FLE
Crackdown on animal-rights activists
Animal-rights activists around the country - at least the most extreme - are becoming increasingly militant. And law enforcement officials and lawmakers are stepping up efforts to combat those who break the law. These interconnected trends came to a head in New Jersey last week when an animal rights group and six of its members were convicted of inciting violence in their campaign to shut down a company that uses animals to test drugs and other consumer products. The group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), claims its actions constitute free speech. But federal prosecutors and the jury in a Trenton, N.J., courtroom called it harassment, stalking, and conspiracy - the first such conviction under the 1992 Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest of its kind in the world, is based in Britain and New Jersey. Members of the US House and Senate are sponsoring the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act." It would toughen the 1992 Animal Enterprise Protection Act by imposing penalties for veiled threats to individuals and families, economic disruption or damage, and "tertiary targeting." Along with the recent indictment of ALF activists charged with arson and other crimes in Oregon and other parts of the West, the convictions in New Jersey are a setback for extremist animal-rights activists....
Border issues near boiling point
Witnesses told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, at a hearing on border violence that without cooperation from Mexico, combined with federal support from the United States, the situation at the border will continue to deteriorate. Cornyn focused the hearing on recent reports of Mexican military incursions into the United States, increasing border violence against law enforcement officials and the need for better border technology. The hearing comes on the heels of the well-publicized encounter in Hudspeth County in west Texas between law-enforcement officers and organized drug dealers dressed in Mexican military uniforms. "Regardless of what kind of story the Mexican government is making up, I can tell you this -- my deputies had an armed standoff with Mexican military," said Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, who attended the Senate hearing. West testified on Feb. 7 before the House Subcommittee on Investigations that Mexican military personnel have been assisting narcotics traffickers. "We even checked the VIN number of the Humvee vehicle used in the incursion and it belongs to the Mexican military," he said. "There is still an ongoing investigation into the incident."....
Sections of Mexican border called virtual war zone
State and federal law enforcement officers appeared before senators Wednesday to paint a horrific picture of life on the Southwest border, telling of violent assaults, running gunbattles, brazen cross-border incursions and threatened contract killings of U.S. officers. The hearing, co-chaired by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., prompted calls for a border crackdown to combat what Kyl described as "bad, nasty, dangerous people." U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar showed slides of battered agents, telling senators that his officers increasingly fall victim to attacks by assailants firing weapons, hurling rocks or pursuing the agents with vehicles. One current weapon of choice, he said, is a "Molotov rock" -- a rock wrapped in fabric then set ablaze. Val Verde County Sheriff A. D'Wayne Jernigan, head of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said in written testimony that authorities have received information that Mexican drug rings plan to kill as many U.S. police officers as possible in an attempt to intimidate U.S. authorities. "The drug trafficking organizations have the money, equipment and stamina to carry out their threats," Jernigan said. "They are determined to protect their illicit trade."....
Sheriffs testify that border overtaken by criminals
The number of border patrol officers assaulted has doubled in the past fiscal year. More illegal immigrants are dying in the deserts of Arizona and Texas. And sophisticated smuggling rings are using tunnels and military-style uniforms to bring drugs into this country. That's the dire picture of life along the border between the United States and Mexico painted by border patrol and customs officials, a Texas rancher and sheriffs at a Senate hearing Wednesday on border violence. "The problems along the border will continue unless our federal government does something about it soon," said A. D'Wayne Jernigan, a Texas sheriff for Val Verde County. "Must we wait until an officer gets killed or until another terrorist attack occurs?" U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials pointed the finger at Congress for not providing enough funding to maintain control of the porous southern border, while some members of the Senate panel blamed the clogged federal bureaucracies for failing to put a dent in the number of illegal immigrants who enter this country every year....
Border sheriffs beg Congress for help
Southwest border sheriffs vented their frustration with the federal government Wednesday and urged a Senate panel to crack down on illegal immigration to reduce violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The hearing focused on reports of recent incursions into U.S. territory by Mexican military, as well as an increase in assaults on law enforcement agents and an escalation in crime. Lavoyger Durham, manager of the El Tule Ranch near Falfurrias, said ranchers are fired upon, security guards beaten and women threatened on their property by undocumented immigrants entering the country illegally. "It is also sad to report that we often find immigrants on our properties that are dead and dying," Durham said. "Whenever possible, we take them for medical care, but often, it is too late." Larry Dever, Cochise County sheriff, said Mexican smugglers along the Arizona border are "armed with high-capacity assault weapons and with orders to protect their cargo at all costs."....
Senators demand larger effort on border control
Worried by the growing violence at the Southwest border against Border Patrol agents, the public and illegal immigrants, senators demanded more help Wednesday from the federal government – and better use of Texas sheriffs and other local law enforcement agencies. Appearing before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, Texas and Arizona sheriffs and a South Texas rancher detailed a border in crisis: rising assaults and threats against U.S. officers; men in battle dress uniforms sneaking into the U.S. and snipers firing across the Rio Grande at Border Patrol agents; migrants found dead or dying in desolate regions; and increased crime against Texans living near the border. In some areas, border residents routinely leave food and water in coolers outside their homes when they're gone to deter break-ins by famished migrants, Lavoyger Durham, manager of a ranch near Falfurrias, told the senators. "My neighbors and I are facing circumstances that can best be described as deplorable," Mr. Durham said. "We now must live with the constant possibility that we could be attacked or killed on our own properties." Mr. Cornyn said Defense Department assets, including unmanned aerial vehicles, could be used in support of the Border Patrol and other Homeland Security Department agencies. And Mr. Sessions noted that the nation's 750,000 state and local law enforcement personnel could be a huge force multiplier for the fewer than 11,500 Border Patrol agents and 5,500 ICE agents. The federal government has agreements with only a handful of police departments to assist in enforcing immigration law, Ms. Forman conceded....
Rural areas targeted for meth production
Old abandoned farm buildings are the prime targets for rural meth labs. They provide two key ingredients for the manufacture of methamphetamine - privacy and the availability of anhydrous ammonia. Methamphetamine is the most common synthetic drug manufactured in the United States. It is also one of the most addictive and dangerous. People who make meth are called "cooks." These cooks combine a number of toxic ingredients including lithium from batteries, pseudoephedrine from Sudafed and anhydrous ammonia or iodine. The most economical and widely used source of nitrogen fertilizer in agriculture production, anhydrous ammonia is stored at farms and retail facilities throughout the country. Meth cooks steal it from the units where it is stored under pressure. One gallon of anhydrous ammonia is enough to make about $6,000 worth of methamphetamine. But stealing it is dangerous. Thieves remove plugs from the anhydrous ammonia lines or attach the wrong hoses and fittings to storage containers, causing leaks and spills. A spill like this could lead to the inhalation of airborne concentrations of the gas and cause injuries to the land owner, law enforcement and the criminals themselves. Some cooks even make the meth right at the tank sight, leaving several dangerous chemicals for land owners to clean up. There are a couple of ways farmers can deter the theft of their anhydrous ammonia. Initially developed in Illinois, GloTell is an organic and non-toxic additive for anhydrous ammonia tanks. To use it, farmers and dealers inject the clear substance into their ammonia tanks. When it comes out and gets air, the substance is bright pink and stains everything it touches. The stain can be washed off, but remains visible to ultraviolet light for up to 72 hours. According to the GloTell website, meth cooked with treated ammonia will turn fluorescent pink and stain the noses of those who snort it and the injection sight of those who shoot it. In addition, farmers can see exactly where their anhydrous ammonia tank is leaking....
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
NEWS ROUNDUP
Resurgent Wolves Now Considered Pests by Some The cattle are down in the valley now, but as the snow here melts and winter is nudged out of the mountains, they will move to pasture in the wild meadows and timberland between the Gros Ventre and Wind River Mountains. That is where wolves kill the most calves, said Charles Price. Mr. Price and the 15 other ranchers in the Upper Green River Cattlemen's Association, as well as others in the state, want the freedom to kill wolves without any restrictions. "That's the way we took care of them before," he said. "It's the way my grandparents took care of them. They roped them, shot them, anyway to get rid of them." The federal government, however, will not allow that. Wolves here are descendants of the animals reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1994, which have since repopulated parts of the surrounding states: Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. They have done so well that the federal Fish and Wildlife Service wants to take them off the list of endangered species. The service has handed management responsibilities to Montana and Idaho, which have a plan to assure the wolf's survival. Wyoming, however, has a different idea. Outside of Yellowstone and federal wilderness areas, wolves would be considered predators....
Western energy boom has growth in population, industry colliding On a blustery winter day on the rolling plains north of Denver, a herd of cattle stood grazing a few yards from an idled natural gas pump in a dormant field as traffic rumbled by. Just down the road are shopping centers and subdivisions packed with new homes, gobbling up land around this once-sleepy town atop the Wattenberg gas field, one of the nation's most productive. Ed Orr knows this land well. A rancher and developer whose family roots in Colorado date back more than a century, Orr says the real estate business is growing increasingly difficult because gas producers want access no matter what the plans are for the property. Twin engines of growth -- in population and within the oil and natural gas industry -- are colliding in Greeley, the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the nation. Developers looking to cash in on rising land values are running into companies eager to sink more wells and drawing up plans for multibillion-dollar pipelines to carry gas to the East Coast. Similar conflicts are playing out from Montana to New Mexico because the Rockies' energy boom is in full bloom, prompting worries about the environment, property rights and the changing character of towns with new workers. Many fear that another Western rush to fortune will be followed by hard times -- again....
Gas boom collides with rural ways Ask cattle ranchers Dan and Cheryl Johnson how much money they make an hour and they will tell you it’s a pittance. Ask them to put a value on their life along winding Piceance Creek in western Colorado and they answer simply — priceless. These days, the Johnsons are worried their operation will end up worthless. Energy companies hunting for natural gas are snapping up land all around them, either through old oil shale claims or through federal auctions. Some now have claims on minerals under the same land the Johnsons lease for grazing their cattle in the pasture-dotted hills northwest of Rifle. Roads are being built and plans are in the works for new wells. Dan Johnson fears that if the companies drill in the narrow gulches around his property — the conduits for moving cattle from pasture to pasture — he’ll lose precious grazing land and be out of business. He and his wife, both in their late 40s, can feel their dream of passing their business to their two daughters slipping away....
Drilling buffers weighed again The drilling boom brought Lloyd and Rita Jane Moore an unwanted dirt road snaking through their pasture to a 3-acre pad with seven wells. It put a bottled-water dispenser in their kitchen when their well ran dry. It brings noises. The worst was a dynamite blast that spooked one of their horses, who bolted into a barbed-wire fence and opened a bloody gash under one shoulder. "He was torn up real bad," Lloyd Moore said, clasping his callused hands into a triangular wedge. "You could probably put both your hands in it." The Moores live on 37 of the more than 5 million acres of Colorado's "split-estate" land - where homeowners, farmers and ranchers own the surface, and government, energy companies or others own the minerals below. The battle between homeowners such as the Moores and the energy companies drilling on their land has spilled into the halls of the state legislature. For the second straight year, Western Slope lawmakers are pushing a bill to give landowners more protection from oil and gas development....
Ranchers as biologists Longtime Sublette County rancher John Andrikopoulos knows he has an awful lot of sage grouse on the more than 15,000 acres of private and leased land used by his cattle operation. And there are neighboring ranches with good sage grouse habitat as well. But unfortunately -- when it comes to the big decisions made by government agencies about how best to manage species such as sage grouse considered for special protection under the Endangered Species Act -- just knowing you have sage grouse on your land doesn't really count for much. Not without hard data to back it up. Andrikopoulos and other western Wyoming ranchers are going after that hard data through a four-year project developed under the auspices of the Wyoming Wildlife Heritage Foundation. The pilot project aims to develop programs and methods to help ranchers compile much-needed data about wildlife and wildlife habitat on their land. With that data, ranchers could then integrate agricultural land use with wildlife habitat management planning -- and maybe get a bigger say in federal decisions that affect wildlife on private lands in Wyoming....
Room to Roam: Freeing Yellowstone's Wild Bison As the Buffalo Field Campaign approaches the tenth anniversary of documenting and protesting the bison management practices in and around Yellowstone National Park, its efforts may finally be paying off for bison and those who hold them sacred. BFC Cofounder and Campaign Coordinator Mike Mease is encouraged by the actions of Montana¹s newly elected governor, Brian Schweitzer, a democrat from Whitefish. "We¹ve been talking to the governor¹s office quite a bit," Mease said. "He does listen to what we have to say, which is a hell of a lot better than what happened with the last two administrations." Schweitzer¹s advisor, Hal Harper, emphasized that the governor¹s "number one concern" is maintaining the state¹s brucellosis-free status, which, livestock officials and ranchers contend, is jeopardized by freeroaming bison. But unlike previous Montana administrations, Schweitzer favors hunting and habitat over a heavy-handed approach to bison management....
BLM land sale plan criticized While the proposed sale of National Forest lands has outraged many Western residents, a second plan to sell off public lands to raise money to offset the federal budget deficit has gotten little attention. Tucked into President Bush’s 2007 budget is a proposal to raise $182 million in the next five years by selling Bureau of Land Management property and a total of $351 million in the next decade. That by itself isn’t a change in policy, because the BLM already is tasked to sell off isolated parcels of public land that don’t fit within the federal agency’s management plans. As part of the Federal Land Transaction and Facilitation Act — or FLTFA — 80 percent of the money raised by the sale is used to acquire inholdings within national parks, national monuments, national forests, and BLM conservation areas. The remaining 20 percent is used to cover the BLM’s administrative costs. But the new Bush budget calls for 70 percent of the BLM’s land sale receipts to go into the national treasury instead, to be used to reduce the federal deficit....
Column: Last roundup for wild horses In 2005, President Bush signed legislation that will destroy our greatest icon -- the wild horse. In 1971, President Nixon signed legislation protecting it. This was the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, a hard-fought bill brought to lawmakers by ''Wild Horse Annie," a Nevada character who saw blood spilling from a truck hauling mustangs to the slaughterhouse, then dropped everything and spent the rest of her life trying to save them. Now those trucks are revving their engines again. Starting on March 10, 7,200 wild horses in government pipelines will begin to make their way to the three horse slaughterhouses in this country -- which are owned by France and Belgium. In 1900, about 2 million wild horses roamed the West. By 1950, there were 50,000. Today, there are about 25,000 -- perhaps spelling doom for the mustang. What happened? World War I, the pet food industry, and cattle ranchers, who contend that the remaining wild horses steal food from 3 million cows on the range. In the old days, they hired contractors to gun down mustangs and bring them the ears. Today, Big Beef still hires guns -- politicians who set policy for the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that presided over a recent fixed grazing study yet is supposed to protect the wild horse. Now, the animal America rode in on is facing its meanest battle....
Forecasts unpredictable Up in Leadville, there has been so much snow that the 4-foot fence around Dan Eller's house is buried, allowing his springer spaniel Boast to just walk out of the yard. "It seems like it's been snowing a foot every three days since Christmas," Eller said. Meanwhile, down in Trinidad, it has been so dry that ranchers have had to haul water for their cattle. "If we don't get moisture, I'll have to sell my herd," said rancher Tom Miller. "We need to pray for rain. Without it, it doesn't look good." The weather bedeviling Eller, Miller and the rest of Colorado is caused by a mass of Pacific Ocean cold water, about the size of the United States, stretching for 5,000 miles off the South American coast - called La NiƱa....
Film about Animas-La Plata project receives mixed views Film goers filled every seat at the Abbey Theatre Thursday, and 30 people were turned away at the door, for the Durango Independent Film Festival's first showing of "Cowboys, Indians and Lawyers," a documentary about the politically charged Animas-La Plata (A-LP) project. The project was designed the satisfy a treaty about water made between the government and two local Indian tribes decades ago. Environmentalists argued building a dam and reservoir would ruin the environment and allow for excessive development on land west of Durango. Proponents of the project argued the dam must be built to give the tribes back what had been taken from them. Many who attended the film's premier said they wanted to know whether the film would accurately portray events that have unfolded over the past three decades, adding that they looked forward to the visual aspect un
available in newspaper or radio coverage....
'Open ranges' idea rides again In Slope County, in a pasture south of Amidon, there's an old stove with the door hanging open and a sign that reads "open range." It's good for a chuckle, but some ranchers are pretty serious about it. They've asked the Slope County Commission to designate some parts of the county as open range, though technically in state law it's called a grazing area. The request comes from ranchers in western Slope County, out where the land is beautifully carved by the Little Missouri River and people are interested in buying small pieces for cabins and recreation. If the land is open range, people who buy some acres and don't want cattle grazing would have to fence the cows out....
Historic ranch sells for $6.8 million With a barely perceptible nod of his camouflage hunting cap, Ike Rainey of Lady Lake, Fla., bought a historic West River ranch for what is probably a historic price, $6.8 million. He outbid other individuals and groups for the Mattie Goff Newcombe ranch in an auction that lasted slightly less than three hours Thursday and packed the Central Meade County Community Center at Union Center with about 400 bidders and spectators. Neighboring ranchers and others were curious, awed and, in some cases, worried about the $590 an acre that Rainey and his Florida partner paid for the 11,570-acre ranch begun in the late 19th century by the Goff and Newcombe families. The ranch also includes grazing rights to 3,611 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and 616 acres of Homestake Mining Co. property. "It will be the most historic land auction the West River area has ever seen," said Kenneth Wilson, who ranches about 20 miles up the Cheyenne River from the old Newcombe place. But Wilson and others said they are worried that the increasing influx of big money from out-of-state hunting interests could make it more difficult for them to continue ranching and for young people to get started in ranching....
They'd walk a country mile for love Phyllis Schwarz hopes for a long-term relationship with someone who doesn't "smoke, chew, spit or cuss." Union Pacific conductor Ed Binau would like a sweetheart to come home to once his train rolls in. Kristina Shuford, a future law student, wants to meet a brainy horseman who knows a fetlock from a forelock. What do these lonely-hearts have in common? They are among the Northwest's geographically challenged singles. For them, living in small, rural communities not only limits their chances at love, it also drastically reduces the pool of potential mates with similar values and lifestyles, particularly as Washington's rural population dwindles....
Collector sees art in antique cowboy gear When the topic turns to art, most people don't immediately think of saddles, chaps and spurs. But American craftsmen of the 19th and early 20th centuries created exquisite works out of such utilitarian cowboy equipment. Mort Fleischer has the collection to prove it. The chairman and co-founder of Scottsdale-based Spirit Finance Corp. started collecting saddles and related items about 15 years ago and now owns hundreds of pieces, including those showing intricate leather carvings, silver inlays and other embellishments. "Some of these guys were great artists," Fleischer said. "It's truly an American art form because saddles, spurs and chaps are as American as apple pie."....
Lookin' Back: Canoa Ranch cattle baron loses grip on money, wife Frederick Maish shared a malady with a sizeable number of other wealthy and successful pioneer Tucsonans: An inadequate grip. Like freighter Estevan Ochoa, politician Charles Poston, farmer/rancher "Pete" Kitchen, miller Solomon Warner, merchant John B. "Pie" Allen and many others, Maish couldn't hold onto his money. In an era when some families survived on a few hundred dollars a year - or substantially less, the man who once pulled $60,000 in cash from his hotel safe to pay overdue government livestock import fees lived, at the time of his death in May 1913, in a hovel on Meyer Street. A couple of decades earlier, he and long-time partner Thomas Driscoll owned thousands of head of cattle that grazed on the vast Canoa Ranch along both sides of the Santa Cruz River, on the 17,000-acre Buena Vista Ranch and the Fresnal Ranch that extended for many miles from Fresnal to Gunsight on what now is the Tohono O'odham Nation....
It's All Trew: Brick chimneys a favorite memory A recent experience gained while installing a wood stove in my workshop brought back memories of early day brick chimneys and flues. Almost every dwelling I can remember contained at least one brick chimney, venting smoke and fumes up, up and away. This simple square brick vent was fireproof, insulated enough to protect the nearby wood and was usually located centrally for service to more than one heating stove. Most chimneys were located in the corner of a room with vent inlets opening through the walls to other rooms. Unused inlets were covered with round decorative metal covers with flowers painted on the surface. Some bricks were left raw, some varnished and ours was papered over with wallpaper that sagged after the glue gave way....
Will catch up on the rest of the news manana...
Resurgent Wolves Now Considered Pests by Some The cattle are down in the valley now, but as the snow here melts and winter is nudged out of the mountains, they will move to pasture in the wild meadows and timberland between the Gros Ventre and Wind River Mountains. That is where wolves kill the most calves, said Charles Price. Mr. Price and the 15 other ranchers in the Upper Green River Cattlemen's Association, as well as others in the state, want the freedom to kill wolves without any restrictions. "That's the way we took care of them before," he said. "It's the way my grandparents took care of them. They roped them, shot them, anyway to get rid of them." The federal government, however, will not allow that. Wolves here are descendants of the animals reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1994, which have since repopulated parts of the surrounding states: Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. They have done so well that the federal Fish and Wildlife Service wants to take them off the list of endangered species. The service has handed management responsibilities to Montana and Idaho, which have a plan to assure the wolf's survival. Wyoming, however, has a different idea. Outside of Yellowstone and federal wilderness areas, wolves would be considered predators....
Western energy boom has growth in population, industry colliding On a blustery winter day on the rolling plains north of Denver, a herd of cattle stood grazing a few yards from an idled natural gas pump in a dormant field as traffic rumbled by. Just down the road are shopping centers and subdivisions packed with new homes, gobbling up land around this once-sleepy town atop the Wattenberg gas field, one of the nation's most productive. Ed Orr knows this land well. A rancher and developer whose family roots in Colorado date back more than a century, Orr says the real estate business is growing increasingly difficult because gas producers want access no matter what the plans are for the property. Twin engines of growth -- in population and within the oil and natural gas industry -- are colliding in Greeley, the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the nation. Developers looking to cash in on rising land values are running into companies eager to sink more wells and drawing up plans for multibillion-dollar pipelines to carry gas to the East Coast. Similar conflicts are playing out from Montana to New Mexico because the Rockies' energy boom is in full bloom, prompting worries about the environment, property rights and the changing character of towns with new workers. Many fear that another Western rush to fortune will be followed by hard times -- again....
Gas boom collides with rural ways Ask cattle ranchers Dan and Cheryl Johnson how much money they make an hour and they will tell you it’s a pittance. Ask them to put a value on their life along winding Piceance Creek in western Colorado and they answer simply — priceless. These days, the Johnsons are worried their operation will end up worthless. Energy companies hunting for natural gas are snapping up land all around them, either through old oil shale claims or through federal auctions. Some now have claims on minerals under the same land the Johnsons lease for grazing their cattle in the pasture-dotted hills northwest of Rifle. Roads are being built and plans are in the works for new wells. Dan Johnson fears that if the companies drill in the narrow gulches around his property — the conduits for moving cattle from pasture to pasture — he’ll lose precious grazing land and be out of business. He and his wife, both in their late 40s, can feel their dream of passing their business to their two daughters slipping away....
Drilling buffers weighed again The drilling boom brought Lloyd and Rita Jane Moore an unwanted dirt road snaking through their pasture to a 3-acre pad with seven wells. It put a bottled-water dispenser in their kitchen when their well ran dry. It brings noises. The worst was a dynamite blast that spooked one of their horses, who bolted into a barbed-wire fence and opened a bloody gash under one shoulder. "He was torn up real bad," Lloyd Moore said, clasping his callused hands into a triangular wedge. "You could probably put both your hands in it." The Moores live on 37 of the more than 5 million acres of Colorado's "split-estate" land - where homeowners, farmers and ranchers own the surface, and government, energy companies or others own the minerals below. The battle between homeowners such as the Moores and the energy companies drilling on their land has spilled into the halls of the state legislature. For the second straight year, Western Slope lawmakers are pushing a bill to give landowners more protection from oil and gas development....
Ranchers as biologists Longtime Sublette County rancher John Andrikopoulos knows he has an awful lot of sage grouse on the more than 15,000 acres of private and leased land used by his cattle operation. And there are neighboring ranches with good sage grouse habitat as well. But unfortunately -- when it comes to the big decisions made by government agencies about how best to manage species such as sage grouse considered for special protection under the Endangered Species Act -- just knowing you have sage grouse on your land doesn't really count for much. Not without hard data to back it up. Andrikopoulos and other western Wyoming ranchers are going after that hard data through a four-year project developed under the auspices of the Wyoming Wildlife Heritage Foundation. The pilot project aims to develop programs and methods to help ranchers compile much-needed data about wildlife and wildlife habitat on their land. With that data, ranchers could then integrate agricultural land use with wildlife habitat management planning -- and maybe get a bigger say in federal decisions that affect wildlife on private lands in Wyoming....
Room to Roam: Freeing Yellowstone's Wild Bison As the Buffalo Field Campaign approaches the tenth anniversary of documenting and protesting the bison management practices in and around Yellowstone National Park, its efforts may finally be paying off for bison and those who hold them sacred. BFC Cofounder and Campaign Coordinator Mike Mease is encouraged by the actions of Montana¹s newly elected governor, Brian Schweitzer, a democrat from Whitefish. "We¹ve been talking to the governor¹s office quite a bit," Mease said. "He does listen to what we have to say, which is a hell of a lot better than what happened with the last two administrations." Schweitzer¹s advisor, Hal Harper, emphasized that the governor¹s "number one concern" is maintaining the state¹s brucellosis-free status, which, livestock officials and ranchers contend, is jeopardized by freeroaming bison. But unlike previous Montana administrations, Schweitzer favors hunting and habitat over a heavy-handed approach to bison management....
BLM land sale plan criticized While the proposed sale of National Forest lands has outraged many Western residents, a second plan to sell off public lands to raise money to offset the federal budget deficit has gotten little attention. Tucked into President Bush’s 2007 budget is a proposal to raise $182 million in the next five years by selling Bureau of Land Management property and a total of $351 million in the next decade. That by itself isn’t a change in policy, because the BLM already is tasked to sell off isolated parcels of public land that don’t fit within the federal agency’s management plans. As part of the Federal Land Transaction and Facilitation Act — or FLTFA — 80 percent of the money raised by the sale is used to acquire inholdings within national parks, national monuments, national forests, and BLM conservation areas. The remaining 20 percent is used to cover the BLM’s administrative costs. But the new Bush budget calls for 70 percent of the BLM’s land sale receipts to go into the national treasury instead, to be used to reduce the federal deficit....
Column: Last roundup for wild horses In 2005, President Bush signed legislation that will destroy our greatest icon -- the wild horse. In 1971, President Nixon signed legislation protecting it. This was the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, a hard-fought bill brought to lawmakers by ''Wild Horse Annie," a Nevada character who saw blood spilling from a truck hauling mustangs to the slaughterhouse, then dropped everything and spent the rest of her life trying to save them. Now those trucks are revving their engines again. Starting on March 10, 7,200 wild horses in government pipelines will begin to make their way to the three horse slaughterhouses in this country -- which are owned by France and Belgium. In 1900, about 2 million wild horses roamed the West. By 1950, there were 50,000. Today, there are about 25,000 -- perhaps spelling doom for the mustang. What happened? World War I, the pet food industry, and cattle ranchers, who contend that the remaining wild horses steal food from 3 million cows on the range. In the old days, they hired contractors to gun down mustangs and bring them the ears. Today, Big Beef still hires guns -- politicians who set policy for the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that presided over a recent fixed grazing study yet is supposed to protect the wild horse. Now, the animal America rode in on is facing its meanest battle....
Forecasts unpredictable Up in Leadville, there has been so much snow that the 4-foot fence around Dan Eller's house is buried, allowing his springer spaniel Boast to just walk out of the yard. "It seems like it's been snowing a foot every three days since Christmas," Eller said. Meanwhile, down in Trinidad, it has been so dry that ranchers have had to haul water for their cattle. "If we don't get moisture, I'll have to sell my herd," said rancher Tom Miller. "We need to pray for rain. Without it, it doesn't look good." The weather bedeviling Eller, Miller and the rest of Colorado is caused by a mass of Pacific Ocean cold water, about the size of the United States, stretching for 5,000 miles off the South American coast - called La NiƱa....
Film about Animas-La Plata project receives mixed views Film goers filled every seat at the Abbey Theatre Thursday, and 30 people were turned away at the door, for the Durango Independent Film Festival's first showing of "Cowboys, Indians and Lawyers," a documentary about the politically charged Animas-La Plata (A-LP) project. The project was designed the satisfy a treaty about water made between the government and two local Indian tribes decades ago. Environmentalists argued building a dam and reservoir would ruin the environment and allow for excessive development on land west of Durango. Proponents of the project argued the dam must be built to give the tribes back what had been taken from them. Many who attended the film's premier said they wanted to know whether the film would accurately portray events that have unfolded over the past three decades, adding that they looked forward to the visual aspect un
available in newspaper or radio coverage....
'Open ranges' idea rides again In Slope County, in a pasture south of Amidon, there's an old stove with the door hanging open and a sign that reads "open range." It's good for a chuckle, but some ranchers are pretty serious about it. They've asked the Slope County Commission to designate some parts of the county as open range, though technically in state law it's called a grazing area. The request comes from ranchers in western Slope County, out where the land is beautifully carved by the Little Missouri River and people are interested in buying small pieces for cabins and recreation. If the land is open range, people who buy some acres and don't want cattle grazing would have to fence the cows out....
Historic ranch sells for $6.8 million With a barely perceptible nod of his camouflage hunting cap, Ike Rainey of Lady Lake, Fla., bought a historic West River ranch for what is probably a historic price, $6.8 million. He outbid other individuals and groups for the Mattie Goff Newcombe ranch in an auction that lasted slightly less than three hours Thursday and packed the Central Meade County Community Center at Union Center with about 400 bidders and spectators. Neighboring ranchers and others were curious, awed and, in some cases, worried about the $590 an acre that Rainey and his Florida partner paid for the 11,570-acre ranch begun in the late 19th century by the Goff and Newcombe families. The ranch also includes grazing rights to 3,611 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and 616 acres of Homestake Mining Co. property. "It will be the most historic land auction the West River area has ever seen," said Kenneth Wilson, who ranches about 20 miles up the Cheyenne River from the old Newcombe place. But Wilson and others said they are worried that the increasing influx of big money from out-of-state hunting interests could make it more difficult for them to continue ranching and for young people to get started in ranching....
They'd walk a country mile for love Phyllis Schwarz hopes for a long-term relationship with someone who doesn't "smoke, chew, spit or cuss." Union Pacific conductor Ed Binau would like a sweetheart to come home to once his train rolls in. Kristina Shuford, a future law student, wants to meet a brainy horseman who knows a fetlock from a forelock. What do these lonely-hearts have in common? They are among the Northwest's geographically challenged singles. For them, living in small, rural communities not only limits their chances at love, it also drastically reduces the pool of potential mates with similar values and lifestyles, particularly as Washington's rural population dwindles....
Collector sees art in antique cowboy gear When the topic turns to art, most people don't immediately think of saddles, chaps and spurs. But American craftsmen of the 19th and early 20th centuries created exquisite works out of such utilitarian cowboy equipment. Mort Fleischer has the collection to prove it. The chairman and co-founder of Scottsdale-based Spirit Finance Corp. started collecting saddles and related items about 15 years ago and now owns hundreds of pieces, including those showing intricate leather carvings, silver inlays and other embellishments. "Some of these guys were great artists," Fleischer said. "It's truly an American art form because saddles, spurs and chaps are as American as apple pie."....
Lookin' Back: Canoa Ranch cattle baron loses grip on money, wife Frederick Maish shared a malady with a sizeable number of other wealthy and successful pioneer Tucsonans: An inadequate grip. Like freighter Estevan Ochoa, politician Charles Poston, farmer/rancher "Pete" Kitchen, miller Solomon Warner, merchant John B. "Pie" Allen and many others, Maish couldn't hold onto his money. In an era when some families survived on a few hundred dollars a year - or substantially less, the man who once pulled $60,000 in cash from his hotel safe to pay overdue government livestock import fees lived, at the time of his death in May 1913, in a hovel on Meyer Street. A couple of decades earlier, he and long-time partner Thomas Driscoll owned thousands of head of cattle that grazed on the vast Canoa Ranch along both sides of the Santa Cruz River, on the 17,000-acre Buena Vista Ranch and the Fresnal Ranch that extended for many miles from Fresnal to Gunsight on what now is the Tohono O'odham Nation....
It's All Trew: Brick chimneys a favorite memory A recent experience gained while installing a wood stove in my workshop brought back memories of early day brick chimneys and flues. Almost every dwelling I can remember contained at least one brick chimney, venting smoke and fumes up, up and away. This simple square brick vent was fireproof, insulated enough to protect the nearby wood and was usually located centrally for service to more than one heating stove. Most chimneys were located in the corner of a room with vent inlets opening through the walls to other rooms. Unused inlets were covered with round decorative metal covers with flowers painted on the surface. Some bricks were left raw, some varnished and ours was papered over with wallpaper that sagged after the glue gave way....
Will catch up on the rest of the news manana...
Monday, March 06, 2006
FIRST TIME EVER – THE WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP IS DECIDED BY OVER-TIME
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Shayla Givens
(405) 282-3004
arena@lazye.com
GUTHRIE, Okla., March 5, 2006 – He’s Back!
At one of the classic Wrangler Timed Event Championship events in history, Trevor Brazile proved why he is considered the current “King of the Cowboys” during the 2006 event held at the Lazy E Arena.
In the event’s 22-year history, no competition had ever ended in a tie for first place. That is exactly what happened during the Lucchese Boots Final Round when three-time WTEC Champion Trevor Brazile from Decatur, Texas and four-time WTEC Champion K.C. Jones from Hawk Springs, Wyoming tied with 337.3 seconds after competing on twenty-five head of livestock over 3 grueling days of competition. The result was over-time.
If a tie should occur, the rules state that the two cowboys would “match” each other in a five-head competition and compete on each others cattle from the fifth round. After the stunned crowd settled, Brazile and Jones, two WTEC titans matched each other with Brazile ending up the champion with a time of 50.5 seconds compared to Jones’ 75.4.
“This is probably the most special,” said Brazile when asked about his other titles. “The way it happened, I could not have wrote it any better.”
The win secured many new WTEC titles for Brazile – the record holder for the most money won at a WTEC competition ($72,000), the highest career WTEC earnings to date ($398,500), the newest member of the Four-Time Champion Fraternity (which includes Jones and Paul Tierney from Oral, South Dakota), broke his own Arena-Record set last year for the fastest go-round (43.5 on five head) for a three-thousand dollar bonus, and became the only winner of a WTEC Tie-Breaker (defeated Jones for the Championship).
Brazile, who has won three Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association All-Around World Championships, won his first WTEC title in 1998, then finally found his groove again during the three-day runs in 2003 and 2004. The two seemed to be a good fit, given the fact that Brazile is the first cowboy in ProRodeo history to qualify for the National Finals in each of the four roping disciplines – steer roping, tie-down roping, heading and heeling. At this year’s WNFR, Brazile was the front-runner going into the All-Around race only to be upset by Ryan Jarrett from Summerville, Georgia this past December in Las Vegas. Of note, Jarrett competed for the first time at this year’s WTEC and finished in a respectable eight position earning him $3,000.
The 2006 version of rodeo’s “Iron-Man” competition had many story lines. Perennial WNFR qualifier Cash Myers, from Athens, Texas jumped out to the early lead in the competition. But a few slips in the third round cost Myers the lead and eventually the title. Those “slips” provided the opening for past WTEC Champions which included Tierney, Jimmie Cooper of Monument, New Mexico, Jones, and last year’s champion Kyle Lockett from Ivanhoe, California to emerge as front-runners during the marathon-type event.
After taking a no-time / 60 second penalty in the first run of the event, Brazile quietly won three rounds and pulled himself back into the competition. In what seemed like an impossible feat, Brazile battled his way back to take a 30-second lead going into the steer-wrestling event during the final performance.
“I never wanted to take a sixty right off the bat, but looking back it was a blessing in disguise. It enabled me to go a little harder at the rounds,” Brazile said.
In the steer-wrestling event (the only event that Brazile does not compete at full-time), he missed his steer on his first try then re-mounted his horse and gave chase eventually throwing the animal in 43.0 seconds. The lead was gone. Jones held serve during his steer roping run to put the pressure back on Brazile. Brazile backed into the box needing a 15.0 second run to win the event. The result was a 15.1 and a tie after twenty-five head.
After the tie-breaker match, Jones would take home a hefty second-place paycheck of $25,000, Tierney finished third worth $15,000 and Lockett would place fourth for $10,000.
“You always think about what you could have done different,” Jones said. “You just hope to learn from your mistakes and come back a little more ready next year.”
In another aspect of the WTEC, the Fastest Rounds are paid for the entire event. Brazile collected another $19,000 (First, Second and Fifth) for his efforts in combination with his bonus for a grand total of $72,000. A complete detail of the WTEC results can be found on the final page of this release or at www.lazye.com/arena.
The top 20 timed event cowboys in the world were invited to compete at this 22nd annual event held at the fabulous Lazy E Arena. The WTEC is considered as one of pro rodeo’s most unique events and is a true test of versatility and stamina. Each contestant is required to compete in all five timed events: tie-down roping, steer roping, heading, heeling and steer wrestling.
The event was developed by the Lazy E in 1985 to determine the best all-around timed event cowboy in the world — the man who could stand out in more than his specialty event, the man who could be consistent in all five timed events. Today’s professional rodeo cowboys no longer compete in multiple events, but specialize in one possibly two. This event attracts the biggest names in the rodeo industry that represent 28 World Championship titles, in addition to thousands of fans from across the country.
The Wrangler Timed Event Championship is sponsored by Wrangler in conjunction with Pepsi Cola, Lucchese Boots, Bud Light, Jack Daniels, Priefert Manufacturing, Hot Heels, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, News 9, and the Holiday Inn Hotels and Suites.
For more information on the Wrangler Timed Event Championship, or other upcoming events, contact the Lazy E Arena, 9600 Lazy E Drive, Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044, visit our Web site at www.lazye.com or call (800) 595-RIDE or (405) 282-RIDE.
WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Average Standings (After 25 Head Over Five Performances)
1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX, 337.3 +(50.5 on 5 Head tiebreaker), $50,000; 2. K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY, 337.3 + (75.4 on 5 Head Tiebreaker), $25,000; 3. Paul Tierney, Oral, SD, 348.6, $15,000; 4. Kyle Lockett, Ivanhoe, CA, 370.5, $10,000; 5. Cash Myers, Athens, TX., 386.3, $7,500; 6. Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., 412.5, $5,000; 7. Jim Locke, Miami, TX., 430.3, $4,500; 8. Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, GA., 437.1, $3,000.
Fastest Round Standings
1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 43.5 seconds, $10,000 (Arena record $3,000 bonus); 2. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 47.4, $6,000; 3. K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY., 48.2, $5,000; 4. Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., 52.3, $4,000; 5. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 53.9, $3,000; 6. Paul Tierney, Oral, SD., 56.4, $2,000.
Total Money
Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., $72,000; K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY., $30,000; Paul Tierney, Oral, SD., $17,000; Kyle Lockett, Ivanhoe, CA., $10,000; Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., $9,000; Cash Myers, Athens, TX., $7,500; Jim Locke, Miami, TX., $4,500; Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, GA., $3,000.
*Trevor Brazile won $3,000 bonus for breaking the go-round arena record of 44.6 seconds that he set in 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Shayla Givens
(405) 282-3004
arena@lazye.com
GUTHRIE, Okla., March 5, 2006 – He’s Back!
At one of the classic Wrangler Timed Event Championship events in history, Trevor Brazile proved why he is considered the current “King of the Cowboys” during the 2006 event held at the Lazy E Arena.
In the event’s 22-year history, no competition had ever ended in a tie for first place. That is exactly what happened during the Lucchese Boots Final Round when three-time WTEC Champion Trevor Brazile from Decatur, Texas and four-time WTEC Champion K.C. Jones from Hawk Springs, Wyoming tied with 337.3 seconds after competing on twenty-five head of livestock over 3 grueling days of competition. The result was over-time.
If a tie should occur, the rules state that the two cowboys would “match” each other in a five-head competition and compete on each others cattle from the fifth round. After the stunned crowd settled, Brazile and Jones, two WTEC titans matched each other with Brazile ending up the champion with a time of 50.5 seconds compared to Jones’ 75.4.
“This is probably the most special,” said Brazile when asked about his other titles. “The way it happened, I could not have wrote it any better.”
The win secured many new WTEC titles for Brazile – the record holder for the most money won at a WTEC competition ($72,000), the highest career WTEC earnings to date ($398,500), the newest member of the Four-Time Champion Fraternity (which includes Jones and Paul Tierney from Oral, South Dakota), broke his own Arena-Record set last year for the fastest go-round (43.5 on five head) for a three-thousand dollar bonus, and became the only winner of a WTEC Tie-Breaker (defeated Jones for the Championship).
Brazile, who has won three Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association All-Around World Championships, won his first WTEC title in 1998, then finally found his groove again during the three-day runs in 2003 and 2004. The two seemed to be a good fit, given the fact that Brazile is the first cowboy in ProRodeo history to qualify for the National Finals in each of the four roping disciplines – steer roping, tie-down roping, heading and heeling. At this year’s WNFR, Brazile was the front-runner going into the All-Around race only to be upset by Ryan Jarrett from Summerville, Georgia this past December in Las Vegas. Of note, Jarrett competed for the first time at this year’s WTEC and finished in a respectable eight position earning him $3,000.
The 2006 version of rodeo’s “Iron-Man” competition had many story lines. Perennial WNFR qualifier Cash Myers, from Athens, Texas jumped out to the early lead in the competition. But a few slips in the third round cost Myers the lead and eventually the title. Those “slips” provided the opening for past WTEC Champions which included Tierney, Jimmie Cooper of Monument, New Mexico, Jones, and last year’s champion Kyle Lockett from Ivanhoe, California to emerge as front-runners during the marathon-type event.
After taking a no-time / 60 second penalty in the first run of the event, Brazile quietly won three rounds and pulled himself back into the competition. In what seemed like an impossible feat, Brazile battled his way back to take a 30-second lead going into the steer-wrestling event during the final performance.
“I never wanted to take a sixty right off the bat, but looking back it was a blessing in disguise. It enabled me to go a little harder at the rounds,” Brazile said.
In the steer-wrestling event (the only event that Brazile does not compete at full-time), he missed his steer on his first try then re-mounted his horse and gave chase eventually throwing the animal in 43.0 seconds. The lead was gone. Jones held serve during his steer roping run to put the pressure back on Brazile. Brazile backed into the box needing a 15.0 second run to win the event. The result was a 15.1 and a tie after twenty-five head.
After the tie-breaker match, Jones would take home a hefty second-place paycheck of $25,000, Tierney finished third worth $15,000 and Lockett would place fourth for $10,000.
“You always think about what you could have done different,” Jones said. “You just hope to learn from your mistakes and come back a little more ready next year.”
In another aspect of the WTEC, the Fastest Rounds are paid for the entire event. Brazile collected another $19,000 (First, Second and Fifth) for his efforts in combination with his bonus for a grand total of $72,000. A complete detail of the WTEC results can be found on the final page of this release or at www.lazye.com/arena.
The top 20 timed event cowboys in the world were invited to compete at this 22nd annual event held at the fabulous Lazy E Arena. The WTEC is considered as one of pro rodeo’s most unique events and is a true test of versatility and stamina. Each contestant is required to compete in all five timed events: tie-down roping, steer roping, heading, heeling and steer wrestling.
The event was developed by the Lazy E in 1985 to determine the best all-around timed event cowboy in the world — the man who could stand out in more than his specialty event, the man who could be consistent in all five timed events. Today’s professional rodeo cowboys no longer compete in multiple events, but specialize in one possibly two. This event attracts the biggest names in the rodeo industry that represent 28 World Championship titles, in addition to thousands of fans from across the country.
The Wrangler Timed Event Championship is sponsored by Wrangler in conjunction with Pepsi Cola, Lucchese Boots, Bud Light, Jack Daniels, Priefert Manufacturing, Hot Heels, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, News 9, and the Holiday Inn Hotels and Suites.
For more information on the Wrangler Timed Event Championship, or other upcoming events, contact the Lazy E Arena, 9600 Lazy E Drive, Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044, visit our Web site at www.lazye.com or call (800) 595-RIDE or (405) 282-RIDE.
WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Average Standings (After 25 Head Over Five Performances)
1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX, 337.3 +(50.5 on 5 Head tiebreaker), $50,000; 2. K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY, 337.3 + (75.4 on 5 Head Tiebreaker), $25,000; 3. Paul Tierney, Oral, SD, 348.6, $15,000; 4. Kyle Lockett, Ivanhoe, CA, 370.5, $10,000; 5. Cash Myers, Athens, TX., 386.3, $7,500; 6. Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., 412.5, $5,000; 7. Jim Locke, Miami, TX., 430.3, $4,500; 8. Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, GA., 437.1, $3,000.
Fastest Round Standings
1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 43.5 seconds, $10,000 (Arena record $3,000 bonus); 2. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 47.4, $6,000; 3. K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY., 48.2, $5,000; 4. Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., 52.3, $4,000; 5. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 53.9, $3,000; 6. Paul Tierney, Oral, SD., 56.4, $2,000.
Total Money
Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., $72,000; K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY., $30,000; Paul Tierney, Oral, SD., $17,000; Kyle Lockett, Ivanhoe, CA., $10,000; Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., $9,000; Cash Myers, Athens, TX., $7,500; Jim Locke, Miami, TX., $4,500; Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, GA., $3,000.
*Trevor Brazile won $3,000 bonus for breaking the go-round arena record of 44.6 seconds that he set in 2005
Sunday, March 05, 2006
TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP
The standings and times after four full rounds:
1. Trevor Brazile-------251.1
2. Kyle Lockett---------264.3
3. Jimmie Cooper--------271.1
4. Paul Tierney---------275.8
5. K.C. Jones-----------289.1
6. Cash Myers-----------289.5
7. Jim Locke------------328.2
8. Ryan Jarrett---------342.9
Those times are after 20 runs and are unofficial. The final round starts tomorrow at 1pm.
Scott Snedecor and Luke Branquinho are out of the competition due to injury. Snedecor broke a rib in the steer wrestling in the second round and Branqhinho tore his groin in the calf roping in the third round.
Trevor Brazille broke his own record for fastest round, with a 43.5 on five head in the third round. He gets $3000 for breaking the record, and will get $10,000 if it remains the fastest round of this weekend. So, probably a $13,000 round for Brazile.
Cash Myers missed his dogging steer in the third round. He jumped on his hazer's horse and threw the steer in 39 seconds, keeping himself in the hunt. Good watching.
Concerning our question about Brazile's heading run in the first round, Steve Duhon says he should have been flagged out the minute his hand touched the loop while it was still on the steer....not after the run was completed.
The standings and times after four full rounds:
1. Trevor Brazile-------251.1
2. Kyle Lockett---------264.3
3. Jimmie Cooper--------271.1
4. Paul Tierney---------275.8
5. K.C. Jones-----------289.1
6. Cash Myers-----------289.5
7. Jim Locke------------328.2
8. Ryan Jarrett---------342.9
Those times are after 20 runs and are unofficial. The final round starts tomorrow at 1pm.
Scott Snedecor and Luke Branquinho are out of the competition due to injury. Snedecor broke a rib in the steer wrestling in the second round and Branqhinho tore his groin in the calf roping in the third round.
Trevor Brazille broke his own record for fastest round, with a 43.5 on five head in the third round. He gets $3000 for breaking the record, and will get $10,000 if it remains the fastest round of this weekend. So, probably a $13,000 round for Brazile.
Cash Myers missed his dogging steer in the third round. He jumped on his hazer's horse and threw the steer in 39 seconds, keeping himself in the hunt. Good watching.
Concerning our question about Brazile's heading run in the first round, Steve Duhon says he should have been flagged out the minute his hand touched the loop while it was still on the steer....not after the run was completed.
SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER
Cute and coiffed – then and now
By Julie Carter
You have heard it all many times before. Beauty is only skin deep. Take care of the inner self and the outer self will take care of itself.
Women tend to look at themselves in parts as opposed to the whole package created by God. We see our hair as not long enough, not thick enough, not curly enough, or not straight enough.
We see our eyes as not big enough, not wide-set enough and never the right color. Our lashes are never long enough and as we age and they appear even shorter as gravity forces the eyebrow area to a lower elevation.
And then there are the rest of our parts. Never the skin we would like to have, never the height, weight or shape that pleases ourselves.
The magic drawer
At my house, beauty is in the mysterious “magic drawer.”
I learned about having a magic drawer from my sister-in-law who has worked cosmetic retail for many years.
She would disappear to her boudoir, open this big dresser-drawer full of magic makeup and momentarily re-appear looking like something off the cover of Vogue.
I thought having a drawer like that was a very good idea. But over time I discovered my magic drawer contained more of a Parks and Wildlife look than the Vogue variety.
The cover girl look has always eluded me and in fact, I’ve noticed a transition in the drawer inventory that tells a story about then and now.
Hot pink anything is gone
Hot pink blush has been replaced by under-eye concealers. Hot pink pearlized lipstick is now medicated lip balm. The hot pink nail polish is gone and clear Hard as Nails is in its place.
The bright blue eye shadow to make your eyes sparkle is now a soft beige version to conceal the puffiness.
Over-the-counter pills for weight control and ever-lasting energy are long gone and in their place is an industrial sized bottle of Tylenol PM. Birth control pills are replaced by hormonal therapy pills and the tropical coconut-pineapple-banana suntan oil has morphed into a jar of mega-moisturizer with a 10,000 SPF factor.
Sunglasses with crazy-colored frames to match every outfit have been replaced by photo-gray reading glasses. Contact lens solutions have changed to emergency glasses secreted there to help find the real glasses.
Looking cute and coiffed at the ranch while you work like a hired hand is a futile effort at best. At some point you learn to sort out the futile jobs and save your energy for the ones you can accomplish.
Usually no one is more surprised how good you clean up than the boss himself.
New hair-do?
I was having lunch last week with one of those ranch-wife hired hands and her husband joined us at the restaurant.
His first inquiry to his wife was, “Did you just get your hair done?”
“No,” she explained. “You just haven’t seen me with it fixed in so long you forgot what it looked like.”
Of course he doesn’t have much hair so the concept of keeping it presentable in all weather, wearing all kinds of winter gear and hats, has never been an issue for him.
The upside to the lifetime transformation of the magic drawer is about the woman herself.
At this point in life she knows who her real friends are and having them doesn’t require a certain “look.” She knows that being appreciated is far more valuable than being a cover girl.
Dignity and self-assuredness are the absolute best elements of beauty. You won’t find them in a drawer, magic or otherwise....
Cute and coiffed – then and now
By Julie Carter
You have heard it all many times before. Beauty is only skin deep. Take care of the inner self and the outer self will take care of itself.
Women tend to look at themselves in parts as opposed to the whole package created by God. We see our hair as not long enough, not thick enough, not curly enough, or not straight enough.
We see our eyes as not big enough, not wide-set enough and never the right color. Our lashes are never long enough and as we age and they appear even shorter as gravity forces the eyebrow area to a lower elevation.
And then there are the rest of our parts. Never the skin we would like to have, never the height, weight or shape that pleases ourselves.
The magic drawer
At my house, beauty is in the mysterious “magic drawer.”
I learned about having a magic drawer from my sister-in-law who has worked cosmetic retail for many years.
She would disappear to her boudoir, open this big dresser-drawer full of magic makeup and momentarily re-appear looking like something off the cover of Vogue.
I thought having a drawer like that was a very good idea. But over time I discovered my magic drawer contained more of a Parks and Wildlife look than the Vogue variety.
The cover girl look has always eluded me and in fact, I’ve noticed a transition in the drawer inventory that tells a story about then and now.
Hot pink anything is gone
Hot pink blush has been replaced by under-eye concealers. Hot pink pearlized lipstick is now medicated lip balm. The hot pink nail polish is gone and clear Hard as Nails is in its place.
The bright blue eye shadow to make your eyes sparkle is now a soft beige version to conceal the puffiness.
Over-the-counter pills for weight control and ever-lasting energy are long gone and in their place is an industrial sized bottle of Tylenol PM. Birth control pills are replaced by hormonal therapy pills and the tropical coconut-pineapple-banana suntan oil has morphed into a jar of mega-moisturizer with a 10,000 SPF factor.
Sunglasses with crazy-colored frames to match every outfit have been replaced by photo-gray reading glasses. Contact lens solutions have changed to emergency glasses secreted there to help find the real glasses.
Looking cute and coiffed at the ranch while you work like a hired hand is a futile effort at best. At some point you learn to sort out the futile jobs and save your energy for the ones you can accomplish.
Usually no one is more surprised how good you clean up than the boss himself.
New hair-do?
I was having lunch last week with one of those ranch-wife hired hands and her husband joined us at the restaurant.
His first inquiry to his wife was, “Did you just get your hair done?”
“No,” she explained. “You just haven’t seen me with it fixed in so long you forgot what it looked like.”
Of course he doesn’t have much hair so the concept of keeping it presentable in all weather, wearing all kinds of winter gear and hats, has never been an issue for him.
The upside to the lifetime transformation of the magic drawer is about the woman herself.
At this point in life she knows who her real friends are and having them doesn’t require a certain “look.” She knows that being appreciated is far more valuable than being a cover girl.
Dignity and self-assuredness are the absolute best elements of beauty. You won’t find them in a drawer, magic or otherwise....
Saturday, March 04, 2006
TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP
For those of you not familiar with this event, one go round consists of 5 events: heading, tie-down roping, heeling, steer wrestling and steer roping, in that order. There are 5 go rounds or a total of 25 runs per contestant, and a total of 500 runs over the weekend. The timed event champion is the person who completes the 25 runs in the shortest time. First place for the average pays $50,000 and they pay 8 places in the average. They also pay for the fastest rounds at the event, with first paying $10,000 and they pay 6 places in the rounds. Each contestant pays a $3,000 entry fee.
The standings and times of the top ten after two rounds:
1. Cash Myers 120.2
2. Kyle Lockett 132.6
3. K.C. Jones 134.8
4. Jimmie Cooper 145.5
5. Paul Tierney 152.0
6. Steve Duhon 152.3
7. Trevor Brazile 160.2
8. Ryan Jarrett 168.1
9. Casey Branquinho 182.7
10. Jim Locke 183.7
Trevor Brazile has the fastest round so far at 53.9
All the times are unofficial.
Steve Duhon told me he might have been considering making this his last appearance at the TEC, but that now he was here he could see that it was just too good an event to walk away from, so he will keep his options open. He does most of his preparation for the event at Jasper, Texas, but he hadn't tried out the roan steer roping horse until he got here. His tie-down horse is owned by Cooper Shofner. His steer wrestling horse is named Chip, is 14 years old and used by his boys in high school rodeo. The 4 year old paint he is heeling on belonged to his Dad. Bucky Campbell is Duhon's helper in the heading and heeling. Duhon said this was his 11th year at the TEC and he thought the stock looked pretty good. He did say the calves were a little uneven, with some running real hard and others being pups.
Duhon's times in the first round were 7.2,17.1,14.9,4.9 and 31.2 for a total of 75.3 He had to take a second trip on his steer in the steer roping. He had a pretty, smooth run in the second round with a time of 16.6, so it looks like he and that roan will get along just fine.
Some other observations:
Trevor Brazile hickeyed a horn on his heading steer in the first round. He didn't fish it off but grabbed it by the loop to get it off. He looked at the flagger and the flag was still up, so he threw his second loop, completed the run and then was flagged out. I'm just curious why he wasn't flagged out as soon as he touched the loop. Maybe someone who knows the rules better than me can send an email and straighten me out on this.
B.J. Campbell missed his dogging steer in the first round and had to run the length of the arena (the Lazy E is a hugh arena, it is wider than the NFR arena is long) remount and throw the steer before his sixty seconds was up, which he did. What was funny was he took his hat off while running and fanned his butt, just like he would have been spanking his horse. I'll be darned if he didn't miss his dogging steer again in the second round, and had to run the length of the arena again. One wag said if he kept it up he would leave Guthrie in the best shape of his life.
It's nice to see the rodeo family growing in this event. Jake Cooper, one of Jimmie's twins, is his dad's helper in the heading and heeling. Jimmie Cooper Jr is heeling for Kyle Hughes, who is the son of former competitor Paul Hughes. Finally, Paul Tierney's son Jess is heading for him.
I'll try to have the results of rounds 3 and 4 up for you tomorrow night after the 4th performance.
For those of you not familiar with this event, one go round consists of 5 events: heading, tie-down roping, heeling, steer wrestling and steer roping, in that order. There are 5 go rounds or a total of 25 runs per contestant, and a total of 500 runs over the weekend. The timed event champion is the person who completes the 25 runs in the shortest time. First place for the average pays $50,000 and they pay 8 places in the average. They also pay for the fastest rounds at the event, with first paying $10,000 and they pay 6 places in the rounds. Each contestant pays a $3,000 entry fee.
The standings and times of the top ten after two rounds:
1. Cash Myers 120.2
2. Kyle Lockett 132.6
3. K.C. Jones 134.8
4. Jimmie Cooper 145.5
5. Paul Tierney 152.0
6. Steve Duhon 152.3
7. Trevor Brazile 160.2
8. Ryan Jarrett 168.1
9. Casey Branquinho 182.7
10. Jim Locke 183.7
Trevor Brazile has the fastest round so far at 53.9
All the times are unofficial.
Steve Duhon told me he might have been considering making this his last appearance at the TEC, but that now he was here he could see that it was just too good an event to walk away from, so he will keep his options open. He does most of his preparation for the event at Jasper, Texas, but he hadn't tried out the roan steer roping horse until he got here. His tie-down horse is owned by Cooper Shofner. His steer wrestling horse is named Chip, is 14 years old and used by his boys in high school rodeo. The 4 year old paint he is heeling on belonged to his Dad. Bucky Campbell is Duhon's helper in the heading and heeling. Duhon said this was his 11th year at the TEC and he thought the stock looked pretty good. He did say the calves were a little uneven, with some running real hard and others being pups.
Duhon's times in the first round were 7.2,17.1,14.9,4.9 and 31.2 for a total of 75.3 He had to take a second trip on his steer in the steer roping. He had a pretty, smooth run in the second round with a time of 16.6, so it looks like he and that roan will get along just fine.
Some other observations:
Trevor Brazile hickeyed a horn on his heading steer in the first round. He didn't fish it off but grabbed it by the loop to get it off. He looked at the flagger and the flag was still up, so he threw his second loop, completed the run and then was flagged out. I'm just curious why he wasn't flagged out as soon as he touched the loop. Maybe someone who knows the rules better than me can send an email and straighten me out on this.
B.J. Campbell missed his dogging steer in the first round and had to run the length of the arena (the Lazy E is a hugh arena, it is wider than the NFR arena is long) remount and throw the steer before his sixty seconds was up, which he did. What was funny was he took his hat off while running and fanned his butt, just like he would have been spanking his horse. I'll be darned if he didn't miss his dogging steer again in the second round, and had to run the length of the arena again. One wag said if he kept it up he would leave Guthrie in the best shape of his life.
It's nice to see the rodeo family growing in this event. Jake Cooper, one of Jimmie's twins, is his dad's helper in the heading and heeling. Jimmie Cooper Jr is heeling for Kyle Hughes, who is the son of former competitor Paul Hughes. Finally, Paul Tierney's son Jess is heading for him.
I'll try to have the results of rounds 3 and 4 up for you tomorrow night after the 4th performance.
Friday, March 03, 2006
TEC and TRAVEL
If you tuned in yesterday and wondered why there were no posts, it was because I was travelling to Guthrie to attend the Timed Event Championship.
Went to the opening ceremony this evening and had a nice visit with Jimmie Cooper. He's in great shape as always and we visited about the Frank DuBois Invitational Calf Roping to be held during the NMSU Alumni rodeo this spring. He liked the concept and may be participating...but more on that later. Also heard from a source that this will be Steve Duhon's final appearance at the TEC. I'm meeting with the big cajun steer wrestler tomorrow and will let you know what he says.
Stay tuned for reports from the TEC, Saturday Night At The Westerner and all the rest.
THE WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP WILL RETURN TO THE LAZY E WITH RODEO’S ELITE TIMED EVENT COWBOYS.
Contact: Shayla Givens
(405) 282-3004
arena@lazye.com
THE WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP WILL RETURN TO THE LAZY E WITH RODEO’S ELITE TIMED EVENT COWBOYS.
GUTHRIE, Okla., January 17, 2006 – The top 20 timed event cowboys in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) will ride into the Lazy E Arena for the 22 annual Wrangler Timed Event Championship, March 3rd, 4th & 5th. This is pro rodeo’s most unique event and is often referred to as “The Ironman” of pro rodeo — it is a true test of versatility and stamina. Each contestant is required to compete in all five grueling timed events: tie-down roping, steer roping, heading, heeling and steer wrestling.
The Wrangler Timed Event Championship was developed by the Lazy E in 1985 to determine the best all-around timed event cowboy in the world — the man who could stand out in more than his specialty event, the man who could be consistent in all five timed events. Today’s professional rodeo cowboys no longer compete in multiple events, but specialize in one possibly two. This event attracts the biggest names in the rodeo industry that represent 28 World Championship titles, in addition to thousands of fans from across the country.
Each round of competition features excitement with leaders changing after every run, with only seconds separating them. The champion isn’t determined until the last rope is thrown, the flag is dropped and the clock has stopped.
Pro rodeo’s hottest talents make up the most decorated field of champions ever invited, such as: three-time Wrangler Timed Event Champion and three-time PRCA All-Around World Champion, Trevor Brazile; reigning 2005 Wrangler Timed Event Champion, Kyle Lockett; eight-time NFR Qualifier, Cash Myers; and the newly crowned 2005 World All-Around Champion, Ryan Jarrett; as well as top seasoned veterans like: three-time Wrangler Timed Event Champion and 1981 PRCA All-Around Champion, Jimmie Cooper; and four-time Wrangler Timed Event Champions Paul Tierney and K.C. Jones.
The Wrangler Timed Event Championship is scheduled to be broadcast nationwide as a special event on The Horse Television Channel. Broadcast airdates and times will be released at a later date. Former PRCA Announcer of the Year, Clem McSpadden, and former National Finals Rodeo announcer, Bob Feist, will call the action for the 11th straight year.
Performances are March 3rd, noon and 7:30 p.m.; March 4th, noon and 7:30 p.m.; with the final round on March 5th, 1 p.m. Ticket prices are: VIP’s $35, Box Seats $25, Reserved Bleachers $20, General Admission $15 in advance and $18 day of the performance. Children 10 and under receive free general admission with an empty Pepsi can, thanks to Pepsi and KWTV News 9. Tickets are available at all Tickets.com outlets, http://www.tickets.com or by calling (800) 595-RIDE.
For more information on the Wrangler Timed Event Championship, or other upcoming Lazy E events, contact the Lazy E Arena, 9600 Lazy E Drive, Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044, visit our Web site at http://www.lazye.com or call (800) 595-RIDE or (405) 282-RIDE.
WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP
2006 Invited Contestants Scheduled to Compete
Trevor Brazile
2002, 2003, 2004 PRCA World All-Around Champion
1998, 2003, 2004 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1996, 1997, 2005 Wrangler Timed Event Reserve World Champion
K.C. Jones
1993, 1996, 1999, 2001 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1995, 2003 Wrangler Timed Event Reserve World Champion
Jimmie Cooper
2005 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductee
1988, 1992, 1994 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1981 PRCA All-Around World Champion
Paul Tierney
1987, 1991, 1997, 2000 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1980 PRCA World All-Around Champion
1979 PRCA World Champion Calf Roper
Kyle Hughes
2000 PRCA Resistol Rookie of the Year – AA and TDR
2001 Mountain States Circuit All-Around Champion
Herbert Theriot
1994 PRCA World Champion Tie-down Roper and 12-time NFR Qualifier
1998 NFR Runner-up All Around Champion
Casey Branquinho
2005 DNCFR Tie-Down Roping Champion
2001 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Assoc. West Coast AA Champion National High School Rodeo Association All-Around Champion
Chance Kelton
Three-time NFR Team Roping Qualifier
1997, 1998 USTRC Open Roping Champion
Steve Duhon
1986, 1987, 1993 PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler
1987 NFR Steer Wrestling Average Champion
B.J. Campbell
2002 DNCFR Team Roping Champion
2001 PRCA Regular Season Leader – Team Roping
Four-time Wrangler NFR Qualifier
Cash Myers
1999 PRCA Resistol Overall and S.W. Rookie of the Year
Seven-time NFR Steer Wrestling and Tie-down Roping Qualifier
Kyle Lockett
2005 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
2001, 2002 Wrangler Timed Event Reserve World Champion
Eight-time Wrangler NFR Qualifier
Mickey Gee
1999 PRCA Steer Wrestling World Champion
2003 NFR Steer Wrestling Average Champion
Luke Branquinho
2004 PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler
2004 NFR Steer Wrestling Average Champion
Four-time NFR Steer Wrestling Qualifier
Jim Locke
2002 NFR Tie Down Roping Qualifier
Three-time Pace Picante Series Qualifier
Doug Clark
2005 NFSR Qualifier
1986 Prairie Circuit All Around Champion
Ryan Jarrett
2005 PRCA World All-Around Champion
2005 NFR Tie Down Roping Average Champion
Chad Hiatt
1991 Great Lakes Circuit Team Roping Champion
2005 WTEC Qualifier
Scott Snedecor
2005 PRCA World Champion Steer Roper
2005 NFSR Average Champion
Five-time NFSR Qualifier
Clint Robinson
2004 Wilderness Circuit All-Around Champion
2003 PRCA Resistol All-Around and Tie-Down Roping Rookie of the Year
###
If you tuned in yesterday and wondered why there were no posts, it was because I was travelling to Guthrie to attend the Timed Event Championship.
Went to the opening ceremony this evening and had a nice visit with Jimmie Cooper. He's in great shape as always and we visited about the Frank DuBois Invitational Calf Roping to be held during the NMSU Alumni rodeo this spring. He liked the concept and may be participating...but more on that later. Also heard from a source that this will be Steve Duhon's final appearance at the TEC. I'm meeting with the big cajun steer wrestler tomorrow and will let you know what he says.
Stay tuned for reports from the TEC, Saturday Night At The Westerner and all the rest.
THE WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP WILL RETURN TO THE LAZY E WITH RODEO’S ELITE TIMED EVENT COWBOYS.
Contact: Shayla Givens
(405) 282-3004
arena@lazye.com
THE WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP WILL RETURN TO THE LAZY E WITH RODEO’S ELITE TIMED EVENT COWBOYS.
GUTHRIE, Okla., January 17, 2006 – The top 20 timed event cowboys in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) will ride into the Lazy E Arena for the 22 annual Wrangler Timed Event Championship, March 3rd, 4th & 5th. This is pro rodeo’s most unique event and is often referred to as “The Ironman” of pro rodeo — it is a true test of versatility and stamina. Each contestant is required to compete in all five grueling timed events: tie-down roping, steer roping, heading, heeling and steer wrestling.
The Wrangler Timed Event Championship was developed by the Lazy E in 1985 to determine the best all-around timed event cowboy in the world — the man who could stand out in more than his specialty event, the man who could be consistent in all five timed events. Today’s professional rodeo cowboys no longer compete in multiple events, but specialize in one possibly two. This event attracts the biggest names in the rodeo industry that represent 28 World Championship titles, in addition to thousands of fans from across the country.
Each round of competition features excitement with leaders changing after every run, with only seconds separating them. The champion isn’t determined until the last rope is thrown, the flag is dropped and the clock has stopped.
Pro rodeo’s hottest talents make up the most decorated field of champions ever invited, such as: three-time Wrangler Timed Event Champion and three-time PRCA All-Around World Champion, Trevor Brazile; reigning 2005 Wrangler Timed Event Champion, Kyle Lockett; eight-time NFR Qualifier, Cash Myers; and the newly crowned 2005 World All-Around Champion, Ryan Jarrett; as well as top seasoned veterans like: three-time Wrangler Timed Event Champion and 1981 PRCA All-Around Champion, Jimmie Cooper; and four-time Wrangler Timed Event Champions Paul Tierney and K.C. Jones.
The Wrangler Timed Event Championship is scheduled to be broadcast nationwide as a special event on The Horse Television Channel. Broadcast airdates and times will be released at a later date. Former PRCA Announcer of the Year, Clem McSpadden, and former National Finals Rodeo announcer, Bob Feist, will call the action for the 11th straight year.
Performances are March 3rd, noon and 7:30 p.m.; March 4th, noon and 7:30 p.m.; with the final round on March 5th, 1 p.m. Ticket prices are: VIP’s $35, Box Seats $25, Reserved Bleachers $20, General Admission $15 in advance and $18 day of the performance. Children 10 and under receive free general admission with an empty Pepsi can, thanks to Pepsi and KWTV News 9. Tickets are available at all Tickets.com outlets, http://www.tickets.com or by calling (800) 595-RIDE.
For more information on the Wrangler Timed Event Championship, or other upcoming Lazy E events, contact the Lazy E Arena, 9600 Lazy E Drive, Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044, visit our Web site at http://www.lazye.com or call (800) 595-RIDE or (405) 282-RIDE.
WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP
2006 Invited Contestants Scheduled to Compete
Trevor Brazile
2002, 2003, 2004 PRCA World All-Around Champion
1998, 2003, 2004 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1996, 1997, 2005 Wrangler Timed Event Reserve World Champion
K.C. Jones
1993, 1996, 1999, 2001 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1995, 2003 Wrangler Timed Event Reserve World Champion
Jimmie Cooper
2005 Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame Inductee
1988, 1992, 1994 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1981 PRCA All-Around World Champion
Paul Tierney
1987, 1991, 1997, 2000 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
1980 PRCA World All-Around Champion
1979 PRCA World Champion Calf Roper
Kyle Hughes
2000 PRCA Resistol Rookie of the Year – AA and TDR
2001 Mountain States Circuit All-Around Champion
Herbert Theriot
1994 PRCA World Champion Tie-down Roper and 12-time NFR Qualifier
1998 NFR Runner-up All Around Champion
Casey Branquinho
2005 DNCFR Tie-Down Roping Champion
2001 National Intercollegiate Rodeo Assoc. West Coast AA Champion National High School Rodeo Association All-Around Champion
Chance Kelton
Three-time NFR Team Roping Qualifier
1997, 1998 USTRC Open Roping Champion
Steve Duhon
1986, 1987, 1993 PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler
1987 NFR Steer Wrestling Average Champion
B.J. Campbell
2002 DNCFR Team Roping Champion
2001 PRCA Regular Season Leader – Team Roping
Four-time Wrangler NFR Qualifier
Cash Myers
1999 PRCA Resistol Overall and S.W. Rookie of the Year
Seven-time NFR Steer Wrestling and Tie-down Roping Qualifier
Kyle Lockett
2005 Wrangler Timed Event World Champion
2001, 2002 Wrangler Timed Event Reserve World Champion
Eight-time Wrangler NFR Qualifier
Mickey Gee
1999 PRCA Steer Wrestling World Champion
2003 NFR Steer Wrestling Average Champion
Luke Branquinho
2004 PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler
2004 NFR Steer Wrestling Average Champion
Four-time NFR Steer Wrestling Qualifier
Jim Locke
2002 NFR Tie Down Roping Qualifier
Three-time Pace Picante Series Qualifier
Doug Clark
2005 NFSR Qualifier
1986 Prairie Circuit All Around Champion
Ryan Jarrett
2005 PRCA World All-Around Champion
2005 NFR Tie Down Roping Average Champion
Chad Hiatt
1991 Great Lakes Circuit Team Roping Champion
2005 WTEC Qualifier
Scott Snedecor
2005 PRCA World Champion Steer Roper
2005 NFSR Average Champion
Five-time NFSR Qualifier
Clint Robinson
2004 Wilderness Circuit All-Around Champion
2003 PRCA Resistol All-Around and Tie-Down Roping Rookie of the Year
###
NEWS ROUNDUP
Possible wolf spotted in North Park A "large, dark canine" that wildlife officials believe is a wolf has been spotted in the area around Walden in North Park. Gary Skiba, state Division of Wildlife wolf management planning coordinator, said, "There is a video of it and I’ve heard the animal acts like a wild animal, not one that was domesticated." If it is a wolf, it will be the first verified in Colorado since a female that wondered down here from Yellowstone National Park was killed on I-70 west of Idaho Springs on June 7, 2004. "From what I’m hearing, it doesn’t act domesticated — that is it doesn’t seem to want to hang around where people are — but there still is no way to know," Skiba said. The animal was first seen on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 after a rancher called a wildlife division officer and reported it. The officer shot a few minutes of video of it....
Saving the jaguar throughout its range In 1993, reports of jaguars occasionally swimming across the Panama Canal were borne out by track evidence on Barro Colorado Island. In 1996, a rancher in southern Arizona, thinking his dogs had cornered a puma, grabbed his camera and photographed a jaguar. That photograph led to the discovery of a small jaguar population in the Sonoran state of Mexico, which had been completely off the experts’ radar screen. We quickly realized that some jaguars were traveling long distances from Mexico into the seemingly inhospitable desert habitat of the southwestern U.S. This was no anomaly. State game agencies had decades of reports of regular, though infrequent, visits by jaguars to the United States-Mexico border. Sitting at my desk, I stared at the dots I had just connected. I thought about jaguars walking the beaches of Costa Rica, wandering the mangrove swamps of Mexico, moving through citrus plantations in Belize, crossing high mountain passes in the Andes, and living in the harsh Chaco region of Bolivia. Hunters believe that jaguars wander long distances through almost any kind of habitat. When the last jaguar was killed in California in 1955, American naturalist Aldo Leopold estimated the cat had traveled at least 500 miles from its home. Genetic uncertainty strongly affects extinction in animal populations. I realized that we had an unprecedented opportunity to guarantee the survival of the jaguar. While I had been focusing our efforts on JCUs—known jaguar populations in areas with relatively abundant prey and largely intact habitat—I had ignored the mostly human-dominated landscapes between these sites. With no clear genetic divergence detected between populations throughout the cats’ range, I could assume that at least some jaguars were using these landscapes—dispersing through everything from citrus plantations to village gardens....
Voters may see initiative to back landowners in drilling tiffs A new front opened in the oil-and-gas war Wednesday thanks to a ballot initiative from a group of Glenwood Springs residents. Colorado Land Owners for Fairness filed notice that it wants to pursue a state constitutional amendment to increase the rights of landowners when oil and gas companies want to drill on their land. Separately, a bill on the same topic is working its way through the Statehouse. "We never pinned our hopes on the legislative process," said John Gorman of Colorado Land Owners for Fairness. "It's a difficult process. It's fraught with many land mines as you go through. We've hit a couple, but it doesn't mean we won't see a good bill." Regardless of what happens at the state Capitol, the time was right to file the initiative, Gorman said. His group has to clear several procedural hurdles before it can start collecting signatures to put the measure on November's ballot. Last week, the House voted for a bill to push landowners and drillers toward signing agreements on land use. The vote came after days of meetings between environmentalists, home builders, real-estate agents, gas drillers, farmers and ranchers. In the end, the House bill uses language pushed by BP, the most active gas driller in Southwest Colorado. Dan Randolph of the Durango-based San Juan Citizens Alliance hopes the initiative pushes legislators toward adopting a stronger bill. "If the Legislature deals with the bill in a good, solid way, then we think the initiative probably isn't necessary," he said....
BLM Biologist Exposes Inside View Of Agency Priorities The 37-year-old Mr. Belinda had signed up for a tour of duty in the BLM's Pinedale Field Office in 2004 because he thought he could make a positive difference as two titanic forces of environment and full-field energy development converged. His wife was from Wyoming and her roots were calling her home. As a hunter and angler, he also was drawn to the abundance of wildlife in the state. The natural beauty, formed by the Wind River Mountains rising above the Upper Green River Valley to the east, and the presence of big game and good fishing in the area, are one reason why some of the senior advisors to President George Herbert Walker Bush, the current president's father, bought ranches in the area, along with tycons who made big money in the private sector. Professionally, Belinda had a unique perspective when he arrived in Pinedale. For years, he had worked for the BLM in southern New Mexico, helping to manage gas leasing that had swept across the Permian Basin. "If only we could go back in time and apply the knowledge that we have today about impacts, things might be different there," he told me as we cruised across the Anticline in his pick-up truck in 2005. "But over the decades, because of our own ignorance, opportunities were squandered in the Permian. I hope the same thing doesn't happen here." Thousands of wells, tens of thousands of miles of pipeline and roads, and stubbles of compressor station nodes, are now proliferating in western Wyoming. It's a veritable bonanza, filling the state coffers with a lottery strike of fiscal richness but causing even the most enthused to wonder what will be left when the gas play ends in a couple of decades. Ironically, the most intense pressure wasn't coming from industry but from his own BLM superiors. Ironically, he told me last year, the oil and gas industry has a greater interest in being more sensitive on the land, and a willingness to modify its projects to accommodate wildlife, than the BLM does. Who's calling the shots for the agency isn't clear....
Scientists Urge Experiments on Barred Owls With the decline of northern spotted owls at a crisis point, a group of scientists is urging the government to consider experiments that include killing some of the barred owls that have invaded spotted owl territory from British Columbia to California. "There is nobody who wants to kill barred owls," said R.J. Gutierrez, one of the nation's leading experts on spotted owls and a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Minnesota. "But if you really want to understand whether they are part of the problem with the recent declines in spotted owl populations, then that's what you have to do." As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prepares to choose a contractor to produce a recovery plan for the spotted owl, declared a threatened species in 1990, the prospect of killing one owl to protect another will be a key issue. A 2004 status review of the spotted owl pointed to the barred owl as a leading factor in spotted owl declines, but offered no clear path for the future....
Colmn: Wild Lands Logging Greenwashed by Enviro Groups Unfortunately, many environmental groups are providing 'green wash' for Bush's 'states rights' roadless plan by legitimizing the process and participating in the Governor's rule making. The Utah Environmental Congress (UEC) firmly believes that while these groups may be well intentioned--they are most definitely off the mark. UEC has heard repeatedly that some intend to participate in the Governor's petition of roadless areas while simultaneously working to defeat it through litigation. We believe this sends a mixed message to the American people in an already confusing issue. Yet, some greens are clamoring for a seat at the table when we believe they should be categorically denouncing the entire process. Legitimizing an unlawful Presidential policy does far more harm than good....
Landowners protect the Centennial Valley Two ranch families have signed conservation easements that prevent housing developments on 7,400 acres in the Centennial Valley. They join 13 other landowners in the remote southwestern Montana valley who have signed these voluntary agreements which now cover more than 31,000 acres. The landowners signing the latest conservation easements said they were motivated by a desire to keep the Centennial Valley like it is, with its ranching heritage, stunning scenery and diverse wildlife. “It’s such a beautiful valley,” said rancher David Schuett, whose conservation easement covers 3,346 acres west of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. “All of us want to preserve it. We don’t want it broken into little recreational places,” he added. The Schuetts live and operate their main ranch near Dillon....
Cows shot, killed on Arizona ranch t’s an unusual crime that has cost a rancher $5,000 and left authorities puzzled. Sometime around Feb. 23, four pregnant cows were shot several times and left to die on a large ranch near Seligman, about 75 miles west of Flagstaff, the Arizona Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. A hunter discovered the animals when he was scouting the area for predators. “This is very serious,” said Katie Decker, a department spokeswoman. “The fact that someone will go out and do something like this is very frightening.” Authorities don’t believe it’s related to a recent case at a ranch near Cave Creek dam where nine cows were shot. Whoever is responsible for killing the cows at Diamond A Ranch in Seligman could face multiple charges of animal cruelty, Decker said. Department investigators are searching for leads....
Too little, too late? “We sure could use some rain” is an all too familiar refrain heard lately. Sometimes, “... and a little hay wouldn’t hurt either” will follow that statement. The drought conditions that Texas and much of the Southwest has experienced has found area cattle producers scratching their heads and digging deep into their pocketbooks just to keep their cattle fed. Some cattle producers have had to go as far as Colorado to find hay, and pay a premium price if they’re lucky enough to find it. “It’s been a tough row to hoe” for the working man, Navarro County rancher Gary Brunton said. “What hurts the most is that I spent a fortune on planting in the fall, and it never rained. A lot of seed got ruined.” Brunton said he sold a lot of yearlings he would have held on to, not only due to the lack of hay, but the lack of water as well....
Spring work has sprung at Helle ranch despite winter winds It is a busy time at the Helle ranch. With four kids, sheep to shear and cows to calve John Helle is running in every direction. The spring work has begun. Although the dry, windy winter has Helle somewhat frustrated, he is pleased that it has not been too cold since he started shearing his sheep. They still get chilled when that icy wind blows, but Helle said he has enough shed space for the 500 they sheared this week. He also plans to feed them one and a half times as much feed as usual. He said they utilize a lot of feed burning the energy to stay warm. He has about 8,000 sheep and has finished the first 500. Helle plans to shear another 5,000 in April and the last 2,500 in May. He said they have taken a couple of thousand lambs over to Manhattan where he leases some pasture from a rancher....
Calving adds excitement through humdrum February Go feed the cows, go move the bales - it is the everyday humdrum way of life for Randy Pegar this week. After bringing up a load of their belongings, son Don and his wife have returned to California for another load. But first he spent a week helping his dad and brother with calving during a cold snap. Pegar does not like to hire outside help, so he and his sons alternate checking the cows. “Everything we do, we do ourselves,” he said. “We had one cow give Don a dance lesson,” said Pegar. “She was just a little bit snorty.” He said the cow cornered 6-foot-6 Don in the barn for 20 minutes the other night. When Pegar asked him why he did not call him to come help, Don said he could not get to his phone. He told his dad, “Every time I got close to the door she got back on me.” Pega said the cow calved right in front of the door.
Possible wolf spotted in North Park A "large, dark canine" that wildlife officials believe is a wolf has been spotted in the area around Walden in North Park. Gary Skiba, state Division of Wildlife wolf management planning coordinator, said, "There is a video of it and I’ve heard the animal acts like a wild animal, not one that was domesticated." If it is a wolf, it will be the first verified in Colorado since a female that wondered down here from Yellowstone National Park was killed on I-70 west of Idaho Springs on June 7, 2004. "From what I’m hearing, it doesn’t act domesticated — that is it doesn’t seem to want to hang around where people are — but there still is no way to know," Skiba said. The animal was first seen on Feb. 16 and Feb. 17 after a rancher called a wildlife division officer and reported it. The officer shot a few minutes of video of it....
Saving the jaguar throughout its range In 1993, reports of jaguars occasionally swimming across the Panama Canal were borne out by track evidence on Barro Colorado Island. In 1996, a rancher in southern Arizona, thinking his dogs had cornered a puma, grabbed his camera and photographed a jaguar. That photograph led to the discovery of a small jaguar population in the Sonoran state of Mexico, which had been completely off the experts’ radar screen. We quickly realized that some jaguars were traveling long distances from Mexico into the seemingly inhospitable desert habitat of the southwestern U.S. This was no anomaly. State game agencies had decades of reports of regular, though infrequent, visits by jaguars to the United States-Mexico border. Sitting at my desk, I stared at the dots I had just connected. I thought about jaguars walking the beaches of Costa Rica, wandering the mangrove swamps of Mexico, moving through citrus plantations in Belize, crossing high mountain passes in the Andes, and living in the harsh Chaco region of Bolivia. Hunters believe that jaguars wander long distances through almost any kind of habitat. When the last jaguar was killed in California in 1955, American naturalist Aldo Leopold estimated the cat had traveled at least 500 miles from its home. Genetic uncertainty strongly affects extinction in animal populations. I realized that we had an unprecedented opportunity to guarantee the survival of the jaguar. While I had been focusing our efforts on JCUs—known jaguar populations in areas with relatively abundant prey and largely intact habitat—I had ignored the mostly human-dominated landscapes between these sites. With no clear genetic divergence detected between populations throughout the cats’ range, I could assume that at least some jaguars were using these landscapes—dispersing through everything from citrus plantations to village gardens....
Voters may see initiative to back landowners in drilling tiffs A new front opened in the oil-and-gas war Wednesday thanks to a ballot initiative from a group of Glenwood Springs residents. Colorado Land Owners for Fairness filed notice that it wants to pursue a state constitutional amendment to increase the rights of landowners when oil and gas companies want to drill on their land. Separately, a bill on the same topic is working its way through the Statehouse. "We never pinned our hopes on the legislative process," said John Gorman of Colorado Land Owners for Fairness. "It's a difficult process. It's fraught with many land mines as you go through. We've hit a couple, but it doesn't mean we won't see a good bill." Regardless of what happens at the state Capitol, the time was right to file the initiative, Gorman said. His group has to clear several procedural hurdles before it can start collecting signatures to put the measure on November's ballot. Last week, the House voted for a bill to push landowners and drillers toward signing agreements on land use. The vote came after days of meetings between environmentalists, home builders, real-estate agents, gas drillers, farmers and ranchers. In the end, the House bill uses language pushed by BP, the most active gas driller in Southwest Colorado. Dan Randolph of the Durango-based San Juan Citizens Alliance hopes the initiative pushes legislators toward adopting a stronger bill. "If the Legislature deals with the bill in a good, solid way, then we think the initiative probably isn't necessary," he said....
BLM Biologist Exposes Inside View Of Agency Priorities The 37-year-old Mr. Belinda had signed up for a tour of duty in the BLM's Pinedale Field Office in 2004 because he thought he could make a positive difference as two titanic forces of environment and full-field energy development converged. His wife was from Wyoming and her roots were calling her home. As a hunter and angler, he also was drawn to the abundance of wildlife in the state. The natural beauty, formed by the Wind River Mountains rising above the Upper Green River Valley to the east, and the presence of big game and good fishing in the area, are one reason why some of the senior advisors to President George Herbert Walker Bush, the current president's father, bought ranches in the area, along with tycons who made big money in the private sector. Professionally, Belinda had a unique perspective when he arrived in Pinedale. For years, he had worked for the BLM in southern New Mexico, helping to manage gas leasing that had swept across the Permian Basin. "If only we could go back in time and apply the knowledge that we have today about impacts, things might be different there," he told me as we cruised across the Anticline in his pick-up truck in 2005. "But over the decades, because of our own ignorance, opportunities were squandered in the Permian. I hope the same thing doesn't happen here." Thousands of wells, tens of thousands of miles of pipeline and roads, and stubbles of compressor station nodes, are now proliferating in western Wyoming. It's a veritable bonanza, filling the state coffers with a lottery strike of fiscal richness but causing even the most enthused to wonder what will be left when the gas play ends in a couple of decades. Ironically, the most intense pressure wasn't coming from industry but from his own BLM superiors. Ironically, he told me last year, the oil and gas industry has a greater interest in being more sensitive on the land, and a willingness to modify its projects to accommodate wildlife, than the BLM does. Who's calling the shots for the agency isn't clear....
Scientists Urge Experiments on Barred Owls With the decline of northern spotted owls at a crisis point, a group of scientists is urging the government to consider experiments that include killing some of the barred owls that have invaded spotted owl territory from British Columbia to California. "There is nobody who wants to kill barred owls," said R.J. Gutierrez, one of the nation's leading experts on spotted owls and a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Minnesota. "But if you really want to understand whether they are part of the problem with the recent declines in spotted owl populations, then that's what you have to do." As the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service prepares to choose a contractor to produce a recovery plan for the spotted owl, declared a threatened species in 1990, the prospect of killing one owl to protect another will be a key issue. A 2004 status review of the spotted owl pointed to the barred owl as a leading factor in spotted owl declines, but offered no clear path for the future....
Colmn: Wild Lands Logging Greenwashed by Enviro Groups Unfortunately, many environmental groups are providing 'green wash' for Bush's 'states rights' roadless plan by legitimizing the process and participating in the Governor's rule making. The Utah Environmental Congress (UEC) firmly believes that while these groups may be well intentioned--they are most definitely off the mark. UEC has heard repeatedly that some intend to participate in the Governor's petition of roadless areas while simultaneously working to defeat it through litigation. We believe this sends a mixed message to the American people in an already confusing issue. Yet, some greens are clamoring for a seat at the table when we believe they should be categorically denouncing the entire process. Legitimizing an unlawful Presidential policy does far more harm than good....
Landowners protect the Centennial Valley Two ranch families have signed conservation easements that prevent housing developments on 7,400 acres in the Centennial Valley. They join 13 other landowners in the remote southwestern Montana valley who have signed these voluntary agreements which now cover more than 31,000 acres. The landowners signing the latest conservation easements said they were motivated by a desire to keep the Centennial Valley like it is, with its ranching heritage, stunning scenery and diverse wildlife. “It’s such a beautiful valley,” said rancher David Schuett, whose conservation easement covers 3,346 acres west of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. “All of us want to preserve it. We don’t want it broken into little recreational places,” he added. The Schuetts live and operate their main ranch near Dillon....
Cows shot, killed on Arizona ranch t’s an unusual crime that has cost a rancher $5,000 and left authorities puzzled. Sometime around Feb. 23, four pregnant cows were shot several times and left to die on a large ranch near Seligman, about 75 miles west of Flagstaff, the Arizona Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. A hunter discovered the animals when he was scouting the area for predators. “This is very serious,” said Katie Decker, a department spokeswoman. “The fact that someone will go out and do something like this is very frightening.” Authorities don’t believe it’s related to a recent case at a ranch near Cave Creek dam where nine cows were shot. Whoever is responsible for killing the cows at Diamond A Ranch in Seligman could face multiple charges of animal cruelty, Decker said. Department investigators are searching for leads....
Too little, too late? “We sure could use some rain” is an all too familiar refrain heard lately. Sometimes, “... and a little hay wouldn’t hurt either” will follow that statement. The drought conditions that Texas and much of the Southwest has experienced has found area cattle producers scratching their heads and digging deep into their pocketbooks just to keep their cattle fed. Some cattle producers have had to go as far as Colorado to find hay, and pay a premium price if they’re lucky enough to find it. “It’s been a tough row to hoe” for the working man, Navarro County rancher Gary Brunton said. “What hurts the most is that I spent a fortune on planting in the fall, and it never rained. A lot of seed got ruined.” Brunton said he sold a lot of yearlings he would have held on to, not only due to the lack of hay, but the lack of water as well....
Spring work has sprung at Helle ranch despite winter winds It is a busy time at the Helle ranch. With four kids, sheep to shear and cows to calve John Helle is running in every direction. The spring work has begun. Although the dry, windy winter has Helle somewhat frustrated, he is pleased that it has not been too cold since he started shearing his sheep. They still get chilled when that icy wind blows, but Helle said he has enough shed space for the 500 they sheared this week. He also plans to feed them one and a half times as much feed as usual. He said they utilize a lot of feed burning the energy to stay warm. He has about 8,000 sheep and has finished the first 500. Helle plans to shear another 5,000 in April and the last 2,500 in May. He said they have taken a couple of thousand lambs over to Manhattan where he leases some pasture from a rancher....
Calving adds excitement through humdrum February Go feed the cows, go move the bales - it is the everyday humdrum way of life for Randy Pegar this week. After bringing up a load of their belongings, son Don and his wife have returned to California for another load. But first he spent a week helping his dad and brother with calving during a cold snap. Pegar does not like to hire outside help, so he and his sons alternate checking the cows. “Everything we do, we do ourselves,” he said. “We had one cow give Don a dance lesson,” said Pegar. “She was just a little bit snorty.” He said the cow cornered 6-foot-6 Don in the barn for 20 minutes the other night. When Pegar asked him why he did not call him to come help, Don said he could not get to his phone. He told his dad, “Every time I got close to the door she got back on me.” Pega said the cow calved right in front of the door.
"Eminent Domain: Abuse of Government Power?", will air on C-SPAN2
In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision regarding eminent domain, we are delighted to inform you that our recent Independent Policy Forum, "Eminent Domain: Abuse of Government Power?", will air on C-SPAN2 on Saturday, March 4th.
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=114
Here is the exact airing time:
Saturday, March 4th, 8:00 a.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT) C-SPAN2
http://www.booktv.org/General/index.asp?segID=6696&schedID=413
The program features presentations by:
STEVEN GREENHUT, Senior Editorial Writer, Orange County Register, and author of Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain.
TIMOTHY SANDEFUR, Staff Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation.
In the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's Kelo decision regarding eminent domain, we are delighted to inform you that our recent Independent Policy Forum, "Eminent Domain: Abuse of Government Power?", will air on C-SPAN2 on Saturday, March 4th.
http://www.independent.org/events/detail.asp?eventID=114
Here is the exact airing time:
Saturday, March 4th, 8:00 a.m. ET (5:00 p.m. PT) C-SPAN2
http://www.booktv.org/General/index.asp?segID=6696&schedID=413
The program features presentations by:
STEVEN GREENHUT, Senior Editorial Writer, Orange County Register, and author of Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Domain.
TIMOTHY SANDEFUR, Staff Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
NEWS ROUNDUP
Breaks hearing mostly congenial as sides disagree U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials heard suggestions on how to manage the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument from all sides Monday night at a public hearing on the bureau's proposed management plan at the Holiday Village Shopping Center. Wilderness and conservation advocates fear the number of roads and airstrips in the bureau's preferred plan will take away from the Breaks' remote quality, though some area hikers said more access is needed. Some worry that increased traffic and noise from aircraft will be a detriment to wildlife, though others who live near the Breaks called that concept ignorant. State Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, said he's concerned that the 120 ranchers who own land in the Breaks will suffer under the management plan. “They'll be driven out,” Butcher said. “You just keep tightening the noose.” He said he worries that the ranching operations will die out, drying up towns like Winifred, Big Sandy, Roy and Geraldine. He's also concerned that oil and gas companies will stay away from the area - even lands surrounding the monument - causing the loss of millions of dollars in tax revenues....
Proposed land deals gain interest Some West River ranchers are interested in the Bush administration’s proposal to sell some public lands in the state, even though members of the South Dakota congressional delegation have stated their opposition. Some of the eligible land parcels are part of the Black Hills National Forest and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands located in Custer and Fall River counties. Local landowners have expressed an interest for years in either purchasing or trading for the federal property, according the Ken Knuppe, a rancher from Buffalo Gap. However, Knuppe said local support among West River ranchers for the land sales would most likely hinge on them having the right of first refusal to buy the public lands located next to their property. “We’d like to see the first option to buy given to the local landowner,” Knuppe said. “That would clear up a lot of frustration that ranchers have with the federal government.” He added that some ranchers aren’t completely against the federal government buying land, but the cattlemen believe the government should also reduce its land holdings when it makes sense to sell land. “A lot of this land that’s managed by the Forest Service is right next to privately-owned land where ranchers are trying to graze their cattle,” Knuppe said. “There’s a ‘checkerboard’ of federal land and private land next to each other and some of of those lands aren’t divided by a fence.” And since there’s no fence between the properties, cattle can wander onto the property and graze — a situation that sometimes causes disagreements among neighbors....
Public-land sale plan challenged by lawmakers Senators from both parties on Tuesday challenged a Bush administration plan to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest to help pay for rural schools in 41 states. Lawmakers said the short-term gains would be offset by the permanent loss of public lands. They also said profits from the proposed sales would fall far short of what's needed to help rural governments pay for schools and other basic services. "I just don't think we can play Russian roulette with these local communities," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who vowed to "do everything I can" to stop the plan. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, had a more visceral reaction: "No, heck no," he told Bush administration officials at a Senate hearing Tuesday....
Rey: Proponents of Public Land Sale Out There, Just Silent Supporters of the Bush Administration’s controversial public land sale have been quiet, but they’re out there, said Department of Agriculture secretary, Mark Rey during a Tuesday press conference. “What I’m hearing is a level of concern that’s not surprising,” Rey told reporters. “Land sales are controversial.” Support has come from some county officials around the country who are looking forward to getting more land on the tax rolls, Rey said. The press conference was held to announce the beginning of a 30-day public comment session on the proposal. Even though people have been vocal with their frustration, since the land sale was announced earlier this month, no other options have come forward to fund the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, he said. “So far no one else has found another alternative.” Rey also announced a minor shift in the plan. Now, if county and state governments along with land trusts show interest in a piece of land the Forest Service wants to sell, they will have a non-competitive option to buy it for fair-market value. This change was made because the agency recognized some of the lands may not be suitable as National Forest, but they still have public value, he said....
USDA FOREST SERVICE ACCEPTING PUBLIC COMMENTS ON POTENTIAL LIST OF ELIGIBLE TRACTS OF LAND FOR SALE U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service today announced the start of a public comment period on a list of forest lands that would be available for sale as a proposal to provide funding to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (SRS). The list of available forest lands, published in today’s Federal Register, comprises 304,370 acres of land within the 193-million-acre National Forest System. This represents less than 0.2 of one percent of all Forest Service managed land. All of the parcels are considered isolated or inefficient to manage due to their location or other characteristics. Detailed maps of each parcel can now be found on the Forest Service website (www.fs.fed.us). The Forest Service will include in its proposal the opportunity for local and state government agencies and nonprofit land trust organizations the first right to buy these parcels at market value. Comments on the proposed list must be received by March 30 and may be sent by e-mail to SRS_Land_Sales@fs.fed.us....
The Nature Conservancy Applauds President's Support for Conservation of North Georgia's Forest Lands in FY 2007 Budget The Nature Conservancy in Georgia applauded President Bush's request to fund the conservation of north Georgia's forests with $1.5 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund in Fiscal Year 2007. If approved, this funding will support the protection of approximately 540 acres of critical mountain forests, which will ultimately be added to the Chattahoochee National Forest for the enjoyment of all Georgians. "This funding will help ensure that the vital north Georgia mountain forests, essential for wildlife and the health of our rivers and streams, will continue to be safeguarded," Tavia McCuean, director of The Nature Conservancy in Georgia....The Fed's acquire land everyday, by purchase, exchange and easements, and that's ok. But if they try to sell less than 1 percent of one agency's holdings, then all hell breaks loose, with even Republicans cowering. Larry Craig should be ashamed of himself. I guess one out of every three acres in the US being owned by the Feds is not enough.
The Forest Service Is Dead; Long Live the Forest Service! n 1982, Earth First!er Dave Foreman used form letters to blitz the U.S. Forest Service with administrative appeals, blocking over 100 timber sales that threatened roadless areas in several Western states. This act of paper monkeywrenching sums up the relationship conservationists had with the Forest Service for three decades. We attempted nearly every act of peaceful hostility -- appeals, lawsuits, tree-sits -- to obstruct what was then the largest single agency in the federal government and the largest single employer in many rural communities. The Forest Service was destroying our old-growth and wild areas; it had to be stopped. That was then. This is now. Today the Forest Service is broken and demoralized, with a budget built more around firefighting than logging. The annual logging cut is a fraction of what it was in its heyday. Biodiversity is threatened less by the prospect of new roads and clear-cuts in wild country than by the ailing condition of old roads and tree plantations. The conservation movement is reinventing itself to partner with old nemeses, the timber industry and rural Western communities, to give the Forest Service new life and a new mission to face the challenge of the next 30 years: restoring to ecological health America's federal forestlands....
DoI staffers stayed on with Pombo Two staffers on the House Resources Committee played key roles in developing controversial environmental legislation while receiving salaries from the Department of Interior in apparent violation of House rules limiting their congressional service to one year. The two provisions they helped develop were attached to the budget-reconciliation bill, passed last month. Lawmakers stripped the provisions during negotiations before final congressional passage. The staffers’ roles in creating and pushing the legislation have raised concerns among congressional Democrats and environmentalists. Brian Kennedy, spokesman for the House Resources Committee, and Hugh Vickery, senior public-affairs officer for the Department of the Interior, said that the proper authorities had approved the necessary waivers. During their service, two of the most controversial pieces of legislation to emerge from the Resources Committee dealt with issues that Coleman and Deery specialized in while at Interior. One controversial provision would have given states revenue-sharing incentives for opting out of the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, a matter Coleman worked on while at Interior’s Minerals Management Service. The second would have amended mining law to allow federal lands to be sold to support the sustainable development of dying mining towns. Environmentalists criticized the provision as a massive giveaway of federal land. Deery, a detailee from the Bureau of Land Management, was an expert on solid-minerals leasing and hard-rock mining....
Cow deaths strike fear in ranchers The search for the Tehama County cattle killers is intensifying, with investigators working extra patrols and a reward that has reached $4,500 for information leading to the arrest of the those responsible, Sheriff Clay Parker said Tuesday. Ranchers have found seven cows, each worth about $1,200, shot to death since the beginning of the year. Six of the shootings were in the Hogsback Road area and one was reported off Blue Oak Road. No meat has been taken from the cows, Parker said. "Idiots shoot them and leave them there to rot," he said. In one case, a cow had to be put down after she was found alive but shot in the back of the head. Her dependant calf, which had not been shot, was killed in a coyote attack, the Sheriff’s Department said....
Breaks hearing mostly congenial as sides disagree U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials heard suggestions on how to manage the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument from all sides Monday night at a public hearing on the bureau's proposed management plan at the Holiday Village Shopping Center. Wilderness and conservation advocates fear the number of roads and airstrips in the bureau's preferred plan will take away from the Breaks' remote quality, though some area hikers said more access is needed. Some worry that increased traffic and noise from aircraft will be a detriment to wildlife, though others who live near the Breaks called that concept ignorant. State Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, said he's concerned that the 120 ranchers who own land in the Breaks will suffer under the management plan. “They'll be driven out,” Butcher said. “You just keep tightening the noose.” He said he worries that the ranching operations will die out, drying up towns like Winifred, Big Sandy, Roy and Geraldine. He's also concerned that oil and gas companies will stay away from the area - even lands surrounding the monument - causing the loss of millions of dollars in tax revenues....
Proposed land deals gain interest Some West River ranchers are interested in the Bush administration’s proposal to sell some public lands in the state, even though members of the South Dakota congressional delegation have stated their opposition. Some of the eligible land parcels are part of the Black Hills National Forest and Buffalo Gap National Grasslands located in Custer and Fall River counties. Local landowners have expressed an interest for years in either purchasing or trading for the federal property, according the Ken Knuppe, a rancher from Buffalo Gap. However, Knuppe said local support among West River ranchers for the land sales would most likely hinge on them having the right of first refusal to buy the public lands located next to their property. “We’d like to see the first option to buy given to the local landowner,” Knuppe said. “That would clear up a lot of frustration that ranchers have with the federal government.” He added that some ranchers aren’t completely against the federal government buying land, but the cattlemen believe the government should also reduce its land holdings when it makes sense to sell land. “A lot of this land that’s managed by the Forest Service is right next to privately-owned land where ranchers are trying to graze their cattle,” Knuppe said. “There’s a ‘checkerboard’ of federal land and private land next to each other and some of of those lands aren’t divided by a fence.” And since there’s no fence between the properties, cattle can wander onto the property and graze — a situation that sometimes causes disagreements among neighbors....
Public-land sale plan challenged by lawmakers Senators from both parties on Tuesday challenged a Bush administration plan to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest to help pay for rural schools in 41 states. Lawmakers said the short-term gains would be offset by the permanent loss of public lands. They also said profits from the proposed sales would fall far short of what's needed to help rural governments pay for schools and other basic services. "I just don't think we can play Russian roulette with these local communities," said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who vowed to "do everything I can" to stop the plan. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, had a more visceral reaction: "No, heck no," he told Bush administration officials at a Senate hearing Tuesday....
Rey: Proponents of Public Land Sale Out There, Just Silent Supporters of the Bush Administration’s controversial public land sale have been quiet, but they’re out there, said Department of Agriculture secretary, Mark Rey during a Tuesday press conference. “What I’m hearing is a level of concern that’s not surprising,” Rey told reporters. “Land sales are controversial.” Support has come from some county officials around the country who are looking forward to getting more land on the tax rolls, Rey said. The press conference was held to announce the beginning of a 30-day public comment session on the proposal. Even though people have been vocal with their frustration, since the land sale was announced earlier this month, no other options have come forward to fund the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act, he said. “So far no one else has found another alternative.” Rey also announced a minor shift in the plan. Now, if county and state governments along with land trusts show interest in a piece of land the Forest Service wants to sell, they will have a non-competitive option to buy it for fair-market value. This change was made because the agency recognized some of the lands may not be suitable as National Forest, but they still have public value, he said....
USDA FOREST SERVICE ACCEPTING PUBLIC COMMENTS ON POTENTIAL LIST OF ELIGIBLE TRACTS OF LAND FOR SALE U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service today announced the start of a public comment period on a list of forest lands that would be available for sale as a proposal to provide funding to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 (SRS). The list of available forest lands, published in today’s Federal Register, comprises 304,370 acres of land within the 193-million-acre National Forest System. This represents less than 0.2 of one percent of all Forest Service managed land. All of the parcels are considered isolated or inefficient to manage due to their location or other characteristics. Detailed maps of each parcel can now be found on the Forest Service website (www.fs.fed.us). The Forest Service will include in its proposal the opportunity for local and state government agencies and nonprofit land trust organizations the first right to buy these parcels at market value. Comments on the proposed list must be received by March 30 and may be sent by e-mail to SRS_Land_Sales@fs.fed.us....
The Nature Conservancy Applauds President's Support for Conservation of North Georgia's Forest Lands in FY 2007 Budget The Nature Conservancy in Georgia applauded President Bush's request to fund the conservation of north Georgia's forests with $1.5 million from the Land and Water Conservation Fund in Fiscal Year 2007. If approved, this funding will support the protection of approximately 540 acres of critical mountain forests, which will ultimately be added to the Chattahoochee National Forest for the enjoyment of all Georgians. "This funding will help ensure that the vital north Georgia mountain forests, essential for wildlife and the health of our rivers and streams, will continue to be safeguarded," Tavia McCuean, director of The Nature Conservancy in Georgia....The Fed's acquire land everyday, by purchase, exchange and easements, and that's ok. But if they try to sell less than 1 percent of one agency's holdings, then all hell breaks loose, with even Republicans cowering. Larry Craig should be ashamed of himself. I guess one out of every three acres in the US being owned by the Feds is not enough.
The Forest Service Is Dead; Long Live the Forest Service! n 1982, Earth First!er Dave Foreman used form letters to blitz the U.S. Forest Service with administrative appeals, blocking over 100 timber sales that threatened roadless areas in several Western states. This act of paper monkeywrenching sums up the relationship conservationists had with the Forest Service for three decades. We attempted nearly every act of peaceful hostility -- appeals, lawsuits, tree-sits -- to obstruct what was then the largest single agency in the federal government and the largest single employer in many rural communities. The Forest Service was destroying our old-growth and wild areas; it had to be stopped. That was then. This is now. Today the Forest Service is broken and demoralized, with a budget built more around firefighting than logging. The annual logging cut is a fraction of what it was in its heyday. Biodiversity is threatened less by the prospect of new roads and clear-cuts in wild country than by the ailing condition of old roads and tree plantations. The conservation movement is reinventing itself to partner with old nemeses, the timber industry and rural Western communities, to give the Forest Service new life and a new mission to face the challenge of the next 30 years: restoring to ecological health America's federal forestlands....
DoI staffers stayed on with Pombo Two staffers on the House Resources Committee played key roles in developing controversial environmental legislation while receiving salaries from the Department of Interior in apparent violation of House rules limiting their congressional service to one year. The two provisions they helped develop were attached to the budget-reconciliation bill, passed last month. Lawmakers stripped the provisions during negotiations before final congressional passage. The staffers’ roles in creating and pushing the legislation have raised concerns among congressional Democrats and environmentalists. Brian Kennedy, spokesman for the House Resources Committee, and Hugh Vickery, senior public-affairs officer for the Department of the Interior, said that the proper authorities had approved the necessary waivers. During their service, two of the most controversial pieces of legislation to emerge from the Resources Committee dealt with issues that Coleman and Deery specialized in while at Interior. One controversial provision would have given states revenue-sharing incentives for opting out of the moratorium on offshore oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf, a matter Coleman worked on while at Interior’s Minerals Management Service. The second would have amended mining law to allow federal lands to be sold to support the sustainable development of dying mining towns. Environmentalists criticized the provision as a massive giveaway of federal land. Deery, a detailee from the Bureau of Land Management, was an expert on solid-minerals leasing and hard-rock mining....
Cow deaths strike fear in ranchers The search for the Tehama County cattle killers is intensifying, with investigators working extra patrols and a reward that has reached $4,500 for information leading to the arrest of the those responsible, Sheriff Clay Parker said Tuesday. Ranchers have found seven cows, each worth about $1,200, shot to death since the beginning of the year. Six of the shootings were in the Hogsback Road area and one was reported off Blue Oak Road. No meat has been taken from the cows, Parker said. "Idiots shoot them and leave them there to rot," he said. In one case, a cow had to be put down after she was found alive but shot in the back of the head. Her dependant calf, which had not been shot, was killed in a coyote attack, the Sheriff’s Department said....
FLE
Patriot Act Renewal Clears Final Hurdle
Months overdue in a midterm election year, the USA Patriot Act renewal cleared a final hurdle in the Senate Tuesday on its way to President Bush's desk. But the bill's sponsor said he is unsatisfied with the measure's privacy protections and far from done tinkering with the centerpiece of Bush's war on terrorism. "The issue is not concluded," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa. He said he plans more legislation and hearings on restoring House-rejected curbs on government power. The Senate voted 69-30 Tuesday _ 60 votes were needed _ to limit debate and bring the bill to a final vote that could occur as early as Wednesday. The House then would vote and send the legislation to the White House. Sixteen major provisions would expire March 10 if President Bush doesn't sign the bill by then...Specter agreed on that point. Even as he urged his colleagues to vote this week for the bill, he introduced a separate bill to make the government satisfy a higher threshold for warrantless wiretaps and to set a four-year expiration date for the use of National Security Letters in terrorism investigations. However appetizing to Specter's colleagues in the Senate, the new bill represents items House Republicans flatly rejected during talks last year. The solution is a convoluted procedural dance that illustrates the razor-thin zone of agreement when it comes to Bush's terror-fighting law. Congress will extend the Patriot Act by passing two pieces of legislation. The first is the same accord passed last year by the House and filibustered in the Senate by members who said it contained too few privacy protections. The second is, in effect, an amendment to the first that adds enough privacy protections to win over those same libertarian-leaning Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is permitting no other amendments, allowing the measure to slide through both houses without extended debate....
Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest yesterday that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December. In a letter yesterday to senators in which he asked to clarify his Feb. 6 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales also seemed to imply that the administration's original legal justification for the program was not as clear-cut as he indicated three weeks ago. At that appearance, Gonzales confined his comments to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, saying that President Bush had authorized it "and that is all that he has authorized." But in yesterday's letter, Gonzales, citing that quote, wrote: "I did not and could not address . . . any other classified intelligence activities." Using the administration's term for the recently disclosed operation, he continued, "I was confining my remarks to the Terrorist Surveillance Program as described by the President, the legality of which was the subject" of the Feb. 6 hearing. At least one constitutional scholar who testified before the committee yesterday said in an interview that Gonzales appeared to be hinting that the operation disclosed by the New York Times in mid-December is not the full extent of eavesdropping on U.S. residents conducted without court warrants. "It seems to me he is conceding that there are other NSA surveillance programs ongoing that the president hasn't told anyone about," said Bruce Fein, a government lawyer in the Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations....
U.S. settles detainee's suit in 9/11 sweep
The U.S. government has agreed to pay 300,000 U.S. dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by an Egyptian swept up in the New York area after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The Egyptian was among dozens of Muslim men that were swept up in the New York area after the attacks, held for months in a federal detention center in the city, and deported after being cleared of links to terrorism, the report said. The settlement, filed in federal court late Monday, is the first the government has made in a number of lawsuits charging that non citizens were abused and their constitutional rights violated in detentions after the terror attacks. The settlement, which removes one of two plaintiffs from a case in which a federal judge ruled last year that former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Robert Mueller and other top government officials must answer questions under oath, requires approval by a federal judge in Brooklyn....
More pushback from Hill on eavesdropping
Washington is immersed in a furious debate over the legality of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program - and the argument's outcome may affect the balance of power in the US government for decades to come. That is what a bipartisan group of US lawmakers believe, in any case, as they struggle to respond to the White House's assertions of broad powers in the surveillance case. Unless Congress asserts authority over the program via some form of legislation, some legislators and legal scholars assert, it risks becoming less relevant on important questions of war and national security than it is today. "This is a defining issue in the constitutional history of the United States," constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Some key Republican lawmakers, such as Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Warner of Virginia, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, have joined Democrats in voicing worry about the extent of power claimed by the executive branch in the eavesdropping issue. While insisting that the program is legal, the White House has indicated that it would work with Congress to codify the law in this area, if necessary. It prefers a proposal from Sen. Mike DeWine (R) of Ohio, which would exempt the program from the FISA law and set up a special congressional committee to provide oversight and review of eavesdropping cases. The importance of this debate, say experts, lies in the fact that it bears directly on questions of power between the branches that have been debated since members of Congress wore breeches and wigs. Its outcome will have far-reaching effects, since any shift in this balance tends to persist, say legal scholars. In addition, the White House is in essence asserting privilege in an area that Congress has specifically addressed, via the 1978 FISA statute. "The president is asserting an inherent constitutional authority in 'wartime' that allows him to ignore the plain meaning of the FISA law," says Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "How it is ultimately resolved will help define the limits of presidential power."....
'Times' sues government over surveillance records
The New York Times sued the Department of Defense on Monday, saying the government has refused to turn over records related to its domestic warrantless surveillance program. In its federal lawsuit, the Times asked the court to order the government to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request requiring it to release documents or provide a lawful reason why it cannot. The Times said a Dec. 16 letter to the Defense Department requested all internal memos, e-mails and legal memoranda and opinions since Sept. 11, 2001, related to the National Security Agency spying program. The department is the parent agency of the NSA. The newspaper said it asked for meeting logs, calendar items and notes related to discussions of the program, including meetings held by Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff with members of Congress and telecommunications executives. It also requested all complaints of abuse or possible violations in the operations of the program or the legal rationale behind it. And it sought the names and descriptions of people or groups identified through the use of the program and a description of relevant episodes used to identify the targets of the intercepts....
Illegal Surveillance: A Real Security Threat
Americans seem to have forgotten why the Founding Fathers prohibited government from spying on them. Public opinion polls show that a rising percentage of Americans approve of the warrantless National Security Agency wiretaps of Americans that Bush ordered. But such blind faith in government simply ignores the lessons of U.S. history. When the feds have unleashed themselves in the past, many innocent Americans’ lives were devastated. During the 1960s and 1970s, the FBI carried out thousands of Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) operations, often combining illegal surveillance with efforts to subvert any opposition to the government. Covert FBI efforts sought to incite street warfare between violent groups, wreck marriages, portray innocent people as government informants, sic the IRS on citizens, and cripple or destroy left-wing, black, communist, or other organizations. The FBI inflicted its wrath on speakers, teachers, and writers. A 1976 Senate report noted hundreds of COINTELPRO operations aimed “to get university and high-school teachers fired; to prevent targets from speaking on campus; to stop chapters of target groups from being formed; to prevent the distribution of books, newspapers, or periodicals; to disrupt news conferences; to disrupt peaceful demonstrations.”....
Patriot Act Renewal Clears Final Hurdle
Months overdue in a midterm election year, the USA Patriot Act renewal cleared a final hurdle in the Senate Tuesday on its way to President Bush's desk. But the bill's sponsor said he is unsatisfied with the measure's privacy protections and far from done tinkering with the centerpiece of Bush's war on terrorism. "The issue is not concluded," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa. He said he plans more legislation and hearings on restoring House-rejected curbs on government power. The Senate voted 69-30 Tuesday _ 60 votes were needed _ to limit debate and bring the bill to a final vote that could occur as early as Wednesday. The House then would vote and send the legislation to the White House. Sixteen major provisions would expire March 10 if President Bush doesn't sign the bill by then...Specter agreed on that point. Even as he urged his colleagues to vote this week for the bill, he introduced a separate bill to make the government satisfy a higher threshold for warrantless wiretaps and to set a four-year expiration date for the use of National Security Letters in terrorism investigations. However appetizing to Specter's colleagues in the Senate, the new bill represents items House Republicans flatly rejected during talks last year. The solution is a convoluted procedural dance that illustrates the razor-thin zone of agreement when it comes to Bush's terror-fighting law. Congress will extend the Patriot Act by passing two pieces of legislation. The first is the same accord passed last year by the House and filibustered in the Senate by members who said it contained too few privacy protections. The second is, in effect, an amendment to the first that adds enough privacy protections to win over those same libertarian-leaning Republicans. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is permitting no other amendments, allowing the measure to slide through both houses without extended debate....
Gonzales Seeks to Clarify Testimony on Spying
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales appeared to suggest yesterday that the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance operations may extend beyond the outlines that the president acknowledged in mid-December. In a letter yesterday to senators in which he asked to clarify his Feb. 6 testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Gonzales also seemed to imply that the administration's original legal justification for the program was not as clear-cut as he indicated three weeks ago. At that appearance, Gonzales confined his comments to the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, saying that President Bush had authorized it "and that is all that he has authorized." But in yesterday's letter, Gonzales, citing that quote, wrote: "I did not and could not address . . . any other classified intelligence activities." Using the administration's term for the recently disclosed operation, he continued, "I was confining my remarks to the Terrorist Surveillance Program as described by the President, the legality of which was the subject" of the Feb. 6 hearing. At least one constitutional scholar who testified before the committee yesterday said in an interview that Gonzales appeared to be hinting that the operation disclosed by the New York Times in mid-December is not the full extent of eavesdropping on U.S. residents conducted without court warrants. "It seems to me he is conceding that there are other NSA surveillance programs ongoing that the president hasn't told anyone about," said Bruce Fein, a government lawyer in the Nixon, Carter and Reagan administrations....
U.S. settles detainee's suit in 9/11 sweep
The U.S. government has agreed to pay 300,000 U.S. dollars to settle a lawsuit brought by an Egyptian swept up in the New York area after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The Egyptian was among dozens of Muslim men that were swept up in the New York area after the attacks, held for months in a federal detention center in the city, and deported after being cleared of links to terrorism, the report said. The settlement, filed in federal court late Monday, is the first the government has made in a number of lawsuits charging that non citizens were abused and their constitutional rights violated in detentions after the terror attacks. The settlement, which removes one of two plaintiffs from a case in which a federal judge ruled last year that former Attorney General John Ashcroft, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director Robert Mueller and other top government officials must answer questions under oath, requires approval by a federal judge in Brooklyn....
More pushback from Hill on eavesdropping
Washington is immersed in a furious debate over the legality of the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program - and the argument's outcome may affect the balance of power in the US government for decades to come. That is what a bipartisan group of US lawmakers believe, in any case, as they struggle to respond to the White House's assertions of broad powers in the surveillance case. Unless Congress asserts authority over the program via some form of legislation, some legislators and legal scholars assert, it risks becoming less relevant on important questions of war and national security than it is today. "This is a defining issue in the constitutional history of the United States," constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein testified Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Some key Republican lawmakers, such as Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John Warner of Virginia, Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, have joined Democrats in voicing worry about the extent of power claimed by the executive branch in the eavesdropping issue. While insisting that the program is legal, the White House has indicated that it would work with Congress to codify the law in this area, if necessary. It prefers a proposal from Sen. Mike DeWine (R) of Ohio, which would exempt the program from the FISA law and set up a special congressional committee to provide oversight and review of eavesdropping cases. The importance of this debate, say experts, lies in the fact that it bears directly on questions of power between the branches that have been debated since members of Congress wore breeches and wigs. Its outcome will have far-reaching effects, since any shift in this balance tends to persist, say legal scholars. In addition, the White House is in essence asserting privilege in an area that Congress has specifically addressed, via the 1978 FISA statute. "The president is asserting an inherent constitutional authority in 'wartime' that allows him to ignore the plain meaning of the FISA law," says Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "How it is ultimately resolved will help define the limits of presidential power."....
'Times' sues government over surveillance records
The New York Times sued the Department of Defense on Monday, saying the government has refused to turn over records related to its domestic warrantless surveillance program. In its federal lawsuit, the Times asked the court to order the government to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request requiring it to release documents or provide a lawful reason why it cannot. The Times said a Dec. 16 letter to the Defense Department requested all internal memos, e-mails and legal memoranda and opinions since Sept. 11, 2001, related to the National Security Agency spying program. The department is the parent agency of the NSA. The newspaper said it asked for meeting logs, calendar items and notes related to discussions of the program, including meetings held by Vice President Dick Cheney and his staff with members of Congress and telecommunications executives. It also requested all complaints of abuse or possible violations in the operations of the program or the legal rationale behind it. And it sought the names and descriptions of people or groups identified through the use of the program and a description of relevant episodes used to identify the targets of the intercepts....
Illegal Surveillance: A Real Security Threat
Americans seem to have forgotten why the Founding Fathers prohibited government from spying on them. Public opinion polls show that a rising percentage of Americans approve of the warrantless National Security Agency wiretaps of Americans that Bush ordered. But such blind faith in government simply ignores the lessons of U.S. history. When the feds have unleashed themselves in the past, many innocent Americans’ lives were devastated. During the 1960s and 1970s, the FBI carried out thousands of Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) operations, often combining illegal surveillance with efforts to subvert any opposition to the government. Covert FBI efforts sought to incite street warfare between violent groups, wreck marriages, portray innocent people as government informants, sic the IRS on citizens, and cripple or destroy left-wing, black, communist, or other organizations. The FBI inflicted its wrath on speakers, teachers, and writers. A 1976 Senate report noted hundreds of COINTELPRO operations aimed “to get university and high-school teachers fired; to prevent targets from speaking on campus; to stop chapters of target groups from being formed; to prevent the distribution of books, newspapers, or periodicals; to disrupt news conferences; to disrupt peaceful demonstrations.”....
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