Cattle roundup continues amid protest

 

Federally contracted cowboys continued a southern Nevada cattle roundup Monday as large crowds of demonstrators showed up to either throw their support behind embattled rancher Cliven Bundy and his family or protest the government over civil rights. More than 100 people were reported in the area, holding signs and pickets and voicing frustration over the government’s handling of its dispute with the 68-year-old rancher, whose family has run cattle in the rugged Gold Butte area for more than a century. The Bureau of Land Management started confiscating Bundy’s cattle three days ago after a 20-year legal effort to get him to remove the animals from federally controlled lands. “Our freedom is at risk,” Ryan Bundy, Cliven’s son, told demonstrators, arguing that the conflict had generated so much attention because the federal government is overstepping its constitutional role. “A lot of people think our battle with the BLM is over a grazing fee,” the 41-year-old Ryan said. “I want to put that down right now. That was never the issue. Our battle is about who owns this land.” “He has chosen not to move his cattle, placing a burden on the taxpayers,” BLM spokesperson Kirsten Cannon said Monday, indicating that the agency awarded a $966,000 contract to pay for the removal of the cattle, but additional costs for security and other elements of the removal could amount to much more by the time the confiscation is finished. Some of those costs have been used to maintain what many residents and area officials are calling an unnecessary show of force. Members of the Bundy family and other demonstrators reported seeing hundreds of armed agents in the area, ranging from undercover officers in plain clothes to heavily armored snipers. Cannon said the BLM and National Forest Service are coordinating the security effort, along with various other federal, state and local agencies. She said she could not discuss specific aspects of the security effort though...more

Now there is a real Sheriff...no mickey mousin' around like the semi-sheriff of Clark County, Nevada.

As of Monday, there were no solid plans on where the cattle would be headed after they were collected. A previous plan was to have them sold at auction in Sevier County, but officials from Utah stepped in to raise concerns about transporting the animals through the state. Washington County Sheriff Cory Pulsipher issued a statement announcing his opposition, saying that he has been working with local county commissioners, Attorney General Sean Reyes and Gov. Gary Herbert to stop the cattle from coming to Utah. “At this time there are no immediate plans to ship the cattle until further notice,” NPS spokesperson Christie Vanover said, adding that the federal agencies are working with area governments to find a solution.