Tuesday, August 07, 2012

HCN Interviews Hugh B. McKeen

Here are some excerpts from the High Country News interview by Neil La Rubbio, but I would encourage you to read the whole interview here:

MCKEEN: For years, the people that live here, we knew that the forest is overgrown. And we know it’s unhealthy. When I was a kid, Mill Creek, which comes down at Alma, my granddad had a farm up there. He had a house up there and a big barn. There used to be trout in that creek, and over the years, since all of that growth back in the wilderness and back in the forest, all the tree growth has taken that stream. In other words, the stream used to run year around. My granddad used to raise alfalfa and everybody else did along the creek. Well, it’s all gone. So all those little farms and all those gardens and all that stuff that supported people here, it’s all gone. You take any stream up here that comes out of the forest, they’re all the same. They’re gone. It’s all been soaked up with trees.

What I’m saying is, the water is all disappearing, because the forest is so unhealthy.

HCN: Is that why people are angry? Because the forest is overgrown?

MCKEEN: They want the watershed taken care of, and the Forest Service, all they want to do is preserve things. And the environmental crowd, course, they don’t want anything touched. They want more wilderness. And when you get more wilderness, what does it do? You can’t go in there to do anything...

MCKEEN: Well what they did, they kept putting fires out up here. Every time a fire starts, they put it out. If it’s a wilderness, then it’s a wilderness and leave it alone. Let it be a wilderness.

You’re the Forest Service. There’s a fire up there. What are you going to do?

HCN: Me? I shouldn’t answer.

MCKEEN: If you put it out, you get paid! Yeah, you get paid to go up there and put it out, and you get hazard pay. You get a lot of money to go put that fire out. So what are you gonna do? You’re gonna put the fire out. You’re not going to care about the environment or the watershed. You’re gonna put the fire out because it’s money in your pocket. So somebody else needs to manage the fire up there for watershed instead of the people making money off it. Look at the fire up there this time. How many millions of dollars went into the Forest Service peoples’ pockets?

HCN's title for this piece is Talking Mean With Hugh B. McKeen.

I don't see anything "mean" in his comments.  I know mean rhymes with Mckeen, but a rancher and county commissioner criticizing the Forest Service and pouring his heart out over his future as a federal lands rancher is not mean.

However, my compliments to HCN for seeking out McKeen and printing the interview.  It gives everyone a glimpse of what is happening to ranchers in and around wilderness areas.  I just wish this could be replicated across the West.

If you really want the complete Hugh B. McKeen, get a copy of his 2011 book Liberty And Justice For All (What A Joke!) There, in 284 pages, you will find his 48 years of life's experiences as a rancher and county official. In 46 Chapters, with many photos, you'll get his take on the Forest Service, various Rangers in the Gila, the county land use movement and much more.  As McKeen writes:

I have written this book to show how the lack of "Liberty and Justice" has gone on for more than 48 years for me, and I am but one of thousands who have the same situation in their business ventures.  What I will say is not fiction, but after reading about my experiences and those of others, you may say that it can't be true.


If Amazon is out of the book, you can still get it straight from the publisher

EBID asks police to be on alert for water theft

Law enforcement officials were asked recently to be on the lookout for theft of irrigation water, after a two-year drought has intensified demand for the resource. Elephant Butte Irrigation District, which delivers Rio Grande water to farmers throughout Doña Ana County, sent a letter in July to Las Cruces Police Chief Richard Williams and Doña Ana County Sheriff Todd Garrison, asking their agencies to be on the lookout for people stealing water. EBID Manager Gary Esslinger said people often think, wrongly, that water flowing in through canals across the county is "there for public use." "But it isn't," he said. "It's there for EBID members only. If you own a yard next to a ditch, you don't have a right to that." Esslinger said the theft of water has been more problematic this year and last year that it once was, especially along privately owned ditches that connect to the irrigation district's network of canals. While EBID can shut off illegal diversions of water that stem directly from its own system, it can't do anything about water that's stolen by property owners along a private ditchbank that connects to an EBID canal, he said. But in cases involving private ditches, law enforcement can get involved, irrigation officials said. Farmers said theft is noticeable, because water pressure will drop unexpectedly during a scheduled delivery...more

Environmental meetings to examine mine, power plant

A series of public meetings to examine the environmental impact of Four Corners Power Plant and Navajo Mine kicks off Thursday with a meeting in Hotevilla, Ariz. The meetings will come to Farmington, Shiprock, Durango, Colo., and other areas next week. Operators of the coal mine and power plant propose to extend the life of the operation by 25 years from agreements that end in 2016, triggering an environmental impact statement. The EIS is an in-depth study on the mine and power plant's effects on air and water quality and cultural resources that may take years. It is the first time federal agencies have considered the combined effects of the mine and power plant, which reside on the edge of the Navajo Nation west of Farmington. Environmental groups long have sought such a study. "Navajo Mine and Four Corners Power Plant have never really been analyzed as far as the impacts of that coal facility," said Dan Randolph, executive director of San Juan Citizens Alliance, an environmental group based in Durango. "We really see the mine and the power plant as functionally one unit." Four Corners Power Plant is seeking approval from the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs of its lease extension with the tribal government, while Navajo Mine requires permission from the Office of Surface Mining, Reclamation and Enforcement to expand into previously unmined areas...more

Little Bear Fire aftermath leaves Ruidoso relying solely on groundwater wells

Because surface water is running thick with sediment and ash after the Little Bear Fire, the village of Ruidoso is forced to depend solely on its groundwater supply wells for the foreseeable future, Ruidoso officials contend. The annual operating plan approved by village councilors last week for the village's North Fork wellfield on Eagle Creek in the Lincoln National Forest reflects that dependency. Wording states that the wells will be pumped as necessary to provide for the village water supply and for the protection of public safety and welfare. The village will continue to operate the wellfield within constraints imposed by the Forest Service based on pumping limitations identified in a geohydrological study. The village also implemented Stage 5 water restrictions, which severely cut back outdoor use of water by residents. An environmental impact study required before the issuance of a new pumping permit recently completed by the USFS proposed to cut by more than half the amount of water that could be pumped from the wells, but that study is under review and revision because of the changed conditions in the watershed. The annual plan approved by village councilors also contains modifications because the fire burned the majority of the watershed around the wells and that will change how water flows and recharges. The new operating plan notes that the Little Bear Fire impacted about 98 percent of the watershed upstream of Alto Dam and reservoir...more

Idaho county loses suit challenging road closures

An Idaho county has lost a lawsuit challenging a federal road closure policy that it claims immobilizes residents and discourages tourism. Chief U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill has rejected Valley County's arguments that the U.S. Forest Service road policy in the Payette National Forest violates environmental and administrative laws. The agency's review of the policy, which effectively closed many roads, "adequately considered the history and environmental impact" of road usage in the national forest, the judge said. Valley County was joined by a recreational group and private citizens in its opposition to the federal travel plans, which they accused of being implemented without sufficient public process and socioeconomic study...more

For Sale: Site of Custer's Last Stand

If you've always wanted to buy an entire town, but you've been waiting for one with some real historical cred … today is your lucky day. Garryowen, Montana, famed as the site of Custer's Last Stand, is for going up for auction this month with an opening bid of $250,000, Reuters reports. The 7.7-acre town near the banks of the Little Bighorn River has just two residents: Chris Kortlander, who bought Garryowen in 1993 after his California home was destroyed by a wildfire, and a caretaker. The town is named after a song Custer adopted for the 7th US Cavalry, which fought a losing battle against the Sioux and Cheyenne on June 25, 1876. The auction winner will scoop up even more history: The town is also the site of a monument dedicated to an unknown soldier. Garryowen's gas station and convenience store are also included in the sale, as is a collection of manuscripts, documents, and photographs belonging to Custer's wife, Elizabeth Bacon Custer.  newser

Protest could keep air tanker on ground through fire season

A protest of the U.S. Forest Service’s next-generation air tanker contract may leave three new jet-powered firefighting planes on the ground for the rest of the 2012 firefighting season. One of those planes is Neptune Aviation’s Tanker 41, a BAe-146 that arrived at the company’s Missoula base last week. Neptune already has another BAe-146 under contract with the Forest Service, in addition to seven Lockheed P2V planes. It expected to take delivery of a third BAe later this month. Minden Aviation of Minden, Nev., was to bring on a new BAe-146 this summer under the new Forest Service contract. That five-year program was worth $225 million. Two other firefighting aviation companies protested the contract in late June. The federal General Accountability Office allows 100 days to review and decide the case. That means the contract could be delayed until early October...more

Their rule may "allow" 100 days to review and decide, but that doesn't mean they have to take all that time.  They've already had the protests for a month, plenty of time to act.

Links of Interest

Politics of renewable power lead agenda at Reid-hosted national green energy summit in Vegas

Wind, solar projects in Arizona on fast track


Defense and Interior Departments Join Forces on Clean Power


U.S. Military Opening 16 Million Acres For Renewable Energy


Wolves, eagles poisoned in Bob Marshall Wilderness

Uncorrected Forest Service errors block marble mine


Florida Environmentalists Seek $10 Billion for Conservation

Florida Cops Chase Topless Woman

Farmers want to end protection for killer whales

The iconic orca, or killer whale, should swim free of federal protection, a farmer from California's San Joaquin Valley urged in a petition filed Thursday. Backed by a conservative legal advocacy group based in Sacramento, Fresno County farmer Joe Del Bosque and his allies argue that the population of killer whales often found in Pacific Northwest waters doesn't deserve defending under the Endangered Species Act. Protecting the whales also costs farmers precious water, growers say. "It seems almost outrageous that a whale out in the ocean is restricting our water," Del Bosque said. "Restrictions in the water flows are definitely affecting us." The petition, prepared by the Pacific Legal Foundation, asks the Commerce Department's National Marine Fisheries Service to change the status of the so-called "southern resident" population of killer whales from endangered. The population was listed as endangered in 2005, after a pronounced decline in its numbers...more

So how does a killer whale swimming in the ocean affect an ag producer on the land? Its about diet:

Hungry killer whales particularly like to gobble up chinook salmon. Indirectly, this causes a problem for certain farmers. In order to protect the salmon population, in part to help feed the killer whales, federal officials restrict irrigation-water deliveries in the San Joaquin Valley.

Thousands of fish die in Midwest due to heat

Biologists in Illinois are blaming hot weather for the death of tens of thousands of large- and small-mouth bass and channel catfish, according to ABC. The extreme heat is also threatening the population of the greater redhorse fish, a state endangered species. An estimated 40,000 shovelnose sturgeon were killed in the last week as water temperatures reached 97 degrees. NBC reported that so many fish died in one lake that the carcasses clogged an intake screen near a power plant. The station eventually had to shut down one of its generators due to low water levels. Mark Flammang, a fisheries biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, told NBC, "It's something I've never seen in my career, and I've been here for more than 17 years. I think what we're mainly dealing with here are the extremely low flows and this unparalleled heat."...more

Two Southern Arizona Plants Move Toward Endangered Species Act Protection

Two rare southern Arizona plants moved closer to Endangered Species Act protection today as part of a 2011 landmark legal settlement by the Center for Biological Diversity to speed protection decisions for 757 species around the country. Today’s positive “90-day finding” from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service kicks off a one-year review of the plants’ status to determine if they qualify for federal protection. Bartram stonecrop and beardless chinch weed are two of a dozen endangered animals and plants threatened by the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine near Tucson, which would impact more than 145,000 acres of wildlife habitat. “These two lovely plants are in danger of disappearing, so we’re elated they’re a step closer to protection by the Endangered Species Act,” said Tierra Curry, a biologist with the Center. “The Act is 99 percent effective at preventing the extinction of the plants and animals under its care. These Arizona plants need all the help they can get because they’re in the path of destruction of the Rosemont mine.” The plants occur in Pima, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties. Bartram stonecrop is known from only 12 locations and beardless chinch weed from 13, though several populations of both species may already be lost. Both plants were first known to be in need of protection in 1980 when they were identified as candidates for federal listing. Beardless chinch weed is a tall yellow flower in the aster family that is found in the footprint of the proposed Rosemont mine and would be crushed by mining activities. Bartram stonecrop is a succulent known for its beauty that is found near the mine and  would be impacted by dust, water depletion, and the spread of invasive plants resulting from ground disturbance. Both plants are also threatened by livestock grazing, and the stonecrop is threatened by collection. “The diversity of the Rosemont area is significant on a global scale. The mine would be a disaster for hundreds of wildlife species and for the quality of life and economic health of people around Tucson due to air, noise and water pollution and to loss of tourism and recreation dollars,” said Curry...Press Release

Is this press release about the Rosemont Mine or endangered plants?

The Rosemont Mine is mentioned 6 times. Once again this demonstrates the enviros use the ESA to influence land use, with protection of species being secondary.

Texas cowboys go on New Mexico crime spree

All the High Fives Gang had to show on Aug. 6, 1896 for the comedy of errors they had the nerve to call a bank robbery was the posse hot on their heels. As far as anyone can tell, the original members of the band that borrowed the name of a popular card game were: Tom Harris, a 24 year old Texan whose favorite alias was Cole Estes; George Musgrave, 22, born somewhere in Texas but raised in New Mexico; escaped convict Sam Hassels of Gonzales County, who went by the name Bob Hayes; Will Christian Jr., originally from Fort Griffin and an Indian Territory fugitive, known simply as Black Jack; and Tom or Frank Anderson, who may have been Will’s brother Bob. The High Fives started out small with a twilight raid in July 1896 on Separ, a one-horse town in the southwestern corner of the New Mexico Territory. They relieved the post office and general store of $250 in cash and supplies without firing a shot...The quintet came out of hiding two months later for the purpose of plundering a passenger train 30 miles south of Albuquerque. The railroad robbery was foiled by a deputy U.S. marshal, who caught Cole Estes in his sights. “Go ahead, boys. I’m done for,” Estes called out in the darkness. His four companions heeded their mortally wounded leader’s dying words and fled the scene. With Will Christian, alias Black Jack, at the controls, the desperadoes finally got out of the red. The stagecoaches running between San Antonio, New Mexico and the mining town of White Oaks were such easy pickings the gang kept going back for more. George Musgrave was absent because two days earlier he had settled a personal score. Returning to the Circle Diamond Ranch south of Roswell, he chewed the fat with former co-workers until the cattle boss showed. “I have come all this way across this territory to kill you,” Musgrave told George Parker as he drew his pistol, “and now I’m going to do it.” Without another word he pumped four bullets into his tongue-tied target. Sam Hassels, a.k.a. Bob Hayes, held the dozen and a half witnesses at gunpoint, while Musgrave explained his motive. He claimed the dead man not only sicked the law on him for his own crimes but also swindled his poor old mother out of her herd...The final chapter in the High Fives story was written in 1910. George Musgrave was recognized on a street in Grand Junction, Colorado and brought back to Roswell to stand trial for the murder of George Parker. Musgrave swore he shot in self-defense, and no eyewitness could be found to contradict him. He was acquitted and lived to celebrate the Allied victory in World War II...more

Song Of The Day #900

Today Ranch Radio brings you Johnny Horton and his 1960 recording The Same Old Tale The Crow Told Me.

EPA's fired 'crucify' guy seeks to kill coal in Texas

In his first comments since resigning from EPA in April, [Al] Armendariz unloaded on the coal industry, called President Obama the most environmental president ever, and attacked the state of Texas for fighting the EPA in court:

Armendariz: I have a small handful of objectives [working for the Beyond Coal campaign]. The first is to stop the construction of any new coal plants in Texas. And also to stop the expansion of any additional coal exports from Texas ports [to] overseas. The second objective is to work on the transition … to clean renewable sources of energy. ...more

Monday, August 06, 2012

Gibson Guitar and US Department of Justice reach settlement agreement

The US Department of Justice announced today (6 August) that the Gibson Guitar Corporation has entered into an agreement to resolve the investigation into whether the company used illegally harvested wood and ebony, thereby violating the Lacey Act. Under the agreement, Gibson will pay a $300,000 penalty, plus a $50,000 donation to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to help promote conservation of protected trees. In addition, according to a press release issued by the Department of Justice, "Gibson will also implement a compliance program designed to strengthen its compliance controls and procedures. In related civil forfeiture actions, Gibson will withdraw its claims to the wood seized in the course of the criminal investigation, including Madagascar ebony from shipments with a total invoice value of $261,844. During the yearlong investigation, Gibson CEO Henry Juszkiewicz maintained that the company was innocent of any wrongdoing. In a August 2011 press conference, he stated, "We feel totally abused. We believe the arrogance of federal power is impacting me personally, our company personally, and the employees in Tennessee – and it's just plain wrong." Responding to the agreement today, Juszkiewicz said, "We felt compelled to settle as the costs of proving our case at trial would have cost millions of dollars and taken a very long time to resolve. This allows us to get back to the business of making guitars. An important part of the settlement is that we are getting back the materials seized in a second armed raid on our factories and we have formal acknowledgement that we can continue to source rosewood and ebony fingerboards from India, as we have done for many decades."...more

This is the "justice" you get from the feds - spend millions of dollars on attorneys or settle.

For background on this case see my posts:

Gibson Guitars And The Lacey Act Misused


GuitarGate: Three House Committee Chairs criticize Memphis and Nashville raids on Gibson Guitar

CEO of Gibson Guitar a Republican donor; Democrat competitor uses same wood

Land Owner CR-Peeved

Sioux Falls veterinarian Mike McIntyre thought opening up CPR acres designated as wetlands was the perfect prescription to help ranchers like him battling drought. "I just thought 'halleluiah,' life is great, everything's coming around, life is good. Dad went into the local FSA office the next day, called me with the bad news and I was like, this can't be real," McIntyre said. It turns out, McIntyre will only be able to get hay from a small fraction of his CRP land north of Salem. The Farm Service Agency (FSA) says that's because much of the land serves as a narrow buffer to a wetland property that is not included in the latest government release. McIntyre says that leaves him only about 60 acres for haying, which is not nearly enough to feed his all livestock. "It breaks my heart knowing that I might have to sell some of my cattle or do anything to cut down on my herd, just because somebody in Washington, D.C. won't let me use the feed I have sitting at my place," McIntyre said...more

Well, it breaks my heart that you signed up to take taxpayer money to set aside your land in the first place. You made the decision, you took the money, now live with it.

McIntyre has been pleading his case to lawmakers and bureaucrats in Washington. He wants other farmers to know that when it comes to relying upon CRP land for drought relief, the devil is in the details.

No Dr. McIntyre, the devil is in the program itself. Quit "pleading" to DC and instead use all those degrees you've earned. Whether or not land is put into production is a decision to be made by the landowner and the market - not the gov't.

New Hampshire leads nation in percent tree cover

Tree cover in the nation's Lower 48 states covers 659 million acres, more than one-third of the nation, according to a U.S. Forest Service study of national tree cover and impervious surfaces. New Hampshire leads the nation in percent tree cover (89 percent), followed by Maine (83 percent) and Vermont (82 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, North Dakota has the lowest percent tree cover (3 percent), followed by Nebraska (4 percent) and South Dakota (6 percent). Using aerial photograph interpretation of circa 2005 imagery, U.S. Forest Service researchers Dave Nowak and Eric Greenfield found that in urban and community areas, percent tree cover is highest in Connecticut (67 percent) and lowest in Nevada (10 percent). The study, "Tree and impervious cover in the United States," was recently published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning...more

Delay in plans for a $1B science ghost town raises eyebrows

This artist rendering provided by the Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation shows the $1 billion scientific ghost town
Pegasus Global Holdings' surprise announcement that it was pulling out of plans to build a $1 billion scientific ghost town in eastern New Mexico is stirring skepticism of the private firm's grandiose plans for transforming 15 square miles of this largely rural state into a next-generation research center. Lea County had been working closely with the company after winning the bid to house the Center for Innovation, Testing and Evaluation. But "when we started pressing for details, that's when they decided to look elsewhere," county manager Mike Gallagher said. Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said he didn't even know the group was abandoning its plans until he read a news report that followed a late-evening announcement on Friday, July 13. Cobb said he was told the group cited problems with mineral rights on the private land it was trying to acquire. But he said third parties hold mineral rights underneath a lot of New Mexico's land and there are solid legal protections for financial reimbursement if someone decides to exercise them. "From a practical standpoint it's a non-issue," Cobb said. The selection of Lea County was announced with much fanfare at a news conference in May with Gov. Susana Martinez and her economic development secretary, Jon Barela. Plans called for an uninhabited replica of an average, mid-size American city to help researchers test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets...more
Off to the doctor and some other stuff in town.  Back to posting later.

Roswell UFO Crash: There Were 2 Crashes, Not 1, Says Ex-Air Force Official

...Until now, most debunkers doubted that there was even one crash. Now, in an exclusive interview, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Richard French told The Huffington Post that there were actually two crashes. This revelation is especially remarkable considering that French was known in the past to debunk UFO stories.  "There were actually two crashes at Roswell, which most people don't know," French told HuffPost. "The first one was shot down by an experimental U.S. airplane that was flying out of White Sands, N.M., and it shot what was effectively an electronic pulse-type weapon that disabled and took away all the controls of the UFO, and that's why it crashed." French -- an Air Force pilot who was in Alamagordo, N.M., in 1947, being tested in an altitude chamber, an annual requirement for rated officers -- was very specific in how the military allegedly brought down what he believes was a spacecraft from another world. "When they hit it with that electromagnetic pulse -- bingo! -- there goes all their electronics and, consequently, the UFO was uncontrollable," said French, who flew hundreds of combat missions in Korea and Southeast Asia, and who held several positions working for Military Intelligence.  "No chance! Zero chance!" said Army Col. John Alexander, whose own top-secret clearance gave him access in the 1980s to official documents and UFO accounts. He created a top-level group of government officials and scientists who determined that, while UFOs are real, they couldn't find evidence of an official cover-up. French says he was told about the UFO "shootdown" by another military officer -- a confidential source -- from White Sands Proving Grounds, an area of the New Mexico desert where the U.S. military tested many weapons systems. His source told French there was a second UFO crash near Roswell a few days after the first one. "It was within a few miles of where the original crash was," French said. "We think that the reason they were in there at that time was to try and recover parts and any survivors of the first crash. I'm [referring to] the people from outer space -- the guys whose UFO it was." While French offered no further details on what he says was a second UFO crash, he teased something else. "I had seen photographs of parts of the UFO that had inscriptions on it that looked like it was in an Arabic language -- it was like a part number on each one of them. They were photographs in a folder that I just thumbed through." That's an interesting parallel to the recent story of ex-CIA agent Chase Brandon, who claimed he found a box at CIA headquarters in the 1990s -- a box labeled "Roswell." Brandon told HuffPost he looked in the box and went through written materials and photographs confirming his suspicions that the object which crashed at Roswell, "was a craft that clearly did not come from this planet."...more



 

Song Of The Day #899


It's Swingin' Monday on Ranch Radio and here's Caleb Klauder with his version of It's All Your Fault.

The tune is on his 12 track CD DANGEROUS MEs and POISONOUS YOUs.

Sunday, August 05, 2012

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

Cowboy henhouse ways

by Julie Carter

Saving things is an expected trait among rural folk. Sometimes it is a “must” but most often it simply because they want to. It’s “how they were raised.”

If you are married, related or a neighbor to one, you undoubtedly have heard them say, "Well, I have to be a saver, we grew up poor. We had clean clothes, even if they were patched, and enough to eat, even though it was mostly beans." Add that to the "I walked five miles to school every day, uphill both ways" and you have the full story.

Some bit of time ago, a cowboy and his wife set out to put in a new drinking tub for a little dab of cattle they kept close to the house.

The very fact he was going to do this for his wife was a mark of love. She had been putting out the cattle every day, sometimes twice a day, and bringing them in, sometimes twice a day, through four sets of gates that had to be set coming and going.

This feeding rotation was an effort to save that high priced hay and let them pick their own groceries, utilizing what little grass there was. They also had to come in at night. There was no drinker in that trap either.

Much to her surprise, her cowboy actually bought a new drinking tub. In preparation for installation, the couple went through their “saved” supply of short pieces of water hose, float housings, floats and valve connections. This collection came from past decades of repairing countless drinkers. The supply was somewhat depleted, but available just the same.

There were plenty of the hose assemblies for replacements because of past frozen winters, where it had been easier to change out a frozen hose than try to thaw it. The cowboy would bring the ice-solid hoses in and put them in the bathtub for thawing overnight in order to keep the rotation supply available.

That didn't always make the frozen wife happy since the only thing that would thaw her out after a long, cold day was a hot bath. It was a period in their marriage where her comfort was not his primary concern. That period has lasted 35 years.
Gathering up an armload of the various lengths of hoses, they headed out to get the new drinker connected to water.

First up was to make a float from several old ones. And, it seemed all the hoses had one end or the other that was nonfunctional and needed new connections. This required hose clamps which he cannibalized off various other components.

He finally got the valve replaced, built a hose, built a float, got a housing that almost fit over the float and soon there was water in the drinker.

This major project took the better part of the afternoon. The wife was there mostly in an advisory capacity (or standby beverage fetcher). However, she did manage to hand him the pipe wrench that takes two hands to pick up, the vise grip pliers, the pipe dope and, of course, generally contribute to the fellowship.

In all their years of working daily, it was her rule to not keep secrets from him.
However, she distinctly remembered being in the mercantile and seeing a brand new 50-foot hose for $5.39 and new float that would add about $2 to the bill.

She thought about telling him that, but after serious consideration, decided that all afternoon for two cowboys for a $7.39 savings, was about the usual rate of pay.

Henhouse ways have saved fortunes for the cowboy world. That's why there are so many rich cowboys and why baling wire, twine and tape (electrical and duct) are such valued commodities.


Julie can be reached for comment at the henhouse at jcarternm@gmail.com.

Frontier Days and Summer Rains

The ‘4th’ in Silver City
Frontier Days and Summer Rains
A.D. Sietzler saddles
By Stephen L. Wilmeth

            If not profound, my knowledge of A.D. Sietzler has tacit impact on my daily life. Right there … is Aunt Izzie’s (Isabelle Moss Estes Kinney) Seitzler made saddle. It is the one in the second rack second from the top. I rode it as a kid at Cliff at my maternal grandparents’, Carl and Leona Rice.
            I would wager the little silver horn saddle that we primós rode on the Mangus at our paternal grandparents’ was also a Seitzler. I have no idea where that saddle is today. I hope J.T. McMillan has it in Texas where he moved after they sold the ranch.
            The only mental picture I have of Seitzler is the picture in the Shelley book of A.D. at his shop. I always thought it was on 13th Street until I looked at the picture last night. It says it was on College Avenue. He was gone when I came along.
I still like the idea of it being on 13th Street. That was where Mr. Mauldin’s little grocery store was. That was where I first kissed my wife, and that is where the image remains of Terrell Shelley coming up the then unpaved street with his hound dog rigged with lace up leather gators on each leg above the paws.
            “What’da need them on there for?” I had asked.
            “’Cause he needs ‘em that’s why,” was Terrell’s ‘Shelley’ answer.
            “I knew that …”
            Bonnie Maldonado’s poem
            Hank Hays sent me an email entitled The Day the Horses Come to Town. It sat there for days as I was hitting the high spots (at long intervals) in the rest of my life.  I finally read it. It was nostalgic.
            It was a poem by Bonnie Buckley Maldonado. The setting was Silver City, New Mexico, 1960’s, and the Fourth of July. Those were the years of ‘Frontier Days’. Lucky were we who lived there and experienced that time … especially the early ‘60s, before Viet Nam, the Beatles, and Yesterday. The world has never been the same since.
            We all went to the parade in the morning. Bonnie writes about pitching horses on Bullard Avenue where the parade would proceed. Maybe there were, but the ranch horses that came to town that I knew were broke horses that had seen everything, done more, and had a pretty good handle on the antics of human beings.
There they’d be standing hocked up dozing while the proceedings were coming together. Some little kid had been thrown up on more than a few while the parade riders were commiserating with each other and more than likely smoking cigarettes.
            I never had the urge to smoke, but I loved to smell those cigarettes when they were first lit. It mixed with the smell of horse. It was part of our lives around horses. I can remember my grandfather riding along rolling a cigarette and lighting it while shielding it from the wind up under his open ‘jumper’. He could do it with one hand. You always caught that first sweet whiff.
            With riders formed, the parade would start. There was probably a parade marshal, but he wasn’t enough of a feature to remember who he was. The horsemen were mostly known. Their union was amongst themselves. The gathering was for them and they owned the moment.
            The crowd was always big. It was packed with town and country folk alike. Nobody was offered public endearment without earning it. A dude could be spotted as far away as he could be seen. Assessment was usually silent and final, but blatant demonstrations would be checked and lightly tolerated.
            “Hey, you’d better pucker on both ends there, Bub,” a shrill suggestion might be offered. “You hold on much tighter and you’ll break that horn off.”  The crowd would laugh … and humiliation was complete.
            The Sheriff’s Posse was always front and center. It was there that Ms. Maldonado’s reference to A.D. Seitzler saddles was likely made. They were scattered from front to back in those formations.
She could have also mentioned Williams’ saddles. Those saddles were contemporaries early in Doc Seitzler’s reign as ‘maker’.
 There would have also been a sprinkling of Dick Hays, Wilburn Thomas, Garrett Allen, and another young man from the Animas country who would build his own reputation, Clifford Yarbrough. They no doubt learned from Doc or those who sat around his shop, talked, and watched him skive, pound, stitch, and carve. We knew them. We called them by their first names.
What wonderful, memorable days it was to order one of those saddles. My only such unconcluded memory was with Garrett Allen. Garrett brought his order book out and asked the questions. Cantle height, swell measurement, gullet height … “uh, Garrett, what do you think?”
The questions about seat length, straight up or Cheyenne roll, and horn type could be answered. So could the matters of eye appeal. Buck stitching, tooled or rough out, and conchos were all known and comfortable to answer.
You didn’t order a new shop made saddle every day. The fact of the matter was saddles were like buying a house. You did it only a few times in your life. Those custom saddles were just too expensive.
Horses and cowboys
To start a ‘Fourth of July’ parade description of horses, Johnnie would have to be highest on our list. He was everything anybody would ever dream of having as a ranch horse. He had come from Oklahoma with his brother, Joe. He was a bay horse with the classic quarter horse good looks of the day.  
My Uncle Bill roped on him and my maternal grandfather would take him to the parades. He liked the crowds and the Williams’ saddle over there in the first rack … on top … was the saddle that would be used. It was a full tooled, silver horn saddle with medium length taps. It still looks like a parade.
By the first performance of the rodeo, the roping and barrel horses would be warmed up and ready. For a local rodeo, the Grant County pool of talent was very good. More than a few have said that six or eight of the local ropers could have competed at world levels if they had been inclined and could have traveled.  
There was a world champion barrel racer. Joyce Shelley was also Miss Rodeo America. From 1964 to 1968 she would leave her mark on rodeo that was eternal.
Another barrel racer had similar talent and rode really good horses. Pammie Wilmeth Calloway, and, in particular, a little home grown palomino were sensational. Her dad, Roy, good enough to be mentioned in the second book of legends, would rope off those good looking Mangus and Skipper W stud horses. They’d behave like choir boys.
Calf roping was the event in those days. Team roping was not the dominant event it has become. Otho Woodrow on any number of superb horses would be there. Otho continued to rope into his ninth decade. There is a story of what kind of cowboy Otho was. There had been a bull that jumped out of the arena and was looking for a fight. Otho arrived immediately and defused the thing before it even got started. He roped the bull and didn’t trip him, but got him choked down until other ropes got there. The cowboys all came back in after the big adventure smiling and talking to each other, coiling ropes, and ready to rope again.
Jim Brister, Preacher Green, Young Wells, Clyde Yarbrough, Tip Pinkerton, Walt Nichols and a few others were area ropers who could, on any given night, beat the best anywhere. Jim Brister was not just a good rodeo cowboy he was a great cowboy. One of his last roping horses was a horse he called Jiggs. Jiggs was an overo sorrel paint. Jiggs came to be turned out on my grandparents place.  He was standing by the road one evening with a dangling leg. How he broke it nobody knows. My dad put him down.
Blessed rain  
Summer rains make New Mexico. How many times during those years did the clouds open up and the first welcome rains of the monsoon season fall during that first performance?  For years it was almost an annual event down to the very hour. When that happened everybody would cheer, hats would come off, and arms would extend to the heavens. Blessed, blessed rain …no rain would smell better … no circumstance would be more appealing than the first performance of the Frontier Days Rodeo … ‘the day the horses (came) to town’.

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “Chalky, Champ, Panda, Goofus, Jack, Mangus, Bingo, Snooper, Chico, Biscuit, Berta, Joe, Buster, Dunny, Pecos, PeeWee, Dolly, Blue, SOB, Papalote, Sebas, et.al. … you remain forever in our memories, and … in our hearts.”

THE WESTERNER sez

One of my fondest memories was getting to know and rope with Otho Woodrow.


As a sign of the times, the Sietzler saddle below is for sale on Craig's List.

Baxter Black: Cows' stupidity, intelligence relative

I watched Will trying to entice a small bunch of cows through an open gate by baiting them with protein pellets. The last two cows could not find the gate. After three back-tracks, he finally coaxed them through.

“It’s frustrating,” he said. “My dad told me cows are stupid; that’s why we eat them.”

I thought that was philosophical genius. Right there in front of our eyes, akin to Columbus suddenly realizing Earth was round, or a 6-year-old discovering he can burp on command.

One of those moments when a person sees there really is a master plan in the universe.

However, I hear story after story about men trying to outsmart cows.

Temple Grandin has built a fine reputation defining and manipulating cow behavior. But her techniques do not depend on a cow’s intelligence.

The design of her cattle-handling facilities could also be used in bottling plants, air-conditioning ducts and irrigation systems. It’s all about flow.

It is true we can use fear, temperament or food to get cows to do as we ask. Dairymen have perfected the system. They lure one cow to come into the parlor and stanchion with grain, and the rest of the cows follow.

They learn the system, but hunger is the instinctive reason they come, not intelligence.

Buffalo, bull fight a dud

by Delbert Trew

A story published by “The Voices of the Sandhills” in Tyron, Neb., in 2002 relates a contest held in 1907 between a Mexican fighting bull and a buffalo bull at a bullfighting arena in Juarez, Mexico.

Scotty Phillip, the man heralded for saving the buffalo species from extinction, heard a boast that his cherished buffalo would not stand a chance against a Mexican fighting bull in a battle. Phillip rose to the challenge stating, “A Mexican fighting bull would stand about as much chance against a buffalo as a snowball in hell.”

Smelling profit, gamblers collected a pot to finance the venture and dreamed of an even larger pot of gold from betting on the outcome. An 8-year-old and a 4-year-old buffalo bull were selected from Phillip’s herd, placed in a reinforced cattle car and shipped by rail to a bullfighting arena in Juarez.

The journey was long and well promoted at every town along the way. The profiteers followed along, taking bets. The bullfighting patrons were aghast at the thought a mere American buffalo might challenge their magnificent Mexican fighting beasts on their own ground. The arena was a complete standing-room-only sellout.

The older buffalo bull entered the ring first, stared at the screaming crowd, and, wondering why he had been brought all this way and feeling tired, laid down in the dirt and promptly went to sleep.

 The prized Mexican bull was let into the ring with tail up, horns glistening, snorting and blowing snot at anything that moved. Amid the crowd’s roar he finally saw the sleeping shaggy pile of hair lying in his arena. When he circled the apparition it arose and faced him. He bellowed his rage, lowered his horns and charged full speed.

What Does Love Mean? See How 4-8 Year-Old Kids Describe Love

by Ladan Lashkari

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds: "What does love mean?"
The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think...
_____
"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
Rebecca - age 8
_____
"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
Billy - age 4
_____
"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
Terri - age 4
_____
"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
Danny - age 7
_____
"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss."
Emily - age 8
_____
"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)
_____
"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate."
Nikka - age 6 (we need a few million more Nikka's on this planet)
_____
"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
Noelle - age 7
_____
"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
Tommy - age 6
_____
"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.
He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
Cindy - age 8
_____
"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
Elaine - age 5
_____
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."
Chris - age 7
_____
"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
Mary Ann - age 4
_____
"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones." (Now THIS is love!)
Lauren - age 4
_____
"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image!)
Karen - age 7
_____
"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."
Mark - age 6
_____
"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
Jessica - age 8
_____
And the final one...

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry."


Ladan Lashkari publishes Creative Success Tips Newsletter with creative happiness ideas and motivational quotes, stories and poems.

Yosemite's lost valley will be subject of vote

This fall San Franciscans will vote on a local measure with national implications: It could return to the American people a flooded gorge described as the twin of breathtaking Yosemite Valley. Voters will decide whether they want a plan for draining the 117-billion-gallon Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite National Park, exposing for the first time in 80 years a glacially carved, granite-ringed valley of towering waterfalls 17 miles north of its more famous geologic sibling. The November ballot measure asks: Should city officials devise a modern water plan that incorporates recycling and study expansion of other storage reservoirs to make up the loss? The measure could eventually undo a controversial century-old decision by Congress that created the only reservoir in a national park and slaked the thirst of a city 190 miles away...more

How did the wolf evolve into man’s best friend?

Would the dog exist if we hadn’t helped create it? That’s one of the thorny questions Mark Derr tackles in his new book, “How the Dog Became the Dog.”  Derr acknowledges that the story of the dog’s emergence (as distinct from its evolutionary forebear, the wolf) cannot be “neatly distilled.” Different estimates place the first appearance of dog-like creatures anywhere from 12,000 to 135,000 years ago. But Derr argues that the dog itself was an “evolutionary inevitability.” He suggests that dogs and humans  — similar animals who “simply took to traveling with each other” tens of thousands of years ago, “and never stopped” — have had a significant influence on each others’ development over the course of a long, co-evolutionary relationship...more

'Corporate Welfare' Costs Taxpayers Almost $100 Billion in FY 2012, Cato Report Finds

Subsidies to businesses in the federal budget in Fiscal Year 2012 cost taxpayers almost $100 billion, according to a new report from the Cato Institute. “That includes direct and indirect subsidies to small businesses, large corporations, and industry organizations,” the libertarian think-tank said in its latest policy analysis. The subsidies are handed out from programs in many federal departments, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development, the report noted. According to Cato, the most spending on “corporate welfare” programs in the federal budget -- more than $25 billion -- went to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A majority of the department’s farm subsidies go to the largest farms, the report noted. The Department of Energy is responsible for nearly $18 billion in corporate welfare in FY 2012. Other programs to make the list: the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Community Development Block Grant program ($285 million); the Commerce Department’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program ($2.2 billion); attempts by Transportation Department policymakers to develop a high-speed rail network ($1.2 billion) and the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management ($1.4 billion) land-use programs...more

If you build it, the government will come and shut you down

Bob Wilson, heads up Central Radio Company in Norfolk, Va., where his business has thrived for over 78 years. The company now employs 100 people who make radio systems for the U.S. Navy, among other clients. Yet the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority have been trying to take Central Radio's property through the power of eminent domain, to turn it over to Old Dominion University. Bob became so angry with the city that he plastered a 375-square-foot banner on the side of his building protesting the effort to take his business. The city responded with a citation for violating its sign code. So now Bob and his colleagues at Central Radio are involved in two lawsuits against the government: one to protect his property, the other to protect his freedom of speech. Central Radio's experience is no exception. Local governments use eminent domain to take small businesses all the time, often to turn the properties over to favored businesses. In 2005, National City, Calif. attempted to take a local nonprofit boxing gym to give it to a developer for a condo development. Is that the sort of "help" to which Obama was referring?...more

4-year-old’s chalk art in park gets mom 50 hours of community service

A judge found enough evidence to convict a Richmond mom who is charged with vandalism, but he's delaying a final disposition until she performs community service hours. 29-year-old Susan Mortensen allowed her daughter to draw on rocks on Belle Isle with chalk. Mortensen will now serve 50 hours of community service in order for the judge to dismiss her charge. Mortensen will have to paint about 200 boundary posts west and east of the Boulevard Bridge. Before she even starts, she'll have to scrape off the old paint and remove surrounding weeds. It's vital to finish the project before the weather gets too cold for the paint to stick. The parks manager says he'd like to set a date before Thanksgiving. Mortensen's supporters say they're still upset she was charged for letting her daughter draw on the rocks. Police and park leaders say chalk is the same as graffiti. "There's no way to compare two," Meg McLain with Virginia Cop Block. "When you spray paint something, it's pretty much there. But when you chalk something, it rains, it's gone. You'll never know."...more

Swiss sheep to be outfitted to cry ‘wolf’ by text message

Using sheep to alert shepherds of an imminent wolf attack by text message might sound fanciful, but testing is already under way in Switzerland where the predator appears to be back. “It’s the first time that such a system has been tried outdoors,” said biologist Jean-Marc Landry, who took part in testing on a Swiss meadow this week. In the trial, reported by the country’s news agency ATS, around 10 sheep were each equipped with a heart monitor before being targeted by a pair of Wolfdogs — both of which were muzzled. During the experiment, the change in the flock’s heartbeat was found to be significant enough to imagine a system whereby the sheep could be fitted with a collar that releases a repellant to drive the wolf away, while also sending an SMS to the shepherd...more

Links of interest

Aug 5, 1861: Lincoln imposes first federal income tax

From Leafy to Lifeless: Tropical Rainforest Once Covered Antarctica

Patriot Act: We Finally Have A Privacy And Civil Liberties Oversight Board... After Being Left Dormant For Five Years

Ghost town project pulls out of Lea County


Regulatory tidal wave is swamping small business

Arizona man sent to jail for holding Bible studies in his home


Has the Loch Ness monster finally been caught on camera?

State climatologist warns of persistent drought

The past week aptly describes the past 24 months in Las Cruces, and all of New Mexico for that matter. Hot and dry. State Climatologist Dave DuBois has determined the past 12 and 24 months have been the warmest ever in New Mexico. He has also determined that the first six months of this year has been the 10th driest period on record. And more recently, June was the seventh driest month. Those are based on 117 years of weather data — which goes back to before New Mexico was a state. "We've been the warmest you can get," said DuBois, who has been state climatologist for two years. "And, this isn't just for Las Cruces and southern New Mexico, this is for the whole state." With warmer temperatures have also come drier conditions. From July 2011 through June, an average of 10.48 inches of rain has fallen across New Mexico. That's 3.03 inches less than the state's 20th century average. But in the first six months of this year, an average of only 2.5 inches of rain has been recorded across the state. That is 2.18 inches below average. "It keeps with the fact the state has experienced back to back La Niña climate patterns," DuBois said. "That's meant warmer than average temperatures for the state. But La Niña has (negatively) affected the southern part of the state more than the northern part." To underscore the drier conditions, DuBois told state legislators that almost 24 percent of the state is currently experiencing extreme drought conditions. But it's been worse; DuBois also told legislators that at the same time a year ago, 79 percent of the state was in extreme drought. "We're one step better, but still not very good at all," DuBois said...more

Song Of The Day #898


Ranch Radio's Gospel tune today is I Want To Be There by Slumber Nichols.

The tune is on the 27 track compilation CD Swinging West, Vol.2

Saturday, August 04, 2012

The Westerner's Radio Theater #042


Ranch Radio today brings you the 10/13/1946 broadcast of The All Star Western Theater with special guest star Tex Ritter.



Friday, August 03, 2012

Big Green lawsuits cause megafires, destroy endangered species

by Ron Arnold

Professional foresters have known for years that environmentalists are the forests' worst pest. Green groups' lawsuits block federal forest health improvements and catastrophic wildfire prevention measures, leading to destroyed communities, dead animals and forests and timber jobs exported to foreign suppliers.

Last Tuesday, House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Doc Hastings, R-Wash., convened an oversight hearing on the problem, titled, "The Impact of Catastrophic Forest Fires and Litigation on People and Endangered Species."

A single panel of four nongovernment witnesses laid out different perspectives on the hearing's major premise: For decades, environmental groups have used the Endangered Species Act, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act to file dozens of lawsuits that block timber fuels reduction and thinning projects that would decrease the risk of wildfires that decimate species' habitat.

The issue doesn't register on many people because it's too technical. What are timber fuels? How could thinning prevent wildfires? Any number of past surveys show that the American psyche sees forests as either Disneyland or Chartres cathedral: clean, safe, well-managed playgrounds or temples for the faithful.

Timber fuels are anything in the forest that gets dry or combustible -- grass, brush, trees, dead or downed wood -- or whatever. Thinning is the removal of these things through such methods as logging, junkwood hauling, chipping and mulching, pile and controlled burn, livestock grazing to crop tall grasses in open forests, et cetera. Such management of the woods keeps them clean and safe.

However, the green faithful hate development, including firefighting roads, tree cutting in fire-prone stands, and water catchments to put out megafires. When imposed by lawsuit upon an actual forest, the Big Green Bible produces a Crispy Critters National Wasteland. Humor aside, such behavior should be a felony.

Committee Chairman Hastings made this point tellingly by placing a superscription over the hearing's briefing paper. It was a 2009 quote from Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity.

Suckling said: "When we stop the same timber sale three or four times running, the timber planners want to tear their hair out. They feel like their careers are being mocked and destroyed -- and they are. So, they become more willing to play by our rules and at least get something done. Psychological warfare is a very underappreciated aspect of environmental campaigning."

Appeals court tosses out Hage judgment

A federal appeals court has thrown out a $4.4 million legal judgment that deceased rancher and Sagebrush Rebellion icon Wayne Hage had previously won from the federal government. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has reversed an earlier court decision that ordered the U.S. Forest Service to compensate Hage for infringing on his property rights. The descendants of Hage won a legal victory in the case in 2008, two years after his death and 17 years after the lawsuit was initially filed. The government challenged that ruling, which a three-judge appellate panel has now reversed on several grounds. Hage could have applied for a special permit to maintain the ditches that conveyed his water, so the claim that the government prevented him from doing so isn't "ripe" for federal court, the most recent ruling said. Building fences around streams also isn't a physical taking of property, because Hage hasn't demonstrated that he could put the stream water to beneficial use, the appeals court said. Water rights only allow the owner to use water that he can put to beneficial use, but the Hage family hasn't shown "there was insufficient water for their cattle on the allotments or that they could have put more water to use," the ruling said. The appellate court also overturned the award for rangeland improvements, ruling that Hage could have sought compensation directly from the agency instead of in federal court...more

Additional Firefighting Aircraft Head to Rocky Mountain Region

The U.S. Forest Service has requested two more Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System-equipped C-130 aircraft to help with combating wildfires in the Rocky Mountain area. The two aircraft from the 302nd Airlift Wing, U.S. Air Force Reserve Command, stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., will supplement the two C-130s from the California Air National Guard's 146th Airlift Wing, currently operating from Boise Air Terminal, in Idaho. "There is a high potential for lightning forecasted as a low-pressure system begins moving through the area later this weekend," said Air Force Col. Jerry Champlin, commander of the 153rd Air Expeditionary Group. "We relieved the 302nd from MAFFS last week because of the favorable fire outlook. However, all the wings know not to get too comfortable at home during fire season." Since being activated June 25, the MAFFS fleet has released more than 888,981 gallons of fire retardant in more than 368 drops on fires in eight states in the Rocky Mountain area. MAFFS is a joint Department of Defense and Forest Service program designed to provide additional aerial firefighting resources when commercial and private airtankers are no longer able to meet the needs of the forest service...more

House Passes Drought Relief for Ranchers

Just hours before Congress jets off for summer vacation, members in the House of Representatives took a small step forward to help ranchers struggling to keep herds alive in the worst drought the country's seen in 25 years. The House passed a disaster relief bill Thursday by a margin of 223 to 196, although it's unclear if the Senate will even take up the bill after the August recess. The $383 million emergency legislation provides payments to cattle and sheep ranchers who have lost livestock in the drought and assists them with monthly feed costs, which have skyrocketed as grazing lands are scorched by the nationwide heat wave. The payments would reimburse ranchers for 75 percent of their losses and provide assistance to fruit tree and honeybee farmers...more

Tables turned on Humane Society

The Humane Society of the United States, an organization that does next to nothing for animal shelters but sues, badgers and lobbies politicians and businesses into adopting its radical animals rights agenda, is getting a taste of its own medicine. In a little-reported ruling by a judge in the District of Columbia earlier this month, the HSUS is facing allegations under RICO statues on racketeering, obstruction of justice, malicious prosecution and other claims for a lawsuit it brought and lost against Ringling Brothers Circus' parent company Feld Entertainment, Inc. After winning the case alleging mistreatment of elephants in its circuses brought by Friends of Animals (later merged into HSUS), the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and the Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), lawyers at Feld filed a countersuit with a litany of claims ranging from bribery to money laundering to racketeering. The attorneys for the animal rights groups asked the judge to dismiss all of the claims, but most survived. So in early August, HSUS will be facing the music in a case that should attract the attention of hunters, ranchers, farmers and anyone impacted by HSUS' radical animal rights agenda. District judge Emmet G. Sullivan did dismiss allegations of mail and wire fraud, but he did so only because Feld didn't have standing to file this charge. His ruling all but set the stage for a class-action RICO lawsuit against HSUS for misrepresenting itself in its fundraising campaigns across the nation. For the first time, a group has fought back against the animal rights and environmental extremists who have been setting policy in this country for the past 20 years or more. Now, instead of getting rich off their lawsuits and fundraising schemes that misrepresent their efforts and accomplishments, they could be driven out of business. These groups have cost the farming and ranching industry jobs and raised the price of products we buy every day. They are behind the efforts to ban sport hunting across the nation...more

HSUS

Drought Hits Navajo Nation Ranchers Hard

Windmill blades spin rapidly in the stiff wind above Justin Yazzie’s ranch in Whitehorse Lake, New Mexico, slicing through a clear blue sky smudged at the edges with darkening clouds. Those clouds, though often hovering on the horizon, will not bring necessary rain, said Yazzie, Navajo. “We don’t get rain anymore,” he said. “We just get wind and dust.” Yazzie, 58, has ranched this land since 1978, when he helped his father round up calves and brand them. He took over full time in 1995 when his father died. Five generations have raised cattle on this 4,800-acre plot of land leased from the Navajo Nation, but what once was a way of life now is becoming a dying industry. Yazzie knows this land like an old friend. He measures time by seasons, keeping track of the moisture and height of grass. “Thirty years ago, the grass was up to my knees,” Yazzie said, gesturing at his land, barren from decades of drought. In some places, the grass barely reaches his ankles; in other areas, all the vegetation is gone. Experts are calling weather patterns throughout the southwestern United States the worst drought in half a century, a so-called megadrought. Some experts and ranchers are calling weather patterns throughout the southwestern United States the worst drought in half a century, a so-called megadrought, or a 75-year drought—one that could last for decades or longer. National Geographic in 2007 warned of a “perfect drought” like one that hit the area in the 12th century. Others argue that drought conditions are hard to define in desert areas like the Southwest. The ranching industry boils down to one ingredient: rain, said Shane Hatch, an auctioneer at the Cow House in Kirtland, New Mexico, where Navajo ranchers from a 200-mile radius go to sell their livestock at the end of the season. “Feed grows where the water is,” Hatch said. “If there’s no water, there’s no feed.” For the past several years, Hatch has seen ranchers sell their livestock earlier in the season, and for a fraction of the price that the more robust animals can fetch. Sellers usually wait until September to take their livestock to auction, but drought conditions are forcing ranchers to sell in late July or August. “The weather is making a difference,” said Vicki Atkinson, a brand inspector for the New Mexico Livestock Board. “People are having to sell because they don’t have the grass or feed.”...more

Song Of The Day #897


Today Ranch Radio brings you Johnny & Jack and their 1951 recording of Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide.  Johnny Wright was married to Muriel Deason, who he later gave the stage name Kitty Wells.  The duo's recordings ended when Jack Anglin was killed in a car wreck on his way to Patsy Cline's funeral.