By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
Over 300 people showed up on Wednesday night for the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board (MVTAB) meeting in Overton to show support for embattled rancher Cliven Bundy. The room at the Overton Community Center was filled to capacity and the crowd spilled out onto the courtyard outside. An amplified sound system had been set up in advance to allow those outside to hear the proceedings.
To begin the agenda item, Bundy spoke to the audience about the ongoing conflict with the federal government over his grazing rights.
“I definitely didn’t want to be the one to strike the match to this thing,” Bundy said. “But I’ve been fighting it for a lot of years and it is not about my cows. It is about freedom and liberty and the Constitution and access to public land; and above all who has policing power.”
Bundy called upon Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval to exert state authority and upon Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie to take a stand.
“We are worried about the federal government taking our cows but is that our problem?” Bundy asked. “No! Our problem is right here at home. Why doesn’t the Governor exercise his authority here? That’s a good questions isn’t it? Where has Sheriff Gillespie been? He is the man with constitutional jurisdiction and authority. He has policing power. We elected him and we pay him; for what? To protect life, liberty and property!”
Bundy closed by saying that he loves this land; he loves Liberty; and he loves the sovereign state of Nevada.
“No one can tell me that the United States owns this land,” he said. “I know that the Constitution did not provide anything like for our federal government to own this land. So when I pay my grazing fees, if I owe any, I will pay them to the right landlord; and that would be Clark County, Nevada!”
After Bundy’s presentation, MVTAB Chairman Gene Houston opened the floor for public comment. A solid stream of comments from attendees followed which took up the space of more than two hours.
State Senator Joe Hardy stated that he appreciated Bundy’s offer to pay grazing fees to Clark County.
“In order to do that, we have to have the State Legislature give control of that land to Clark County,” Hardy said. “We can do that legislatively. I firmly believe that we have a mandate to do something for Cliven Bundy. And I look forward to the time when he has the opportunity to pay grazing fees to somebody other than the federal government.”
Overton resident Lorri Houston decried the fact that the BLM had closed the Logandale Trails area over the weekend of April 5-6, after officials had publicly stated that the area would remain open. She said that she had frequently gone out into the trail system west of the Moapa Valley, both for work and for recreation.
“I have never, not even one time, seen a cow on the Logandale Trails; never!” she said. “I will challenge any impact study that shows that they are there. I believe that this rolling closure that is not on the map that the BLM has provided to us, was to create animosity against the Bundy family. It is not working!”
Laura Bledsoe, candidate for the Assembly seat currently held by Cresent Hardy, said that she had been advised by political mentors to be careful in outwardly supporting the Bundy family because they had “broken the law”.
“It didn’t take me long to think about that,” she said. “Cliven and Carol Bundy are not the gunslinging rabble-rousing lawbreakers that many would have us believe. They do more than talk. They have peacefully pushed back against this unlawful abuse of federal power. They have been carrying this alone for far too long. For public record, I openly, publicly and personally say that I stand with the Bundys. I support their fight and I will do all in my power to assist them.”
Logandale resident Jill Williams said that the closures had already dramatically affected her business. Williams operates an ATV rental shop in downtown Overton. She talked about how, since the closures of Overton Beach and the Echo Bay Marina at Lake Mead, a community effort had been underway to bring additional sources of tourism to the community. Involved with this were efforts to encourage off highway vehicle use in areas surrouding the community, she said.
“I feel that the Moapa Valley is just now, after so many years, beginning to make headway in bringing back tourists,” Williams said. “These BLM closures have seriously impacted business in the community; and it has only been one week. The BLM website says one thing but then when you get to an appropriate area to ride you are met by an armed BLM officer informing you that you are trespassing and asked to leave; and not very nicely either. This happened to one of my customers on the Logandale Trails system last weekend.”
Williams said that her rental business was completely shut down due to the closures.
Logandale resident Margaret Houston, sister of Cliven Bundy, related the story of earlier in the day when she had been thrown to the ground, and her nephew Ammon Bundy had been stunned with a taser three times, by a BLM officer while protesting the roundup action.
“They have snipers and machine guns and helicopters,” Houston said. “It’s like a foreign country out there.”
Houston explained she and other protesters had entered a fray with BLM authorities because they wanted to see what was in the back of a heavily guarded dump truck which was towing a backhoe behind it. They were concerned that BLM officers had killed the family’s cattle in the mountains and were hauling them out in the truck, Houston said.
The protesters were able to delay the motorcade long enough for some in attendance to note what was in the back of the truck. Houston explained that it had been infrastructure to water improvements which had been removed from the open range. This infrastructure was part of water property rights which had been acquired or inherited by Bundy and his family, Houston said. The improvements provide adequate water for cattle and wildlife in the area, conserved from natural spring seeps coming out of the ground.
“They just ripped this stuff out trying to choke the cows and make them come down to the river, I guess,” Houston said.
State Senator Pete Goicoechea who represents the Logandale area explained that he is also a public land rancher in central Nevada. He said that County officials could do more to get the roads back open.
“This is not the first impoundment that has ever happened,” Goicoechea said. “When I was on the Eureka County Commission there was an impoundment and they closed the county roads. We instructed the County Sheriff to go out and take down the signs and open the roads again. We did that as a county commission. Clark County can do the same.”
Goicoechea said that the Bundys and their supporters had laid the groundwork for state legislators to make some changes.
“We have the tools to go back to Carson City and establish it, once and for all, that they (BLM) have no power in the state of Nevada other than those granted by the state or county,” Goicoechea said.
He encouraged the protesters to keep their demonstrations peaceful.
Assemblyman James Oscarson backed up what Goicoechea had said.
“You have given us every tool that we need to say that we are not going to tolerate this any longer,” he said.
Assemblyman Cresent Hardy of Mesquite, who is currently running for the U.S. Congressional seat of Rep. Steven Horsford, called upon people to remain engaged in the process. He talked about going to the Legislature and being flooded with the environmental left advocating for their causes.
“I can’t do much on my own when they have 100,000 people standing up there for the environmental movement,” he said. “I need 108 of you to help me. You are warmed up here, you’re mad and upset; you gotta stay that way. You have to stay active and keep your children active in these things. This is a lifelong struggle.”
Logandale resident Bruce Whitney talked about his family holding the last legal ranching allotment in northeastern Clark County. He said that his family had to fight to keep that allotment in court back in the 1990s. Today, his family is allowed to have only about 40 cows in their allotment, Whitney said.
“I’ll admit that I have my issues with Cliven Bundy,” Whitney said. “He fought his battle one way, and we fought ours another way. I don’t disagree with him, but I don’t support him either. But I’m not happy with the way that the BLM is handling this. They have gone out of control. That’s why I’m here tonight. I support the movement that the BLM needs to be reigned in.”
