Former Forest Service officials want a wider probe of the Station fire

A group of former U.S. Forest Service officials is calling for a new and independent investigation into the agency's handling of last year's devastating Station fire, with many contending that an internal inquiry completed in November ignored critical missteps. That probe by the Forest Service's Washington, D.C., headquarters found no tactical errors in the initial attack on the fire. And in a key conclusion, it blamed hazardous terrain for the lack of a heavy air assault early on the fateful second day, when the blaze began to race across the Angeles National Forest. "I didn't think that conclusion was even close to being correct," said Larry Boggs, a former fire management officer who worked for the Forest Service for 31 years, 13 of them in the Angeles. "It was a whitewash. Aircraft would have been quite effective on the fire that day." After learning of the calls for another inquiry, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) told The Times that he plans to convene a panel of Los Angeles-area House members to take testimony here, including from the retirees. "We can have a full airing of the issues that have been raised," said Schiff, who also has urged Congress to require the Forest Service to consider ending a practice that bars its firefighting aircraft from flying night missions...more

Time's up for wolves

The time for symposia is over. The question of whether ranchers and wolves can coexist has been discussed at length. Confirmation by state biologists that Wallowa County rancher Bob Lathrop's calf was killed by a wolf or wolves last week provided the answer. Indeed, ranchers throughout Eastern Oregon have known the answer for some time. This wasn't the first area wolf kill, just the first confirmed by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. The other kills were so thorough that the remains of the victimized livestock didn't provide enough evidence of wolf bite marks. Let's be clear: We aren't anti-wolf. We think the animals are beautiful and have a rightful spot in the environment. We also respect the presence of cougars, rattlesnakes, alligators and bears - in the wild. But we're not enamored of them. If they invade our property, that's reality intervening. Canadian gray wolves are large predatory animals. It's their nature to kill others. We aren't anti-wolf. We're anti-B.S....more

El Paso County Uses Eminent Domain On Tornillo Farmland

Quiet farmland owned by the Lettunich family along the U.S./Mexico border in Tornillo will soon turn into a very loud construction site. "It's been in the family history since about the early 20s, 1922," said Robert Lettunich, who in one court decision saw one-fifth of his family's farmland go to the government. "It's been a long, messy process." For the past eight years he's been in a fight with the county. The county wanted the land for the new Tornillo-Guadalupe Port of Entry, which is expected to ease congestion at other crossings in the Borderland. Last Thursday, through eminent domain, the county took 137 acres from Lettunich. "I don't think they took into consideration the damages for what they took; this farm is worth less than it was Thursday," Lettunich told KFOX. The county said most of the land will go to the federal government for a massive inspection station at the new port of entry...more

Group takes greenhouse gas battle to NM Supreme Court

The New Mexico Supreme Court has been asked to weigh in on a legal battle brewing over an effort by an environmental group to establish a cap on greenhouse gas emissions in New Mexico. The New Mexico Environmental Law Center has filed a petition with the court, asking it to order a state judge in Lovington to reverse an earlier decision. The judge had granted a preliminary injunction in April that prohibited a state regulatory panel from continuing proceedings on New Energy Economy's petition for the emissions cap. New Mexico's largest utility, four state lawmakers and other groups had sued in January to stop the panel from considering the petition. Petition supporters argue that if allowed to stand, the judge's ruling would cripple state agencies' ability to carry out their appointed responsibilities. AP

A Backyard Battleground to Save the Honeybee

Ms. Reeves is part of a fast-growing trend, a result of consumers' increased concern about the environment and where their food comes from. These backyard beekeepers, or apiarists, are swarming in to help fill a void left by more commercial beekeepers, many of whom have exited the industry in recent decades. At beekeepers meetings, "now, it's professional people, doctors, lawyers, teachers," says Paul Jackson, chief apiary inspector in Texas. In years past, attendance was mostly farmers, ranchers and 4-H kids, he says. Roughly one-third of what we eat depends on honeybees for pollination. As bees collect pollen for food, they spread it from one flower to another, which helps plants reproduce. Recently, honeybees have received considerable attention because of a mysterious affliction known as "colony collapse disorder," in which much of a colony suddenly disappears, leaving the queen behind. So far, scientists have not been able to determine the cause—or come up with a solution...more

Firefighters burn 1830s farmhouse so family can save on property taxes

Right on schedule, the firemen arrived to burn down a much older and abandoned farmhouse about 100 feet away, a brick structure dating from the 1830s, with a large, wood frame addition from the 1850s. Until Saturday, it sat about 50 yards from the couple's current home. Ruby Widicus was born Ruby Seibert in the old farmhouse 83 years ago and grew up in it. The familiar old building loomed just behind a knot of firemen, busy laying hose. Their decision to destroy the old home, where Ruby's earliest memories were born, didn't come easy to the couple. It was based on unrepairable termite damage and property tax bills that never went away. Just this fall, a county assessor visited the property and spent more than an hour measuring the old homestead, which has been vacant for years. "It didn't matter to him that nobody has lived there since my mother died 20 years ago. You still have to pay taxes on it," Ruby Widicus said...more

Cattle sorting: a sport that’s true to ranching

This competition, sometimes referred to as “the most family-friendly rodeo event,” involves two riders working together to quickly sort a group of cattle and place them one at a time in a corral. Unlike some rodeo events like bullriding or bulldogging, which have almost no real basis in actual ranch work, cattle sorting is something that ranchers and cowboys do on a daily basis. Also known as “ranch sorting” or “team sorting,” the event typically involves two 50-foot by 50-foot pens with a 12-foot opening between them. Ten head of cattle (typically young steers or heifers) are placed in one pen and a team of two riders enters. The cattle wear collars marked with numbers from 0 to 9. An announcer calls out a random number, and the riders must then separate that animal from the others and place it into the adjacent corral first. The riders continue to place one animal at a time in the corral in sequence — 6, then 7, then 8, etc. — as quickly as they can. Teams are disqualified if two cattle enter at the same time or out of sequence. Variations involve adding one or two animals that aren’t numbered but serve as extras to add complexity, or teams of three riders instead of two...more

Cowboys, Horses and Haciendas: Photographing the Old West

he Eloquent Light Photography Workshops, offering exceptional photography workshops since 1986, is offering "Ranchers, Ramblers & Renegades: Portraits of the Old West", July 7 - 11, 2010. During this workshop, participants will be photographing people who make their living ranching, training horses, raising cattle — these individuals aren't models “pretending” to be Ranchers, Ramblers and Renegades — they're the real deal. Because we have established personal relationships with the owners of ranches and haciendas where we will be photographing, participants will be able to have unique experiences unavailable to “tourists”. The workshop will focus on environmental portraiture and understanding how to make great images utilizing the quality and direction of natural light...more

“Art of the Western Saddle” Exhibit in AQHA Hall of Fame and Museum

Running from Jan. 22-July 31, 2010, the north Texas museum offers fans of the West a one-of-a-kind chance to view 16 gorgeous Western saddles dating from the 1800s to the present. The exhibit is titled, “Art of the Western Saddle — A Celebration of Design, Style and Grace” and is based upon an award-winning book of the same name by William C. Reynolds, published in 2004. Including a rare and elegant Sherman Loomis saddle of the 1800s, a few gold and silver adorned Visalia Stock Saddle Company's offerings and numerous highly detailed Edward H. Bohlin Company productions from the 1920s, the saddles in the exhibit are cumulatively valued in excess of $1 million. Despite the impressive figure, the financial amount is not the main draw; the exquisite beauty of every saddle is what captures a viewer's attention. The leather of each saddle in the exhibit is fully tooled, with most also bearing intricate silverwork hand-engraved and chased from horn to cantle to long tapaderos. Some adornments include gold and/or semi-precious stones. From movie stars to wealthy ranchers, the saddles were customized to fit their owners' styles, interests and personalities. One saddle bore silver designs of numerous California Missions. Another showed off hand-chased silver and gold embellishments depicting the history of the oil industry. Suffice it to say, every piece is unique and worthy of long consideration from all sides and angles. It is that quality of workmanship and art that modern saddle makers strive to emulate and even surpass...more

Two legendary ropers head Pendleton Hall of Fame induction class

Legendary ropers Roy Cooper and King Merritt, dedicated volunteer Tom Currin and Mac McCormack, the man credited with saving the 1940 Round-Up, comprise the newest class of inductees into the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame. In celebration of the Round-Up’s 100 years in existence, the board decided on May 16 to induct four new members this year instead of the usual three. Cooper started off his career as the 1976 PRCA Rookie of the Year and broke every roping record in the books in the years that followed. The roper earned eight world championships and has won every large rodeo in the country, said board member Tom Forth. Merritt, one of Cooper’s predecessors, traveled by train from his Wyoming home to his first Round-Up in 1925 and attended annually for 26 years. Merritt won the steer roping in 1925 and 1935 and the calf roping in 1936...more

Song Of The Day #313

Ranch Radio wasn't able to post yesterday, so today we bring you a double dose of Eddy Arnold with his tunes A Heart Full Of Love and Texarkana Baby.

Montana wolf hunt quota to double

Good news for hunters worries environmentalists. The Montana Fish and Wildlife Commission voted on Thursday, May 13, to more than double the number of wolves that hunters can kill this season. The decision to thin out the once endanger gray wolf has been debated since the first ever wolf hunting season in 2009. Many ranchers and residents are eager to cut down on the wolves looming about their property. However, many environmental groups object that the doubling of the quota is just too fast and too soon. The Fish and Wildlife Commission says the wolf population is two high, posing a threat to the areas elk population and livestock. Ranchers lost 200 sheep and 100 cattle to wolves last year. In addition to increasing the quota, the Commission has opened up an archery season to complement the rifle season started last year...more

Joseph rancher reports another wolf attack

Joseph rancher Tom Schaafsma discovered a slaughtered calf in his cow-calf pasture Thursday, May 13, and has reported it as a wolf attack. The calf has been examined by wolf program coordinator Russ Morgan of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, but the agency has not yet confirmed the kill as wolf predation. Wallowa County Sheriff Fred Steen reported that wolves were back out near the calves that same evening and ranchers who had come to assist Schaafsma were able to haze the wolves back into the timber. The wolves were back again within a few hours. Schaafsma, who had been provided with a radio receiver to monitor the collared wolves was able to identify one of the wolves as the alpha male of the Imnaha pack, Steen said. Given the fact that the wolves were seen in the area for three days preceding the kill and continued to enter the pasture after the kill, Steen said he was surprised by the agency's reluctance to confirm the kill. "We don't need this nonsense," he said. "They're right in the middle of the damn herd of cows. They've obviously found a food source. This is something our producers don't need."...more

Video: Could Hay Clean Up The Oil Spill?

Here's the video from AP.

Whisky Dick Grazing Peters Out Again

For the second straight year, the state has withdrawn its livestock grazing plans on state wildlife lands in eastern Kittitas County. Facing the loss of its sole range ecologist and ongoing litigation from Western Watersheds Project, an Idaho-based conservation group, the state says there will be no cattle grazing this year on the Whisky Dick and Quilomene wildlife areas. Opponents of the grazing plan, the primary issue being the use of state wildlife lands for livestock, celebrated the state's decision. But Kittitas cattle rancher Russ Stingley must continue to graze his cattle on already well-thinned pastures. His only alternative is to sell some of his livestock. "We'll possibly have to sell off some cattle -- probably 100 or so if we can't find a home for them," said Stingley, who has about 500 head. "Depends on if this is a drought year -- if they shut off our (irrigation) water earlier than usual, we won't have much choice." Stingley's grazing permit on the Whisky Dick and Quilomene, part of a regional, multi-partner conservation plan, has been off-again, on-again...more

Sorry, but every once in awhile I've got to have a little fun with the titles.

Wind Energy The Future Of NM?

Is wind energy is it the wave of the future for New Mexico? Members of the Caprock Wind Project spoke about some of the hopes and obstacles for wind power. East of Tucumcari 80 gigantic wind turbines spin along the eastern New Mexico horizon. The turbines create a total of 80 megawatts of power and are the beginning of what could be the future of the state's energy. "They assume that one mega watt for the year could produce electricity for about 350 homes so 80 times 350 homes, yeah you could power a town," said James Phipps, with Caprock Wind Project. Rancher Bob Frost is one of many ranchers who is leasing his land to the wind energy project. He said the extra funds don't hurt, but that he's happy to be part of something that could positively impact the future. "This is something that will not just go from this generation to the next generation and it's clean," said Frost...more

Video report at the link provided.

Family ranching legacy comes to an end after man outbid for land

Time moves slowly on the gentle slopes of land in this ranching community 75 miles south of Farmington. It's a place where rumors of rain spread like wildfire among ranchers and where bulging, promising thunderclouds too often don't deliver. Ranchers battle harsh conditions, unforgiving landscapes and natural foes like lightning and coyotes to produce calves that sell for a meager $1 per pound, according to estimates quote from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Five generations of ranchers have tended their herds and cared for the land, and the hard work is more a part of life than a means of profit, rancher Justin Yazzie said. "The reason we do this, it's in our blood," he said Wednesday as he stood on the 4,800-acre ranch he leases from the Navajo Nation. Yazzie, 55, knows the land like an old friend. He measures time by seasons, keeping track of the moisture and height of the grass. "Thirty-two years ago, the grass was up to my knees," he said. "That was 1978, the year I had to take time off work to help my dad with the branding." The experience is one Yazzie, who lives in Farmington, had hoped to pass on to his 16-year-old son, but the ranching tradition is being threatened by a new competitive bid process introduced by the Navajo Nation Department of Agriculture...more

Ranching, Dairy Industries Drive NM Economy

Ranching and dairy industries are driving New Mexico's economy. "If you cannot feed your people you simply lose your country," said state representative Janice Arnold-Jones. The two industries are major players in the state's economy making up roughly one third of the tax revenue. At the Clovis livestock auction, more than 125,000 head of cattle are auctioned off each year amounting to almost $55 million in sales. The auction is one of the largest in the state and brings people from miles away that generate tax revenue on more than just the auctions. Many ranchers said that the profit margins are shrinking and several dairy farms in New Mexico have packed up and moved to other states or shut-down completely due to frequently changing environmental guidelines brought on by the state. Arnold-Jones said the loss of the cattle and dairy industry would be nothing short of devastating to the New Mexico economy and that the state needs to stick to an old rancher's saying "You take care of the land and the animals and they'll take care of you."...more

Go to the link provided to see the KOAT-TV video report.

Time to chew the cud: Dentist invents dentures for cows

Millions of cows around the world suffer from a common problem. When they reach eight years of age, their teeth have been worn down to the point where they can no longer eat properly. They are then deemed unproductive and are sent to the slaughterhouse. On average, a cow bites down 15 times per minute and spends a whopping 15 hours a day chewing. First they feed on pasture, then they masticate the food a second time in a process call rumination , where the pre-chewed food comes back out of their stomach so they can gnaw it again for better digestion. A dentist in Argentina, the world's biggest per capita consumer of beef, has invented a cost-effective way of helping their cows chew long: they have given them new teeth. Osvaldo Errobidart, a semi-retired dentist, started welding cow teeth prostheses 20 years ago, but only in recent years he convinced some farmers in the Buenos Aires province area of Laprida to try out his invention on a large scale. So far they have had animals that would have been sent to market live for three years past their expiration date...more

This is the CBS video that goes with the report:

It's All Trew: Cow feed, from slab to sack

Today as I pass by the towering feed bins on ranches and observe the automatic feeders in ranch pickups, I shake my head remembering the good old days. Like all progress, the evolution of ranch livestock feeding has changed greatly, and for the better. Our former ranch owner, Charlie McMurtry, great uncle of Larry McMurtry of "Lonesome Dove" fame, told of his earliest efforts at winter-feeding range cattle. It seems the cotton gins of the area were seeking more profit from processing cotton and began compressing cotton seed and gin trash retracted from the cotton into slabs with the seed oil tying it all together like glue. The slabs came out from rollers like sheets of plywood about two inches in thickness. Gin employees broke the hot slabs into large chunks and stacked them on edge in boxcars for shipment. When a rancher purchased a carload of slabs he unloaded them into his wagons and hauled them to his cake house all the while standing the slabs on edge. In order to feed the cattle, ranch employees reloaded their wagons, making sure they had axes and hatchets along to break up the slabs into smaller pieces to distribute the feed more evenly among the cows. McMurtry would laugh and tell how on the feed grounds, each cow would pick up the biggest chunk of feed she could carry in her mouth, run off to the plum bushes and gnaw around the edges maybe all day until the piece was finally devoured, just like a coyote with a bone...more

Song Of The Day #312

Ranch Radio continues with Swing Monday to get your heart pumpin' just right.

Today the Quebe Sisters swing out on two classics, So Long To The Red River Valley and the Spade Cooley & Tex Williams hit Shame On You.

You'll find both tunes on their 14 track CD Timeless.

Mexico Shaken by Abduction and Feared Murder of Top Politician

The white SUV was found on an unpaved country road with bloodstains on the seats. Within hours, hundreds of soldiers and police poured across ranches and fields looking for possible clues to the whereabouts of former Mexican presidential candidate Diego Fernández de Cevallos, who disappeared last Friday. As the search got under way, frantic politicians and media reported that the victim's body had been found, then said that he was in hospital with a bullet wound and then that he was still missing. Even in a nation numbed by escalating drug-related mayhem, the abduction and feared murder of the leading conservative politician sent shock waves through the political establishment. Fernández, a 69-year-old lawyer with penetrating eyes and a trademark white beard, has been one of the most colorful, controversial and influential figures in Mexican politics...more

Small mobile units emerge as potent border-watch tool

A trail of red dots appears on the computer radar screen. Border Patrol Agent Orlando Rocafort, whose flatbed truck sits atop a peak overlooking a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, leans in for a closer look. He slides his computer's mouse over the red dots near the border between Naco and Douglas, and clicks. A whizzing sound comes from the bed of the truck. A pair of mounted cameras rotates, facing southeast. Inside the truck, black-and-white images come into focus on a monitor at Rocafort's right. The thermal night camera shows what appears to be several people carrying backpacks near the border fence. Rocafort picks up his radio and tells agents where to find the suspected illegal immigrants. On this windy and cool May evening in Southeastern Arizona, Rocafort is running one of 38 "mobile surveillance systems" the Border Patrol uses on the Southwest border. The truck-mounted systems give agents the ability to scan at least six miles of border using ground surveillance radar, Doppler radar and infrared day-night cameras...more

And they can't be used in Wilderness areas.

Lawmakers expect revised border violence plan from Calderon visit

Lawmakers are expecting the White House and Mexican President Felipe Calderon to announce a revised two-country plan aimed at addressing the increasing drug violence along the border region when the two heads of state meet next week. The meeting comes as several members of Congress also say they’ve heard rumblings that President Barack Obama is inching closer to sending National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border region, though none could confirm that to definitely be the case. A spokesman for the White House said Obama was still considering whether to send National Guard troops. In the midst of a renewed focus by Congress on the issue of border violence, a bipartisan group of 17 House lawmakers from the southwest region sent a letter late last month to Obama calling on him to deploy National Guard troops to their home states to combat the growing violence. Next week Congress is planning to continue its heavy focus on the escalating levels of violence, drug smuggling and illegal gun running along the U.S.-Mexico border with hearings flanking Wednesday's state dinner in honor of Calderon...more

Radios meant for ranchers are still in storage

Stacked in a storage shed west of Las Cruces are more than 230 radios that were meant to boost safety for southern New Mexico ranchers and other remote residents who frequently encounter illegal border-crossers. About five years ago, around the time the devices were purchased, officials said they expected the radios to be in the hands of ranchers by the summer of 2005 to improve communication where cell phone service is spotty or nonexistent. But the hand-held and vehicle-mounted radios and related equipment — valued initially at $250,000 — have yet to be put to use by anyone in Doña Ana County because a number of problems have cropped up, county officials said. At least one hurdle stemmed from some ranchers not wanting their vehicles to be modified to install the radio and antenna equipment, said Larry Bleimeyer Sr., Doña Ana County radio communications supervisor. But the larger problem is a lack of radio towers, especially in the southwestern part of the county, that are needed to relay transmissions to emergency responders, said Doña Ana County Sheriff's Cpl. Jim Hash. He noted that even sheriff's department personnel aren't able to talk to the county dispatch center in places along N.M. Hwy. 9, which parallels the international border. He said he often must rely on car-to-car transmissions with Border Patrol agents or the Border Patrol's El Paso-based dispatch center. Dudley Williams, who ranches a large acreage in southwest Doña Ana County, said he spoke with sheriff personnel a few times about the radio program in its early stages but never heard anything further...more

LaPierre speech reminiscent of earlier effort to ‘control borders, not guns’

NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre delivered a bare-knuckles address to thousands of NRA members here Saturday, challenging the Obama administration over its criticism of a new Arizona statute that cracks down on illegal aliens. To underscore his fury, LaPierre introduced to the audience the family of NRA member Robert Krentz, the Arizona rancher who was gunned down earlier this year by a suspected illegal alien. Krentz’ tearful family, all NRA members, stood to a thunderous applause, and LaPierre promised that “the NRA will not forget Rob, and we will not forget you.” “Robert Krentz was one of the good guys,” LaPierre stated. “Robert Krentz was one of us.” “They killed one of us,” he told the audience. “They attacked an NRA family.” LaPierre's remarks clearly hit a raw nerve with his NRA audience, and he went on to define what he believes is the ‘real’ problem: Too many politicians in Washington would rather prevent a criminal from being caught than prevent a law-abiding citizen from being killed...more

Cowgirl Sass & Savvy

My parents were lawbreakers before their time

by Julie Carter

For once, it is good I'm as old as I am, or my parents would have criminal records.

Last week I heard a word of caution about possible legal ramifications of paddling your child. What I need warned about is my frequent temptation to paddle other people's children, oh say, while standing in line at the grocery store.

Don't call or write me about child abuse statistics. That's not what I'm talking about here.

I grew up in the periphery of the pioneer years when most families still believed that to spare the rod was to spoil the child. With that as a measure, I assure you I wasn't spoiled nor were my siblings.

That wasn't the only thing about life that current regulatory agencies, planning commissions and zoning laws would never have allowed.

We had an outhouse! Yes, the hole-in-the-ground, wood shed-over-the-top, splinters-in-your-hiney outhouse. And furthermore, you had to walk across a little plank bridge over an irrigation ditch with rushing ice-cold water to get to it. It was truly down the garden path.

There were no EPA and Hazmat permits posted at the outhouse and there was no code enforcement or engineering on the bridge.

We ate hunks of smoked ham that came directly from hanging in the rafters of the smokehouse and washed it down with cold, raw milk. We ate eggs fresh from the chicken's effort and processed our own meats that included pork, beef, assorted fowl, trout and venison of various kinds.

We had open-air fires and slept in flood plains as we camped along the creek, again without permit and worse yet, without adult supervision. (Mother's x-ray, telephoto vision not withstanding as she kept an eye on us from the ranch house on the hill.)

We rode horses with reckless abandon. We shoveled out barns and weeded gardens fertilized with the byproduct. We assisted dad with veterinarian jobs that involved blood, bodily fluids and sharp objects.

Child labor laws were just that. If you were a child and big enough, you labored.

We climbed hills, rocks, trees, haystacks and barns. We used ropes, boards, canvas, blankets and anything we could find to create forts and cabins for our imaginary games.

Since the beginning of time, children had been made to work along side their parents. The government would eventfully regulate that and more, but in our neck of the woods, child protective services existed only in the form of my grandmother.

She established her credentials as such on many occasions. For example, my brother who was maybe 3, and I, the older, wiser sister at 5, decided to leave home and walk to grandma's house a couple miles away.

My parents watched us amble up the road and out of sight. My dad, before following discreetly behind, phoned my grandmother and told her we were on the way and to watch for us. He instructed that when we arrived, she was to "paddle our butts and send us back home."

Of course, that didn't happen. She gave us milk and homemade cookies and then drove us back home.

My parents' have a perfect criminal record. We four siblings survived childhood under those deplorable, dangerous conditions. I recall only the occasional need for stitches and no broken bones.

We were all reasonably civilized when integrated into polite society. My brother Lon even learned to keep his shoes on and not leave them lying in the field. Bruce and I finally gave up running off and trying to lose him in the hills. Like a pound puppy, he always found his way home.

I may have breached the mental cruelty laws when at the age of 8, I dressed my baby brother Jim like a girl to soothe my disappointment that he was not born a sister. Instead of seeking therapy for him, my parents sent him to Army boot camp when he was old enough, which to him was preferable to working for my Dad. So it turned out fine.

I'm thankful for a childhood without many rules except those enforced by my dad's leather strap.

The freedom of living with nature's laws next to those of God and my parents, created a generation of self-sufficient, dependable, hard-working adults who don't expect life to be delivered to them.

I'm thinking that is the process that should have been written into law.

Julie can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net. See her two books on her website at www.julie-carter.com

Song Of The Day #311

Ranch Radio featured instrumentals all week, and will continue that form of music in today's Gospel tune. Our selection is Jeff Murray pickin' the Merle Travis creation I Am A Pilgrim.

This version is on the various artists compilation Blue Ridge Mountain Gospel: 26 All-Time Favorite Gospel Melodies.

At Least 18 Killed in Northern Mexico

A total of 18 people were killed and 15 were wounded in several drug-related attacks over the past 12 hours in the northern Mexican states of Durango and Coahuila, officials said Saturday. The Coahuila state Attorney General’s Office said that in Torreon a group of cartel hit men killed at least eight people early Saturday and wounded 15 who were taking part in the inauguration of a bar in that city. The border state AG’s office said that massacre occurred at around 1:00 a.m. at the “Juanas” bar. Authorities said that a group of men armed with automatic rifles arrived at the scene on board four late-model SUVs and opened fire from outside the establishment. It was the second attack in that city on a nighttime establishment after another armed group killed eight people at the “Ferrie” bar on Jan. 31. Elsewhere, in the northwestern state of Durango, authorities said they found at least 10 people who had been killed in various violent incidents over the past 12 hours...more

Former Mexican presidential candidate goes missing

A former presidential candidate in Mexico's ruling party has gone missing, authorities said Saturday, the latest in a spate of political violence presumably linked to drug cartels. The empty vehicle of Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, a former federal deputy, senator and presidential candidate from the conservative National Action Party, was found at his ranch in the state of Queretaro, the federal Attorney General's Office said in a statement. The site contained "evidence of violence," it added. Fernandez ran for president on his party's ticket in 1994 but lost to Ernesto Zedillo, a candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which ruled Mexico for 71 years until 2000. A news website based in Queretaro, Plaza de Armas, cited unnamed friends of Fernandez saying that bloodstains were found in the bullet-riddled vehicle, abandoned at his La Cabana ranch. The Milenio television network said a body was found near the scene but it was not immediately identified...more

Drug violence hits Mexican candidates - Gangs kidnap, kill to control elections

One candidate was gunned down with his son. Another is missing after assailants torched her home. In some towns near the U.S. border, parties can't find anyone to run for mayor. The violence is intensifying fear that Mexico's drug cartels could control the July 4 local elections in 10 states by supporting candidates who cooperate with them and killing or intimidating those who don't. The intimidation is the worst in the border state of Tamaulipas, where Mexican soldiers are trying to control an intensifying turf battle between the Gulf cartel and its former ally, the Zetas gang. Gunmen burst into the farm supplies business of José Guajardo Varela on Thursday and killed him and his son, after he ignored warnings to drop his bid for mayor of Valle Hermosa, a town about 30 miles south of Brownsville, Texas. "Organized crime wants to have total control over local elections," said Carlos Alberto Perez, a federal lawmaker for the conservative National Action Party...more

Former Mexican Governor said to help get drugs to U.S.

The ex-governor of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo took "millions of dollars" in bribes to order his state police to serve as armed guards for smugglers as they off-loaded and transported more than 200 tons of cocaine from Colombian speedboats that eventually found their way to the U.S., court records show. Mario Villanueva Madrid, extradited to this country late Sunday to stand trial on charges of accepting bribes from the infamous Juarez drug cartel, also is accused of laundering nearly $19 million in illicit drug profits through accounts at Lehman Brothers in New York and elsewhere. Two separate indictments in the case say Villanueva was paid $400,000 to $500,000 for each cocaine shipment transported through his state over a five-year period ending in 1998. The indictments say state police provided armed protection for cartel boat crews as they off-loaded the cocaine and then escorted the shipments hidden inside tanker trucks as they traveled through the state...more

Death on the border But Washington refuses to act

A war is raging in Mexico, yet Washington still refuses to make securing the border a priority: It's more interested in bashing Arizona's immigration-enforcement law. Yet it's not hard to see why Arizonans are afraid. No, the ongoing Mexican drug wars haven't crossed seriously into the United States yet. But Mexico has seen some 22,743 people killed in drug-related violence since December 2006. And things aren't dying down. After one recent bloody attack, Mexico City's La Reforma newspaper reported, "The situation is becoming more and more like all-out urban warfare." The violence is getting closer to us, too. Three people linked to the US Consulate in Ciudad Juarez (just over the border from El Paso, Texas) were shot to death on March 13. An explosive device was used in an attack on the US consulate in Nuevo Laredo earlier this year. Cartel gunmen have stepped up direct assaults on Mexican military squads sent to police the border. And on March 27, an American rancher, Robert Krentz, was murdered on his Arizona property by someone local law enforcement describes as "a scout for a [Mexican] drug-smuggling organization." The FBI now calls the Mexican drug cartels the most important organized-crime threat to the United States. The feds can't even promise to secure the border. At a recent Senate hearing, the best Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin could say was, "We are geared to deter the impact of the increased violence in Mexico."...more

US Embassy confirms Arizona man found dead in northern Mexico; 3 detained in case

U.S. officials confirmed Monday that an American citizen was found dead in northern Mexico. The U.S. Embassy said the body of Ronald C. Ryan was recovered in Sonora state, across from Arizona, but gave no other details. Jose Larrinaga, spokesman for Sonora state prosecutors, told reporters Sunday that Ryan's body was found the previous day partially buried near a creek on the outskirts of Santa Ana, a city 60 miles south of Nogales, Arizona. A cause of death had not been determined and the body was taken to the border city of Nogales, Mexico, for an autopsy, he said. Larrinaga said Ryan, 67, of Phoenix, Arizona, had been reported missing May 3. State police had reported detaining three men the following day who had left Ryan's pickup truck at a carwash in Santa Ana. Officers seized several automatic rifles, dozens of bullets and marijuana from the men, ages 18, 20 and 21, state police said. Local media said two of the men are the son and a nephew of Jose Vasquez Villagrana, an alleged key operator of the Sinaloa cartel who was arrested in February. AP

Channel 2 Investigates U.S. Border Security

Channel 2 Investigates U.S. Border Security Part 1


Channel 2 Investigates U.S. Border Security Part 2

Homeland Security: Drones to help track US border in summer

An unarmed surveillance drone will soon be monitoring the borderland for criminals and illegal activity. The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that it authorized a drone to fly back and forth between Fort Huachuca, an Army installation near Sierra Vista, Ariz., and Big Bend National Park beginning June 1, said Vincent Perez, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas. It is the first of two drones the Department of Homeland Security wants to assign to the Texas border region. The drone is certified to fly over the area starting June 1, but its missions might not begin until after that, pending operator training, Perez said. It will provide an extra layer of protection for the U.S., he said. According to a 2008 Department of Homeland Security report, the department has been testing the use of drones for border surveillance since June 2004. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general noted that based on limited tests, the drones were less effective than manned aircraft in assisting with the apprehension of undocumented immigrants. In most cases where the drones were used to help law enforcement officers, the officers had already detected the undocumented immigrants by other means, the report said...more

More horses needed to secure the border

In the midst of highly publicized efforts to expand the Border Patrol check point on Interstate 19 into a $27 million permanent facility (temporarily on hold), and millions spent on the electronic towers around Arivaca that don’t work, there is a quiet initiative going on that does work. Horses. The Border Patrol has been establishing what are called “Forward Observation Bases” or FOBs along the border. There are several of them on the border around Nogales. Border Patrol agents are stationed 24/7 at the FOBs and operate from the bases to patrol the border, instead of driving around the countryside from their offices in Tucson or Nogales. The FOBs have successfully throttled illegal entry in the surrounding area according to area ranchers. An interesting issue about the use of an FOB. The areas west of Nogales are extremely rugged, and the effort to stop illegal entry and smuggling can’t be done with vehicles because there are few roads in the area. There is what is called the “fence line trial” running along the border which cowboys use. Most of the area is only accessible by horseback. Thus the Border Patrol is now using horse mounted agents to patrol the area. And this works. With all the publicity about the Secure Border Initiative and the hugely expensive Boeing electronic towers, it is ironic that a 19th century technology is still one of the best solutions to illegal entry and smuggling. Horseback riders. There are interesting logistical problems in setting up an FOB, such as getting water for the horses. Area ranchers have cooperated and are willing to assist...more

O'odham police bust coke-smuggling ring

Tohono O'odham police arrested nine tribal members and one other person Saturday in connection with a cocaine smuggling ring. Officials are calling it the largest drug enforcement operation in the Tohono O'odham Nation's history. The early Saturday morning sweep of seven homes in Sells marked the culmination of a five-month, multiagency investigation that was led by the Tohono O'odham Police Department, said U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle. It was the first time tribal police officers have executed federal warrants on the Tohono O'odham Nation, said Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for Arizona. Tribal police recently completed training given by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs that certified officers to investigate and make arrests on federal charges, which are stiffer than tribal charges. Burke called it a watershed moment for drug enforcement on the Tohono O'odham Nation, which stretches across 75 miles of U.S.-Mexico border and is one of the busiest drug smuggling corridors in the country...more

A Forceful Call For Change From El Paso

El Paso, TX is one of the safest cities in the country, but its residents are strongly identified with the human tragedy affecting their Mexican neighbors across the Rio Grande. El Paso shares a metropolitan area with Ciudad Juárez, México, arguably one of the most dangerous cities in the world, where over 4,000 people have been killed in the last couple of years. This situation is something that the communities of El Paso and Las Cruces, NM want to change. On Monday, politicians, academics, civic and business leaders of both cities will hold an event calling for a “comprehensive revamping of the failed War on Drugs waged by the United States and other countries.” You can read the press release here. Among other things, they: …advocate, as an important first step in drug reform, the repeal of the ineffective U.S. marijuana drug laws in favor of regulating, controlling and taxing the production, distribution, sale and consumption of marijuana by adults. The sale of marijuana in the U.S. black market contributes 50 to 70 percent of Mexico’s cartel revenues....more

New Mexico Congressman Secures Seat on Key Committee

Northwest New Mexico is expected to be well represented on the House Committee on Natural Resources. Democratic U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan has been appointed to a committee that has oversight on land and water issues, ranging from fisheries and wildlife to minerals and mining interests. New Mexico Rural Water Association national director Jim Dunlap said Lujan can help the state protect its share of San Juan River water through the committee. The committee's jurisdiction also includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Lujan represents the Navajo Nation, Jicarilla Apache Nation and 15 Pueblo tribes...more

Harold Runnels, Joe Skeen and Steve Pearce all sat on this committee. The Congressman from the 2nd congressional district served on this committee for almost 50 years because of its importance to southern NM.

Of our three freshman reps, Heinrich from Albuquerque was appointed to this committee last year and Teague wasn't. That seemed odd at the time.

Now with the Lujan appointment, the reps from Albq. and Santa Fe serve on the committee but southern NM is left high and dry.

The question is why? Does Teague not want on the committee? Does he not have enough standing with the leadership to receive the appointment? You would think with his upcoming tough race with Pearce the dem's would be itching to help him, but instead they give it to Lujan?

Given the importance of oil & gas, mining, grazing and public lands recreation to the district, we deserve an answer as to why Mr. Teague is not serving on the Resources Committee.

Judge rules on complaint over hunters defecating in woods

Overwhelmed by what he saw as the idiocy of a recent complaint to the Texas Commision on Environmental Quality, Limestone County Judge Daniel Burkeen felt compelled to author an appropriate response after being asked to investigate whether a hunting lodge owner was allowing patrons to defecate in the woods. "We have had some delay in our investigation of the incidents alleged in the complaint which you kindly forwarded to us," Judge Burkeen wrote in his investigation report to TCEQ. "The problem is, we have recently had a rash of reports of cows, horses, sheep and goats defecating at will in pastures throughout the county." TCEQ received the complaint March 9, which alleged Thornton resident David Cousins had been leasing out a hunting cabin that had no bathroom, forcing hunters to void their bowels behind a tree. A week later, the complaint was assigned to Judge Burkeen, who comically responded by writing in his investigative report that on top of hunters and farm animals, "we suspect that wild hogs, deer and all sorts of other animals are defecating without even trying to find a proper facility. "In addition, I have personal proof on my windshield of a mischievous bird defecating in flight. The culprit flew away, but I did get a description. It was red. The gift it left was white."...more

Maybe you can't mess with Texas, but they will let you mess in the woods.

Let us all pray the EPA doesn't get involved. I'm sure they don't like us folks who cling to our guns, our religion...and our toilet paper.

HT: The Outdoor Pressroom

The Federal Fat Police: Bill Would Require Government to Track Body Mass of American Children

A bill introduced this month in Congress would put the federal and state governments in the business of tracking how fat, or skinny, American children are. States receiving federal grants provided for in the bill would be required to annually track the Body Mass Index of all children ages 2 through 18. The grant-receiving states would be required to mandate that all health care providers in the state determine the Body Mass Index of all their patients in the 2-to-18 age bracket and then report that information to the state government. The state government, in turn, would be required to report the information to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for analysis...more

What we really need to be measuring is the Bureaucracy Mass Index with a mandatory report sent to every eligible voter.

EPA Moves to Regulate Smokestack Greenhouse Gases

The Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to more tightly control air pollution from large power plants, factories and oil refineries, a step to limit emissions widely blamed for global warming and aggravating breathing problems for some Americans. The EPA said it is completing a rule requiring large polluters to reduce the amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that they release. Those emissions can exacerbate asthma and other breathing difficulties, which are worsened by particles in the air. The rule would require companies to install better technology and improve energy efficiency whenever they build, or significantly modify, a plant. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said the rule applies only to large polluters such as power plants, refineries and cement production facilities that collectively are responsible for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States...more

Senate energy bill faces job-creation doubts

Long-awaited legislation designed to reduce fossil-fuel use, curb carbon emissions and impose tighter restrictions on offshore drilling was introduced in the Senate on Wednesday, although the bill faces scrutiny from Republicans and moderate Democrats concerned about its economic impact. Promises that the bill — authored by Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman — would add a significant number of energy-related jobs also has come under question, most notably by the independent Congressional Budget Office. The Senate bill, which had been months in the making and involved hundreds of meetings, aims to cut by 2020 carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases by 17 percent below 2005 levels, and more than 80 percent by 2050. It also would set a price on carbon emissions for large polluters such as coal-fired power plants. But a recent CBO study casts doubt on the measure's job-creating potential. The May 5 report, which analyzed how policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions could affect employment, concluded that total employment during the next few decades "would be slightly lower than would be the case in the absence of such policies." The report, which didn't specifically take the Kerry-Lieberman bill into account, said job losses in industries that shrink would lower employment more than job gains in other industries that would increase employment, thereby raising the overall unemployment rate...more

Green Movement Hits Yellow Light on Climate

If a climate scientist falls in the forest, does anybody hear? Not if the old media have anything to do with it. Thankfully, in 2010, their hold on the news has started to weaken. But it’s not like they didn’t try. For more than five months, from Nov. 20, 2009, to April 1, 2010, the broadcast networks did all they could to hide a crisis in the climate alarmist movement. That first event, now called Climate Gate, has grown into a series of global warming scandals that have shaken faith in both the science we are fed on a regular basis and the scientists who do the feeding. This week in Chicago, the Heartland Institute is bringing together the Fourth International Conference on Climate Change, a meeting of hundreds of scientists and policy experts who dare to challenge so-called conventional wisdom on global warming. Instead of having a meeting, they should be having a celebration. Not that they’ve won. They haven’t. But for the first time in many years, there is a public understanding that our daily diet of climate propaganda might be somewhat or even entirely bogus...more

EPA Uses Mules to Fight against Radioactive Contamination at Los Angeles Lab

The Environmental Protection Agency has a new weapon in the fight against radioactive contamination at a Los Angeles-area lab: Mules. The EPA will use four mules to carry high-tech scanning equipment to detect radiation on steep and rocky terrain at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory. The EPA is conducting a survey of soil and water contamination at the lab near Simi Valley, where rocket engines were tested for years and a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor took place in 1959. About 500 acres of the lab will be scanned for gamma radiation. Results will be turned over to the state, which is overseeing a cleanup. AP

Chevron breaks ground on NM solar plant

Chevron Corp. has broken ground on what it said will become the largest concentrated solar photovoltaic installation in the country. The facility will be on the tailing site of Chevron Mining Inc.’s molybdenum mine in Questa. The plant was lauded by The Wilderness Society, one the advocacy groups pushing for renewable energy development on brownfields (abandoned or underused industrial facilities where some level of contamination is present). The facility will have about 175 solar panels on 20 acres producing one megawatt, and the electricity will be sold to Kit Carson Electric Cooperative through a power purchase agreement. Generally, one megawatt can provide power for about 700 average New Mexico homes. The mine has operated under various owners since the 1920s, including a period of open pit mining from 1965 until 1983. Waste rock, tailings, runoff and leachate contaminants have been designated for cleanup under the federal Superfund program. Some of the mining-impacted areas are in the process of remediation. Other areas are slated for cleanup at the end of mining operations...more

Western Peak Joins Most Endangered Civil War Sites

A Southwestern desert peak where cavalry clashed nearly 150 years ago has joined an annual list of the nation's most endangered Civil War battlefields because state budget cuts are set to close the park that marks the site. Picacho Peak in Arizona, the Western frontier in the battle between the North and the South, was named for the first time on the Civil War Preservation Trust's annual list of 10 historic battlefields most threatened by development or neglect. The list was released Thursday in Washington, D.C. The state park is slated to close June 3 because of budget cuts. On April 12, 1862, Lt. James Barrett led a detachment of Union cavalry to the rocky spire 50 miles northwest of Tucson and skirmished with Confederate Rangers, intent on blunting an ocean-to-ocean Confederacy. While Barrett was killed and the Union army retreated, Union forces from California eventually moved on to Tucson and snuffed a Confederate settlement...more

NM wheat farmers see high yields

Rick Ledbetter, who farms near Portales, said he and his neighbors have finished harvesting wheat to use the plant for silage and hay. Farmers growing wheat for grain expect to harvest in June. “The wheat has been a very good harvest,” Ledbetter said. “You know, the winter moisture really helped the wheat crop.” Not only did the winter snow help the crop, said Dave Sanders, who farms south of Elida, but rain also came in April when the wheat was hurting for water. Ledbetter said he harvested about 8 tons of silage wheat per acre and 2 1/2 tons of wheat hay per acre. He heard of silage yields up to 12 tons an acre and expected others would have gotten higher yields on hay as well. The silage wheat in the area goes to dairies, and the wheat hay feeds horses and dairy cattle, Ledbetter said. Sanders estimated that he would harvest an above-average 15-20 bushels of grain an acre from his dryland wheat, although he said the price he could get for it was looking weak. For his irrigated wheat hay crop, he harvested about 1 1/2 tons an acre, which he said was good...more

Check your inbox: There are cows on the loose

A rookie RCMP constable with rancher roots is using newfangled technology to wrangle an old-fashioned problem: escaped cows wandering on Williams Lake-area roads. RCMP Const. Colin Champagne was frustrated by on-the-lam livestock causing car accidents, but discovered it was difficult to track down the animals' owners because they often didn't live near the expansive ranges where the cows were grazing. "One particular group of animals were owned by a man in Kamloops and were grazing on Crown range. We were knocking on all these doors, and people were saying, 'No I don't know whose [cattle] these are,' " said Champagne, whose first posting as an RCMP officer was in Williams Lake last June. The constable's search for answers led him to the president of a local cattlemen's association, who knew the owners of most local cows. By December, Champagne had created an e-mail chain to the presidents of seven area cattlemen associations, who would in turn alert their members when fences were down or cows had escaped...more

Song Of The Day #310

It's been a rough week for the proprietor of Ranch Radio. So, can you pick the blues on the dobro? You bet.

Here's Gilbert Caranhac with M.C. Blues and Jerry Douglas playing Before The Blues.

The story of Rob Krentz, rancher

by Jim Olson

Don called Rob up one day and said, “Hey Rob, I’ve got this prolapsed cow over at the Double Adobe Ranch locked up in the corral and I was wondering if you could give me a hand?”

“Sure,” says Rob, “just come on over and get me on your way.”

So the two men headed over to the Double Adobe Ranch which is about an hour away from Don’s main ranch at Apache. They didn’t take a horse with them because Don had trapped the cow in the water lot earlier. Upon their arrival they found a mean old hussy who was none too happy about her current uncomfortable condition or the arrival of the two “would be” cowboy doctors.

“You run her up the alley and I will catch her with the head gate,” Don instructed.

After giving Rob quite a run around in the alley, he finally got her headed up the lead-up. She was really moving fast as she hit the front. As a matter of fact, she hit the front with such a force that the old bolts holding the head gate in place just popped like buttons on a shirt! The old gal then proceeded to run around the water lot with the head gate on her head and Don still holding on to the lever. Don didn’t want to let her go for fear she would escape, or worse yet, chase him around while wearing the head gate.

After a minute or so of dragging Don around, the cow smartened up and back out of the contraption till she was free of it. She then chased Don around the lot until at last she cleared the top rail of the fence like a hurdler at a track meet.

Laughing at the sight of all this, Rob says, “Well now what are we going to do boss?”

It would take about two hours to go back to the main ranch and get a horse, so Don rummaged around behind the seat until he came up with an old catch rope.

“We’ll rope her using this old truck,” declared Don. “You drive!”

Rob says “Your ranch…your cow…your truck…you drive…I’ll rope.”

So off they went across the mesquite flat dodging bushes and arroyos chasing after the prolapsed cow. The rope was tied to the gooseneck ball in the back and Rob had fashioned a hand hold onto the headache rack for balance and support. After chasing the cow far enough that she finally began to wear out a little bit, Don was able to line out on her in a fairly level area. As Don pulled up beside the cow, Rob swung a time or two and then landed a loop that should have made a professional roper proud.

Rob threw the trip and Don turned the pickup off to the left just as if he was in Cheyenne at the Frontier days! The truck didn’t quite work like a good quarter horse would have, so the cow was difficult to throw down. Don figured that after a while, the old cow would just choke down enough that they could tie her up and doctor her. The ole gal was too smart for that though and she always kept just enough slack in the rope to keep her breath.

As Don and Rob tried many different methods of getting the cow down, about all that was accomplished was she was mad. Very mad. So mad as a matter of fact that she spent all of her time trying to chase the two cowboy doctors. Around the truck, in the cab, on the back, it didn’t matter; she was after her antagonists with a vengeance.

Finally the two men came up with a plan; they had rummaged around behind the seat and came up with another catch rope. This one they tied off to the base of a larger mesquite bush.

Don says, “Let her chase you by here and I’ll heel her.”

Rob says, “You’re skinny and fleet of foot…you chase…I’ll rope.”

So as Don let the cow chase him around like a champion bull fighter, he finally got her to go by the spot where Rob waited. With a heel shot that was sent by the Gods, Rob snagged a hind leg. Don jumped in the truck and took out the slack; the cow was tied down. Then, and only then, was she given slack.

Well they got her stuffins put back where they belonged and sowed her up, then they cautiously let her go. Both men were wore out from the ordeal. As they headed back towards Apache Don told Rob, “I sure do thank you for helping me out pard. That would have been quite a job for one man.”

Robs reply? “Well that’s what friends are for.”

This is a true account as told by a neighbor when asked, “Just what kind of friend was Rob Krentz?”

The immigration vs. secure border issue has gotten more press lately than a political love scandal. It seems everybody has an opinion on the subject and most are quite vocal. But you know what they say about opinions . . .

While this subject is not new by any stretch of the imagination, if you could point to one thing that has brought it to the forefront of political issues lately, it would have to be the murder of a southern Arizona rancher on his own property. On March 28, 2010 Rob Krentz became the poster child for the secure border issue. Unfortunately, it cost him his life.

At the time of this writing Rob is without a doubt the most widely known rancher in America, maybe the world. Just ask anyone, anywhere, to name an American rancher today and they will more than likely say Rob Krentz, or at least, “You know…that guy that got killed down along the border.”

As I read with interest all of the stories concerning the border and immigration, I started to wonder “just who was Rob Krentz?” I mean the person Rob Krentz, not the image or martyr that he has become for the secure border issue. I know several of the Krentz Ranch neighbors, and when one of them approached me about doing a story on the subject, I readily agreed on the condition that it was with the Krentz family blessing and that it would be a story on the man himself, not the political issues. I am honored that they agreed, because now I feel as if I know who Rob Krentz really was. I only wish that I could have met him prior to March 28.

While interviewing several family members and neighbors of Rob’s, I got a glowing report of a great man. Friend, family man, conservationist, good rancher and kind-hearted were all thrown about. Of course they wouldn’t have bad things to tell me about one of their own, I thought, but you know what? I read articles and contacted several people who are on the other side of the political issue, if you will, and couldn’t find one single person who had anything bad to say about Rob. Even the most adamant immigrant rights people had nothing bad to say about the person Rob Krentz himself. All they could talk about was being against the reform issue. Amazing! Even the so-called enemy could not run down Rob’s character. Here is why:

Rob Krentz was a man of values. From the time he was just a little boy, Rob’s dad Bob grilled into him the importance of doing things the right way. Throughout his life, Rob worked extra hard on doing just that. He wouldn’t cut corners when it might have been easy to do so – not if it weren’t the right thing to do. Little things that some people don’t think twice about like moving cattle without the proper inspection papers or running red (illegal) diesel in his pickup truck were out of the question as far as Rob was concerned. You never cheat, not even one little bit, was what Rob lived by and he inspired friends and family in the same way.

To understand Rob, you need to know more about his family history. The Krentz family emigrated (legally) from Alsace-Lorraine (which once was a little country between Germany and France and now is part of France) around the turn of the last century. They were butchers by trade and first went to St. Louis. Family lore says that after government regulations became too cumbersome there (even back then), the Krentz family headed west. Upon leaving St. Louis, they settled in Winslow, Ariz., about 1902, operating a butcher shop and a ranch. While operating the Chevelon Creek Ranch south of Winslow, the family recorded one of the earliest brands in the state of Arizona, the 111 bar brand, which is owned by the Babbitt family today. In 1907 the family sought out new ventures in the border town of Douglas, which was booming at the time. The Krentz’s bought the historic Tovrea Meat Market in Douglas and also the Spear E Ranch at the foot of the Chiricahua mountains. In about 1918, the meat market was sold and they concentrated their efforts solely on ranching from then on.

It took several years, but eventually the Krentz family was able to buy up the little homesteads surrounding them when they became available. Back then just about everyone in that country had a section or two of land that had been homesteaded. As people went broke or moved away, the Krentz family was in a position to buy out the smaller outfits and eventually put together one big ranch. Most of their pastures had been individual homesteads at some time, and are named after the original homestead. Each has its own history as well.

In media reports that circulate these days, the Krentz ranch is said to be 35,000 acres. I can tell you that isn’t quite right, but it is impolite to ask a person the size of his or her spread. It’s kind of like asking people how much money they have in the bank. Only the IRS and a rancher’s banker are privy to that information in the eyes of most ranchers, including the Krentzes.

The family were pioneers. They were the kind of people that settled and developed this country and made it safe for others to follow. They are the kind of family that should be considered the backbone of America. Surviving bad droughts, cyclical markets, government regulations, and a myriad of other issues made them into the strong ranching family that we have today. The Krentz Ranch has been there since before Arizona was a state. It has been there since long before there was ever a United States Forest Service dictating rules to them. This is the background and legacy that Rob was born into, a salt of the earth kind of old time ranching family.

When asked about some of Rob’s other qualities, over and over again I am told about his willingness to help out. Rob’s wife, Sue, says, “Most of the time when Rob left the house he would say, ‘I am going to help (fill in the blank).’” Rob’s neighbors all have great stories to tell about Rob going out of his way to help them out of a jam. Not only would he help a neighbor, but Rob was kind to strangers as well, including the illegal immigrants that inundated his property.

Rob was known to help out a thirsty, starving or wounded immigrant on more than one occasion. That may have been what got him killed. Rob’s last radio transmission to his brother Phil was something like: “going to help an illegal in distress.” Rob and his dog, Blue, were found shot several hours later.

Rob’s friends and family could not stress strongly enough that he loved to help people. “A friend in need is a friend in deed” was a motto of Rob’s. Not only did he help out friends and strangers in and around the ranching country of southeastern Arizona, but Rob was very involved in many other projects as well.

Rob was very active in the cattle growers’ associations at the local and state levels. He worked with the Malpai Borderlands group trying to preserve ranching and wildlife habitat for future generations. He testified numerous times to congressional leaders about the issues facing the international border and always seemed to find the time to continue helping out where he could.

The Krentz family were well known as good stewards of the lands that they control. They were honored for practices such as their long gravity flow water pipeline that served cattle and wildlife across their large ranch. Rob and his family took such good care of their land that they were used as examples of range stewardship on numerous occasions, and to top it off, the Krentz ranch was inducted into the Arizona Farming and Ranching Hall of Fame in its inaugural year, 2008.

Rob was a favorite around brandings on the nearby ranches. He was nicknamed “Crunch” and everybody laughs as they recall the “Krentz Crunch” that Rob used on waspy calves. Rob was a large man physically and after watching younger or smaller cowhands get mucked out by an unruly yearling, Rob would come running and put the Krentz Crunch on the offending animal. The move has been described as a cross between tackle football and wrestling.

Rob loved to hunt, fish, and do just about anything outdoors. He was a good roper, rancher, horseman, cowman, husband and father. Everybody I talked to had nothing but praise for Rob. He was easy to get along with. He was always positive. He was a genuine kind of person. Those are just some of the comments.

Rob loved life and would constantly tell his family, “We are so very blessed. We are blessed to live in this beautiful place that we live in. We are blessed to get to live the lifestyle that we want to and do what we want to every day.” As one of Rob’s friends put it “Rob was one of the good guys, he was a good ole boy.”

Jim Olson was raised a cowboy on the high plains of Eastern New Mexico. There he learned to ride young colts, tend cattle, and also drive heavy farm equipment at an early age. Jim spent a few years competing in the calf roping event at the PRCA level and even went to the “Circuit Finals” a few times; now he is a weekend team roper. Jim is the owner of Arizona Ranch Real Estate, a business that deals with Rural Property sales throughout Arizona. Today, Jim lives on and operates his own ranch near Stanfield, Arizona (which was once a part of John Wayne’s “Red River” ranch). All of these things have led to great life experiences which Jim now uses in his writing career. Jim writes stories about interesting and extraordinary people of the west including short stories of both fiction and non fiction. He writes a monthly column titled “My Cowboy Heroes.” Jim’s articles are published monthly by several magazines throughout the southwest. Jim has received national coverage also. Jim currently has two books in print and is constantly working on several other projects as well.


From the Tucson Citizen.

Kerry's Powerless America Act

Call it cap-and-trade or bait-and-switch, but John Kerry and Joe Lieberman continue to tilt at windmills with a bill to restrain energy growth in the name of saving the planet...

Check out the chart of 60 new programs, studies and reports in this bill by going here.

Farm Groups Wary of New Climate Change Bill

The new legislation got a stamp of approval from the National Farmers Union, who supported the House version of cap-and- trade, “NFU has long supported legislation that provides an opportunity for agriculture to play a positive role in addressing our climate and energy needs. The discussion draft announced today continues along that path,” said NFU President Roger Johnson. Tamara Thies, Chief Environmental Council for the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, says agriculture needs to beware of all efforts to regulate climate change, “All this regulation and expense is based on an alarmist environmental agenda and not on sound science.” She says, regardless of the specifics of the legislation, the science behind climate change is flawed, “The American people deserve better than decisions from this administration that are not based on science or truth, but rather are based on a radical, anti-business, anti-agriculture, alarmist agenda that lacks a credible scientific foundation.” The American Farm Bureau Federation also expressed concerns about efforts to regulate climate change. AFBF President Bob Stallman released a statement that said, “As with other climate change bills, we have concerns about the economic impact on farmers and ranchers because of potentially higher fertilizer and energy costs. We do not want to see farmers driven out of business due to additional regulation and the potential for higher input costs. Agriculture also could be forced to shrink due to land moving out of production into trees to sequester carbon. We also believe it is imperative that any energy legislation must assure a greater supply of nuclear energy, renewable fuels, and natural gas for American consumers. Further, we note the absence of renewable electricity standards in the bill and will work toward their inclusion in the future.”...more

Expanding the grouse conversation

As a rancher, David Andreason thinks the government’s not focused on the right ways to recover the greater sage grouse. What about the effect of predators like coyotes and ravens, he asks? And why isn’t grazing used more to fight wildfires? “Are we dealing with real issues, or are we chasing our tails with these feel-good ideas?” Andreason asked state wildlife officials Tuesday evening. That perspective is exactly what those officials say is needed as they rebuild a working group focused on helping grouse in the southeast Magic Valley. The South Magic Valley collaborative group is one of several across southern Idaho having problems keeping its non-agency members. The problem, said Mike Todd with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, is that state and federal government representatives attend as part of their jobs, while private citizens have to make time themselves. “It’s come down to nothing but a bunch of bureaucrats agreeing with each other,” Todd said. “We’re struggling. … This is a monumental effort.”...more

Dere's too much collaboratin' goin' on out dere.

Snowstorms kill hundreds of cattle

Ranchers in southern Alberta's Cardston County are in emergency mode after a barrage of spring snowstorms killed hundreds of cattle. Losses are mounting as melting snow reveals calves that succumbed to the winter-like weather of the past couple of weeks, said Reeve Cam Francis. The county declared itself a "disaster area" earlier this week, Francis said, noting that some ranchers lost more than 100 calves. "It's been devastating. A lot of cattle got piled up from the wind, cows got trampled, some cows were pushed into the dugout and drowned," Francis said. County officials haven't tallied the number of cattle lost. The situation is particularly dire because the snowstorms hit during calving season, when the newborns are especially vulnerable, said Francis...more

Song Of The Day #309

Ranch Radio brings you two instrumentals with the classic dobro sound: Hound Dog Blues by Shot Jackson and Big Howdy by Tut Taylor.

The Jackson tune is on the various artists compilation That Dobro Sound's Goin' Round.

The Taylor tune is on his Dobrolic Plectral Society.

Interior Secretary Salazar Wants to Split Energy Agency

The Obama administration is proposing to split up an Interior Department agency that oversees offshore drilling, as part of its response to the Gulf Coast oil spill, The Associated Press has learned. An administration official who asked not to be identified because the plan is not yet public said Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will urge that Congress approve splitting the Minerals Management Service in two. One agency would be charged with inspecting oil rigs, investigating oil companies and enforcing safety regulations, while the other would oversee leases for drilling and collection of billions of dollars in royalties. Currently, the Minerals Management Service, an arm of the Interior Department, is responsible for collecting more than $10 billion a year from oil and gas drilling and with enforcing laws and regulations that apply to drilling operations. Some critics have said the two roles are in conflict and are one reason the agency has long been accused of being too cozy with the oil and natural gas industry...more