The Westerner

MAD COW DISEASE

Statement by Chief Veterinary Medical Officer John Clifford Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Regarding Inconclusive BSE Test Results, March 11, 2006

"Last night we received an inconclusive test result on a rapid BSE test from an animal sampled as part our enhanced BSE surveillance program.

"USDA is conducting further tests at the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) in Ames, Iowa, using an immunohistochemistry test. In addition, USDA's Agricultural Research Service, will also conduct a Western blot test. The results of those tests will be released as soon as they have all been completed, within the next four to seven days.

"This inconclusive result does not mean we have found a new case of BSE. Inconclusive results are a normal component of most screening tests, which are designed to be extremely sensitive so they will detect any sample that could possibly be positive. In addition, this animal did not enter the human food chain nor the animal feed chain.

"I want to emphasize that human and animal health in the United States are protected by a system of interlocking safeguards and that we remain very confident in the safety of U.S. beef. The most important of these safeguards is the ban on specified risk materials from the food supply and the Food and Drug Administration's feed ban. And by any measure, the incidence of BSE in this country is extremely low. Our enhanced surveillance program is designed to provide information about the level of prevalence of BSE in the United States, while these interlocking safeguards continue to protect our food supply.

"We are extremely gratified that since June 2004, all sectors of the cattle industry have cooperated in this program by submitting samples from more than 640,000 animals from the highest risk populations and more than 20,000 from clinically normal, older animals, as part our enhanced BSE surveillance program. To date, only one of these highest risk animals has tested positive for the disease as part of the surveillance program."
Permalink 0 comments

FLE

Border agents accused of taking bribes

Two U.S. Border Patrol agents assigned to prosecute immigrant smugglers were arrested for allegedly releasing border-crossers in exchange for $300,000 in cash bribes. Mario Alvarez, 44, and Samuel McClaren, 43, released the illegal immigrants to a smuggling ring that operates in El Centro, about 120 miles east of San Diego, according to a federal complaint filed in January and unsealed Thursday. The smugglers then allegedly took the migrants to Los Angeles. The agents "who are supposed to represent the very best, epitomize the very worst," said Daniel Dzwilewski, special agent in charge of the FBI in San Diego. Both men, of Imperial, were charged with conspiracy, bribery, making false statements, migrant smuggling and filing false tax returns....

Two border patrol agents guilty in shooting

The two Border Patrol agents who shot an admitted drug smuggler in the buttocks last year near Fabens were found guilty Wednesday of several counts of assault, weapons crimes, tampering and deprivation of civil rights and face a minimum of 10 years in prison. The verdict, reached after two weeks of trial and two days of deliberation, was met with shock and tears by the families of agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. Compean and Ramos were found guilty of assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, a civil rights charge and obstruction of justice. The jury acquitted them of assault with intent to commit murder. Compean and Ramos' boss, Robert W. Gilbert, the chief patrol agent for the El Paso sector of the Border Patrol, issued a written statement Wednesday saying the agents "choose to violate the trust of the citizens they swore to protect."....

Border Patrol may be ordered to hire 12K

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved ordering the Border Patrol to hire 12,000 new agents in the next two years, more than doubling the current force. Border Patrol officials and experts say that number exceeds what the agency can handle in terms of training and the panel didn't include any money to fund the new hires. Yesterday lawmakers pushed ahead with immigration reform plans, hoping to finish work by the March 27 deadline imposed by GOP leaders. Along with more agents, they propose replacing old fences along the border with 25 miles of new barricades in the desert west of Naco. They put off action on contentious issues such as whether to make illegal presence in the United States a federal crime. Adding 12,000 agents in two years would require significant appropriations from Congress. "Is this a sincere effort, or is this just political posturing?" asked T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for 10,500 agents. "I'm afraid that it falls into the latter category."....

Four Current and Former U.S. Soldiers Agree to Plead Guilty to Participating in Bribery and Extortion Conspiracy

Four additional current and former U.S. soldiers have agreed to plead guilty to participating in a widespread bribery and extortion conspiracy which operated from January 2002 through March 2004, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today. The charges arise from Operation Lively Green, an undercover investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that began in December 2001. Forty seven have already pleaded guilty in this ongoing prosecution and will be sentenced in June 2006. In documents filed today in federal court in Tucson, Ariz., the defendants agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiring to enrich themselves by obtaining cash bribes from persons they believed to be narcotics traffickers who were in fact Special Agents of the FBI in return for the defendants using their official positions to assist, protect and participate in the activities of an illegal narcotics trafficking organization engaged in the business of transporting and distributing cocaine from Arizona to other locations in the southwestern United States. In order to protect the shipments of cocaine, the defendants wore official uniforms; and carried official forms of identification; used official vehicles; and used their color of authority where necessary to prevent police stops, searches and seizures of the narcotics as they drove the cocaine shipments on highways that passed through checkpoints manned by the U.S. Border Patrol, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and Nevada law enforcement officers. All of the defendants escorted at least one shipment of cocaine from locations such as Nogales, Ariz. and Tucson, Ariz. to destinations which included Phoenix, Ariz. and Las Vegas, Nev....

Mandatory Guard-on-border bill is vetoed

There won't be any National Guard troops in Southern Arizona — at least not yet. As vowed, Gov. Janet Napolitano vetoed a $10 million appropriation for the Guard because it ordered her to put the troops on the border. In a five-paragraph letter to legislators, she cited a state constitutional provision that makes her commander-in-chief of the Guard. "The Legislature has no constitutional or other authority to control when or how the Guard is deployed," she said. But Napolitano insisted she's still interested in putting troops in Southern Arizona and promised that if lawmakers send her a bill with the funds — but without the mandate — she would sign it and begin deployment. That option may already be in progress. On Thursday the House gave preliminary approval to another bill to appropriate funds to deploy Guard troops in Southern Arizona for "border security functions." The new bill has none of the language the governor found offensive. Napolitano has already signed an executive order posting troops in Southern Arizona, conditioned on getting some money....

Justice Dept. Report Cites F.B.I. Violations

The Federal Bureau of Investigation found apparent violations of its own wiretapping and other intelligence-gathering procedures more than 100 times in the last two years, and problems appear to have grown more frequent in some crucial respects, a Justice Department report released Wednesday said. While some of these instances were considered technical glitches, the report, from the department's inspector general, characterized others as "significant," including wiretaps that were much broader in scope than approved by a court and others that were allowed to continue for weeks or sometimes months longer than was authorized. In one instance, the F.B.I. received the full content of 181 telephone calls as part of an intelligence investigation, instead of merely the billing and toll records as authorized, the report found. In a handful of cases, it said, the bureau conducted physical searches that had not been properly authorized. The inspector general's findings come at a time of fierce Congressional debate over the program of wiretapping without warrants that the National Security Agency has conducted. That program, approved by President Bush, is separate from the F.B.I. wiretaps reviewed in the report, and the inspector general's office concluded that it did not have the jurisdiction to review the legality or operations of the N.S.A. effort. But, the report disclosed, the Justice Department has opened reviews into two other controversial counterterrorism tactics that the department has widely employed since the Sept. 11 attacks. In one, the inspector general has begun looking into the F.B.I.'s use of administrative subpoenas, known as national security letters, to demand records and documents without warrants in terror investigations. Some critics maintain that the bureau has abused its subpoena powers to demand records in thousands of cases....

Pentagon admits errors in spying on protesters

The Department of Defense admitted in a letter obtained by NBC News on Thursday that it had wrongly added peaceful demonstrators to a database of possible domestic terrorist threats. The letter followed an NBC report focusing on the Defense Department’s Threat and Local Observation Notice, or TALON, report. Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Roger W. Rogalski’s letter came in reply to a memo from Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who had demanded answers about the process of identifying domestic protesters as suspicious and removing their names when they are wrongly listed. “The recent review of the TALON Reporting System ... identified a small number of reports that did not meet the TALON reporting criteria. Those reports dealt with domestic anti-military protests or demonstrations potentially impacting DoD facilities or personnel,” Rogalski wrote on Wednesday. “While the information was of value to military commanders, it should not have been retained in the Cornerstone database.” In 2003, the Defense Department directed a little-known agency, Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), to establish and “maintain a domestic law enforcement database that includes information related to potential terrorist threats directed against the Department of Defense.” Then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz also established TALON at that time. The original NBC News report, from December, focused on a secret 400-page Defense Department document listing more than 1,500 “suspicious incidents” across the country over a 10-month period. One such incident was a small group of activists meeting in a Quaker Meeting House in Lake Worth, Fla., to plan a protest against military recruiting at local high schools. In his Wednesday letter, Rogalski said such anomalies in the TALON database had been removed. “They did not pertain to potential foreign terrorist activity and thus should never have been entered into the Cornerstone database. These reports have since been removed from the Cornerstone database and refresher training on intelligence oversight and database management is being given,” Rogalski wrote....

Patriot Act E-Mail Searches Apply to Non-Terrorists, Judges Say

Two federal judges in Florida have upheld the authority of individual courts to use the Patriot Act to order searches anywhere in the country for e-mails and computer data in all types of criminal investigations, overruling a magistrate who found that Congress limited such expanded jurisdiction to cases involving terrorism. The disagreement among the jurists about the scope of their powers simmered for more than two years before coming to light in an opinion unsealed earlier this month. The resolution, which underscored the government's broad legal authority to intercept electronic communications, comes as debate is raging over President Bush's warrantless surveillance program and the duties of Internet providers to protect personal data. A magistrate judge in Orlando, James Glazebrook, first questioned the so-called nationwide-search provision in 2003, after investigators in a child pornography probe asked him to issue a search warrant requiring a "legitimate" California-based Web site to identify all users who accessed certain "password-protected" photos posted on the site. The Web provider was not named in public court records. Magistrate Glazebrook said that in passing the Patriot Act, formally known as the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act, Congress made clear its focus was on terrorism. He said there was nothing in the language Congress adopted in the days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that suggested the nationwide-search provision should apply to garden variety federal cases. "The statutory language is clear and unambiguous in limiting district court authority to issue out-of-district warrants to investigations of terrorism, and that language controls this court's interpretation. The government has shown no legislative intent to the contrary," the magistrate wrote. He also noted that many of the examples given during legislative debate involved terrorism. The then chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy, a Democrat of Vermont, described the nationwide-search language as applying in terrorism cases, the court noted. Magistrate Glazebrook denied the search warrant, but it was recently disclosed that the government appealed to a federal judge, G. Kendall Sharp, who granted it without explanation. The scenario played out again late last year, after prosecutors presented Magistrate Glazebrook with an application for a search warrant directed to a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Web portal, Yahoo....

US rights groups ask courts to end domestic spying

Civil liberties groups on Thursday asked federal courts to halt the Bush administration's controversial program of domestic eavesdropping, saying it violated the privacy and free speech rights of U.S. citizens. The requests for court-ordered injunctions filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in Detroit and by the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York were an extension of legal challenges the two groups had filed in January. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in January against the National Security Agency on behalf of scholars, attorneys, journalists and nonprofit groups that regularly communicate by phone and e-mail with people in the Middle East. Separately, the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which has provided legal aid to people detained or interrogated in Washington's declared war on terrorism, filed a parallel suit in a federal court in New York challenging the wiretapping program. A CCR lawyer said on Thursday that U.S. officials had already disclosed enough to prove to a federal judge that the NSA wiretapping involving U.S. citizens was unconstitutional. "We can file this aggressive motion because we have proof that the spying program is illegal," said CCR staff lawyer Shayana Kadidal. "The bottom line is the defendants have incriminated themselves -- President Bush admitted that he authorized and oversaw an illegal and unconstitutional program."....

G.O.P. Plan Would Allow Spying Without Warrants

The plan by Senate Republicans to step up oversight of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program would also give legislative sanction for the first time to long-term eavesdropping on Americans without a court warrant, legal experts said on Wednesday. Civil liberties advocates called the proposed oversight inadequate and the licensing of eavesdropping without warrants unnecessary and unwise. But the Republican senators who drafted the proposal said it represented a hard-wrung compromise with the White House, which strongly opposed any Congressional interference in the eavesdropping program. The Republican proposal appeared likely to win approval from the full Senate, despite Democratic opposition and some remaining questions from Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and chairman of the Judiciary Committee. The Republican proposal would give Congressional approval to the eavesdropping program much as it was secretly authorized by Mr. Bush after the 2001 terrorist attacks, with limited notification to a handful of Congressional leaders. The N.S.A. would be permitted to intercept the international phone calls and e-mail messages of people in the United States if there was "probable cause to believe that one party to the communication is a member, affiliate, or working in support of a terrorist group or organization," according to a written summary of the proposal issued by its Republican sponsors. The finding of probable cause would not be reviewed by any court. But after 45 days, the attorney general would be required to drop the eavesdropping on that target, seek a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or explain under oath to two new Congressional oversight subcommittees why he could not seek a warrant. The administration would be required to provide "full access" to information about the eavesdropping, including "operational details," to the new Senate and House subcommittees, the summary said. Each subcommittee would consist of four Republicans and three Democrats from the Intelligence Committees....

GOP deal on NSA eavesdropping would keep Americans in dark

A Republican deal is in the works to provide congressional cover for the administration's warrantless wiretapping of American citizens. It is a classic example of the blind leading the blind. Negotiated by a cadre of Senate Republicans and Vice President Dick Cheney, the deal would allow the National Security Agency's electronic eavesdropping to continue, even though the public and most members of Congress have no idea what the NSA is actually doing. That's outrageous when the agency may be invading the privacy and violating the fundamental rights of Americans on a grand scale. The Senate Intelligence Committee's Republican majority rejected Democrats' call for a thorough investigation of the wiretapping authorized in secret by President George W. Bush. The handful of senators who have been briefed on the program may know what the NSA is up to, but the rest of Congress and the public have been left in the dark. You'd think elected officials would insist on knowing how many Americans have had their calls and e-mails intercepted and why. How about asking at what point, in what appears to be a data-mining operation, do people begin listening in place of computers? What and who triggers the switch? What about the breadth of the eavesdropping web? If your conversation with someone overseas is monitored, what about your subsequent calls to people inside this country? Will the NSA listen to those too? Will it tap calls made later by the people you talked to? At what point, if ever, would officials go to court for a warrant? At what point, if ever, would you know you've been tapped? What's so different about this program that oversight should be limited to seven senators instead of, at the very least, the entire 15- member intelligence committee which oversees all other sensitive intelligence operations? And finally, is it effective?....

NSA Eavesdropping and the Fourth Amendment

The political minuet being performed in recent weeks between angry members of Congress and the Bush Administration over the domestic spying program has done little if anything to assuage those of us concerned about the ongoing illegality of the program. President Bush’s order permitting the National Security Agency (NSA) to eavesdrop on Americans without any judicial approval or warrant shows just how prescient our Framers were in placing controls on the executive. In this instance, the legal controls were present – the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process that allows for secret judicial authorization to conduct the sort of electronic eavesdropping being conducted by NSA – but they were circumvented. The civil liberties dimensions of the NSA program have taken a legal back seat to the constitutional and statutory authority issues in these debates. Still, in the unlikely event that legal authority for the NSA program can be found, this domestic spying violates the Fourth Amendment. Administration lawyers concede that, in general, individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their telephone calls, and that probable cause and a warrant are necessary under the Fourth Amendment to authorize electronic surveillance of those communications. The extent to which national security and foreign intelligence collection might be exempt from the general rule and thus subject to the lesser Fourth Amendment requirement of reasonableness has been considered carefully if not exhaustively by Congress and the judiciary. Thirty-four years ago the Supreme Court first confronted the tensions between unmonitored executive surveillance and individual freedoms in the national security setting. United States v. United States District Court (known as the Keith decision, after the Judge who first decided it)....

Watchdog: What Ever Happened to the Civil Liberties Board?

For more than a year, the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board has been the most invisible office in the White House. Created by Congress in December 2004 as a result of the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, the board has never hired a staff or even held a meeting. Next week, NEWSWEEK has learned, that is due to finally change when the board's five members are slated to be sworn in at the White House and convene their first session. Board members tell NEWSWEEK the panel intends to immediately tackle contentious issues like the president's domestic wiretapping program, the Patriot Act and Pentagon data mining. But critics are furious the process has taken this long—and question whether the White House intends to treat the panel as anything more than window dressing. The delay is "outrageous, considering how long its been since the bill [creating the board] was passed," said Thomas Kean, who chaired the 9/11 Commission. "The administration was never interested in this." Renewed concerns about the White House's commitment came just a few weeks ago when President Bush's new budget was released—with no listing for money for the civil liberties board. Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget, denied to NEWSWEEK the White House was trying to kill the panel by starving it of funds. "It will be fully funded," he said, explaining that the board wasn't in the budget this year because officials decided not to itemize funding levels for particular offices within the White House. When a reporter pointed out that funding for other White House offices such as the National Security Council were listed in the budget, Conant said: "I have no xplanation."....
Permalink 0 comments

High property taxes driving a new revolt

In Orford, N.H., a tin-roofed hunting cabin worth $10,000 was recently assessed at $200,000, just for its mountain view. Taxes on the cabin and its outhouse skyrocketed. Around Lake Tahoe, along the California-Nevada border, property taxes have shot up 135 percent in the past four years. Residents of Beaufort, S.C., pay $17 million more in property taxes today than in 2000. Welcome to the flip side of the real estate boom. Years of rising home values have boosted property taxes steadily. Now, homeowners across the United States are fighting back. "Real estate growth and real estate boom seem to be happening all over the country and [property-tax revolt] is an inevitable consequence," says Roger Sherman, a property tax expert in Boise, Idaho. This year, legislative proposals, citizen initiatives, and lawsuits are on the agenda in at least 20 states. These new efforts reflect both residents' distrust of how their property tax dollars are being spent and concerns that rising assessments are driving working-class people out of popular towns and cities. South Carolina last week passed a law that caps the increase in property assessments at 3 percent per year. Many Georgia lawmakers are backing a measure to put a similar cap in the state constitution. The bill's sponsor, first-term state Rep. Edward Lindsey (R) from Atlanta, argues that it's unfair to hit homeowners with a big tax boost years before they sell their home and profit from its increased value. "Not even the IRS is so bold as to tax people on unrealized gain," says Mr. Lindsey. "These are essentially backdoor tax increases that give government no incentive to be efficient or responsive."....
Permalink 0 comments

U.S. Interior Secretary Norton Resigns; Served 5 Yrs

U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, whose agency oversees one out of every five acres of land in the nation, will resign at the end of the month after serving five years in the Bush administration. Norton, who helped champion drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, faced criticism for efforts to give oil, mining and timber companies greater access to federal lands. Congress is investigating her agency to see whether it is collecting all the royalties oil and gas companies should be paying for drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. ``There will never be a perfect time to leave,'' Norton said in the letter, dated March 9. ``There is always more work to do,'' she told Bush. ``My leaving now gives you the opportunity to appoint a new secretary to accomplish the goals you set for the rest of your administration.'' Norton, who was sworn in on Jan. 31, 2001, is the first woman to serve as interior secretary. The department manages 504 million acres of federal lands, operates the National Park Service and oversees relations with 562 American Indian tribes through its Bureau of Indian Affairs....
Permalink 0 comments

NEWS ROUNDUP

Conservationists back ranchers in gate dispute Northern Utah farmers and ranchers, angered by Box Elder County's prosecution of one of their own for locking a gate on a road through a family ranch, have joined forces with conservation groups. Two dozen ranchers, together with the Ogden Sierra Club, Bear River Watershed Council and Bridgerland Audubon Society, are calling the charges 'coercion' to get residents to relinquish private property. They also blast Cache and Box Elder counties, as well as the Forest Service, for failing to stop off-road vehicle users from trespassing on private land. Box Elder County Attorney Amy Hugie last month charged 38-year-old Bret cq Selman, a prominent Tremonton rancher who with his parents runs a 7,000-acre ranch southeast of Mantua, with five class B misdemeanors - four counts for placing a gate on the road and one count of obstructing traffic. Shaun Peck, Selman's Logan attorney, said his client admits locking the gate. 'It's a question of whether he has a right to lock it," Peck said. "We maintain he did.' The Selmans contend that the rough dirt road in question is a private 'livestock driveway' that has always been posted as 'No Trespassing' or as private property. The gate across the road traditionally has been closed but not locked....
Court questions wolf Lawsuits If the line of questioning by a three-judge panel is any indication, the State of Wyoming’s appeal of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s rejection of its state wolf management plan is doomed, as is the appeal filed concurrently by the Wyoming Wolf Coalition. Oral arguments in the appeals were heard by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Salt Lake City on Monday. A federal judge in Wyoming had rejected the lawsuits, but his decision was appealed to the higher court. The state’s case focuses on FWS’s January 2004 letter to the state rejecting the wolf management plan and insisting that the plan eliminate “predator” status for wolves before it would be accepted. The wolf coalition’s case also argued over the rejection of the wolf management plan but also claimed that FWS’ insistence that wolves must be protected throughout Wyoming represents a major modification to wolf management that must be subject to an environmental impact statement pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act. The panel keyed in on the 2004 letter by FWS, indicating that the letter was not “final agency action” for which judicial review is appropriate....
Gray Wolf Numbers in Northern Rockies Up The number of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies has surpassed 1,000, a decade after wolves were reintroduced in and around Yellowstone National Park, a report released Thursday shows. "I'm eating crow," said Ed Bangs, wolf recovery coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Helena. "I never thought we'd get that high." The report, from state and federal wildlife agencies responsible for wolf management in the three-state region, shows population growth in Montana and Idaho. But it shows an overall decline in Wyoming, where wolf numbers in Yellowstone National Park fell sharply _ mainly because so many pups died. Officials suspect disease as the culprit behind the deaths. Outside the park, the wolf population in Wyoming grew by about 33 percent between 2004 and 2005, the report concluded. Estimates for the end of 2005 put the Northern Rockies wolf population at 1,020, with 512 wolves in Idaho, 256 in Montana and 252 in Wyoming. Estimates also put the number of breeding pairs in the states at 71, far above the minimum 30 that help define the wolves as a recovered species. A breeding pair consists of an adult male and female with at least two pups until year's end....
Ranch owner supported by hundreds Marie Wissler was overwhelmed by the show of support from her neighbors, hundreds of whom attended a meeting Wednesday to discuss helping her stave off any attempt to force her to sell part of her ranch. Lewis-Palmer School District 38 is looking for a site for a new high school, and Superintendent Dave Dilley has said the Wissler Ranch is the only parcel that could meet all its needs. The district wants to buy about 60 acres of the 814-acre ranch, and officials have said condemnation is an option if the family is unwilling to sell. Many of the more than 200 people at the meeting had never met the 87-year-old Wissler but said they admire her determination to keep the land that’s been in her family for four generations and want to help her hold onto it. Wissler, a widow who has lived on the ranch for 60 years, has said she isn’t interested in selling. Neighbors braved slick roads and snow to attend the meeting at Creekside Middle School and prepare for the school board’s March 16 meeting....
Law will keep highest peaks open Lawsuits and liability weren’t much on Jim Gehres’ mind 40 years ago when he finished climbing all 54 of Colorado’s highest mountains the first time around. After Gov. Bill Owns signed a bill Wednesday to keep the big peaks accessible and free of legal hassles, the 73-year-old Gehres won’t have to worry if he goes climbing again — and he said he might. The new law will allow owners to permit people to cross their land and mining claims without being sued for any accidents that might occur. Trails on a half-dozen of Colorado’s 14,000-foot peaks cross private or leased land, presenting an obstacle for peak-baggers — climbers who set out to reach the top of all the “Fourteeners.” The bill requires the U.S. Forest Service and climbing groups to put up signs warning of dangerous abandoned mines, mark the trails and educate the public about private property rights. Access became an issue when some owners posted “no trespassing” signs for fear of being sued if a hiker fell into an old mine shaft or was injured some other way....
Scientists resist species act reform As a Senate committee prepares to take up revisions to the Endangered Species Act, nearly 6,000 biologists from around the country signed a letter Wednesday urging senators to preserve scientific protections in the landmark law. The House passed an Endangered Species Act rewrite last year that horrified many scientists and environmentalists. One environmental lobbyist said the bill amounted to a "death warrant for treasured American wildlife." They are lobbying the Senate now, in hopes its Environment and Public Works Committee will take a more moderate stance. "Unfortunately, recent legislative proposals would critically weaken" the law's scientific foundation, said the letter organized by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The 5,738 signers included six National Medal of Science recipients....
Can a nonprofit force the US government to change its policy on global warming? Elkhorn coral and polar bears appear to have little in common, but they share the same lawyers. In an effort to force the US government to reduce carbon emissions, the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) has petitioned to have the creatures added to the federal endangered species list. Since the Endangered Species Act requires the US to protect the habitat of any listed species, and the sea ice and oceans where polar bears and coral make their homes are threatened by global warming, adding the two to the list would, theoretically, force the retooling of all federal policy contributing to climate change. CBD hopes its strategy will gain a foothold for global warming science in a hostile political environment. But skeptics say the likelihood of increasing fuel economy standards, ditching the Clear Skies Initiative, abandoning Arctic National Wildlife Refuge drilling for good, repealing the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and sharply controlling fossil fuels production—all to save an animal that lives underwater and looks like a rock—would appear to have a polar bear's chance in hell....
Column: The Absurdity We Call "Public Involvement" In early January, I suggested Idaho had not made a smooth move when it launched a controversial wolf-killing plan before the ink had dried on the documents transferring management from the feds to the state wildlife agency. To me, this seemed like getting off on the wrong foot and could discourage or delay transfer of state control in other states and for other species—or even create enough political backlash to prompt the feds to re-take control of wolf management in Idaho. But the toothpaste was already out of the tube, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (DFG) charged ahead with the next step, soliciting comments from the public. That’s the subject of this column, the embarrassing craziness we commonly but incorrectly refer to as “public involvement.” In thirty years of working for and with agencies and writing about citizen-initiated conservation efforts, I have yet to see a proposal yanked or substantially altered due to the results of “public involvement.” I have, however, seen many examples of agencies coming up with their plan, going through the motions of soliciting public comment, and then going ahead when they feel they’ve met legal requirements. With cosmetic adjustments at best, the “draft” plan morphs into the final plan, regardless of how lopsided the public comments. This sends a strong message that most agencies consider “public involvement” little more than an annoying delay....
State vet threatens quarantines Threatening to quarantine a ranch because elk and cattle commingle is a “draconian” use of the powers of the state veterinarian, according to the Green River Cattlemen’s Association and the Jackson Hole Cattle and Horse Association. The two organizations passed resolutions that acknowledged the intensive brucellosis surveillance program in place in the state’s livestock herds but called for the Wyoming Livestock Board to “cease and desist” the practice of quarantining cattle when commingling with elk occurs and there is no evidence of brucellosis in a cattle herd. Brucellosis is an bacterial-based disease that can cause abortion outbreaks in cattle, elk and bison. Most cattle in Wyoming are vaccinated against the disease....
Argentina's Kirchner Gambles Big With Beef Ban Shocker Argentine President Nestor Kirchner made one of the most extreme policy decisions of his three-year presidency Wednesday: he banned beef exports for six months. Just as striking as the measure itself, which prompted a chorus of condemnation from industry leaders, is the unilateral way in which Kirchner apparently arrived at it. Throughout the day, amid rumors that new beef restrictions would be announced to curtail rising prices in the domestic market, staff in the Agriculture Secretariat said they knew nothing of any such plans. There were no meetings underway at the Secretariat, they said, and the Agriculture Secretary himself, Miguel Campos, was visiting an industry trade fair in Santa Fe province. Toward the end of the day, Economy Minister Felisa Miceli, who was accompanying Campos and Vice President Daniel Scioli at the same trade fair, ruled out an export ban in comments to the state news agency, Telam. But three hours later, after flying back to Buenos Aires for a rushed meeting with the president, Miceli was hosting a press conference, where she made a dramatic about-face. The government, she said, was "worried about the purchasing power of our workers and our families," and so was imposing a 180-day export ban to bring "the internal supply and the internal demand (for beef) into equilibrium."....
Permalink 0 comments

NEWS ROUNDUP

Town gets more than money in energy boom This once-quiet cattle town has so much wealth that all fifth-graders get laptops. Teachers here are the highest paid in the state. The unemployment rate is so low that the Subway shop offers $10 an hour to new workers. In the past three years, the county built hockey and riding arenas, a senior center and an addition to the courthouse. Two medical clinics are in the design stage. The source of the wealth that has made Pinedale a modern-day boomtown lies not far outside town, where what was mostly empty sagebrush plains is now home to more than 1,000 natural gas wells. Thousands more are on the way. Pinedale's transformation from ranching and recreation into an energy center is a story as old as the West, where boom-and-bust economies have been a familiar pattern for generations — from the California gold rush in the mid-1800s to Denver's energy industry recession in the 1980s. Similar gas booms are happening elsewhere in the West, including Wyoming's Powder River basin, western Colorado and the San Juan basin bordering New Mexico and Colorado. This town, population about 1,600, also is a cautionary tale about what happens when the government invites full-throttle energy production on the region's vast federal land....
Copper battle brewing in rural Arizona In the valley below a ring of blue-black mountains in southeastern Arizona, a group of townspeople gathered on a recent Sunday after church to stop a copper-mining giant. They sat shoulder to shoulder on wooden benches in a crowded meeting hall, asking one another in hushed voices: "Did you get a letter?" Dozens of certified letters arrived at the small Dragoon post office in mid-January, sent by foreign mining giants BHP Billiton and General Minerals Corp. The companies wrote that they had filed claims on some of the residents' land and reserved the right to enter property beginning last month. With copper surging to record prices on the world market, some analysts say more rural areas across the West can expect to see similar notices. Using a near-century-old law, mining companies are legally allowed to check if some rural residents are sitting on a gold mine. Major mining interests are snatching up many square miles of mineral rights at a time, although mostly for exploration of public lands - not private....
Drilling may hit rare ferrets' turf The prospect of northwestern Colorado's rampant oil and gas drilling moving into the territory of North America's most endangered mammal has rattled wildlife biologists who have worked for five years to reintroduce black-footed ferrets to the state. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, despite a recommendation from its field office to defer a decision, has nominated for oil and gas leasing a large portion of a 20,000-acre area east of Rangely where 189 black- footed ferrets have been released since 2001. Biologists with the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who learned of the plan Tuesday voiced strong concern that it could jeopardize the reintroduction program just months after biologists had the first indication of success. A juvenile ferret born in the wild was spotted in the area last fall during a middle-of-the-night survey. It was the first indication that the elusive animals were mating and reproducing in Colorado. "We've spent a lot of effort and time to see something like drilling thrown in the middle of it," said Rick Krueger, a wildlife biologist with the federal wildlife agency. "It is a big concern."....
Nearly 9,000 new gas wells may be coming to Red Desert Two drilling projects proposed in the Red Desert near Wamsutter could result in nearly 9,000 new gas wells over the next four decades. The wells would be drilled on a million acres of public and private land. The federal government is planning an environmental study on the Creston/Blue Gap II natural gas project proposed by Devon Energy and the Continental Divide/Wamsutter II gas project proposed by BP America. The combined projects around Wamsutter call for up to 8,950 new gas wells, including 100 to 500 coal-bed methane wells, over the next 30 to 40 years. Last year, Devon and other leaseholders proposed drilling and developing up to 1,250 wells, while BP America and other operators proposed up to 7,700 wells. Mary Wilson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Bureau of Land management, said the BLM decided to combine the projects and do one environmental study. Energy industry representatives praised the drilling plans Monday....
Oregon: New frontier for energy? It may not be time to rush off to the oil patch yet, but Oregon is seeing its own version of an oil and gas boom. Industry requests have prompted the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, keeper of the government's mineral wealth, to offer 224,516 acres in Eastern Oregon for oil and gas exploration at an auction today. It's a land area equal to about a quarter of the Mount Hood National Forest and the largest amount put up for sale in Oregon in many years. The auction, at which bids will start at $2 an acre, comes as energy companies that have largely ignored Oregon look more closely for precious underground reserves. It also comes amid surging energy development in the West and a drive by the Bush administration to cultivate domestic energy reserves....
BLM relaxes drilling deadlines Bureau of Land Management officials in Colorado have begun giving companies more time to drill under their drilling permits, drawing questions from some environmentalists. Companies that hadn't been able to drill before their leases on federal land expired typically lost their leases. BLM officials in Colorado recently changed their rules to stop the clock for companies that can't find rigs to drill. Some environmentalists say it's inconsistent for the agency to request an extra $27 million from Congress to speed up the processing of permits when drillers can't use all the permits they already have. "The industry is awash in federal drilling permits," said Dave Alberswerth of the Wilderness Society. "They have so many, they don't know what to do with them." BLM officials say most extensions are requested by smaller companies. "Rig availability is a bigger issue for them," said Duane Spencer, who heads the BLM's fluid minerals division in Colorado....
Supreme Court hears arguments over right to clean environment If the state's constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment is to have any meaning, Montanans need to be able to sue companies and fellow citizens over perceived violations, attorneys argued Wednesday before the Montana Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is hearing arguments in three lawsuits seeking damages for pollution. The court's decision could set a precedent on the power citizens have under the Montana Constitution's clean and healthful environment provision. "The answers to these questions will constitute a legacy of this sitting court," Cliff Edwards, a lawyer representing ranchers against a mining company, told justices. Attorneys for the landowners said citizens need to have the right to sue under the constitutional provision to make sure their rights are protected. They contend state regulators don't always get the environmental enforcement job done. Industry lawyers have been joined by trade groups, a big group of Republican lawmakers, and others in attempt to fight the lawsuits. They argued that only the Legislature can decide how the environment should be protected, and it has set up the Department of Environmental Quality to be the enforcer. The core of the debate focuses on whether the constitutional right is "self-executing," or whether the Legislature must pass laws to enforce the right and provide remedies for violations....
Column: `Hook and bullet' clubs shooting themselves in the foot n an alliance of odd bedfellows, hunting and angling clubs are joining forces with their natural enemies, environmental groups, in a bid to preserve their happy hunting grounds across the United States. Both groups are lining up behind a Clinton-era plan to create 60 million acres of "roadless" areas in national forests, as this 6-year-old battle shifts to the states. And unless typical Americans stand up and demand the continuation of the multiple use rules that long guided national forest policy, they may soon find their access to public lands severely limited, as these areas become the exclusive playgrounds of ecological or recreational elitists who aren't willing to share. This debate is only nominally about roads: it's actually about who will have access to 60 million acres (or about a third) of national forests, and whether these lands will continue to be managed for multiple uses, balancing ecological, aesthetic and economic goals. That's why this battle has implications for all Americans. I don't do much hunting or fishing, but I don't mind sharing the national forests with those who do. I have a live-and-let-live attitude, believing that there's plenty of room for everybody. But watching hook and bullet clubs joining forces with gang green to support a roadless rule designed to severely limit the people's access to "public" lands has me seeing these clubs in a different light. It seems some hunters and anglers have become just another myopic special interest, which sees the roadless plan as an opportunity to turn federal forests into private game preserves....
PFS chief says foes can't stop nuclear waste A Nuclear Regulatory Commission license in hand, Private Fuel Storage's chairman said Wednesday that the consortium of utilities is moving forward with its plans for a high-level nuclear waste disposal site in Utah's Skull Valley — and he doesn't think opponents can stop it. "Yes, there is hope for our future," John Parkyn said, holding up the license at an NRC conference in Maryland, drawing applause from the crowd. In other developments: • The state of Utah this week filed an updated challenge to the PFS proposal in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. It challenges the NRC's license, issued to PFS last month. • And Time magazine is reporting that PFS would pay the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians up to $100 million over 40 years for the right to operate its proposed repository on the band's reservation. However, neither Skull Valley Band chairman Leon Bear nor PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin would confirm the figure to the Deseret Morning News. In Maryland, Parkyn told the NRC conference he is seeking additional utilities with nuclear plants interested in moving waste to the PFS site, 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. And he downplayed any chances Utah's congressional delegation, governor and other opponents have at stopping PFS's plans....
Column: How to save the hunter,fisherman, and trapper Put as succinctly as possible, the threat to hunting, fishing, and trapping is hostility to these pursuits from a small, but active, part of the population organized into well-financed organizations. These organizations are scattered throughout not only the United States, but also all the other "Western" or "First World" nations, as well. They represent mainly affluent, urban factions who are personally unaffected in any way by the anti-everything-rural (hunting, fishing, trapping, ranching, logging, etc.), and anti-gun agendas that they unflinchingly impose on others. These organizations have been both ruthless and successful in influencing and staffing, not only the U.S. federal bureaucracy and lobbying U.S. politicians for power and funding, they have also controlled the explosive growth of United Nations' control of plants and animals, and the U.N. bureaucracy that fuels that growth. These organizations, and their surrogates, have spawned a perpetual monsoon of ballot initiatives, laws, treaties, conventions, regulations, land restrictions, property takings, permits, and closures, based on every sort of bizarre claim, from "invasive" and "native" species definitions, to imaginary "ecosystem benefits," and the "need" for X, Y, and Z to remain protected forever. Ultimately, all of these things constrict, and slowly eliminate, hunting, fishing, and trapping, by eliminating tools (guns, traps, and lead, for instance); species (rainbow and brown trout, pheasants, Great Lakes salmon, etc.); managed populations (elk, moose, bighorn sheep, sage grouse, etc.); area use and access, both public and private, where fishing, hunting, and trapping take place; and indoctrinating the public and the young, in particular, with a steady stream of lies and half-truths, that go unrefuted....
Bones of dinosaur found north of Billings may be new species Chances are, no one's ever seen a mug quite like Ralph's. Uncovered last summer, the long-necked, giant dinosaur with a walnut-size brain appears to be a new species, according to Malta paleontologist Nate Murphy, who led the dig at the foot of the Little Snowy Mountains. The discovery may reveal crucial information about the history of the once-dominant plant-eating giants known as sauropods. The latest find seems to provide a previously undocumented link between two similar types of dinosaurs. "We're bridging a gap here," said Murphy, the curator of paleontology for the Judith River Dinosaur Institute in Malta. Murphy and his team recovered the complete neck, skull, teeth and other bones from the 20-ton dinosaur believed to have roamed the flood plains of ancient Montana 150 million years ago....
Historic 'mail trail' ride to be re-enacted One of the great sagas of the Wild West -- the 52-mile ride along the "mail trail" that ran from Camp Verde to Payson -- will come to life again this fall. At its Thursday evening meeting, the Payson Town Council will consider matching a $3,000 donation from the Camp Verde Town Council to support an annual re-enactment of the historic ride. The mail trail's history reaches back to 1884 when the small frontier settlement of Union Park received its first Post Office. That made it necessary to extend mail service 50 miles east from Camp Verde to the community that would henceforth be known as Payson -- named after the senator who appointed the town's first postmaster. A route was established through formidable terrain with mail stops in the communities of Rutherford, Strawberry and Pine en route to Payson. From 1884 to 1914, a total of 60 riders delivered the mail six days a week over the rugged trail that started at Sutler's Store in Camp Verde. Unlike the pony express, which involved multiple riders relaying the mail along a route, just one rider was used to complete the 104-mile round trip over the first mail trail. "The pony express was altogether a different thing," said Parrish, a longtime horse rancher and member of the Camp Verde Cavalry, the group that is spearheading the effort to re-open the trail. "Each of the riders who rode our trail was under contract. One guy would take the mail from here to Payson, lay over, and then come back," he said. "There was no relay involved." A rider was in the saddle from 11 to 18 hours at a time, changing horses twice in each direction. One change took place at the Diamond S Ranch in the vicinity of Clear Creek today, and the other took place in Pine....
On the Edge of Common Sense: Cunning and practice gelds the stallion "Macho Surgery" There's a practice in a practice of a vet who works on horses/That embodies the machismo of their kind./I was taught this ancient practice, castrating horses standing,/Meaning, both he and I were standing at the time./To cognize the difficulty, the mule-headedness required/To complete this task of surgery and cunning/One must grasp its deeper meaning. It's been favorably compared/To changing fan belts with the engine running/Or standing on a bar stool taking bets from one and all/You can stick your head up through the ceiling fan/And never touch a single blade, or spill a drop of beer....
Permalink 0 comments

Governor vetoes eminent domain legislation

Gov. Bill Richardson has vetoed legislation that was intended to prevent state and local governments from using their eminent domain powers to take property for private development projects. Richardson said Tuesday a number of community officials _ from small rural towns to larger cities _ opposed the measure and he said the legislation would "bring New Mexicans more harm than good." The measure, sponsored by Rep. Richard Cheney, R-Farmington, would have prohibited the state or local governments from using eminent domain powers to take property and turn it over to a developer or other "private entity" within five years of the property's condemnation. The bill was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that allowed a city in Connecticut to take homes for a private development project. Dozens of states are considering revisions to their eminent domain laws because of the unpopular ruling by the nation's highest court. In defending his veto, Richardson said, "I take a backseat to no one when it comes to protecting private property rights." He promised to create a task force to study the eminent domain issue and propose legislation "to appropriately protect private property from condemnation that is geared solely at private commercial development." Richardson said the bill's "ambiguous language may stop public projects that encourage environmental conservation, mass transportation and smart urban development, simply because private entities play a role in the project."....
Permalink 0 comments

LMA: Beef Checkoff Settlement Includes Attitude Survey

At least 8,000 cattle producers will be surveyed on their attitudes about the beef checkoff, as part of the settlement of the lawsuit challenging the checkoff that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. The largest single attitude survey ever done on the checkoff was agreed to by the plaintiffs - Livestock Marketing Association, the Western Organization of Resource Councils, Jerry Goebel, Pat Goggins, Robert Thullner, John Willis and Leo Zentner - and the defendants - the U.S. Department of Justice, representing the Cattlemen's Beef Board (CBB), and the Nebraska Cattlemen's Association. In May, 2005, the Supreme Court ruled the checkoff was a government speech program and thus was immune from the First Amendment challenge brought by the plaintiffs. The settlement was filed by the plaintiffs and defendants on March 1 with the South Dakota Federal District Court. Separately, a stipulation dismissing all outstanding claims in the original suit was filed with the court, on behalf of all plaintiffs except Herman Schumacher and John Smith, who declined to sign the settlement agreement. Plaintiff Ernie J. Mertz asked to be dismissed as a plaintiff. "There have been several checkoff attitude surveys, but never one that has contacted this many producers," LMA President Randy Patterson said. "With so many industry groups now talking about improving the checkoff, getting the views of a broad cross-section of producers is the logical first step, and that's why we made it part of the settlement." And, Patterson said, LMA and the CBB "look forward to working together to promote beef in the future." Under the terms of the settlement:
...The survey will be paid for out of checkoff funds, and any costs expended by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in conducting the survey will be reimbursed by the Beef Board.
...The survey will include a "representative sample" of at least 8,000 cattle producers.
...At its discretion, USDA may hire an outside contractor to carry out the development and implementation of the survey.
...The questions to be asked in the survey will be developed with input from a representative of LMA; a representative from the Beef Board; a representative from the Federation of State Beef Councils, and one from USDA. USDA retains final decision-making authority with respect to the survey contents.
...The intent of the survey is to assess producer attitudes toward the beef checkoff program. Survey responses shall not constitute a request for a producer referendum, and the survey shall not form the basis of any claim, by the settling plaintiffs or others, that the USDA secretary is authorized or required to conduct a referendum.
Permalink 0 comments

Family of wolf-attack victim waiting for answers

The family of a young man who died after an apparent wolf attack in northern Saskatchewan is angry and demanding answers about how it could have happened. Kenton Carnegie of Oshawa, Ont., died at Points North Landing four months ago, while he was on a university work term. The engineering student may be the first person in North America to be killed by wild wolves in their natural habitat. The local coroner, Rosalie Tsannie, has no doubt wolves are to blame for the Nov. 8, 2005, death and she talked about the case at the scene where Carnegie's body was found – near Points North Landing about 750 kilometres northeast of Saskatoon. "Based on the tracks and activity and blood around here this is where the wolves had taken him down," she said. However, it's the government's chief coroner who has the final say on the cause of death and four months after Carnegie was killed, the province isn't saying what happened. "I think that we really need to wait for the coroner's report to understand the circumstances and what the cause of death really is," said Environment Department deputy minister Lily Stonehouse. The lack of information is infuriating, according to Kenton Carnegie's father, Kim. He thinks his son's death may have been preventable, and is demanding change....
Permalink 0 comments

Lawsuits in eminent domain fight over suburban golf club

Lawsuits were filed Tuesday aimed at stopping an affluent suburban village from using the legal concept of eminent domain to take over a privately owned golf course. "This proposed condemnation may be the most extreme abuse of eminent domain in the country," said John Wilson, a Deepdale Golf Club member named as a plaintiff. The village's mayor said the federal and state lawsuit were a "pre-emptive strike" and no decision has been made on whether to proceed with a takeover of Deepdale, considered one of the finest golf courses in the country. The issue of municipalities seizing property has taken on a new focus since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 last June that eminent domain authority can be used to obtain land for tax revenue-generating commercial purposes. Eminent domain, the right of government to take property for public use, is typically used for projects that benefit an entire community, such as highways, airports or schools. But in North Hills _ a 2.8 square mile community of 1,800 residents on Long Island's "gold coast," where housing prices begin in the millions _ members of the Deepdale Club are rallying to save their 175-acre facility from being taken by village officials. The federal suit questions the village's right to seize the property through eminent domain; the state case challenges the village's alleged abuse of zoning law to cut secret deals with private developers....
Permalink 0 comments

NEWS ROUNDUP

E-mails, Resolutions, and Name-calling “Like you, we would like this project to be over and for you to start construction of your village,” said the e-mail to Bob Honts, spokesman for B.J. “Red” McCombs, the billionaire developer who wants to build a major resort on top of the remote Wolf Creek Pass in southwestern Colorado. Those words are polite enough encouragement and assurance. Unfortunately, they were written last summer by H. Mark Blauer of Tetra Tech, Inc., the contractor hired to perform an independent evaluation of the environmental impact of a controversial road across Forest Service land required to access the $1 billion development. If built, the Village at Wolf Creek would be situated at more than 10,000 feet between two major Wilderness Areas. Although Tetra Tech’s assessment is contractually required to be independent, the company was hired by the Village at Wolf Creek to perform the study. The e-mail, acquired through litigation by the environmental group Colorado Wild, provides more ammunition for charges of collusion by McCombs’s employees in the development’s approval processes on the federal and county levels. Project opponents have already charged improper involvement by the developer in the project’s approval by Mineral County and in the Forest Service’s review of the access road. The e-mail (and others) are part of a busy week in the on-going saga of the Village at Wolf Creek....
Researchers go far afield to capture elusive wolverine Historic trapping records indicate wolverines were extirpated from the region by 1900, most likely due to trapping and the extensive use of poison baits to kill predators that also killed scavenging wolverines, Inman said. A few survivors might have remained in the Greater Yellowstone. Although wolverines have been making a comeback, Inman said the Wildlife Conservation Society's Greater Yellowstone Wolverine Program aims to provide scientific data to state and federal managers to help those agencies maintain the rare species. Conservationists have petitioned the species for listing as a threatened species, but to date such petitions have been denied. In five winters, the program has captured a total of 26 wolverines in Montana and Wyoming. Using radio tracking devices, researchers have learned that wolverines' individual home ranges large enough to occupy multiple mountain ranges across two states. That's one reason wolverines are hard to find: They require vast tracts of land and are territorial. This marks the first winter the crew will try to trap wolverines in the Teton Wilderness....
Sheep to stomp out flammable cheatgrass Carson City residents could see 1,000 sheep grazing across the hillside slopes of the city's west side as early as next week, officials say. An innovative fuel-reduction plan targets the highly flammable cheatgrass, which is expected to sprout any day, in the Waterfall Fire burn area, said Juan Guzman, the city's open space manager. "The use of sheep in order to reduce the most dangerous weed, the cheatgrass, is very effective," Guzman said. The action of sheep's hooves also helps break up the ground, which is unable to allow moisture to percolate into the soil because it has become "hydrophobic" due to the fire, he said. John McLain, principal range management consultant with Resource Concepts Inc., is helping oversee the program along with the city and several state and federal agencies....
Dry Southwest readies for worst In Phoenix, where Monday marked a record 139 days without measurable precipitation, it's almost possible to forget what rain is like. And that is raising a serious worry: The Southwest's spring wildfire season is approaching -- and it's coming early. "The conditions right now are about the worst we've seen," said Jim Payne, spokesman for the Forest Service's Southwest region. "It's already brittle dry. All we need is ignitions to see wildfires." While much of the West is accumulating an above average mountain snowpack, the source of most of the year's water in the region, Arizona and New Mexico haven't been so lucky. Those states, along with parts of Alaska, Wyoming, Colorado and the southern portions of Nevada, Utah and California show an above normal fire potential, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Smoke is already starting to curl up in some spots. A grass fire last week in New Mexico grew to more than 26,000 acres and led to the evacuation of a small farming and ranching community. "Pretty impressive for this time of year," Payne said. And in Arizona last month, a fire burned more than 4,000 acres in the Tonto National Forest, jangling nerves because it was the earliest large fire ever....
Land sale plan favors Northwest, study shows A Bush administration plan to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forest to help pay for rural schools contains a disproportionate amount of land in the South and Midwest — while primarily benefiting schools in three West Coast states, a new analysis shows. Nearly 60,000 acres in 13 Southern states and another 50,000 acres in 10 Midwestern states would be sold under the plan, while just 18,000 acres in forest-rich Oregon and Washington would be sold, according to an analysis by the Southern Environmental Law Center. Southern states received $37 million for rural schools this year under the program the sales are intended to benefit, while the Midwest received $41 million, the analysis shows. Oregon and Washington got five times those amounts — $210 million, with Oregon receiving nearly $162 million. About 80,000 acres in California would be sold; the state received nearly $69 million from the Forest Service this year....The fools. It is actually tilted towards them, as they will end up with the most private property, which will generate the most wealth over time....
USFS officials could face discipline for wildfire In a reversal of statements made earlier in the week by other forest service officials, the Forest Service supervisor said those who planned, started and managed the fire could face disciplinary action. "It is not accurate to state that no one will be held accountable," Sharon Heywood, supervisor of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, told the crowd. She said she could be one of those disciplined, depending on the results of a review of the fire plans and how officials reacted when it went out of control. That review already has begun and any action hinges on the results, she said. Whether information about any discipline will be made public depends on whether the people are found to have been criminally negligent in how they planned and handled the fire, Heywood said....
Column: The Anti-Environmentalist They care more about the environment than we do. No, they really do. Anyone who has been following the story of Senator Ted Kennedy and the wind farm in Massachusetts was not surprised when recent reports surfaced that he is again at work trying to kill off this clean wind project. The wind project has been thoroughly vetted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers who concluded in a study that the project was efficient, safe, and viable. It won't create an eye-sore, and it won't hurt local wildlife. But that hasn't stopped Senator Kennedy from trying to kill the bill even as he continues to sermonize about how committed he is to a clean, Green future. During a recent speech at the National Press Club, Senator Kennedy exclaimed, "We should replace our dependence on foreign oil, not by drilling in the priceless Arctic National Wildlife Refugee in Alaska, but by investing in clean energy." But the Kennedy hypocrisy goes beyond trying to halt a clean energy project. Over the course of more than three decades Kennedy has denounced the oil industry and laid at its feet the environmental problem of global warming. We need to "start demanding immediate action to reduce global warming and prevent catastrophic climate change that may be on our horizon now." But that hasn't stopped the Kennedys from owning two oil companies. Not stock in oil companies, mind you, but two oil companies, which drill for oil in five American states. Kenoil and Mokeen were merged in 1985 into the Kennedy family's Arctic Royalty Limited Partnership to avoid paying corporate taxes. The Kennedys are still getting their royalty checks today. But Kennedy is not alone in his environmental hypocrisy....
Wild Heart Ranch Books and Toys Teach a Generation of Children About Endangered Wildlife and Offer Suggestions on How to Take Action and Make a Difference Wild Heart Ranch Inc., a children's toy and publishing company that has built its brands around original stories about nature and endangered species, encourages young readers and parents to become informed and make a difference in the animal world. The current lines, "Bradford and the Journey to the Desert of Lop," "I Sea Horses, From Sky to Sea" and "No More Night Mares" address conservation of the critically endangered wild Bactrian camels, seahorses and wild horses. Wild Heart Ranch recently launched a Kids Club contest asking readers to contribute their stories of altruism and goodwill towards the animal kingdom. The purpose of the contest is to spread the message to participants that "kids can make a difference"; submit your story on how you are helping animals, wild or domestic, to have a better life. The site also features a section entitled" endangered animal news" and a related blog. The unique combined elements of light, magic and branded stars and moons on the plush toys identify Wild Hearts' award winning lines in the marketplace. Wild Heart Ranch children's books and toys empower children and support education on endangered animals....
Changes to West Coast fisheries weighed The fate of commercial and recreational fishing on the West Coast is on the line this week as fishery officials meet in Seattle to consider options for this year's season, including shutting down several lucrative salmon fishing grounds. Salmon runs from California to Oregon are at risk of being closed, a result of severely reduced chinook salmon runs on the Klamath River in southern Oregon. Fishing off the Washington coast also could be restricted because coho in the Lower Columbia River recently were listed as threatened under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which is responsible for making fish-policy decisions for California, Washington and Oregon, took up these and other fish-management discussions Monday when it kicked off a week of hearings and meetings....
Wolf pack causing trouble in Idaho Idaho officials will ask the federal government for authority to kill most of the wolves in a pack that is preying on dwindling numbers of elk in the state's Lolo Pass region. Members of the Idaho Fish and Game Commission voted unanimously Friday to ask the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for permission to eliminate up to 43 of the estimated 58 wolves in the Lolo pack that is roaming the Clearwater River Basin in northern Idaho. The reason for the request is to try to help rebuild an elk herd in the popular hunting area. Though the wolves -- which were reintroduced into the state in 1995 -- are protected under the Endangered Species Act, the federal agency in 2005 modified a provision of the law to allow Idaho to kill wolves that are reducing big-game animal numbers below state wildlife-management goals. Killing is allowed only if agency officials agree with the state's scientific findings in deciding that killing the wolves, rather than other means, would restore game populations to the desired level....
Permalink 0 comments

FLE

Crackdown on animal-rights activists

Animal-rights activists around the country - at least the most extreme - are becoming increasingly militant. And law enforcement officials and lawmakers are stepping up efforts to combat those who break the law. These interconnected trends came to a head in New Jersey last week when an animal rights group and six of its members were convicted of inciting violence in their campaign to shut down a company that uses animals to test drugs and other consumer products. The group, Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC), claims its actions constitute free speech. But federal prosecutors and the jury in a Trenton, N.J., courtroom called it harassment, stalking, and conspiracy - the first such conviction under the 1992 Animal Enterprise Protection Act. The lab, Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS), the largest of its kind in the world, is based in Britain and New Jersey. Members of the US House and Senate are sponsoring the "Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act." It would toughen the 1992 Animal Enterprise Protection Act by imposing penalties for veiled threats to individuals and families, economic disruption or damage, and "tertiary targeting." Along with the recent indictment of ALF activists charged with arson and other crimes in Oregon and other parts of the West, the convictions in New Jersey are a setback for extremist animal-rights activists....

Border issues near boiling point

Witnesses told Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship subcommittee, at a hearing on border violence that without cooperation from Mexico, combined with federal support from the United States, the situation at the border will continue to deteriorate. Cornyn focused the hearing on recent reports of Mexican military incursions into the United States, increasing border violence against law enforcement officials and the need for better border technology. The hearing comes on the heels of the well-publicized encounter in Hudspeth County in west Texas between law-enforcement officers and organized drug dealers dressed in Mexican military uniforms. "Regardless of what kind of story the Mexican government is making up, I can tell you this -- my deputies had an armed standoff with Mexican military," said Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, who attended the Senate hearing. West testified on Feb. 7 before the House Subcommittee on Investigations that Mexican military personnel have been assisting narcotics traffickers. "We even checked the VIN number of the Humvee vehicle used in the incursion and it belongs to the Mexican military," he said. "There is still an ongoing investigation into the incident."....

Sections of Mexican border called virtual war zone

State and federal law enforcement officers appeared before senators Wednesday to paint a horrific picture of life on the Southwest border, telling of violent assaults, running gunbattles, brazen cross-border incursions and threatened contract killings of U.S. officers. The hearing, co-chaired by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., prompted calls for a border crackdown to combat what Kyl described as "bad, nasty, dangerous people." U.S. Border Patrol Chief David Aguilar showed slides of battered agents, telling senators that his officers increasingly fall victim to attacks by assailants firing weapons, hurling rocks or pursuing the agents with vehicles. One current weapon of choice, he said, is a "Molotov rock" -- a rock wrapped in fabric then set ablaze. Val Verde County Sheriff A. D'Wayne Jernigan, head of the Texas Border Sheriff's Coalition, said in written testimony that authorities have received information that Mexican drug rings plan to kill as many U.S. police officers as possible in an attempt to intimidate U.S. authorities. "The drug trafficking organizations have the money, equipment and stamina to carry out their threats," Jernigan said. "They are determined to protect their illicit trade."....

Sheriffs testify that border overtaken by criminals

The number of border patrol officers assaulted has doubled in the past fiscal year. More illegal immigrants are dying in the deserts of Arizona and Texas. And sophisticated smuggling rings are using tunnels and military-style uniforms to bring drugs into this country. That's the dire picture of life along the border between the United States and Mexico painted by border patrol and customs officials, a Texas rancher and sheriffs at a Senate hearing Wednesday on border violence. "The problems along the border will continue unless our federal government does something about it soon," said A. D'Wayne Jernigan, a Texas sheriff for Val Verde County. "Must we wait until an officer gets killed or until another terrorist attack occurs?" U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials pointed the finger at Congress for not providing enough funding to maintain control of the porous southern border, while some members of the Senate panel blamed the clogged federal bureaucracies for failing to put a dent in the number of illegal immigrants who enter this country every year....

Border sheriffs beg Congress for help

Southwest border sheriffs vented their frustration with the federal government Wednesday and urged a Senate panel to crack down on illegal immigration to reduce violence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The hearing focused on reports of recent incursions into U.S. territory by Mexican military, as well as an increase in assaults on law enforcement agents and an escalation in crime. Lavoyger Durham, manager of the El Tule Ranch near Falfurrias, said ranchers are fired upon, security guards beaten and women threatened on their property by undocumented immigrants entering the country illegally. "It is also sad to report that we often find immigrants on our properties that are dead and dying," Durham said. "Whenever possible, we take them for medical care, but often, it is too late." Larry Dever, Cochise County sheriff, said Mexican smugglers along the Arizona border are "armed with high-capacity assault weapons and with orders to protect their cargo at all costs."....

Senators demand larger effort on border control

Worried by the growing violence at the Southwest border against Border Patrol agents, the public and illegal immigrants, senators demanded more help Wednesday from the federal government – and better use of Texas sheriffs and other local law enforcement agencies. Appearing before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, Texas and Arizona sheriffs and a South Texas rancher detailed a border in crisis: rising assaults and threats against U.S. officers; men in battle dress uniforms sneaking into the U.S. and snipers firing across the Rio Grande at Border Patrol agents; migrants found dead or dying in desolate regions; and increased crime against Texans living near the border. In some areas, border residents routinely leave food and water in coolers outside their homes when they're gone to deter break-ins by famished migrants, Lavoyger Durham, manager of a ranch near Falfurrias, told the senators. "My neighbors and I are facing circumstances that can best be described as deplorable," Mr. Durham said. "We now must live with the constant possibility that we could be attacked or killed on our own properties." Mr. Cornyn said Defense Department assets, including unmanned aerial vehicles, could be used in support of the Border Patrol and other Homeland Security Department agencies. And Mr. Sessions noted that the nation's 750,000 state and local law enforcement personnel could be a huge force multiplier for the fewer than 11,500 Border Patrol agents and 5,500 ICE agents. The federal government has agreements with only a handful of police departments to assist in enforcing immigration law, Ms. Forman conceded....

Rural areas targeted for meth production

Old abandoned farm buildings are the prime targets for rural meth labs. They provide two key ingredients for the manufacture of methamphetamine - privacy and the availability of anhydrous ammonia. Methamphetamine is the most common synthetic drug manufactured in the United States. It is also one of the most addictive and dangerous. People who make meth are called "cooks." These cooks combine a number of toxic ingredients including lithium from batteries, pseudoephedrine from Sudafed and anhydrous ammonia or iodine. The most economical and widely used source of nitrogen fertilizer in agriculture production, anhydrous ammonia is stored at farms and retail facilities throughout the country. Meth cooks steal it from the units where it is stored under pressure. One gallon of anhydrous ammonia is enough to make about $6,000 worth of methamphetamine. But stealing it is dangerous. Thieves remove plugs from the anhydrous ammonia lines or attach the wrong hoses and fittings to storage containers, causing leaks and spills. A spill like this could lead to the inhalation of airborne concentrations of the gas and cause injuries to the land owner, law enforcement and the criminals themselves. Some cooks even make the meth right at the tank sight, leaving several dangerous chemicals for land owners to clean up. There are a couple of ways farmers can deter the theft of their anhydrous ammonia. Initially developed in Illinois, GloTell is an organic and non-toxic additive for anhydrous ammonia tanks. To use it, farmers and dealers inject the clear substance into their ammonia tanks. When it comes out and gets air, the substance is bright pink and stains everything it touches. The stain can be washed off, but remains visible to ultraviolet light for up to 72 hours. According to the GloTell website, meth cooked with treated ammonia will turn fluorescent pink and stain the noses of those who snort it and the injection sight of those who shoot it. In addition, farmers can see exactly where their anhydrous ammonia tank is leaking....
Permalink 0 comments

NEWS ROUNDUP

Resurgent Wolves Now Considered Pests by Some The cattle are down in the valley now, but as the snow here melts and winter is nudged out of the mountains, they will move to pasture in the wild meadows and timberland between the Gros Ventre and Wind River Mountains. That is where wolves kill the most calves, said Charles Price. Mr. Price and the 15 other ranchers in the Upper Green River Cattlemen's Association, as well as others in the state, want the freedom to kill wolves without any restrictions. "That's the way we took care of them before," he said. "It's the way my grandparents took care of them. They roped them, shot them, anyway to get rid of them." The federal government, however, will not allow that. Wolves here are descendants of the animals reintroduced into Yellowstone National Park in 1994, which have since repopulated parts of the surrounding states: Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. They have done so well that the federal Fish and Wildlife Service wants to take them off the list of endangered species. The service has handed management responsibilities to Montana and Idaho, which have a plan to assure the wolf's survival. Wyoming, however, has a different idea. Outside of Yellowstone and federal wilderness areas, wolves would be considered predators....
Western energy boom has growth in population, industry colliding On a blustery winter day on the rolling plains north of Denver, a herd of cattle stood grazing a few yards from an idled natural gas pump in a dormant field as traffic rumbled by. Just down the road are shopping centers and subdivisions packed with new homes, gobbling up land around this once-sleepy town atop the Wattenberg gas field, one of the nation's most productive. Ed Orr knows this land well. A rancher and developer whose family roots in Colorado date back more than a century, Orr says the real estate business is growing increasingly difficult because gas producers want access no matter what the plans are for the property. Twin engines of growth -- in population and within the oil and natural gas industry -- are colliding in Greeley, the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the nation. Developers looking to cash in on rising land values are running into companies eager to sink more wells and drawing up plans for multibillion-dollar pipelines to carry gas to the East Coast. Similar conflicts are playing out from Montana to New Mexico because the Rockies' energy boom is in full bloom, prompting worries about the environment, property rights and the changing character of towns with new workers. Many fear that another Western rush to fortune will be followed by hard times -- again....
Gas boom collides with rural ways Ask cattle ranchers Dan and Cheryl Johnson how much money they make an hour and they will tell you it’s a pittance. Ask them to put a value on their life along winding Piceance Creek in western Colorado and they answer simply — priceless. These days, the Johnsons are worried their operation will end up worthless. Energy companies hunting for natural gas are snapping up land all around them, either through old oil shale claims or through federal auctions. Some now have claims on minerals under the same land the Johnsons lease for grazing their cattle in the pasture-dotted hills northwest of Rifle. Roads are being built and plans are in the works for new wells. Dan Johnson fears that if the companies drill in the narrow gulches around his property — the conduits for moving cattle from pasture to pasture — he’ll lose precious grazing land and be out of business. He and his wife, both in their late 40s, can feel their dream of passing their business to their two daughters slipping away....
Drilling buffers weighed again The drilling boom brought Lloyd and Rita Jane Moore an unwanted dirt road snaking through their pasture to a 3-acre pad with seven wells. It put a bottled-water dispenser in their kitchen when their well ran dry. It brings noises. The worst was a dynamite blast that spooked one of their horses, who bolted into a barbed-wire fence and opened a bloody gash under one shoulder. "He was torn up real bad," Lloyd Moore said, clasping his callused hands into a triangular wedge. "You could probably put both your hands in it." The Moores live on 37 of the more than 5 million acres of Colorado's "split-estate" land - where homeowners, farmers and ranchers own the surface, and government, energy companies or others own the minerals below. The battle between homeowners such as the Moores and the energy companies drilling on their land has spilled into the halls of the state legislature. For the second straight year, Western Slope lawmakers are pushing a bill to give landowners more protection from oil and gas development....
Ranchers as biologists Longtime Sublette County rancher John Andrikopoulos knows he has an awful lot of sage grouse on the more than 15,000 acres of private and leased land used by his cattle operation. And there are neighboring ranches with good sage grouse habitat as well. But unfortunately -- when it comes to the big decisions made by government agencies about how best to manage species such as sage grouse considered for special protection under the Endangered Species Act -- just knowing you have sage grouse on your land doesn't really count for much. Not without hard data to back it up. Andrikopoulos and other western Wyoming ranchers are going after that hard data through a four-year project developed under the auspices of the Wyoming Wildlife Heritage Foundation. The pilot project aims to develop programs and methods to help ranchers compile much-needed data about wildlife and wildlife habitat on their land. With that data, ranchers could then integrate agricultural land use with wildlife habitat management planning -- and maybe get a bigger say in federal decisions that affect wildlife on private lands in Wyoming....
Room to Roam: Freeing Yellowstone's Wild Bison As the Buffalo Field Campaign approaches the tenth anniversary of documenting and protesting the bison management practices in and around Yellowstone National Park, its efforts may finally be paying off for bison and those who hold them sacred. BFC Cofounder and Campaign Coordinator Mike Mease is encouraged by the actions of Montana¹s newly elected governor, Brian Schweitzer, a democrat from Whitefish. "We¹ve been talking to the governor¹s office quite a bit," Mease said. "He does listen to what we have to say, which is a hell of a lot better than what happened with the last two administrations." Schweitzer¹s advisor, Hal Harper, emphasized that the governor¹s "number one concern" is maintaining the state¹s brucellosis-free status, which, livestock officials and ranchers contend, is jeopardized by freeroaming bison. But unlike previous Montana administrations, Schweitzer favors hunting and habitat over a heavy-handed approach to bison management....
BLM land sale plan criticized While the proposed sale of National Forest lands has outraged many Western residents, a second plan to sell off public lands to raise money to offset the federal budget deficit has gotten little attention. Tucked into President Bush’s 2007 budget is a proposal to raise $182 million in the next five years by selling Bureau of Land Management property and a total of $351 million in the next decade. That by itself isn’t a change in policy, because the BLM already is tasked to sell off isolated parcels of public land that don’t fit within the federal agency’s management plans. As part of the Federal Land Transaction and Facilitation Act — or FLTFA — 80 percent of the money raised by the sale is used to acquire inholdings within national parks, national monuments, national forests, and BLM conservation areas. The remaining 20 percent is used to cover the BLM’s administrative costs. But the new Bush budget calls for 70 percent of the BLM’s land sale receipts to go into the national treasury instead, to be used to reduce the federal deficit....
Column: Last roundup for wild horses In 2005, President Bush signed legislation that will destroy our greatest icon -- the wild horse. In 1971, President Nixon signed legislation protecting it. This was the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burro Act, a hard-fought bill brought to lawmakers by ''Wild Horse Annie," a Nevada character who saw blood spilling from a truck hauling mustangs to the slaughterhouse, then dropped everything and spent the rest of her life trying to save them. Now those trucks are revving their engines again. Starting on March 10, 7,200 wild horses in government pipelines will begin to make their way to the three horse slaughterhouses in this country -- which are owned by France and Belgium. In 1900, about 2 million wild horses roamed the West. By 1950, there were 50,000. Today, there are about 25,000 -- perhaps spelling doom for the mustang. What happened? World War I, the pet food industry, and cattle ranchers, who contend that the remaining wild horses steal food from 3 million cows on the range. In the old days, they hired contractors to gun down mustangs and bring them the ears. Today, Big Beef still hires guns -- politicians who set policy for the Bureau of Land Management, the agency that presided over a recent fixed grazing study yet is supposed to protect the wild horse. Now, the animal America rode in on is facing its meanest battle....
Forecasts unpredictable Up in Leadville, there has been so much snow that the 4-foot fence around Dan Eller's house is buried, allowing his springer spaniel Boast to just walk out of the yard. "It seems like it's been snowing a foot every three days since Christmas," Eller said. Meanwhile, down in Trinidad, it has been so dry that ranchers have had to haul water for their cattle. "If we don't get moisture, I'll have to sell my herd," said rancher Tom Miller. "We need to pray for rain. Without it, it doesn't look good." The weather bedeviling Eller, Miller and the rest of Colorado is caused by a mass of Pacific Ocean cold water, about the size of the United States, stretching for 5,000 miles off the South American coast - called La Niña....
Film about Animas-La Plata project receives mixed views Film goers filled every seat at the Abbey Theatre Thursday, and 30 people were turned away at the door, for the Durango Independent Film Festival's first showing of "Cowboys, Indians and Lawyers," a documentary about the politically charged Animas-La Plata (A-LP) project. The project was designed the satisfy a treaty about water made between the government and two local Indian tribes decades ago. Environmentalists argued building a dam and reservoir would ruin the environment and allow for excessive development on land west of Durango. Proponents of the project argued the dam must be built to give the tribes back what had been taken from them. Many who attended the film's premier said they wanted to know whether the film would accurately portray events that have unfolded over the past three decades, adding that they looked forward to the visual aspect un
available in newspaper or radio coverage....
'Open ranges' idea rides again In Slope County, in a pasture south of Amidon, there's an old stove with the door hanging open and a sign that reads "open range." It's good for a chuckle, but some ranchers are pretty serious about it. They've asked the Slope County Commission to designate some parts of the county as open range, though technically in state law it's called a grazing area. The request comes from ranchers in western Slope County, out where the land is beautifully carved by the Little Missouri River and people are interested in buying small pieces for cabins and recreation. If the land is open range, people who buy some acres and don't want cattle grazing would have to fence the cows out....
Historic ranch sells for $6.8 million With a barely perceptible nod of his camouflage hunting cap, Ike Rainey of Lady Lake, Fla., bought a historic West River ranch for what is probably a historic price, $6.8 million. He outbid other individuals and groups for the Mattie Goff Newcombe ranch in an auction that lasted slightly less than three hours Thursday and packed the Central Meade County Community Center at Union Center with about 400 bidders and spectators. Neighboring ranchers and others were curious, awed and, in some cases, worried about the $590 an acre that Rainey and his Florida partner paid for the 11,570-acre ranch begun in the late 19th century by the Goff and Newcombe families. The ranch also includes grazing rights to 3,611 acres of Bureau of Land Management land and 616 acres of Homestake Mining Co. property. "It will be the most historic land auction the West River area has ever seen," said Kenneth Wilson, who ranches about 20 miles up the Cheyenne River from the old Newcombe place. But Wilson and others said they are worried that the increasing influx of big money from out-of-state hunting interests could make it more difficult for them to continue ranching and for young people to get started in ranching....
They'd walk a country mile for love Phyllis Schwarz hopes for a long-term relationship with someone who doesn't "smoke, chew, spit or cuss." Union Pacific conductor Ed Binau would like a sweetheart to come home to once his train rolls in. Kristina Shuford, a future law student, wants to meet a brainy horseman who knows a fetlock from a forelock. What do these lonely-hearts have in common? They are among the Northwest's geographically challenged singles. For them, living in small, rural communities not only limits their chances at love, it also drastically reduces the pool of potential mates with similar values and lifestyles, particularly as Washington's rural population dwindles....
Collector sees art in antique cowboy gear When the topic turns to art, most people don't immediately think of saddles, chaps and spurs. But American craftsmen of the 19th and early 20th centuries created exquisite works out of such utilitarian cowboy equipment. Mort Fleischer has the collection to prove it. The chairman and co-founder of Scottsdale-based Spirit Finance Corp. started collecting saddles and related items about 15 years ago and now owns hundreds of pieces, including those showing intricate leather carvings, silver inlays and other embellishments. "Some of these guys were great artists," Fleischer said. "It's truly an American art form because saddles, spurs and chaps are as American as apple pie."....
Lookin' Back: Canoa Ranch cattle baron loses grip on money, wife Frederick Maish shared a malady with a sizeable number of other wealthy and successful pioneer Tucsonans: An inadequate grip. Like freighter Estevan Ochoa, politician Charles Poston, farmer/rancher "Pete" Kitchen, miller Solomon Warner, merchant John B. "Pie" Allen and many others, Maish couldn't hold onto his money. In an era when some families survived on a few hundred dollars a year - or substantially less, the man who once pulled $60,000 in cash from his hotel safe to pay overdue government livestock import fees lived, at the time of his death in May 1913, in a hovel on Meyer Street. A couple of decades earlier, he and long-time partner Thomas Driscoll owned thousands of head of cattle that grazed on the vast Canoa Ranch along both sides of the Santa Cruz River, on the 17,000-acre Buena Vista Ranch and the Fresnal Ranch that extended for many miles from Fresnal to Gunsight on what now is the Tohono O'odham Nation....
It's All Trew: Brick chimneys a favorite memory A recent experience gained while installing a wood stove in my workshop brought back memories of early day brick chimneys and flues. Almost every dwelling I can remember contained at least one brick chimney, venting smoke and fumes up, up and away. This simple square brick vent was fireproof, insulated enough to protect the nearby wood and was usually located centrally for service to more than one heating stove. Most chimneys were located in the corner of a room with vent inlets opening through the walls to other rooms. Unused inlets were covered with round decorative metal covers with flowers painted on the surface. Some bricks were left raw, some varnished and ours was papered over with wallpaper that sagged after the glue gave way....

Will catch up on the rest of the news manana...
Permalink 2 comments

FIRST TIME EVER – THE WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP IS DECIDED BY OVER-TIME

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Shayla Givens
(405) 282-3004
arena@lazye.com

GUTHRIE, Okla., March 5, 2006 – He’s Back!

At one of the classic Wrangler Timed Event Championship events in history, Trevor Brazile proved why he is considered the current “King of the Cowboys” during the 2006 event held at the Lazy E Arena.

In the event’s 22-year history, no competition had ever ended in a tie for first place. That is exactly what happened during the Lucchese Boots Final Round when three-time WTEC Champion Trevor Brazile from Decatur, Texas and four-time WTEC Champion K.C. Jones from Hawk Springs, Wyoming tied with 337.3 seconds after competing on twenty-five head of livestock over 3 grueling days of competition. The result was over-time.

If a tie should occur, the rules state that the two cowboys would “match” each other in a five-head competition and compete on each others cattle from the fifth round. After the stunned crowd settled, Brazile and Jones, two WTEC titans matched each other with Brazile ending up the champion with a time of 50.5 seconds compared to Jones’ 75.4.

“This is probably the most special,” said Brazile when asked about his other titles. “The way it happened, I could not have wrote it any better.”

The win secured many new WTEC titles for Brazile – the record holder for the most money won at a WTEC competition ($72,000), the highest career WTEC earnings to date ($398,500), the newest member of the Four-Time Champion Fraternity (which includes Jones and Paul Tierney from Oral, South Dakota), broke his own Arena-Record set last year for the fastest go-round (43.5 on five head) for a three-thousand dollar bonus, and became the only winner of a WTEC Tie-Breaker (defeated Jones for the Championship).

Brazile, who has won three Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association All-Around World Championships, won his first WTEC title in 1998, then finally found his groove again during the three-day runs in 2003 and 2004. The two seemed to be a good fit, given the fact that Brazile is the first cowboy in ProRodeo history to qualify for the National Finals in each of the four roping disciplines – steer roping, tie-down roping, heading and heeling. At this year’s WNFR, Brazile was the front-runner going into the All-Around race only to be upset by Ryan Jarrett from Summerville, Georgia this past December in Las Vegas. Of note, Jarrett competed for the first time at this year’s WTEC and finished in a respectable eight position earning him $3,000.

The 2006 version of rodeo’s “Iron-Man” competition had many story lines. Perennial WNFR qualifier Cash Myers, from Athens, Texas jumped out to the early lead in the competition. But a few slips in the third round cost Myers the lead and eventually the title. Those “slips” provided the opening for past WTEC Champions which included Tierney, Jimmie Cooper of Monument, New Mexico, Jones, and last year’s champion Kyle Lockett from Ivanhoe, California to emerge as front-runners during the marathon-type event.

After taking a no-time / 60 second penalty in the first run of the event, Brazile quietly won three rounds and pulled himself back into the competition. In what seemed like an impossible feat, Brazile battled his way back to take a 30-second lead going into the steer-wrestling event during the final performance.

“I never wanted to take a sixty right off the bat, but looking back it was a blessing in disguise. It enabled me to go a little harder at the rounds,” Brazile said.
In the steer-wrestling event (the only event that Brazile does not compete at full-time), he missed his steer on his first try then re-mounted his horse and gave chase eventually throwing the animal in 43.0 seconds. The lead was gone. Jones held serve during his steer roping run to put the pressure back on Brazile. Brazile backed into the box needing a 15.0 second run to win the event. The result was a 15.1 and a tie after twenty-five head.

After the tie-breaker match, Jones would take home a hefty second-place paycheck of $25,000, Tierney finished third worth $15,000 and Lockett would place fourth for $10,000.

“You always think about what you could have done different,” Jones said. “You just hope to learn from your mistakes and come back a little more ready next year.”
In another aspect of the WTEC, the Fastest Rounds are paid for the entire event. Brazile collected another $19,000 (First, Second and Fifth) for his efforts in combination with his bonus for a grand total of $72,000. A complete detail of the WTEC results can be found on the final page of this release or at www.lazye.com/arena.

The top 20 timed event cowboys in the world were invited to compete at this 22nd annual event held at the fabulous Lazy E Arena. The WTEC is considered as one of pro rodeo’s most unique events and is a true test of versatility and stamina. Each contestant is required to compete in all five timed events: tie-down roping, steer roping, heading, heeling and steer wrestling.

The event was developed by the Lazy E in 1985 to determine the best all-around timed event cowboy in the world — the man who could stand out in more than his specialty event, the man who could be consistent in all five timed events. Today’s professional rodeo cowboys no longer compete in multiple events, but specialize in one possibly two. This event attracts the biggest names in the rodeo industry that represent 28 World Championship titles, in addition to thousands of fans from across the country.
The Wrangler Timed Event Championship is sponsored by Wrangler in conjunction with Pepsi Cola, Lucchese Boots, Bud Light, Jack Daniels, Priefert Manufacturing, Hot Heels, U.S. Smokeless Tobacco, News 9, and the Holiday Inn Hotels and Suites.
For more information on the Wrangler Timed Event Championship, or other upcoming events, contact the Lazy E Arena, 9600 Lazy E Drive, Guthrie, Oklahoma 73044, visit our Web site at www.lazye.com or call (800) 595-RIDE or (405) 282-RIDE.

WRANGLER TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS

Average Standings (After 25 Head Over Five Performances)
1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX, 337.3 +(50.5 on 5 Head tiebreaker), $50,000; 2. K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY, 337.3 + (75.4 on 5 Head Tiebreaker), $25,000; 3. Paul Tierney, Oral, SD, 348.6, $15,000; 4. Kyle Lockett, Ivanhoe, CA, 370.5, $10,000; 5. Cash Myers, Athens, TX., 386.3, $7,500; 6. Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., 412.5, $5,000; 7. Jim Locke, Miami, TX., 430.3, $4,500; 8. Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, GA., 437.1, $3,000.

Fastest Round Standings
1. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 43.5 seconds, $10,000 (Arena record $3,000 bonus); 2. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 47.4, $6,000; 3. K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY., 48.2, $5,000; 4. Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., 52.3, $4,000; 5. Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., 53.9, $3,000; 6. Paul Tierney, Oral, SD., 56.4, $2,000.

Total Money
Trevor Brazile, Decatur, TX., $72,000; K.C. Jones, Hawk Springs, WY., $30,000; Paul Tierney, Oral, SD., $17,000; Kyle Lockett, Ivanhoe, CA., $10,000; Jimmie Cooper, Monument, NM., $9,000; Cash Myers, Athens, TX., $7,500; Jim Locke, Miami, TX., $4,500; Ryan Jarrett, Summerville, GA., $3,000.

*Trevor Brazile won $3,000 bonus for breaking the go-round arena record of 44.6 seconds that he set in 2005
Permalink 0 comments

TIMED EVENT CHAMPIONSHIP

The standings and times after four full rounds:

1. Trevor Brazile-------251.1
2. Kyle Lockett---------264.3
3. Jimmie Cooper--------271.1
4. Paul Tierney---------275.8
5. K.C. Jones-----------289.1
6. Cash Myers-----------289.5
7. Jim Locke------------328.2
8. Ryan Jarrett---------342.9

Those times are after 20 runs and are unofficial. The final round starts tomorrow at 1pm.

Scott Snedecor and Luke Branquinho are out of the competition due to injury. Snedecor broke a rib in the steer wrestling in the second round and Branqhinho tore his groin in the calf roping in the third round.

Trevor Brazille broke his own record for fastest round, with a 43.5 on five head in the third round. He gets $3000 for breaking the record, and will get $10,000 if it remains the fastest round of this weekend. So, probably a $13,000 round for Brazile.

Cash Myers missed his dogging steer in the third round. He jumped on his hazer's horse and threw the steer in 39 seconds, keeping himself in the hunt. Good watching.

Concerning our question about Brazile's heading run in the first round, Steve Duhon says he should have been flagged out the minute his hand touched the loop while it was still on the steer....not after the run was completed.
Permalink 0 comments

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

Cute and coiffed – then and now

By Julie Carter

You have heard it all many times before. Beauty is only skin deep. Take care of the inner self and the outer self will take care of itself.

Women tend to look at themselves in parts as opposed to the whole package created by God. We see our hair as not long enough, not thick enough, not curly enough, or not straight enough.

We see our eyes as not big enough, not wide-set enough and never the right color. Our lashes are never long enough and as we age and they appear even shorter as gravity forces the eyebrow area to a lower elevation.

And then there are the rest of our parts. Never the skin we would like to have, never the height, weight or shape that pleases ourselves.

The magic drawer

At my house, beauty is in the mysterious “magic drawer.”

I learned about having a magic drawer from my sister-in-law who has worked cosmetic retail for many years.

She would disappear to her boudoir, open this big dresser-drawer full of magic makeup and momentarily re-appear looking like something off the cover of Vogue.

I thought having a drawer like that was a very good idea. But over time I discovered my magic drawer contained more of a Parks and Wildlife look than the Vogue variety.

The cover girl look has always eluded me and in fact, I’ve noticed a transition in the drawer inventory that tells a story about then and now.

Hot pink anything is gone

Hot pink blush has been replaced by under-eye concealers. Hot pink pearlized lipstick is now medicated lip balm. The hot pink nail polish is gone and clear Hard as Nails is in its place.

The bright blue eye shadow to make your eyes sparkle is now a soft beige version to conceal the puffiness.

Over-the-counter pills for weight control and ever-lasting energy are long gone and in their place is an industrial sized bottle of Tylenol PM. Birth control pills are replaced by hormonal therapy pills and the tropical coconut-pineapple-banana suntan oil has morphed into a jar of mega-moisturizer with a 10,000 SPF factor.

Sunglasses with crazy-colored frames to match every outfit have been replaced by photo-gray reading glasses. Contact lens solutions have changed to emergency glasses secreted there to help find the real glasses.

Looking cute and coiffed at the ranch while you work like a hired hand is a futile effort at best. At some point you learn to sort out the futile jobs and save your energy for the ones you can accomplish.

Usually no one is more surprised how good you clean up than the boss himself.

New hair-do?

I was having lunch last week with one of those ranch-wife hired hands and her husband joined us at the restaurant.

His first inquiry to his wife was, “Did you just get your hair done?”

“No,” she explained. “You just haven’t seen me with it fixed in so long you forgot what it looked like.”

Of course he doesn’t have much hair so the concept of keeping it presentable in all weather, wearing all kinds of winter gear and hats, has never been an issue for him.

The upside to the lifetime transformation of the magic drawer is about the woman herself.

At this point in life she knows who her real friends are and having them doesn’t require a certain “look.” She knows that being appreciated is far more valuable than being a cover girl.

Dignity and self-assuredness are the absolute best elements of beauty. You won’t find them in a drawer, magic or otherwise....
Permalink 0 comments