County commission to weigh in on BLM law enforcement

The latest dispute between the federal government and a Southern Nevada rancher sparked interest from Elko County leaders, who have a history of standing up to the feds. Speaking via cellphone from the area Assemblyman John Ellison, R-Elko, said he’s alarmed that the conflict had escalated so rapidly. “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said. “The grazing rights is one thing, but where you have massive amounts of armed BLM employees with dogs, this thing could get out of hand quick. I’m trying to do what I can to slow this down a little bit. “It’s a mess. It’s a total mess.” Although the conflict is hundreds of miles away, Elko has a large ranching community, and Ellison said he’d been on the phone constantly since 7 a.m. Friday. The issue, he added, is important to locals, as well as the state and country. County Commissioner and rancher Demar Dahl, who said he’s known Bundy for more than 20 years, agreed two issues have sprung out of the Gold Butte cattle roundup: Grazing rights and federal law enforcement’s response. “It’s been a big government overreach,” Dahl said. “No question about it.” Ellison said the cattle, which were rounded up by helicopter, were being “run to death.” The county commission will discuss the incident at its next meeting, which begins 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Nannini Administration Building. In addition to the Bundy/BLM dispute, the commission will discuss several BLM-related issues that it believes are cause for concern. In February, two BLM rangers fatally shot an unarmed man, D’Andre Berghardt Jr., during a confrontation on State Route 159. A witness captured video footage of the shooting. Believing the officers were not property trained and used unnecessary force, Dahl said he met with Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., in Washington D.C., who was also concerned about the slaying. Dahl said they were told the BLM was investigating the incident. “It’s a little scary,” he said. The county also has on its agenda discussion of three woodcutting tickets that were issued by a local BLM ranger then later dropped. The commission tried to discuss the matter in October, but the item was not properly put on the agenda, which the attorney general’s office later determined was in violation of the open meeting law. A resident who was issued one of the tickets said he felt the officer erroneously cited him for cutting wood in a wilderness study area, acted in an intimidating manner, and tried to convince him not to fight the ticket...more