By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
Last week, the BLM action to seize and remove what were being called “trespass cattle” belonging to Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy, quickly escalated from a small local news story to catching the attention of a national and international audience. The matter finally came to a head on Saturday when an agreement was reached for the BLM to stand down and release the remaining cattle back to Bundy. The following is a rundown of the week’s activities leading up to that final resolution.
Saturday, April 5
The federal roundup of Bundy’s cattle begins. By that time, BLM and National Park Service officials had already closed off more than 300,000 acres of public land in northeastern Clark County, with a targeted total of 600,000 acres total closure area possible.
In addition, BLM officials had established two orange plastic enclosed spots of ground as official First Amendment areas to allow for public protest. One was just over the bridge from Mesquite on Riverside Road on the way to Bunkerville. The other was at the Riverside exit of Interstate 15.
BLM contractors rounded up 76 head of cattle that day.
Sunday, April 6
Dave Bundy, Cliven’s son, was taken into custody by BLM officers while he was standing along State Route 170 between Bunkerville and Riverside taking video footage of the roundup operation.
The younger Bundy was roughed up a bit, questioned and held by federal authorities through the night on Sunday and into the next day. He was released on Monday afternoon after being issued a citation for “refusing to disperse and resisting arrest”.
This incident prompted Cliven Bundy to send out an announcement on Sunday evening declaring a “range war”. A rally at the Bundy ranch was planned for the next morning and regional media was invited.
Another 60 head of cattle were gathered on Sunday, according to numbers released by the BLM.
Monday, April 7
More than 100 people gathered early on Monday morning at the Bundy ranch to protest the arrest and the federal roundup which was ongoing.
The rally remained a peaceful protest where participants eventually moved to a location on private land, just north of the Riverside bridge. There they erected two flag poles with a banner posted across them stating “Liberty, Freedom for God We Stand”.
Despite the federally designated “free speech zones”, this area became the focal point and the picket line for the Bundy cause.
BLM reported gathering 100 head of cattle during the day on Monday.
Tuesday, April 8
State Assemblyman and U.S. Congressional candidate Cresent Hardy arranged for two local residents to meet with Governor Brian Sandoval and relate the events unfolding at the Bundy ranch and across northeastern Clark County. The meeting was held in Las Vegas and included Hardy, Assemblyman James Oscarson and Logandale residents Lindsey Dalley and Dustin Nelson, both of whom are board members of the Partners in Conservation organization.
“We were able to take [the Governor] from being 100 miles away from this issue, to bringing him up to date on just what was happening on the ground,” said Dalley after the meeting.
That afternoon, Sandoval released a written statement decrying some of the methods of the BLM in the roundup.
“Most disturbing to me is the BLM’s establishment of a “First Amendment Area” that tramples upon Nevadans’ fundamental rights under the U.S. Constitution,” Sandoval stated. “To that end I have advised the BLM that such conduct is offensive to me and countless others and that the ‘First Amendment Area’ should be dismantled immediately.”
BLM reported 41 cattle rounded up on Tuesday.
Wednesday, April 9
The National Park Service announced it was expanding its closure area to include St. Thomas, Overton Beach and Stewarts Point. Contract crews and BLM Ranger vehicles passed, at high speed, through the Moapa Valley community throughout the day bringing cattle out of the National Park area.
At around noon, Wednesday, Nevada Senator Dean Heller released a statement expressing “great disappointment with the way that this situation is being handled”.
“Law-abiding Nevadans must not be penalized by an over-reaching BLM,” Heller stated. “I remain extremely concerned about the size of this closure and disruptions with access to roads, water and electrical infrastructure. I will continue to closely monitor this situation, and urge the BLM to make the necessary changes in order to preserve Nevadans’ constitutional rights”
Later in the day, a scuffle between protestors and BLM officers broke out resulting in another of Bundy’s sons being stunned 2-3 times with a BLM taser gun and a 57 year old woman being thrown to the ground by BLM officers.
The woman, Margaret Houston of Logandale, stated that the area felt like a war zone.
“I was worried that I wasn’t in the United States anymore,” she said.
She explained that she had been on the picket lines through the morning when about 15 BLM ranger vehicles along with a dump truck towing a backhoe, came down onto the road from the desert. The protesters wanted to know what was in the dump truck and why the BLM crews were using the backhoe, Houston said.
“We figured they were up there shooting cows and burying them in the mountains,” Houston said. “So we decided we were going to check it out.”
The crowd tried to get the vehicles to stop by standing in front of them in the road, Houston said. She was standing close alongside one of the trucks, shouting for the BLM agents to go home and leave the area, she said.
“All of a sudden I got hit from behind by one of the rangers,” she said. “It was a football tackle and he threw me onto the ground. I was shocked that somebody would actually do this!”
As soon as she got up she had tasers pointed in her face by BLM officers.
Cliven’s son, Ammon Bundy, along with other protesters, went to Houston’s defense yelling at the BLM officers. Ammon was held back by a German Shepherd from BLM K-9 unit. When he kicked at the dog to keep it away from him, the officers stunned him with a taser.
After a few moments, the BLM officers dispersed from the scene.
Video footage of this incident became widespread through social media in the hours afterward and catapulted the story suddenly onto the national stage.
On Wednesday evening, over 300 people attended a Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board meeting where Cliven Bundy gave a presentation. Over two hours of public comment ensued during the meeting, mainly in support of Bundy. State Legislators stated publicly that Governor Sandoval was fully engaged working behind the scenes to bring a solution to the impasse.
A total of 75 head of cattle were reported gathered on Wednesday.
Thursday, April 10
The BLM quietly took down its “First Amendment Areas”. BLM officials said that they had heard the Governor’s concerns and “made some adjustments” in their practices.
“We are allowing people to congregate on public land as long as they don’t inhibit the operation,” said BLM state director Amy Lueders in a conference call with reporters on Thursday.
The crowds continued to grow at the Bundy’s Riverside protest site. The issue became a national debate as State lawmakers across the western United States; most of them tea party Republicans or Libertarians associated with a patriot group known as the Oath Keepers; expressed public support for Bundy.
In addition, a call to arms went out over the internet for armed militia members in places like Montana, Arizona, Utah and other western states, to gather at the Bundy Ranch to provide protection to the protesters against federal brutality.
Two brothers from St. George, Utah were detained and cited by federal authorities on Thursday afternoon for climbing under a gate and entering a closure area at Overton Beach in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The two men, identified as Tyler and Spencer Shillig, were held for about an hour and released. They received citations for interfering with a BLM agency function, disorderly conduct and violent behavior.
The BLM reported rounding up 25 head of cattle on Thursday.
Friday, April 11
Momentum continued to build for the protest near the Bundy Ranch. People arrived from all over the country and beyond to join in the demonstration. This included heavily armed and equipped militia members from all over the western U.S.
A group of five armed militia members from Prescott, Arizona offered to act as Cliven Bundy’s personal security detail. They had arrived at 3:00 a.m. on Friday morning.
In Las Vegas, three southern Nevada tea party groups organized another protest event outside Las Vegas police headquarters on Friday morning. The group called upon Sheriff Doug Gillespie to “do his job” and protect the Bundy family.
Friday evening, National Park Service officials announced that the closure on the west side of the Overton Arm at Lake Mead had been lifted.
“Lands near St. Thomas and Stewarts Point are now open in time for the Clark County Fair and Rodeo,” the statement read.
The BLM reported rounding up 12 head of cattle on Friday.
