NEWS ROUNDUP

Army's Plan To Expand Has Ranchers Fearing Condemnation Jim Walter's family has been raising cattle and farming crops for 30 years on their 7,000-acre ranch about 17 miles east of La Junta. Walter, who also teaches in La Junta, said he and his family are tied to their land not only economically, but more importantly, emotionally. Fort Carson may be targeting a portion of Walter's property as well as lands stretching into three counties, to expand its Pinon Canyon Maneuvering Site. The thought of selling his land to the Army for a possible expansion makes Walter sick to his stomach. "This is what we want to do for the rest of our lives and nothing can change that. I would never want to give this up - not under any circumstances," Jim Walter said, kicking up dirt as he walked around his ranch last week. The Walters and scores of other ranchers who live near Pinon Canyon say quitting the business and selling their property to the Department of Defense for a possible expansion is out of the question. Ranchers say the proposed expansion could involve hundreds of independent ranching operations, some of which have been in families for generations. Fort Carson officials have said they are considering expanding the training area (currently about 240,000 acres) to as much as 1 million acres. They stress that Pinon Canyon gives the Army room to do large-scale joint maneuvers....
Feds aim for more wildlife control The official policy of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is that brucellosis should be eradicated, not simply controlled in the United States. Judging from discussion during a meeting here last week, that objective could create even further strain between the federal government and the state of Wyoming over the controversial subject of managing brucellosis-infected bison and elk in northwest Wyoming. The greater Yellowstone area constitutes the sole remaining reservoir of brucellosis-infected animals in the country. APHIS veterinarian Bret Combs was asked whether brucellosis could be eradicated without treating wildlife like livestock. Clearly uncomfortable with the question, Combs said that was a policy decision for others -- and at a higher pay grade. He did explain that historically, brucellosis has been eradicated elsewhere only through capturing animals, testing them for the disease and slaughtering those that test positive....
Vets scold Game and Fish The Wyoming Game and Fish Department was taken to task by the state veterinarian and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Thursday for knowing about the commingling of brucellosis-infected elk and cattle but not alerting the Wyoming Livestock Board to the situation. The confrontation took place here during the biannual meeting of the Governor’s Brucellosis Task Force. It grew out of discussions about a Wyoming Livestock Board decision to test a Gros Ventre cattle herd for brucellosis. State Veterinarian Dwayne Oldham and Bret Combs, a veterinarian for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, maintained that because Game and Fish is responsible for wildlife, the department has the duty to report instances of brucellosis-infected elk mingling with cattle. "There is a law against exposing animals to an infectious disease, and you must report it," Oldham said....
Western driller's gifts scrutinized In early 2002, the Williams Cos., a Tulsa, Okla.-based energy firm, was foundering. For its role in the California energy crisis of 2000-01, Williams was facing government investigations that would end up costing it hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties and payments. Its telecommunications subsidiary was sliding into bankruptcy. The firm's stock plummeted so rapidly that trading was temporarily suspended. To reverse the company's misfortunes, Williams placed its bets on the West's natural-gas boom. With the help of key state and federal regulatory decisions, the company sank well after well in western Colorado. It also became a major driller in Wyoming's Powder River Basin gas fields. And it is a player in ongoing efforts to open wild public land atop Colorado's Roan Plateau to drilling. Last year, Williams drilled 1,629 new gas wells, 578 of them in Colorado, making it the second-biggest gas driller in the state. While smaller than such energy conglomerates as Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips, Williams is a large independent operation....
Eagles banded in local project found as far away as Mexico The subject was found dead in a dry creekbed, 125 miles south of the Mexican border. She'd last been seen alive on a windy day near Ovando, hunting birds. “On April 17, I got the phone call,” said Rob Domenech, who is deeply involved in the investigation. “It was an unknown number. I'm thinking it's a telemarketer. Then there's this guy on the other end with a heavy Spanish accent, calling me from Chihuahua, Mexico, saying he has one of our banded golden eagles.” Domenech is president of Missoula's Raptor View Research Institute, one of the most successful eagle-banding operations in the nation. But even he never expected a golden eagle flying through Montana would migrate all the way to Mexico. In fact, he wasn't certain he'd ever hear about a banded eagle again once it was released. “It's so rare to get any kind of band return,” Domenech explained. “Somebody can band 100 birds and they're lucky if they get any information back on one.” Nevertheless, Raptor View birds have been yo-yoing back into the research logs. Last Oct. 15, some University of Montana students spotted a golden eagle with Raptor View wing tags feasting on a road-killed deer just outside of Lincoln. Domenech had banded that bird himself on Oct. 7, 2003, atop Rogers Pass. And once in each of the past two springs, bird-watchers in the Sandia Mountains of New Mexico reported seeing golden eagles with the blue wing tags of Raptor View. They couldn't read the ID numbers, but the report was clear enough to confirm the birds had spent time in Montana....
Selling It on the Mountain From the snowy summit of Dyer Mountain, what the developers hail as a blank canvas unfolds with majestic views of Mt. Lassen and dark green timberland crawling up the volcanic slopes of the Cascades. Their dream is to build California's first major ski operation in three decades and transform 7,000 acres abutting Walker Lake, 165 miles north of Sacramento, into a year-round resort with golf, mountain biking, hiking, boating, fishing and several thousand luxury dwellings and hotel rooms tucked amid the trees. If built, supporters say, Dyer Mountain Resort would inject new life into a formerly timber-dependent county that has attracted little new business activity besides the construction of two prisons. Some residents of this onetime lumber company town of 2,000, which has lost about 80% of its population since the mid-20th century, worry about becoming an underclass serving wealthy new residents and tourists — and that real estate speculation will make home ownership unaffordable for their children. Environmentalists, government agencies and hunters question the project's effect on migratory birds that flock to Walker Lake and on threatened bald eagles that nest nearby. Members of the Honey Lake Maidu tribe say the development would desecrate hallowed land....
Rancher: Sempra worth the discussion This is ground zero for the storm that began a year ago when Sempra Energy announced its plan to build a coal-fired power plant just miles from Roy Prescott's property. Prescott remained at the center of the public debate, divulging from day one that he sold options on his water to the San Diego-based energy company. Despite a statewide moratorium on coal plants in place and Sempra looking to sell its project, the former Jerome County commissioner says that for him everything remains the same. In the end, Prescott remains confident that coal-fired power plant will be built at the originally proposed location. Yet, he didn't oppose the two-year moratorium the Legislature enacted on building and permitting such facilities. Idahoans, especially Magic Valley residents, need to feel comfortable about building a coal-fired power plant and this moratorium may help them do that, he said....
Burns' wilderness bill stirs up debate Sen. Conrad Burns wants to provide Bitterroot Valley irrigators rights of way into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness to maintain a series of earthen dams scattered across the Bitterroot Range. But conservationists say the legislation the Montana Republican introduced last week gives away the farm. Irrigators counter that the bill just affirms access they were guaranteed when the area was set aside as wilderness decades ago. Burns' legislation would provide, at no cost, rights of way of up to 60 feet along trails leading into the dams and up to 500 feet in areas adjacent to the structures. Under the bill, dam owners would be able to drive and operate motorized equipment inside the wilderness on those rights of way. Irrigators would not be subject to any federal law for any activity they conducted on the right of way, nor would they be liable for any damage that might occur in their efforts to maintain the dams. Burns said the access is needed to perform maintenance, ensure the safety of people living downstream and conduct normal dam operations....
Sheep being deployed to combat leafy spurge Sheep are being grazed on a small cattle pasture to judge their effectiveness in battling a leafy spurge, a pesky weed in the Sheyenne National Grasslands in southeastern North Dakota. The 57 ewes have been turned loose on 320 acres in the grasslands, which cover 70,180 acres of public land and 64,769 acres of private land in Ransom and Richland counties. About 25,000 acres of public land in the area is infested with leafy spurge. Cattle avoid the weed, but sheep eat it readily, ranchers say. Guy Leedahl, who obtained permission to allow sheep on the pasture, hopes the experiment will show sheep can reduce leafy spurge without forcing major reductions in the number of cattle allowed to graze the land....
Missing the flow: Reservoirs along the Rio Grande predicted at lowest levels since 2002 Across the Rockies, snow is melting fast or is already gone, while the snowpack in other Western mountain ranges remains at or above normal, according to the year-end snow report by the Natural Resources Conservation Service released Friday. Water flows into New Mexico's major reservoirs are predicted at below normal to record lows through July, compared to the 30-year average, according to Richard Armijo, the service's snow surveyor. The Santa Fe Snotel site was registering zero snowpack by May 4, according to Armijo. Flows into reservoirs along the Rio Grande are predicted to be at their lowest since 2002. The forecast is for 31 percent of normal into Cochiti Lake and 11 percent of normal into Elephant Butte Lake, according to the latest report. Flows into El Vado Lake are predicted to top out at 36 percent of normal with 9 percent of normal into Jemez Canyon Reservoir. Santa Rosa Lake is expected to see inflows of only 5 percent of normal, while Navajo Reservoir will enjoy up to half its normal inflow....
Forest Service filling new facility They'll be moving into Albuquerque from all over the country. During the month of May, the U.S. Forest Service will start its transition into a 92,000-square-foot building in the Journal Center development -- the newest significant hub for its human resources department. During the week of May 1, what eventually will be up to 400 employees, hailing from all parts of the U.S., began to filter in to the three-story Class A office building with an estimated value of more than $20 million. Bill Candelaria, a contract specialist and leasing officer for the Forest Service, expects that the entire building will be complete and turned over to it by the end of the month. And by the end of the calendar year, he anticipates that everyone will be present and accounted for, giving the federal agency a total of about 1,200 employees in the city....
'This is the battleground' The Sublette County Commission agreed this week to join local cattlemen in defending the federal government’s position to allow state-administered elk feedgrounds on federal lands in western Wyoming. Pinedale-area ranchers Jon Boroff and Albert Sommers spoke to commissioners Tuesday to request support for defending against a legal challenge to the state’s elk feedground program. The commission was blunt in its agreement to support the ranching industry in defending the feedgrounds, agreeing to contribute to the legal fund as well as expressing interest in becoming intervenors in the case. In February, environmental groups filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management challenging the authorization for elk feedgrounds on federal lands in western Wyoming. The lawsuit also targets facilities built to capture elk at the Muddy Creek feedground in Sublette County as part of a program to test the animals for brucellosis and kill those that test positive....
Corps raising water to coax spawning Over roughly the next two weeks, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will raise the water level on the Missouri River in hopes of coaxing the endangered pallid sturgeon into reproducing. The plan is the result of a 2003 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opinion that calls on the corps to protect the fish by attempting to replicate the way melting mountain snow made the river rise each spring before dams were built. Creating a so-called spring rise on the river has been the subject of court battles for years. The corps is going ahead with the latest plan, despite a lawsuit from the state of Missouri to try to stop it. The corps' plan had called for two spring rises this year, but the first was canceled because water levels in reservoirs feeding the river were too low. The corps said the reservoirs now have more than enough water....
Grouse patrol The sky is still inky black when Bob Lanka, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department's wildlife management coordinator in Laramie, loads up and hits the road. To see sage grouse in their spectacular springtime mating rituals, Lanka and other Game and Fish staff and wildlife biologists rise in the wee hours to make it to the leks on time. "We've got to be there a half-hour before sunrise," Lanka says as he pulls away from the regional office at 4:45 a.m. and guides his truck onto a dark ribbon of Interstate 80. The lek, or breeding ground, that Lanka is heading toward is about an hour northwest of Laramie -- 40 minutes on the highway, and 20 minutes on jaw-rattling two-track dirt roads. His main goal is to check to see whether there is activity on the leks in his region -- not whether the population of grouse is up or down. About a dozen other biologists, volunteers and land agency staff are doing the same thing in this region for the next few weeks. Multiply that by the eight Game and Fish regions in Wyoming, and it amounts to about 100 people sacrificing sleep to help check on sage grouse this spring....
Feds refuse to list Imperial County dune beetle as endangered Federal officials won't put a dune-dwelling beetle on the endangered species list. An environmental group that petitioned to add the Andrews' dune scarab beetle to the Endangered Species Act failed to sufficiently back up its claims, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Friday. The group argued that the beetle lives only in the 160,000-acre Algodones Dunes in Imperial County, where large areas are open to off-road vehicles that churn up the sand in which the beetles bury themselves. “We're not saying we do or don't believe them,” agency spokeswoman Jane Hendron said. “In this case, they didn't provide substantial info to support the claims,” she said. The Center for Biological Diversity, which filed the petition, was concerned about efforts by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to reopen another 50,000 acres of the dunes to off-road vehicles....
Counties want out of federal lynx plan St. Louis County is joining two other Northeastern Minnesota counties in seeking exemption from a court-ordered U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan that would designate critical habitat for Canada lynx. "My position is that we are already considering lynx management within all of our lands," said St. Louis County Land Commissioner Robert Krepps. "We have been active in forest management for 25 to 30 years, and we are creating habitat under forest management practices. We know that lynx are there and reproducing on county land." The Fish and Wildlife Service's boundaries plan for Canada lynx critical habitat is to be published Nov. 1. The plan designates nearly 27,000 square miles across several states as key areas for lynx. Included in Minnesota is about 3,546 square miles in St. Louis, Cook, Lake and Koochiching counties....
Land set aside for whipsnake means $500M lost in development opportunity Habitat protection for a rare East Bay snake will cost the construction industry more than $500 million over the next 20 years, but that will have almost no effect on the regional economy, according to an economic analysis released Thursday. The analysis says that 780 fewer homes -- out of the 20,000 houses projected to be built -- will be constructed as a result of protection for Alameda whipsnakes around the edges of Pleasanton, Hayward, Dublin, Concord, Lafayette, Blackhawk and Martinez, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The economic losses are a combination of the cost to the industry of not building houses and the cost of complying with critical habitat rules, including the requirement to offset habitat damage by preserving land elsewhere. The proposal would place an added layer of regulation on more than 200,000 acres in the East Bay, including nearly 25 percent of Contra Costa County and 14.5 percent of Alameda County. Still, the proposed protected area is only half of what was designated in 2000 before it was overturned as the result of a lawsuit brought by developers. A lawyer for the Homebuilders of Northern California, an industry group, said the estimated loss of $500 million, or about $47 million a year, was likely too low because it fails to include the high cost of lawsuits or the uncertainty that critical habitat designations bring....
Alternative mining sites not earmarked While alternatives to a 56.1-million-ton sand and gravel mine in Soledad Canyon are being explored by federal and city officials and Mexico-based Cemex, a federal regulator said no alternative sites have yet been earmarked. In the meantime, Cemex is continuing with its plans to mine the canyon's rich deposits, sand and gravel to feed a voracious construction industry. "We're open to options," said Susana Duarte, a spokeswoman for Cemex. "We're moving forward under every assumption that we will be beginning the project in the next two years." Cemex expects to begin operating in the canyon in 2008 and could mine 70 million tons of sand and gravel over the next 20 years, with up to 1,200 truck trips a day in and out. In the first decade, 2 million tons could be mined each year, increasing to 4 million to 5 million tons a year over the next decade. During the last couple of years, the city, which has spent $6 million fighting the project - and is trying to scale mining down to what it calls "historic levels" of 300,000 tons a year - has been in talks with Cemex to reach a solution....
A dramatic change Looking north from Nipton Road in the Mojave National Preserve, the expansive, dusty valley below is dotted only by a new power plant along with the two western-themed casinos that greet tourists, truckers and gamblers as they cross north into Nevada. In the distance, traffic glides along Interstate 15, bisecting the tan landscape as motorists head to Las Vegas or head back to Southern California. That part of the vast harsh desert separating the megalopolis of greater Los Angeles from the glitzy neon-splashed mecca of Vegas is slated to change dramatically in the next decade. Instead of the gentle rustle of wind, broken now and then by the lonely horn of a freight train or the distant staccato growl of a tractor-trailer's Jake brake, the profound solitude will be pierced by the roar of jetliners taking off from a huge new airport just north of Primm, Nev., sometimes called Stateline. Park officials and Clark County, Nev., planners are working together to minimize the effect of the airport on the preserve, but there's no way to completely isolate the impacts, especially noise and light....
Fans of 4-wheelers take on Moab terrain The small southeastern Utah town of Moab is a haven for off-road enthusiasts -- from families looking for nice desert drives to the hard-core types wanting to test the capabilities of their rigs. Within a short drive of the desert town, there are more than 50 designated off-road trails that crisscross mostly Bureau of Land Management land. Each spring, thousands of off-road enthusiasts flock to Moab for a week of organized trail rides. "I went to Moab and was completely, instantly, hooked," said Charles Wells, author and publisher of a series of guidebooks for four-wheel-drive buffs. "It has spectacular scenery and beautiful drives you can take the family on. But it also has challenging stuff for the hard-core crowd." You don't even have to have your own rig to enjoy the back trails around Moab. Many companies, including Highpoint Hummer, Moab Adventure Center and the Moab Tour Co., offer trail tours in specialized Humvees with expert drivers and guides. Prices start at about $60 per adult for a two-hour tour and about $100 for a four-hour tour. In recent years, a number of companies also have sprung up to rent Jeeps so visitors can take off on their own. Most rentals start at under $200 per day....
Lousy Canyon great for pupfish habitat Lousy Canyon is beautiful and well-named. In a remote corner of the Agua Fria National Monument, about 40 miles north of Phoenix, the canyon is accessible only after crawling slowly in a high-clearance vehicle along several miles of rock and earth that passes for road, trekking across a grassy plain and snaking down more than a mile into the boulder-strewn canyon. It was here that biologist Jeremy Voeltz had come to help save a species. Voeltz was joined by other biologists from the Arizona Game and Fish Department, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management who recently sent teams into Agua Fria's Lousy Canyon and Larry Canyon to give about 400 endangered desert pupfish bred at a Nature Conservancy property a new home. The effort capped a decadelong mission to save one of Arizona's indigenous fish. Historically, the desert pupfish have lived in the Gila River basin and the San Pedro, Salt and lower Colorado rivers in Arizona. But the state's native fish, including Gila chub and Gila topminnow, which have also benefited from similar efforts, have been threatened in recent years....
Reps ask BLM to deny PFS' access Utah's three members of the House of Representatives on Friday joined the chorus of opposition to applications that would facilitate the shipment of spent nuclear fuel to a proposed storage site in Tooele County. In a letter to Pam Schuller of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's Salt Lake Field Office, the House members - Rob Bishop, Chris Cannon and Jim Matheson - encouraged the bureau to deny Private Fuel Storage's applications for right-of-way across public lands and for access to public lands for the construction of a train-to-truck transfer facility. "BLM must not act in a way which facilitates the shipment or storage of [spent nuclear fuel] to and in Utah's West Desert," they write. "It is imperative that BLM safeguard the public's trust on this matter. A violation of this trust could have long-standing negative consequences for BLM in the State of Utah." PFS, a consortium of utility companies with nuclear plants, have received a license to build the Skull Valley site from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission....
Firms Harvesting Energy From Public Land May Owe U.S. As soaring prices prompt huge increases in gas and oil drilling on public land, an ad hoc posse of state governments, Indian tribes and individual "bounty hunters" is charging that big energy companies are shortchanging taxpayers by billions of dollars. They say drilling companies and pipeline operators are understating the amount and the quality of the natural gas they pump on public land, and are paying far less in royalties than required by law. State and tribal governments rely on Washington -- specifically, the Minerals Management Service in the Department of the Interior -- to determine what royalties are owed and to collect the money. States and tribes then receive their shares from the federal government. Two organizations -- the Council of Energy Resource Tribes, representing 57 tribes in the nation and Canada, and the State and Tribal Royalty Audit Committee, representing 11 state governments and eight tribes, mainly in the West -- are pressuring the Minerals Management Service and the gas companies for stricter accounting and higher royalty payments. Critics of the Bush administration's management of royalty payments have been looking for ways to circumvent the government and attack the energy companies directly. Some think they have found the right weapon in a federal statute, the False Claims Act, dating to the Civil War. Under the law, anyone can file a civil suit known as a qui tam action, a Latin term that means the plaintiff is acting "on behalf of" the government. The procedure can be extremely costly for a defendant who is found to have cheated the federal government; the statute gives courts the right to assess damages three times the amount owed. The private litigant, in turn, gets a significant share of the damages....
Donkey escapes Ojo Feliz Fire, but ranchers nervous Nobody knows how Andy Alcon's donkey came out of the Ojo Feliz Fire alive, but he did and is doing just fine. Ranchers in the burned area, however, are wondering if they can survive the summer. When the donkey, Shrek, refused to leave his pasture and stayed behind as grassland fire bore down on the northern New Mexico community, Alcon was sure he would never see his donkey again. Officials found the donkey two days later. "He came away a little scorched from the fire," Alcon said. "His ears got burned and his tail was toasted." Alcon said the only things he could think of during the fire were saving his animals and making sure he didn't lose everything. Meanwhile, in a pasture down the road, Andy Alcon was busy trying to gather cattle. He missed the evacuation orders by 20 minutes. By the time he was done, he noticed the had wind shifted, causing the fire to jump a break. It was within yards of homes on the Alcon family ranch. Everyone was gone when Andy got home, but that didn't stop him from doing everything he could to salvage the ranch. He saddled up Sugar, the calmest horse he had, and rode behind the homes to check on the cattle. To protect his horse, Andy said he wrapped a gunnysack around its tail and rode straight into the fire, he said. It took five to six trips back and forth, but he managed to save several newborn calves and cows....
Predators kill fraction of cows Montana ranchers lost 66,000 cattle -- valued at nearly $42 million -- to predators, disease and other causes last year, a federal report issued Friday shows. Most of the losses, 63,000 head worth $40 million, were not due to predators, the report from the National Agricultural Statistics Service found. That was also true nationally. Of the 3,000 cattle killed by predators in Montana, 2,400 were calves. Coyotes were the greatest cause of calf losses by predators, responsible for killing 1,300, the report says. The report doesn't single out wolves in the state summaries, but it attributed a fraction -- 4,400 head -- of the 190,000 cattle killed by predators nationally specifically to wolves. Nationwide, ranchers lost 4.05 million cattle to all causes, the report shows. Those figures do not include Alaska, it says....
Column: The Rise and Possible Fall of Richard Pombo The banner stretched across the entrance to the Crobar ­ a trendy New York nightclub ­read, "Welcome to the Pombo-Palooza". At the door, members of the Rockettes handed out cowboy hats to the A-list invited guests. Inside, a model clad in rhinestone hot pants and a cleavage-enhancing top that might have chastened a Hooters waitress rode a mechanical bull. On the stage, the Charlie Daniels Band cut loose with fiddle-driven Southern funk as lobbyists and lawyers, politicians and tycoons danced the two-step and drank iridescent blue martinis. Such was the scene in 2003 at Congressman Rick Pombo's coming out party. The young legislator from Tracy, California had just been appointed the new chairman of the House Resources Committee. At 42, he was the youngest chairman on Capital Hill. Bush couldn't attend the hoedown but he sent a herogram congratulating the congressman he calls "Marlboro Man". That night money flowed faster than champagne. Before Charlie Daniels had finished his first set, Pombo's campaign war chest had been fattened by more than $250,000, courtesy of an assortment of real estate barons, oil and mining company executives, timber lobbyists and casino operators....
Rep. Pombo targeted by environmentalists Environmental groups have converged on a California district in an effort to defeat a GOP U.S. House member they claim is in the pocket of corporations. The Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, Clean Water Action and the Sierra Club have joined a coalition against Rep. Richard W. Pombo, The Washington Post reports. His district includes part of rural northern California and an area where commuters to San Francisco and Silicon Valley live. The 14-year veteran of Congress has a million dollars to spend on his campaign, which faces a rare primary rival and a general election opponent with a chance of unseating Pombo. Although most of the state's 53 representatives are seen as nearly unbeatable incumbents, the coalition against Pombo hopes to play on voters' environmental leanings. Their door-to-door, telephone, billboard and radio ads tell of a congressman who reformed the Endangered Species Act, is in favor of offshore drilling and opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for exploration, the newspaper said....
Cowboys call for immigration compromise Bud Strom knows darn well how outsiders have pegged ranchers like him, those whose land serves as America's front porch to illegal immigration. When reporters flock in from their big-city offices, they want to know: Is he packing heat? Can they get the pistol on camera? Then there's Paul Palmer. Feedlot operator. Died-in-the-wool Republican. A good Baptist. "Papa" to the grandson he keeps watch on while sorting cattle. And, oh yeah, he supposes "criminal" is fitting, too. For years, Palmer employed illegal farmhands until their fear of working in a region swarming with Border Patrol agents drove them elsewhere. Now he'll preach to anyone who will listen about America's need to legalize its illegal work force. "I'm conservative right down to the bone," he says, "but I think that sometimes we have to do the right thing." These fellows don't just talk about illegal immigration, they live it by making their homes in the heart of the nation's busiest illegal crossing corridor, the mesas of southern Arizona. They own the land that gets trampled, feed their wives, kids and grandkids from the money they eke out of it. And they'll endure the repercussions of whatever Congress does or does not devise to rectify the problem. They don't care for outright amnesty; the recent migrant marches make their stomachs turn. They also don't want immigrants branded felons, rounded up and shipped out, and insist a sealed-off border isn't the answer either. But they do have a message...
The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indians The Long Death: The Last Days of the Plains Indians was originally published in 1964, but brought back in 2001 by the University of Oklahoma Press, a decision that shows the continuing relevance of the subject in American history. In the work, Ralph K. Andrist examines the wars the Plains Indians fought against the United States government during the latter half of the 19th century. The introduction is by Dee Brown, the author of Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee. In an introductory chapter, “As Long as the Grass Shall Grow”, Andrist presents the historical setting for the wars that would bring an end to Indian resistance on the Plains. He begins his study with the 1862 Sioux uprising in Minnesota led by Little Crow, Chief Shakopee, and Red Middle Voice, entitled “Massacre in Minnesota”, and ends with “The Last Small Wars”, the final defeat of the Sioux at Wounded Knee in 1890 in South Dakota. Andrist regarded the Wounded Knee battle as the final chapter in the conflict of the U.S. government with Native American Indians: “When it was over, the Indian wars of the plains were ended, and with them the long struggle of all American Indians … to preserve some portion of their ancestral lands and tribal ways” (p.1). For the period 1862-1890, Andrist discusses the 1862 Minnesota Sioux uprising, the Sand Creek battle, the battle of Washita, “Custer’s First Stand”, the battle of the Little Big Horn, “Custer’s Last Stand”, and the battle of Wounded Knee Creek in 1890. To what degree did the superior numbers and the industrialization on the part of American settlers play a role in the defeat of the Plains Indians?....
Column: NAIS cannot prevent "Mad Cow" disease Shortly after another "mad cow" was discovered in Alabama, there was a rash of articles in the press citing the event as convincing evidence that the USDA's National Animal Identification System should move forward as quickly as possible. Nowhere did any of the articles mention that the NAIS will do nothing to prevent, control, or even slow the disease. Cow Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), widely known as "Mad Cow Disease," is a chronic, degenerative disease affecting the central nervous system of cattle. BSE takes years to develop in cattle, not days or weeks. Moreover, the disease is not contagious. The USDA says: "It's important to note that [BSE and related diseases] are not communicable diseases - they do not spread easily like viruses." If this disease, promoted as justification for the program, is not contagious, why, then, is it necessary for the USDA to construct this massive program to register every premises that houses any farm animal, tag each animal with an electronic monitoring chip, and track every off-premises movement of every animal through a centralized database? There is no legitimate need for the USDA to launch this massive tracking system. Brand laws, ear tags, and sales records already provide an adequate traceback system that has been used successfully for years. If the goal of the USDA is truly to protect the food supply chain, then the focus should be placed on the packing industry, not on the producer. Domestic producers are already required to produce a health certificate supplied by an authorized veterinarian at the point of sale. The risk occurs in the feedlots and factories where imported animals and animal products may be added. Meat packers may incorporate imported meat products into hamburger and other non-choice cuts and still receive the USDA stamp of approval. So far, the meat industry has been able to block all efforts to label such imported meats with even the country of origin, to say nothing of any health certification....
Paniolo museum exhibit to debut at Aloha week nspired by the creation of the new Kona Heritage Ranch and Store exhibit, last year Uncle Jimmy Duvauchelle approached MR CEO Peter Nicholas about creating a Moloka'i Paniolo Museum to preserve the rich history of Moloka'i's cowboys. "Our ultimate goal is to build a museum dedicated to our ranchers and the Paniolo lifestyle," said Duvauchelle. Now Duvauchelle is envisioning a Moloka'i Paniolo Cultural Center located right behind the arena in Maunaloa, so horse displays can be performed regularly for the center’s visitors. Duvauchelle was worried about the disappearance of Moloka'i's Paniolo culture as lifestyles change on our island. "A lady at the Ala Moana center asked me, 'where you from, Texas?'" Duvauchelle said. "I was offended, I almost fell down." Duevauchelle's plan is to spend the next several months collecting stories and history from Kupunas who are still around. Uncle Harry Masashi attended Thursday's meeting, and it was almost impossible to keep him from sharing amusing anecdotes from his life....
Hopalong Cassidy - Ride Along With This Classic Western Hero On DVD William Boyd struck a chord with American audiences wearing his good guy in black cowboy attire and proudly strutting his stuff as Hopalong Casssidy for TV audiences in this popular 1950s Western show. Already a whopping success in 66 feature films, he brought glory to the small screen entertaining and delighting his fans so much so, that it created a kind of manufacturing frenzy for Hopalong Cassidy dolls, watches, costumes, lunchboxes and even a Hopalong Cassidy amusement park. TV offered a fresh new direction for the cowboy hero and here's your chance to relive those good ole times with this *exclusive* Critics Choice collection of fan-favorite episodes! Just jump right in and bring Hoppy back to life with this awesome first set of 26 TV treasures on 4 DVDs and at a killer price!....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Young immigration marchers showing respect Respeto. The Mexican Americans across the country are marching in the streets in defense of Mexicans who have crossed the border illegally to work in the land of opportunity. Prevalent in this mass demonstration is the number of teenagers caught up in the excitement. One of the issues that rears its logical head is how smart is it for Mexican American school kids, who as a group routinely have the poorest scholastic record and the highest drop out rate, to cut classes? But, that is not what causes my heart to sing. What is flowing from these young people is a recognition and respect for their ancianos, their abuelos, their paisanos, their countrymen....