Cousins line up on opposite sides of cattle dispute

When the first of Cliven Bundy’s cows is removed from federal land 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, conservationists like Terri Robertson will have reason to celebrate. To Robertson, protecting the area known as Gold Butte is personal. “I have made it my mission on this earth to save my father’s favorite places, and Gold Butte is one of them,” the 70-year-old said. But that’s not the only reason the issue hits home for her. Robertson also happens to be Bundy’s cousin. She said her grandmother and his grandfather were brother and sister. Robertson said that when she was a child her father took her along once or twice when he went to Mesquite to visit Bundy’s mother, but she doesn’t recall meeting the embattled Bunkerville rancher until about 15 years ago. They’ve only had a handful of interactions, and all of them have come at public meetings concerning Gold Butte, she said. “This is more like the city cousin and the country cousin having a fight,” she said. “I don’t have anything to do with him, and he doesn’t have anything to do with me.” That’s why she didn’t hesitate to add her name to a letter sent last week by a coalition of environmental groups urging local officials to support the Bureau of Land Management’s roundup of Bundy’s cattle...more