Ranchers to tell of their troubles with the feds

Nevada ranchers Cliven Bundy and Ramona Hage-Morrison will be on the Churchill County Fairgrounds stage on Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. to tell of their battles to save their family heritage, property rights and to protect rangeland grazing. Entrance is free, but donations will be accepted. They will also talk about fighting for state sovereignty and what needs be done about unlawful Federal law enforcement activities. Bundy’s 25-year fight against the Bureau of Land Management and the Park Service came to a head in April when about 200 armed agents and snipers surrounded his ranch to take his cattle. Hage-Morrison’s was deeply involved in her family’s 35-year struggle to keep their ranching operation alive in the Tonopah area. The ongoing court battle included actions in two federal courts, 11 weeks of trial and nine published court decisions. Finally, a federal judge ruled that agencies of the U.S Department of the Interior and U.S. Forest Service were conducting a continuing criminal conspiracy against the Hages. The persistent efforts of Federal agencies to restrict ranching in the western states through the use of environmental protection mandates, endangered species laws and arbitrarily classifying regions as wilderness areas have cut cattle ranching in Nevada by 50 percent in the past 40 years...more