of this lawless administration and the time for standing up to them is most likely way past due. Indeed, arguably, to allow it to go any further is only serving to make things more bloody down the road.

I refer you too to Thomas Jefferson’s statement about the “Tree of Liberty”. Millions think that is where we are and these cowboys proved that there are still people out there ready, willing and able to water that tree if that is what it takes.

When you have Ivy League types like George Will saying essentially the same thing on a Sunday Morning talk show it’s really time to start paying attention.

Meanwhile, in the 1860’s Civil WAr. China and Russia did not have Nukes. If we get to fighting the leftists over here, will the Russkies and Chinese mis-calculate?


116 posted on 04/14/2014 4:24:31 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas (it's the debt bomb stupid!)
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To: mad_as_he$$

Adverse possession is a STATE law and applies to STATE lands. It does not apply to lands that the state disavowed in their constitution.


117 posted on 04/14/2014 11:45:38 PM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: HMS Surprise

Well if you follow that logic, the land belongs to either Mexico or Spain or the American Indians, depending on how far back you want to go.


118 posted on 04/14/2014 11:46:54 PM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: rolling_stone

Well, I have made an assertion. If you care to refute it with facts, please do so. Calling it baloney does not do anything more than show you have an opinion that differs. Please feel free to site your sources. If you can show that my facts are in error, I will gladly refute them myself.


119 posted on 04/14/2014 11:50:07 PM PDT by taxcontrol
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To: taxcontrol

Omg... Where to start... The basics I guess. One basic concept of federalism is seperation of powers. The states were from the beginning supposed to be superior within their geographic boundary. The Feds had powers given to them, but these powers had almost zero to do with people within the states, and it was unimaginable that federal power would used to regulate something like cattle grazing, for instance. These types of powers have been imposed by fiat and federal judicial stamp. So, for instance, the BLM makes an arbitrary rule, then goes to its federal buddy with the imprimatur of an administrative judge for approval, to establish new authority. All of which is usually outside of the basic mission of the United States, which is merely a fancy term to describe Washington D.C. It’s a scam that has pushed numerous agencies into every aspect of our lives, and it must stop... Period.


120 posted on 04/15/2014 12:48:59 AM PDT by HMS Surprise (Chris Christie can STILL go straight to hell.)
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