Grand Jury Probe Sought

Chenoweth-Hage seeks cattle seizure probe

By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press Writer Saturday, September 06, 2003

RENO, Nev. -- States' rights activists are trying to force a grand jury probe of the state's brand inspector they accuse of conspiring with the U.S. government to seize cattle trespassing on federal land in Nevada.
Ex-Rep. Helen Chenoweth-Hage of Idaho is helping lead a citizen petition drive in Esmeralda County for a grand jury investigation of James Connelley's role in the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's confiscation of a Nevada rancher's cattle in July 2001.
Chenoweth-Hage, chairman of the Nevada Live Stock Association, said BLM agents violated Ben Colvin's constitutional rights when they seized 62 of his cattle and auctioned them off after billing him for more than $73,000 in past-due grazing fees and fines.
"It is a sad day when nearly $40,000 of my property can be confiscated, trucked away and sold with complicity of the brand inspector," said Colvin, a Goldfield rancher.
The petition to the 5th Judicial District Court of Nevada for Esmeralda County said Connelley should have exercised his authority under Nevada law to block the BLM from taking the livestock and ensure Colvin's right to due process.
"Mr. Connelley has violated the public trust," said Chenoweth-Hage, who now lives in Nevada.
"He failed to enforce the law his position mandated, allowing the federal government to seize Mr. Colvin's property without his consent or his day in court," the former GOP congresswoman said.
BLM officials said they confiscated Colvin's cattle as a last resort after he repeatedly grazed them without a permit and in violation of regulations intended to stem overgrazing that damages the range, especially around streams.
Colvin had refused since 1995 to pay grazing fees, amounting to $1.35 a month per cow and calf pair, agency officials said.
Officials for the BLM, the Nevada Attorney General's Office and the Nevada Department of Agriculture repeated their belief Friday that both Connelley and the BLM acted appropriately.
"There haven't been any cases where the BLM has impounded livestock where a court has ruled that we were in violation of due process rights or that it was unconstitutional," BLM spokeswoman JoLynn Worley said.
Connelley said the group's arguments are "all old news."
"We've been down this road two or three times," Connelley said from his office in Elko. Nevertheless, he admitted some concern.
"Nobody likes to have a grand jury or any charges brought against them, especially when you are acting under the law and under the advice of the attorney general," Connelley said.
The ranchers and states' rights activists said they already have more than the 111 signatures necessary to force the state court in Esmeralda County to summon a grand jury and appoint a special prosecutor to investigate their claims.
"We are finally going to the people because our state is more in line with the BLM than they are with us," said Jackie Holmgren, an officer of the Nevada Live Stock Association.
"This is a way around all the bureaucratic protection. The people are willing to stand up on this," she said. She said the petition likely would be submitted to the court next week.
Several of the group's officials also are affiliated with the Nevada Committee for Full Statehood, including Mrs. Holmgren and her husband, David Holmgren -- who ran for governor in 2002 for the Independent American Party of Nevada.
They accuse the BLM of acting as prosecutor, judge and jury in finding Colvin guilty of trespassing.
"What they are trying to do is let the executive branch take over for the judicial branch and you cannot do that," Mrs. Holmgren said. "We want to bring forth the facts to substantiate our case and let the grand jury vote on whether to indict Jim Connelley."
The group urged the firing of Connelley earlier this year.
But Don Henderson, acting director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture, said he was "comfortable that the actions taken by Mr. Connelley were lawful, within the scope of his authority and were proper responses under the circumstances."
Esmeralda County District Attorney William Schaeffer said it was the first time he was aware of a citizen petition to launch such a probe there. He said he was reviewing the matter but did not believe he had any authority to prevent such action.
"I may give my opinion, but it's not up to me," he said Thursday from his private law practice in Battle Mountain.
Tom Sargent, a spokesman for the state attorney general, said the brand inspector's role is limited to establishing legal possession of livestock, not the legal ownership.
Worley said the BLM provided Connelley with the proper documentation of repeated trespass notices and notices of intent to impound Colvin's cattle before seizing the livestock.
"We have to show the state brand inspector we have the legal right to possess the animals," she said.
Once a rancher receives notice, he has an opportunity to end the trespass or show why the livestock were not in trespass, but Colvin did not do that, she said.
"So there is due process, but the responses Mr. Colvin provided were things like 'the federal government has no authority,' and 'there are no public lands,"' Worley said.
"We don't buy that."