Sheriffs worry as federal law enforcement funding dries up A change in federal funding has reduced law enforcement at Belle Fourche Reservoir as annual visitor counts continue to grow. A $60,000 federal contract that enabled Butte County Sheriff Fred Lamphere to look after activities there was not renewed as of Oct. 1, and Orman Dam’s managers at the Bureau of Reclamation have instead pitched in with the Bureau of Land Management to hire a ranger to patrol federal properties in Butte and Meade counties. The sheriff says the federal agencies are not yet ready to take over patrolling, and even when it happens, his department will still provide dispatching services and investigate certain incidents on the federal land, and the county’s taxpayers will fund those activities as well as court and jail expenses for handling lawbreakers....The Bushies would rather increase federal personnel than contract with local government. From nationalizing the airport inspectors to creating the homeland security dept. to policing public lands and facilities, their mantra has been federalize, centralize and supersize.