I Stand With Cliven Bundy

Right now, in Bunkerville Nevada, Clive Bundy is taking a stand against the forces of the federal government. Bundy has spent the better part of two decades fighting for his right to graze his cattle on land that his family has grazed since 1877. As I type this, the situation has come to a head. The lines have been drawn. Those who stand for liberty and truth are on one side and those who hate all that is good on the other. The situation is a complicated one, especially for those who live east of the Mississippi, who have little understanding western land use and tradition. Cliven Bundy’s daughter has done a very good job of summarizing this 20 year battle with the federal government…

“I have had people ask me to explain my dad’s stance on this BLM fight. Here it is in as simple of terms as I can explain it. There is so much to it, but here it s in a nut shell. My great grandpa bought the rights to the Bunkerville allotment back in 1887 around there. Then he sold them to my grandpa who then turned them over to my dad in 1972. These men bought and paid for their rights to the range and also built waters, fences and roads to assure the survival of their cattle, all with their own money, not with tax dollars. The rights to the land use are called preemptive rights. Some where down the line, to keep the cows from over grazing, came the Bureau of Land Management. They were supposed to assist the ranchers in the management of their ranges while the ranchers paid a yearly allotment which was to be use to pay the BLM wages and to help with repairs and improvements of the ranches. My dad did pay his grazing fees for years to the BLM until they were no longer using his fees to help him and to improve. Instead they began using these monies against the ranchers. They bought all the rest of the ranchers in the area out with they’re own grazing fees. When they offered to buy my dad out for a penance he said no thanks and then fired them because they weren’t doing their job. He quit paying the BLM and tried giving his grazing fees to the county, which they turned down. So my dad just went on running his ranch and making his own improvements with his own equipment and his own money, not taxes. In essence the BLM was managing my dad out of business. Well when buying him out didn’t work, they used the endangered species card. You’ve already heard about the desert tortoise. Well that didn’t work either, so then began the threats and the court orders, which my dad has proven to be unlawful for all these years. Now they’re desperate. It’s come down to buying the brand inspector off and threatening the County Sheriff. Everything their doing at this point is illegal and totally against the Constitution of the United States of America. Then there’s the issue of the cattle that are at this moment being stolen. See even if dad hasn’t paid them, those cattle belong to him, regardless of where they are they are my father’s property. His herd has been part of that range for over a hundred years, long before the BLM even existed. Now the Feds think they can just come in and remove them and sell them without a legal brand inspection or without my dad’s signature on it. They think they can take them over two borders, which is illegal, ask any trucker. Then they plan to take them to the Richfield Auction and sell them. All this with our tax money. They have paid off the contract cowboys and the auction owner as well as the Nevada brand inspector with our tax dollars. See how slick they are? Well, this is it in a nut shell. Thanks”

Right now, in Nevada, the Bundy ranch is surrounded by armed Federal forces that include snipers . Their cattle are being stolen and sold and protesters are being beat and shot with tazers. Supporters of freedom and members of various militias are traveling to the ranch to provide support. As far as the claim that the BLM is doing this because of the Desert Tortoise, it is interesting to note that the BLM mismanaged funds and had to shut down the “Desert Tortoise Conservation Center” and killed the tortoises in their care. It is also very interesting to me that the BLM has just made $1.27 million in oil and gas leases in Nevada. Not surprisingly, significant exploratory drilling has been conducted in precisely the same area where the Bundy family has been running cattle since the 1870’s.

What can you do to help?

Call the Bureau Of Land Management and demand they stop. (202) 208-3801

Contact Sheriff Douglas Gillespi and demand he stand up to the feds and protect the Bundy’s – (702) 828-3231 or (702) – 828 – 3111

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