One Of Bundy’s Sons Arrested In Roundup Incident

Dave Bundy, son of Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy, was reportedly arrested by BLM officers while he was standing along the north side of State Route 170 between Bunkerville and Riverside, taking photographs of his family’s cattle that were grazing along the Virgin River down below. According to Dave’s brother, Ryan Bundy, several members of the family had gone out for a drive in several vehicles to try to monitor the ongoing federal action to remove their father’s cattle from the range. They were not travelling on recently restricted federal land, but were travelling along the state highway looking north across the valley for signs of cattle, Ryan Bundy said. A large number of BLM law enforcement officers have been dispatched to the area to assist and provide protection the contractors during the operation. BLM officials will not say just how many of these officers are on the ground. But they insist that these forces are necessary, given the tension in the area regarding this action. “Mr Bundy has created a larger burden to the taxpayers through his statements,” said National Park Service spokeswoman Christie Vanover during a press conference call held Sunday afternoon. “He has said that he will ‘do whatever it takes’ and that his response to the impound will ‘have to be more physical’. When threats are made that could jeopardize the safety of the American people, the contractors and our personnel; we have the responsibility to provide law enforcement to account for their safety. The greater the threats, the more security that is needed to provide public safety and the greater the cost to the American taxpayer. We are hopeful that lawful protests don’t escalate to illegal activity.” But Ryan Bundy insists that his brother’s behavior along the highway on Sunday afternoon was neither a protest nor had it escalated to illegal activity. “He was doing nothing but standing there and filming the landscape,” Bundy said. “We were on the state highway, not even off of the right-of-way. Even if they want to call [the area that we were filming] federal land; which it’s not; we weren’t even on it. We were on the road.” Bundy said that several of his family members had gone out in four different vehicles. They were parked along the north side of the road about 200 yards apart, he said. David Bundy had gotten out of his car to film the cattle grazing on the distant landscape below. Suddenly a large number of BLM vehicles came down and surrounded the area, Ryan Bundy said. “I counted, they had 11 vehicles all with at least two agents in each one, maybe more,” he said. “They also had four snipers on the hill above us all trained on us. We were doing nothing besides filming the area.” None of the occupants in the four family vehicles were carrying any fire arms, Bundy said. Over their vehicle loudspeakers, the BLM officers ordered the family to leave the area, Bundy said. “They said that we had no first amendment rights except for up by the bridge where they had established an area for that,” Bundy said...more