By VERNON ROBISON
It has been nearly two years now since the despicable deed was done. Of course, there were so many despicable deeds being done in this area at that particular time that this statement really begs some further clarification.
No one knows precisely what day the crime occurred. But it was apparently during those weeks, in the spring of 2014, when the federal government had closed off nearly all public lands in northeastern Clark County; maintaining an armed occupying force on the landscape as they tried to round up Cliven Bundy’s wayward cows. There was a lot of confusion and upheaval going on. No one even noticed the vile and shameful person (or persons) who slithered out to the remote Gold Butte townsite and dug up the historic grave of old Art Coleman.
For more than 50 years, the grave had sat undisturbed; right alongside that of Coleman’s lifetime friend and business partner William Garrett. These two “Grand Ol’ Men of Gold Butte,” as they have been called, had rested in peace there for all that time; right next to the site of an old mining cabin, now long gone, that they had shared. Suddenly, in place of a peaceful remote gravesite, there was an appalling open hole in the ground, surrounded by fragments of wood from Coleman’s coffin, cement from an old makeshift vault and various other grisly debris. It was an appalling sight!
The heinous crime had reportedly been discovered by a traveller passing through the area. Photos had been taken and anonymously sent to the regional media outlets where they were published far and wide.
Of course, there was a mighty outcry. The wilderness lobby and environmentalist groups immediately played this horrific situation as a political card. They pointed to it as proof positive that their long-contested agenda to place additional federal restrictions over nearly 350,000 acres of desert landscape was entirely justified and urgently needed.
“Something needs to be done about it!” they all shouted in their media soundbites.
But they did nothing to fix it.
Neither did the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the agency charged with managing the vast area.
To be fair to them, though, there wasn’t much they could do. At that point in time, the BLM was in a real pickle. Their heavily armed forces had just been sent packing from under the I-15 bridge by Cliven Bundy’s followers. All that they had accomplished for their trouble was to intimidate and bully the peaceful people of northeastern Clark County and put a serious damper on small local businesses that depend each year on spring tourist visitation to the public lands in the region. In any case, things were pretty tenuous out there for the federal agency. Understandably, they had no appetite to return any time soon. In fact, they haven’t really returned since.
So, while BLM officials probably wanted to do right by the two old, deceased Gold Butte men; their hands were tied. There really wasn’t much they could do.
Then, as is so often the case, it was the local yokels who took action. Quickly and quietly, and without a lot of fanfare, the local stakeholders just went about setting things right. Board members of the citizen group, Partners in Conservation (PIC) communicated through proper channels and got a quiet green light to just solve the problem. Scarcely a month had passed before the breached grave, now empty, had been repaired as best it could be. Local volunteers filled in the gaping hole in the ground and cleaned up the surrounding area. For the time being the grave site was at least returned to a respectable state.
But that wasn’t a permanent resolution to the problem. The remains of Coleman needed to be returned. When the County Coroner had finished a thorough forensic investigation of what little remains had been found of Coleman, those remains were released back to the BLM. PIC had arranged to take possession of the remains, in order to quietly return them back to the grave site. So a couple of months ago, BLM officials gladly turned over a small envelope, containing the remains of Art Coleman, to PIC administrators. Respectfully, the remains were immediately placed in refrigerated storage at the Moapa Valley Mortuary; just until they could be taken back to their rightful place and re-interred.
On Saturday, Art Coleman was finally returned back home to his beloved Gold Butte. It was done respectfully, with a small group of area residents joining in a humble ceremony that Mr. Coleman, no doubt, would have appreciated. Through the efforts of volunteers and a generous local donation, the grave site had been prepared in such a way as to prevent a similar occurence of desecration from ever happening again.
Amazingly, all of this was done by the local yokels without any direct federal oversight or funding. No environmental studies were done; no experts consulted; no act of Congress or Executive Order were needed. Two years after the dastardly crime, this important cultural and historical site was fully set right again by the common people who value it the most: the local stakeholders.
Here is yet another example of how the simple efforts of local folks, unhindered by federal bureaucracy, can just get things done. It is another instance of how local volunteer efforts, with the federal managing agency operating in the background, can bring a swift solution to a local problem; without getting all bogged down in a lot of red tape.
Admittedly, there are many complex problems in managing an area as vast as Gold Butte. Like the case of Art Coleman’s grave, there is also no simple fix. Just slapping another federal designation on all of it, and then returning home, trusting that all will be well, won’t solve these issues. Turning all of the problems over to a federal agency to work them out at its glacial bureaucratic pace doesn’t equate to immediate preservation or protection. But we have seen, time and time again, that it does tend to result in more closures and restrictions of areas most precious to the local folks.
Instead, how about trying something new? How about loosening up on some of the operating guidelines, timeframes and regulations, and allowing the yokels to take the lead in solving problems? How about bringing some of these long-promised federal resources together to support the efforts of a fully mobilized local volunteer force that is already willing, able and present to care for the land as it should be done: in a direct, knowledgeable and no-nonsense way.
This concept might be way too much common sense for the average environmentalist to bear. But, this case of solving the seemingly insurmountable problem of Art Coleman’s desecrated grave shows an important fact. One should never underestimate the power a lowly group of yokels when the federal government steps out of the way and allows them to quietly go about doing the right and sensible thing on the land that they love.
