NEWS ROUNDUP

Judge bars shrill Navy sonar The Navy is forbidden to use an intense form of sonar -- known to have spooked Puget Sound orcas in the past -- during combat exercises this month in the Pacific, a federal judge ruled Monday. Environmentalists suing to halt the sonar use offered "considerable convincing scientific evidence" that the exercise would harm or even kill whales, porpoises and other marine creatures, U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled in Los Angeles in granting a temporary restraining order. Among the areas the Navy had previously obtained permission to use the midfrequency sonar were the biologically rich waters of the northwest Hawaiian Islands. Last month, President Bush proposed creating the largest marine sanctuary on the planet there. "Whales and other marine species shouldn't have to die for practice. The Navy can accomplish its national security mission in a manner that's consistent with environmental protection," said Joel Reynolds, a Natural Resources Defense Council lawyer involved in the case. "It simply makes no sense for the Navy not to incorporate the full range of practical, common-sense measures available to it to reduce the harm to whales, porpoises and other marine creatures." The Navy was preparing a statement in response to the ruling, Navy spokesman Lt. John Gay said, but it was not available by late Monday. In the past, though, the service has said a new generation of super-quiet submarines is being developed by nations such as Iran and North Korea. "Without active sonar, our young men and women serving aboard ships are blind and vulnerable to attack from submarines," the Navy said in a 2003 statement responding to a study in the science journal Nature that said naval sonar kills whales....
Boom life Spurred by energy prices that have more than tripled in the past three years, a drilling boom has swept the Rocky Mountain West. Last year, more than 29 million acres in federal land in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico were leased to energy companies. The four states also issued almost 20,000 drilling permits. As drilling rigs and pumpjacks fleck the region's landscape, the energy boom also is tugging at the West's social fabric and transforming lives. From a New Mexico rancher fighting to preserve his cultural heritage to a 19-year-old Colorado roughneck enjoying the cash windfall, Westerners are living in a changing land. A New Mexico rancher says he won't give up the battle to keep land his ancestors settled in the 1860s. Gilbert Armenta - New Mexico rancher, coal miner and descendant of Mexican settlers - watched the whitecap-filled San Juan River as it cut across his land. "The river out there, the river does what it wants," said Armenta, a gray-felt cowboy hat shielding the midday glare. "And now I'm suddenly responsible for it flooding?" he asked. "It's intimidation." Armenta, 59, is locked in a legal fight with XTO Energy Inc., which operates 12 natural-gas wells on his 144-acre ranch. The Houston-based company sued Armenta in January, claiming he cost them more than $300,000 by refusing to allow them access to the property....
Profiting From an Oil Boom, but Keeping a Cautious Eye The 100-year-old Clear Creek Ranch has largely been skipped over by the periodic oil booms that have swept this state since a gusher prompted the first bout of oil fever in the early 1900's. This time, though, is different. Surging oil and gas prices have ignited a drilling frenzy. Every two weeks, crews punch a new well into a field that includes Clear Creek and a neighboring ranch. The pace would be much faster if the drillers could bring in a second moveable rig, but they cannot get one. With national oil production at a high pitch for the first time in more than a quarter-century, oil rigs are in short supply. The drilling surge is producing a tidy income for Clear Creek, even though the ranch owns only a tiny percentage of the oil and gas rights in the field, said Rob Hendry, who owns the ranch with his wife and two sons. Royalties are about $4,000 a month, or roughly what it costs Clear Creek to cover higher prices for gasoline and diesel fuel used to raise cattle on the 180,000-acre spread. A second, larger revenue stream comes from another oil-related business that Mr. Hendry created, a construction company that uses earth movers, bulldozers and other heavy equipment to level sections of ranch land to accommodate a moveable drilling rig that is as tall as a 15-story building. Each well site his construction unit builds earns $20,000 for the ranch, Mr. Hendry said....
Rehberg opposes drilling ban on Front Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg is breaking with fellow GOP Sen. Conrad Burns and a recent poll by a Republican firm to oppose a moratorium on drilling on the Rocky Mountain Front. In a statement released to Lee Newspapers Monday, Rehberg said it would be "unwise to summarily close off areas that could be part of an energy solution for our country." Rehberg's statement came less than a week after Burns changed his earlier position and pushed new federal legislation that forbids any new oil and gas development along the Front - the celebrated stretch from near Lincoln to Glacier National Park where the Rocky Mountains jut out above the high plains. Burns' legislation would also retire any existing oil and gas drilling permits should they expire or be acquired by non-drilling outfits. Burns had previously opposed a permanent moratorium for drilling permits along the Front. Rehberg struck a middle ground in his statement....
Conservation groups fear oil, gas rigs will hurt Utah forest land For decades, the plundering hooves of cattle and sheep ruined trout streams and habitat around this 17,000-acre reservoir. Stream channeling and the deliberate poisoning of willows that protect their banks only made things worse. Much of the damage has been turned around, but a new threat from oil and gas development could reverse progress made in this mountainous patch of national forest 60 miles southeast of Salt Lake City famous for its trout streams, big-game habitat and roadless stretches. A water user's group that gave up all but the water and mineral rights to land around here is awarding exploration leases to oil and gas companies. The Uinta National Forest is doing an impact study on opening up to 778,000 more acres for energy leasing. What's more, a federally designated “energy corridor” running just south of Strawberry Reservoir could hasten oil and gas development by laying pipelines in the ground....
Expert touts wolf changes Increased vigilance and denser livestock herds grazing on public land could help reduce losses to wolves, a wolf researcher says. Biologists made some erroneous assumptions about wolf behavior around cattle and sheep during the wolf reintroduction planning process in the late 1980s, Timm Kaminski told an audience at the AMK Ranch in Grand Teton National Park. Kaminski worked on those plans as a biologist with the Mountain Livestock Cooperative. He said researchers thought most wolf packs would remain deep in wilderness areas in Yellowstone and central Idaho. "Most packs moved out to the boundary areas where there is grazing," he said. "We didn't anticipate that. There's been a fair amount of conflict. Reconciling the conflict has been torturous for some." Early planners also thought that wolves wouldn't eat livestock as long as they lived near an abundance of natural prey. "Wrong, wrong, wrong," he said. Wolf predation on livestock has increased dramatically since 2003. In the Yellowstone area, 20 of 27 packs that overlapped grazing lands killed livestock in 2004. That year, wolf control officials killed seven packs. By 2005, 32 packs killed livestock, and officials had to kill 10 packs....
Trust land's future on ballot Get ready for a showdown. Two plans to overhaul the State Land Department, Arizona's biggest landowner, will be on November's ballot. Voters will have to slog through pages of proposals to make their decision on how the state agency should preserve, develop and permit grazing on its 9 million acres. If history repeats itself and confused voters say no to both, efforts to preserve land in urban areas would be halted. Revenue to public schools, the beneficiary of state land sales, could slow. And development near cities could be hampered. "People recognize by reforming the laws the State Land Department must operate under, there's the potential to make more money for Arizona and education," said Mark Winkleman, commissioner of the state agency. "But there is the possibility voters will get confused and nothing will come out of this." If voters approve both plans, the one with the most votes wins. But parts of the losing plan could wind up winning if the measure selected by voters doesn't have a similar provision. For example, one plan would form a board of trustees. If that one were to lose, a board still likely would be created because the other proposal has no plan for one. The Land Department is one of Arizona's biggest real estate players, but it must still operate by the laws that created it more than 100 years ago....
Judge listens to arguments in forest suit The fate of Montana's first hazardous fuels project under the Bush administration's Healthy Forests Restoration Act was debated Friday before U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula. Missoula's Wildwest Institute and Ravalli County-based Friends of the Bitterroot want a preliminary injunction to stop the Forest Service from moving forward with its Middle East Fork Hazardous Fuels Reduction project. The Forest Service wants to offer the timber for sale this month, with actual work starting near the end of summer or early fall. Following a two-hour hearing, Molloy promised his decision on the injunction would come soon....
Clean Water Act Sanity on the Horizon? The June 19 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision in the double cases of Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was another slow step in the long overdue reform of the application of the Clean Water Act’s Section 404 and the rediscovery of the 5th Amendment. The court agreed in principle that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers had vastly overreached in their interpretation and application of the CWA. Unfortunately, the ruling was not as clear cut as it might have been because of the wavering of Justice Anthony Kennedy. But, nonetheless, it should lead to improvements in the administration of the law. Section 404 of the CWA gave the government authority to protect the “navigable waters” of the United States, by having the sole authority to grant permits to allow the discharge of dredged or fill material into navigable waters. This was then extended to the tributaries of navigable waters and eventually even to completely isolated intrastate non-navigable waters. The latter included isolated small ponds or prairie “potholes” on farm and ranchland in the Great Plains which might support a pair of nesting ducks, vernal pools on a rancher’s land in California’s Central Valley which might fill with water for a few months after winter rains, a man-made stock-watering pond or a borrow pit or a quarry, or even a low area in a field that had been farmed for corn for a century, but which, following heavy rains, might hold water for a few weeks -- totally isolated, sometimes by scores of miles, from any stream, let alone a navigable stream. The Wall Street Journal’s Max Boot has referred to this CWA-EPA-Army Corps axis as “The Wetlands Gestapo” for very good reason....
Oregon school tests junipers' thirst level The anecdotal wisdom in eastern Oregon is that juniper trees suck the water out of country that's parched to start with. Now an Oregon State University test that will compare two 300-acre plots aims to pin down the effect of the gnarled trees on high desert environments that characterize much of the land east of the Cascade Range. Junipers are native to the territory, but not in large numbers. They have spread rapidly along with livestock grazing and fire suppression. Rancher Lynee Breese of Prineville remembers that her husband's grandmother kept a garden fed by groundwater. "But as the juniper came in, it utilized the water," Breese said. "The well went dry." The two 300-acre plots are an outdoor laboratory to document that sort of observation....
Low flows on Big Hole cause concerns for fish The Big Hole Watershed Committee is asking irrigators to quit pulling water from the upper Big Hole River because low flows could harm a threatened fish in the river. A dry May and June and increased demand for irrigation have caused the river to drop dramatically in recent days. "Nobody thought it was going to go this fast," said Randy Smith, a cattle rancher near Glen and a member of the committee, which works to keep water in the river to keep fluvial arctic grayling off the federal endangered species list. Committee members are trying to get the word out to ranchers in the upper Big Hole to cut back on irrigation if possible, said committee director Noorjahan Parwana....
A look at one family who went to bat for the land Bouncing down the gravel road that runs through his family's land, Randy Rusk steers his dusty Ford pickup with one hand and alternates shifting gears and pointing with the other. There, to the north, is the ranch that once belonged to Frank Kennicott, who registered the state's first cattle brand, back when this still was the Colorado Territory. There's the old house where Rusk grew up and where his parents, now 86, still live, and the once-grand Beckwith Ranch, where Rusk and other young ranchers gathered back in the day to dance, tell stories and "get all pie-eyed and fall over." And to the west, carved into a dark slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range, are the light green veins that Rusk's wife, Claricy, calls "the scar." It was there that developers in the late 1970s cleared trees to open a ski area called Conquistador. To hear Rusk tell it, Conquistador was the beginning of the end for the Wet Mountain Valley, about 80 miles southwest of Colorado Springs....
Ranchers find silver lining in conservation cloud Darrell Wood drove slowly across his land near Chico in Northern California, a battered cowboy hat pulled down over his forehead, his eyes darting back and forth as he sized up the Black Angus cattle grazing nearby. In the back of his truck, three border collies stood at attention, ready to work. The cattle looked in prime shape as they stood in lush pasturage dotted with sapphire vernal pools. Large flocks of northern pintails dabbled in the water, while white-tailed kites hovered overhead and red-winged blackbirds called from the sedges along the pools. "This ecosystem is like anything else," said Wood, gesturing across the gently rolling plain that stretches all the way to the foothills of the Sierra. "Properly managed, it flourishes. Improperly managed, things start falling apart. We're doing everything we can to manage it properly." Not too many years ago, that kind of talk might have sounded strange coming from a cattleman. But Wood represents a new breed of rancher. He and hundreds of other ranchers and farmers in California and across the nation are part of a growing private initiative that "embeds" wildlife habitat into the working agricultural landscape....
Kunzler to stand trial in fall Benson rancher Darrell Kunzler will stand trial on manslaughter and reckless endangerment charges in November, after his attorney announced that he couldn’t reach a plea bargain agreement with prosecutors on Monday. Kunzler, 70, faces the charges that stem from a November 2004 incident when a Washington woman was killed after crashing into one of his Black Angus cows on state Road 30 west of Logan. Kimberly Dawn Johnson, a 40-year-old mother of six, was killed, while several of her children who were in the vehicle with her survived. When Kunzler was bound over on the charges last year, Utah Highway Patrol officials testified that Kunzler exhibited a 30-year pattern of failing to contain his livestock, despite repeated requests by law enforcement....
Steps being taken to reduce roaming cattle A cow was hit and killed shortly after 8:30 p.m. Monday, June 26. The cow was walking along the East Frontage Road of I-19 in the Rio Rico Industrial Park. Rio Rico residents have long complained about cattle roaming the streets and yards of the community. Arizona is an open range state and the law protects the rights of cattle owners and does not require ranches to be fenced. Now, one of several area ranchers, Milo DeWitt, working with his landlord, Rio Rico Properties, is taking steps to reduce the problem. DeWitt leases about 3,200 acres from Rio Rico Properties. He is installing more fences, while reducing the number of cattle he runs, said Guy Tobin, president of Rio Rico Properties. In recent weeks he has sold 100 head of cattle, Tobin said. Another 100 head are leaving in the next week. "In approximately a year, he's going to phase out the cattle and concentrate on his horses and agricultural projects," Tobin said....
Cowgirl spirit Rose Cambra Freitas said she and her daughter wanted to provide a western activity for the youth of Maui when they began the "Maui All-Girls and Junior Boys And Girls Rodeo" in 1974. "My family all love the rodeo. It's our way of life," she said. "It teaches them discipline and sportsmanship." Because of her efforts, Freitas will become the first woman from Hawaii to be inducted in the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, this fall. Some inducted in the past include Annie Oakley, Dale Evans and Sacagawea. Freitas, 74, a rancher and still a rodeo competitor, is being inducted with four others, including the late Esther Morris, who successfully fought for women's right to vote in the Wyoming Territory in 1869. The museum plans to fly Freitas to Texas in October for the induction ceremonies....
NFSR finds new home in New Mexico The 2006 National Finals Steer Roping, scheduled for Nov. 3-4, will move to the Lea County Events Center near Hobbs, N.M., after five years in Amarillo, Texas. This year's event will mark the first time the NFSR has been held in the state of New Mexico since 1960. "Our expectations are to put on the best National Finals Steer Roping that has ever been," said Randy McCormick, Lea County Commissioner. "It's an exciting time in Lea County, and we have a lot of growth going on. We're going to shine up our best boots, and hopefully people will want to come back to Lea County again." The first National Finals Steer Roping was held in 1959 in Clayton, N.M., in the northeastern corner of New Mexico about 350 miles north of Hobbs. It remained in Clayton for two years before moving to Laramie, Wyo., for a year. In 1962, the NFSR moved to Douglas, Wyo., and then spent the next two years in Pawhuska, Okla. The event remained in the state of Oklahoma until 1969 with Vinita hosting the event from 1965-66 and McAlester from 1967-68....
Tall in the Saddle Jerry Croft is a cowboy, and he can prove it. “I’ve chased wild horses, chased wild cows, I’ve been in shootouts and I’ve lived with Indians,” he says like someone describing their summer vacation. “I shot a guy in the leg in Wyoming once, but we won’t get into that... then one of the big outfits I worked for was called Uncle Sam and went to Vietnam for a couple of years.” Croft tends to take things easier nowadays, content to make a living by crafting some of the highest-quality saddles in the country in his workshop just south of Deadwood. Despite the commercial success of Croft’s Saddelry, Croft can’t help but think back to his early years working on the range. “I’m really proud that I was a real, true cowboy,” he says. “I’m prouder that I rode bad country, I rode bad horses, I chased wild cows, than anything else.” Standing in his workshop, the smell of oiled leather and fresh wood permeating the air, listening to the rough tenor of his throaty voice, it’s hard to imagine that Croft has been anything but a cowboy....
Trew:Texas politics has history of confusion If you are one of the many Texans who consider the current Texas political scene ridiculous, "whoa-up" and listen. It’s not the first time. In fact, it might be considered about normal. Excerpts from the book "Texas Boundaries"by Luke Gournay explains the evolution of our state from a Spanish conquest to an American state. It’s no wonder we find it all so confusing. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, combining the early states of Texas and Coahuila. “Heated politics” eventually divided these two states into three departments lasting from 1824 to 1834. "Political unrest" began in 1832, leading to the formation of counties within the department to allow more local governance. “Political differences” grew heated again as larger towns and communities demanded more local power within their boundaries. More "political unhappiness"finally allowed precincts to operate as subdivisions within municipalities. Are you confused yet? In 1836, at the convention at Washington on the Brazos, 23 municipalities voted to call themselves governmental districts and declared their independence from Mexico....
It’s The Pitts: Better Safe Than Sore For those of you who believe it is better to be safe than stylish comes word that a firm is making air bags for horses. Well, not for horses actually, but for the people who ride them. The Hit-Air Vest attaches by a cord to your saddle and when your horse tries to send you into the funeral parlor the cord pulls the plug on your air vest which then inflates to protect your spine, neck and internal organs upon impact. Next thing you know they’ll be putting seat belts on saddles. Oh wait a minute, they already do. If companies really want to take all the “fun” out of being a cowboy why not have saddles with ejection seats so that when a horse sends the rider on an unscheduled flight into outer space he or she would come floating back to earth for a soft landing? Bureaucrats won’t be satisfied until they take all the risk out of everything. That is a problem for cowboys because they are engaged in a very dangerous career. In the future I can see OSHA mandating that panels be padded and horseshoers be made to wear bulletproof vests. Needles will be made dull, like restaurant steak knives that won’t even cut gravy. Trees and rocks on ranches will have to have plastic barrels filled with sand around them like you see on freeways and we’ll have to place red safety cones around all construction areas. Horses will have to have expensive anti-kick-back devices like they put on chain saws and all machinery will have to have automatic shut off devices, like my lawn mower, so that when a mechanically impaired cowboy tries to run any piece of equipment it will automatically shut off. The thought occurs to me that there are other potentially profitable safety ideas that could be applied to the cowboy trade....

MAD COW DISEASE

Canada confirms its 6th case of mad cow disease

Canada confirmed on Tuesday its sixth case of mad cow disease and said it would investigate where the cow was born and what other animals may have eaten the same feed. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said test results confirmed what was suspected last week. The animal was at least 15 years of age and was born before Canada implemented restrictions on potentially dangerous feed in 1997. Mad cow disease is believed to spread through feed, when cows eat the contaminated tissue of other cattle. Humans can get a related disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, in similar fashion--by eating meat contaminated with mad cow. There have been more than 150 human deaths worldwide linked to the variant. Two of the six confirmed mad cow cases in Canada have involved animals infected after 1997, when a ban was instituted on the use of cattle parts in feed for cattle, or other ruminants such as sheep and goats. The agency says Canada's food supply is safe, and the level of mad cow disease in the national cattle herd is very low. Canada has an estimated national herd of 17 million cattle....

Appeals court sets dates in Canada-cattle case

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Billings, Mont., has set a schedule for hearing the appeal of R-Calf USA's lawsuit seeking a permanent injunction to prevent the import of cattle under the age of 30 months from Canada. The Kansas Cattlemen's Association is affiliated with R-Calf. The grassroots cattlemen's group has long opposed the import of Canadian cattle for market reasons, and especially since the discovery of mad cow disease in Canada in May 2003. The much larger mainstream Kansas Livestock Association has supported Canadian imports, a position also taken by its national affiliate, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. In July 2005, the 9th Circuit ruled against R-Calf, ordering that USDA had decision-making authority. R-Calf contends there has never been a thorough review of the case because USDA has had inconsistent statements in the past on the risk of mad cow disease. "We hope the 9th Circuit will remand the case so we can have a full review of the scientific evidence submitted in our case," said R-Calf USA president Chuck Kiker. "The ultimate decision should be based on science, not on a presumption that USDA's judgments were right just because it is a government entity."....

R-CALF commends Canada for cattle-feed regulations

Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, United Stockgrowers of America, the cattlemen's group that has battled to ban Canadian cattle from the United States because of mad cow disease concerns, is praising Canada for announcing new feed regulations aimed at curbing the disease's spread. Canada announced last week that it would ban the use of all specified risk materials from all animal feed - not only cattle feed - in order to prevent the spread of mad cow disease, known scientifically as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, within the Canadian cattle herd. Specified risk materials are cattle parts including brain and central-nervous-system tissue in cattle older than a certain age. Animal scientists believe that BSE is caused when cattle eat feed with bone meal containing ruminant offal contaminated with BSE. The U.S. and Canada banned such risk materials from cattle feed in 1997. R-CALF is pursuing ongoing litigation to prevent the U.S. from declaring Canada a minimal-risk country for BSE because of its concern that the Canadian feed ban has not been appropriately implemented and that it has been insufficient. "Although we have been calling on both Canada and the U.S. to do even more to strengthen their respective feed bans than what Canada is presently proposing, we commend Canada for taking the lead to bolster its resistance against the spread of the disease within its cattle-feeding system," said R-CALF vice president and Region 6 director Max Thornsberry, a veterinarian....

Japanese inspectors visit US meatpacking plants

Japanese health officials have began inspecting meatpacking plants in the US ahead of the country's plan to lift the ban on US meat imports. The ministers visited the Greeley, Colorado plant of major meatpacker Swift & Company and found that the US meat processor was in a good position to satisfy Japanese food-safety guidelines that need to be met if they are to resume beef exports to Japan. Following the visit Japan's senior vice ministers of agriculture and health said the US meatpackers are progressing with their efforts to stop the transmission of mad cow disease into beef shipments to Japan. The inspection follows the agreement between Japan and the US on June 21 that Japan will lift its reinstated ban on US beef imports after inspecting US meatpacking plants to confirm safeguard measures against bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease. On December 12, 2005 Japan ended its original import ban on US beef, first imposed in 2003 after the discovery of the first US case of mad cow disease. It reinstated the ban January 20, 2006 after prohibited backbone parts were discovered in a veal shipment at Narita airport. The inspection at the Swift plant is part of Japan's investigation of 35 meat-processing facilities across the US that began in late June....

U.S.: No deal yet on resuming beef trade with China

U.S. officials said Friday that it was premature for China to announce an end to a mad cow disease-related ban on American beef as it began accepting restricted imports. China's government said Friday that it had resumed limited imports after a 2 ½-year ban imposed after the first U.S. case of mad cow disease. China said it would accept only boneless cuts of beef from cattle under 30 months of age. Officials in the United States are pushing for a full resumption of trade. Agriculture Department spokesman Ed Loyd said there is no such deal. Chinese negotiators had indicated they would follow guidelines of the World Organization for Animal Health, which would allow a broader resumption of beef shipments, Loyd said. The U.S. and China have yet to agree on a protocol, he added.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

The Quality of a Free Man

by Claire Wolfe

I sit at the Hilltop Hermitage, high in the pines. I'm here to ask, and hopefully answer, some of the Great Questions about freedom.

Two come immediately to mind and I'm going to deal with the first one in this column.

That question is, "What are the qualities of a free man?"

I'm saying "man" unapologetically. That's how the question poses itself to me. My every attempt to impose political correctness by writing "person" or "human being" falls flat.

I believe I know why. Freedom requires what might once have been called "manly virtues" -- though in reality it doesn't matter what shape of body they come in.

Asking ourselves to live up to ideals is old-fashioned. Almost Victorian. This is an age of "anything goes" -- which can be fine and fun. But it's not enough. We need those "manly virtues" -- plus a few extras.

So bear with me, sisters and brothers-in-freedom alike. The list I'm about to propose is inclusive.

I'm beginning the freedom quest here for a simple reason: Freedom comes from free individuals, not the other way around. Seek Libertopia without first seeking within and the horse stumbles over the cart in her path and breaks her leg. Every time.

So without further ado I propose:

12 QUALITIES OF A FREE MAN

THE FIVE OUTWARD-LOOKING VIRTUES
The free man within society

A free man:

Keeps his word. A good man's word was once his bond. Now we expect our credit score to be our bond -- but such data measures only one infinitesimal part of us. You cannot build feedom on a base of lies or habitual unreliability. Free men mean what they say and do what they promise.

Does unto others as he would have them do unto him. Helps those who help themselves. Commits random acts of decency. Aids those who are striving to be free. Does not meddle in the non-violent behavior of others, but is is a good neighbor and powerful ally when one is needed.

Shuns indebtedness. This means more than shunning debt (though that, too). A free man owns his own life and thinks carefully before giving any part of it away. He rejects false loyalties and guilt trips (unwarranted claims on his life energies). If he accepts a favor he pays it back or pays it forward so others benefit by the aid he received.

Rejects coercive power. He neither seeks power over others nor accepts the right of others to hold such coercive power. You will never hear him say, "There ought to be a law." He sees humanity not as an ignorant mass to be managed or mothered, but as individuals capable of running their own lives.

Is independent and self-responsible. A free man prefers the risks and rewards of self-reliance to the temptations of "security" provided by others. He takes care of himself and his family. The ultimate corollary to this virtue is self-defense; a free man does not delegate responsibility for his own sustenance, and certainly not for his own survival.

THE FIVE INTERIOR VIRTUES
The free man within

A free man:

Solves problems creatively. Thinks out of the box. Is fascinated by new ideas. Is perpetually self-educating. Anyone who spends a large chunk of his life sitting and whining about all the factors holding him back is by definition neither free nor ready to free himself.

Acts with daily courage and fortitude. While we await the jackboot in the door, tyranny arrives in daily demands for our collaboration. We require courage to say, "No, I won't give that information"; "I have no interest in working for somebody who forces me to pee in a bottle"; "I won't pay you to kill people in my name"; "My baby doesn't need a government inventory number"; "That's politically correct nonsense"; "Not without a warrant, you won't"; or "It's time for you to stand up and take care of yourself." Free people own that kind of courage. It's food for their souls. (Which is why I list it as an Interior Virtue rather than an Outward-Looking one.)

Lives by well-considered principles. A free man doesn't just parrot "thou shalt not kill" or "thou shalt not steal." He doesn't behave just because he fears God or government may be watching. He has examined his morality. He knows why he acts or refrains from acting. Sound principles also provide the platform for standing up with courage and saying, "No" to intolerable acts.

Seeks balanced excellence. It may be a fine thing to make a million dollars or build a better mousetrap (or a more efficient solar cell or an innovative computer game). Free people do those things better than serfs. But our life is our #1 creation. Truly free people put as much energy into becoming good, wise human beings as they do into material accomplishments. To do otherwise is to remain off balance -- and therefore very easy for "authorities" to push over.

Loves life. No, this does not mean a free man always goes around with a happy-face painted on his mug. It does mean that conscious, human life is the foundation of freedom. Despite its manifold flaws, human life is a miracle to be appreciated and defended against forces that waste or destroy it.

THE TWO FOUNDATION VIRTUES
What all the rest is built on

A free man:

Is self-aware. He knows who he is, what he loves, what he finds intolerable. Knows his own inner drivers, good or ill. Self-knowledge enables us to set satisfying goals and effective boundaries. It shows us our true path. Without self-understanding, we find ourselves constantly in bad relationships and bad jobs, living in conditions we hate -- unable to say no and unable to articulate why we want to say no.

Has a spiritual center. A few years ago I'd never have put spirituality on any list of a free man's traits. Now, I see it's a foundation stone. Spirituality doesn't necessarily mean religion. A person can be spiritual without even believing in God. Spirituality is simply the sense that an individual life has a deeper meaning than is evident on the surface. When daily temptations, disappointments, or demands for collaboration threaten to push us off course, transcendent purpose keeps us walking the path.

There it is. A free man is, in his own realm, an astonishingly civilized and moral being. To those who live by controlling others, however, he is a wild beast who can't be tamed and who is too tough to make good prey.

A free man is also the cause of freedom. The sole cause of it.

When we have sufficient free individuals, political, social, and institutional freedoms will follow. They will arise not through revolution or politically driven reform, but from who we are and the choices we make every day.

We don't require superhumans. We don't even require a majority of free people. We do, however, require a larger minority of free individuals than we have today. "Doing our own thing" is one part of being free. But lasting freedom is a consequence of that old-fashioned and presently out-of-favor ideal: personal character.

We require that to create what so many of us crave: freedom that lasts.

SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE WESTERNER

Creative cowboy math

By Julie Carter

Every now and then someone forces the cowboy to do a little scratchin' on paper.

He'll call it a tally sheet and prefers to keep his figuring on his left hand glove or the right leg of his chaps.

For the purpose of this story, I'll target the team ropers. Don't worry; they are used to the abuse.

If someone with a bookkeeping background were to put the ropers "figgers" on paper, it would read something like "Income and Expense Statement, Profit Center: Competition Roping."

The expense column would have a long list of "must haves" that total to a shocking number that the cowboy will qualify with "estimate only - exact records are not important." It is hard to tell which comes first, the rope, the horse or the rig. They are listed here in no particular order of importance.

Expense:

Top-notch #1 winning rope horse $10,000

Back-up practice horse $9,500

Three-horse slant aluminum trailer $30,000

Two-seater truck to pull trailer $40,000

Ten practice Corrientes $5,000

Worthless Blue Heeler dog named Radar $200

Arena to practice and socialize in $5,000

Hydraulic chute (cheaper than a divorce) $3,500

Roping school with Nat'l Finals winner $700

Different roping school with good teacher $700

Entry fees (to date) $900

Equipment upgrade:

· New saddle $1,200

· EXTREME go and slow bit, $125

· Polyethylene urethane no-pressure saddle pad, $125

· A box of "no miss" ropes $250

Image enhancement:

· Space-age biothane tie down $20

· Straw hat (came with full-size George Strait pic) $70

· Headstall with turquoise $200

Total estimated expense $116,490

Income:

First in the average at Mineral Wells, Texas, 3:14 p.m., Sunday, May 1, 2006 $228

Picture frame (gift from admirer) $0

Total income (exact figure) $228

Of course this doesn't take any depreciation into account including the much depreciated wife who tries to keep up with it all.

Roping - what used to be a poor-boy sport - no longer is.

In Texas, where anything can happen and usually does, the classier covered arenas are now offering golf tournaments in conjunction with their ropings. One arena has a swimming pool, two restaurants, a western store, basketball court and is adding a softball field.

It is hard to find an arena in that area that you would recognize as such - built with 2" x 12" boards and used bull wire.

You cannot go to a roping in an open top trailer, single seat pickup and a ranch horse-you would not be allowed in the gate even if you could whup the entire list of entries. You won't find a single gunny sack girth in the bunch of them.

In spite of the math, every rodeo ground in America will be covered over in trucks, trailers, hats, and swinging ropes this July 4th holiday. Its Cowboy Christmas time and the cowboys are on the road 24/7 trying to win their share of the loot.

I'd like to designate the Fourth of July as "Be kind to a rodeo cowboy" holiday. They don't all win, they can't all afford it but they all love it with a passion only they feel and no one understands.

When the rodeo cowboy lays his hat on his heart in honor of the American flag, let us tip our hats to them for being an enduring part of American history.

Even the team ropers.

© Julie Carter 2006


The Country Doctor

by Larry Gabriel

Country doctors are not a thing of the past, but I have not seen much publicity about these unsung heroes of rural America.

Most of the world probably thinks there are no doctors who still make houses call in the middle of the night, do what needs doing and send you a reasonable bill at the end of the month.

They don't come out of medical school with the normal six figure income of most doctors. Many begin their careers in jobs that pay about $50 thousand dollars a year. Their mean salary is about $75 thousand a year.

They don't fit the rich doctor stereotype, partly because they can't afford it. They don't live in mansions, just a normal house. They don't drive a Mercedes, just a pickup truck (and quite often one with a lot of dents in it). They don't care about that stuff anyway.

Quite often they are the most highly educated person in a small town, but they normally don't become president of the social clubs or school boards. They are too busy making those emergency calls for routine fees.

They don't have the same prestige as a country club pediatrician, nor even the same dress and mannerisms in most cases. You rarely see their picture in the paper, but fame is not their goal anyway.

Maybe all this is related to the oath they are required to take:

Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health, the relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge. I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics. I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.

When you think about it, it is really quite amazing that these people invest close to a hundred thousand dollars and twenty years in an education and move to rural America. There are only 27 veterinary medical schools in the United States. It is more difficult to get into one of them than it is to get into a normal medical school.

Yet, after all their struggle, work and time invested, they still come to the middle of the prairie to be a country vet. Many are known simply as "Doc".

The next time you see "Doc", you might want to let him (or her) know just how much we appreciate what they passed up just to share life with us on the prairies of Dakota.

They could have chosen the money in medicine, but they chose a life instead of a lifestyle.

Larry Gabriel is the South Dakota Secretary of Agriculture


Received via email:

THE YEAR 1906

The year is 1906.
One hundred years ago.
What a difference a century makes!
Here are some of the U.S. statistics for the Year 1906:


The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California.

With a mere 1.4 million people, California was only the 21st most populous state in the Union.

The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower!

The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents per hour.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, a dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.

More than 95 percent of all births in the US. took place at HOME.

Ninety percent of all U.S. doctors had NO COLLEGE EDUCATION! Instead, they attended so-called medical schools, many of which were condemned in the press AND the government as "substandard."

Sugar cost four cents a pound.

Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.

Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.

Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo.

Canada passed a law that prohibited poor people from entering into their country for any reason.

Five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:

1. Pneumonia and influenza
2. Tuberculosis
3. Diarrhea
4. Heart disease
5. Stroke

The American flag had 45 stars. Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been admitted to the Union yet.

The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was only 30!!!!

Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and ice tea hadn't been invented yet.

There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.

Two out of every 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the counter at the local corner drugstores. Back then pharmacists said, "Heroin clears the complexion, gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels, and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."

Eighteen percent of households in the U.S. had at least one full-time servant or domestic help.

There were about 230 reported murders in the ENTIRE U.S.A.!

FLE

Federal official charged with immigration fraud A immigration supervisor in the Washington district office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) was charged yesterday with immigration fraud for issuing naturalized citizenship certificates to people who didn't earn them. Robert T. Schofield appeared in a federal court in Alexandria yesterday and awaited a bond hearing today. Court papers filed in support of search warrant applications said that at least 23 persons may have illegitimately obtained naturalization certificates from Mr. Schofield. "This agency has zero tolerance for anyone who might betray the confidence of the American people by compromising the integrity of our immigration system," said Emilio T. Gonzalez, director of USCIS. "This alleged behavior in no way represents the honor and ethics of the work force at USCIS. We will continue to cooperate fully with authorities in this ongoing investigation." A spokeswoman for USCIS said Mr. Schofield has worked for the agency since 1976 and was a first line supervisory adjudications officer. That means he oversaw other immigration adjudicators who rule on applications ranging from citizenship to companies seeking permission to import foreign workers. It's the second time this month a USCIS employee was arrested in a high-profile immigration scam. The FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York announced June 7 they had arrested Phillip A. Browne, a USCIS employee who conspired with his sister to sell green cards based on sham marriages....
Ex-N.Y. Police Chief Admits to Taking Gifts Bernard B. Kerik, whose rise from New York beat cop to head of the Department of Homeland Security was derailed by ethics questions, dodged prison Friday in a plea bargain by admitting he took $165,000 in gifts from a company attempting to do business with the city. Kerik, at a 10-minute hearing in state Supreme Court in the Bronx, pleaded guilty to a pair of misdemeanors under a deal that allows him to continue without interruption his new career as a Middle East security consultant. Kerik acknowledged accepting renovations on his Bronx apartment from a company attempting to land city contracts -- Interstate Industrial Corp., a business reputedly linked to organized crime. And he admitted failing to report a $28,000 loan from a real estate developer, as required by city law. The transgressions occurred while Kerik was head of the city Correction Department. In entering his plea, Kerik admitted speaking to city officials about Interstate, but he never acknowledged a link between the renovations and his support of the company. Outside court, Kerik showed no sign of remorse and offered no apology....
State Tracked Protesters in the Name of Security Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office in charge of protecting California against terrorism has tracked demonstrations staged by political and antiwar groups, a practice that senior law enforcement officials say is an abuse of civil liberties. The Times obtained reports prepared for the state Office of Homeland Security in recent months that contain details on the whereabouts and purpose of a number of political demonstrations throughout California. The source of the information is listed in some cases as federal law enforcement agencies, including the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, an investigative arm of the U.S. Homeland Security department. Political activities cited in the reports include: • An animal rights rally outside a Canadian consulate office in San Francisco to protest the hunting of seals. • A demonstration in Walnut Creek at which U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-Martinez) and other officials spoke against the war in Iraq. • A Women's International League for Peace and Freedom gathering at a courthouse in Santa Barbara in support of an antiwar protester — a 56-year-old Salinas woman — facing federal trespassing charges. California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer's office learned of the monitoring activity more than two months ago. On Friday, a spokesman condemned the actions, saying they violated the groups' constitutional right of free speech. "When people exercise their 1st Amendment rights to rally, march and protest, they should not have to worry that intelligence officials are watching them or their activities are in any way being painted with the terrorism brush," Lockyer spokesman Tom Dresslar said in an interview....
Gitmo win likely cost Navy lawyer his caree Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift -- the Navy lawyer who beat the president of the United States in a pivotal Supreme Court battle over trying alleged terrorists -- figures he'll probably have to find a new job. Of course, it's always risky to compare your boss to King George III. Swift made the analogy to the court, saying President Bush had overstepped his authority when he bypassed Congress and set up illegal military tribunals to try Guantanamo detainees such as Swift's alleged al-Qaida client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. The justices agreed, ruling 5-3 Thursday in favor of dismantling the current tribunal system. Despite his spectacular success, with the assistance of attorneys from the Seattle firm Perkins Coie, Swift thinks his military career is coming to an end. The 44-year-old Judge Advocate General officer, who was recently named one of the 100 most influential lawyers in the country by The National Law Journal, was passed over for promotion last year as the high-profile case was making headlines around the world. "I may be one of the most influential lawyers in America," the Seattle University Law School graduate said, "but I won't be in the military much longer. That irony did strike me." Swift's future in the Navy now rests with another promotion board that is expected to render its decision in the next couple of weeks. Under the military's system, officers need to be promoted at regularly scheduled intervals or their service careers are essentially over....
Airport security slammed in Congress U.S. lawmakers this week called the TSA's baggage screening and bomb detection systems inadequate. The failure rates of some Transportation Security Administration programs indicated the potential for dire consequences, a leading GOP congressman said according to the GovExec.com report. "The system we now have in place, the failure rate (to detect explosives)] is just disastrous," said Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Detailed information on failure rates was classified, the lawmakers said. In addition, TSA's baggage handlers we injured on the job more often than employees at other federal agencies, Mica said at a hearing. He cited an Occupational Safety and Health Administration report that said 16 percent of TSA baggage screeners were injured at work. Systems that kept luggage out of screeners' hands and on conveyor belts would be faster and safer, Mica said. Some baggage examination machines require too much staffing, as well, he said. Mica also urged the agency to look into a more standard and consistent screening system. "TSA unfortunately created a hodgepodge of systems," he said, calling for an investigation into the agency's screening contracts....
Base intruder caught with guidance system Military police at an Arizona base took 45 minutes to respond to a Tucson police call about an intruder because officers could not find the right key. A $78,000 navigation system for a Navy anti-submarine plane was allegedly later found in the intruder's home, the Arizona Daily Star reports. The incident at the Davis-Monahan Base began June 13 when police spotted a man they later identified as Christopher Howard inside the perimeter fence in an area known as "the boneyard," an aircraft storage area. Because Tucson officers had no power to make an arrest, they held Howard until they were told military police could not get to the area, when they released him with a warning to stay off the base. The FBI later arrested Howard on suspicion of stealing government property, the Daily Star said. Howard claimed to be an aircraft buff who had entered the base in an area where the fence was missing to get a closer look at the planes, the newspaper reported....
Emergency network goes unused First responders are not using the Homeland Security Department's new communication network and instead are relying on the telephone when terrorist situations arise. A report by the department's inspector general released yesterday says very few of the thousands of officials registered to access the network use the secure Web site to share information. Registered users say the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) "does not provide them the situational awareness they need to manage or respond to emergency operations or terrorist-related events," the report said. Federal officials created the HSIN after the September 11 terrorist attacks to share information with law enforcement, emergency management, fire departments, local homeland security officials, the National Guard and counterterrorism officials. The Web site has 10 portals that provide classified information, law-enforcement analysis, and data on international incidents and emergency management. The report says that in December, fewer than 100 of nearly 10,000 registered users of the counterterrorism portal logged on to the site and 40 of more than 4,000 users of the emergency-management portal checked the site. During the London bombings in July, users needed timely information on whether the attacks were suicide bombings so transportation security could be adjusted on local levels. "However, the information provided on HSIN was no more useful or timely than information available via public news sources," the report said....
The Total Information Awareness program was killed in 2003, but its spawn present bigger threats to privacy THE DISCLOSURE this week of a secret databank operation tracking international financial transactions has caused renewed concerns about civil liberties in the United States. But this program is just the latest in a series of secret surveillance programs, databanks and domestic operations justified as part of the war on terror. Disclosed individually over the course of the last year, they have become almost routine. Yet, when considered collectively, they present a far more troubling picture, and one that should be vaguely familiar. Civil liberty-minded citizens may recall the president's plan to create the Total Information Awareness program, a massive databank with the ability to follow citizens in real time by their check-card purchases, bank transactions, medical bills and other electronic means. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was assigned this task, but after its work was made public, Congress put a stop to it in September 2003 as a danger to privacy and civil liberties. However, when Congress disbanded the Total Information Awareness program, it did not prohibit further research on such databanks, or even the use of individual databanks. And, according to a recent study by the National Journal, the Bush administration used that loophole to break the program into smaller parts, transferring some parts to the National Security Agency, classifying the work and renaming parts of it as the Research Development and Experimental Collaboration program. It was long suspected that Total Information Awareness survived, and the disclosure this week of another massive databank operation has only reinforced that fear. The spawn of DARPA seem to be turning up in secret programs spread throughout agencies. The administration learned that it could not create a network of databanks in one comprehensive system, but it could achieve the same results by creating smaller systems that could be easily daisy-chained at a later date into the same kind of massive computer bank that Congress thought it had shut down. It is DARPA, albeit with assembly required for the ultimate user....
Analysis: Wartime Powers Face Scrutiny The Supreme Court ruling on Guantanamo puts the brakes on what has been a sharp expansion of executive powers and raises fresh questions about other aspects of President Bush's war-on-terror policy. The 5-3 decision was a frontal assault on Bush's tactics and a reaffirmation of the court's own role in a system where power is shared among three branches of government. "What it says is that the court has a viable interest in remaining the ultimate authority on the law," said Charles Rose, a constitutional law professor at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla. Other administration anti-terror programs, including a warrantless eavesdropping program that worries even some Republicans, "are based on the same interpretation of presidential authority in a time of war" rejected in the Guantanamo case, Rose said. Legal and presidential scholars saw the decision as a check on the president's assertion of expanded wartime powers. They likened it to the court's 1952 rejection of President Truman's efforts to take over a strike-closed steel mill by claiming its steel production was necessary to the U.S. war effort in Korea. Similarly, the Supreme Court rejected President Nixon's claim in the early 1970s of broad wartime power to authorize warrantless wiretap surveillance of domestic groups opposed to the Vietnam war, such as the Black Panthers. "The Supreme Court normally does not reverse the president during wartime," said Stephen J. Wayne, a Georgetown University professor and presidential expert. "But this president has claimed a lot of power, much of it under the guise of the state of war that we're in against terrorists. And I think what the Supreme Court is saying is that you've gone too far."....
Court's Ruling Is Likely to Force Negotiations Over Presidential Power The Supreme Court's Guantánamo ruling on Thursday was the most significant setback yet for the Bush administration's contention that the Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath have justified one of the broadest expansions of presidential power in American history. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney spent much of their first term bypassing Congress in the service of what they labeled a "different kind of war." Now they will almost certainly plunge into negotiations they previously spurned, over the extent of the president's powers, this time in the midst of a midterm election in which Mr. Bush's wartime strategies and their consequences have emerged as a potent issue. The ruling bolsters those in Congress who for months have been trying to force the White House into a retreat from its claims that Mr. Bush not only has the unilateral authority as commander in chief to determine how suspected terrorists are tried, but also to set the rules for domestic wiretapping, for interrogating prisoners and for pursuing a global fight against terror that many suspect could stretch for as long as the cold war did. What the court's 5-to-3 decision declared, in essence, was that Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney had overreached and must now either use the established rules of courts-martial or go back to Congress — this time with vastly diminished leverage — to win approval for the military commissions that Mr. Bush argues are the best way to keep the nation safe. For Mr. Bush, this is not the first such setback. The court ruled two years ago that the giant prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, was not beyond the reach of American courts and that prisoners there had some minimal rights....
THE COURT'S STUNNING HAMDAN DECISION or much of American history, the Supreme Court has refused to resolve the most fundamental conflicts between individual rights and national security. Instead it has required Congress explicitly to authorize any presidential intrusion into the domain of civil liberty--even when national security is threatened. In this way, the Court has enlisted the separation of powers on behalf of individual liberty. The Court's stunning decision in the Hamdan case is a ringing endorsement of this simple practice. In brief, the Court ruled that in the absence of clear congressional permission, or some kind of emergency, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces may not try a suspected terrorist in special military commissions. The Court so ruled without resolving the largest constitutional questions and hence without forbidding Congress and the president, acting together, to use military tribunals as they see fit. The Court's analysis came in three parts. First, the Court said that under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Congress authorized the president to use commissions only in special circumstances. To be sure, the president can use such commissions to determine whether an alleged enemy has violated the law of war. But the particular charges against Hamdan claimed no violation of the law of war. Instead the government alleged only that he "conspired" to violate that law. The problem is that Congress has never identified "conspiracy" as a war crime--and no precedent establishes it as such. In the Court's view, this shortcoming illustrates the broader problem, which is that without specific congressional authorization, the president must establish some kind of "military necessity" for the use of special commissions. There was no such necessity here. After all, Hamdan's tribunal was not appointed by a commander in the battlefield, but by a retired general far from active hostilities. Second, the Court emphasized that Hamdan's trial would not guarantee him the right to be informed of the evidence against him--a right that is guaranteed in court-martial proceedings....
Courts, Congress Resist Growing White House Power As demonstrated by yesterday's landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the legality of military tribunals to try "enemy combatants," the administration of President George W. Bush has consistently sought to expand the power of the presidency in the name of the "global war on terror." The president has claimed he has "inherent rights" under the U.S. Constitution to do "whatever it takes" to protect the U.S. public during times of war – even if that means issuing "signing statements" that have the effect of ignoring or modifying laws passed by Congress, or invoking the so-called state secrets privilege to keep potentially embarrassing cases from getting to court. A "signing statement" is language a president can use to modify or effectively nullify laws passed by Congress. Signing statements have been sparingly used since the early days of the Republic, but President Bush has dramatically increased their use during his six years in office. Invoking the state secrets privilege – claiming that disclosure of sensitive information in a court trial would endanger national security – is another tactic frequently used by the Bush administration to stop potentially embarrassing lawsuits against the government. Many of these suits are brought by government employees who allege fraud, mismanagement, or other unlawful conduct, so the state secrets privilege has successfully been invoked by the government to silence "whistleblowers." But now a member of the president's own Republican Party is pushing back against the administration by introducing a bill to limit what he considers abuse of the state secrets tactic. Christopher Shays, a longtime Republican member of Congress from a heavily Democratic district in Connecticut, believes that the state secrets provision has been used too frequently and with too little public protection. In particular, he is concerned that it will continue to be used to block whistleblower cases. "If the very people you're suing are the ones who get to use the state secrets privilege, it's a stacked deck," says Shays, who has long been a proponent of limiting government secrecy....
USA Today: Call Database Not So Broad USA Today acknowledged in a "note to our readers" Friday that it could not establish that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the National Security Agency to provide it with customer calling records, as it previously reported. But spokesman Steve Anderson said "this is an important story that holds up well. At the heart of our report is the fact that NSA is collecting phone call records of millions of Americans." "What we address in the editors' note," he said, "deals with the fact that we originally reported that the telephone companies were working under contract with the NSA. We've concluded that we cannot establish that BellSouth or Verizon entered into a contract with the NSA to provide the bulk calling records." In an accompanying story, the newspaper reported Friday that lawmakers on House and Senate intelligence committees have said that while the NSA has amassed a huge database calling records, cooperation with the NSA by telephone companies was not as extensive USA Today initially reported on May 11....
The Basic Questions The Financial Spying Program, how many people has it caught? Who are they? Where are they? What has been done about them? Did it catch anyone that could not have been caught another way? What was the cost per catch? Would that expenditure in time, effort and money, been better applied elsewhere? Did it catch anyone that was part of 9/11? Al Qaeda spent a lot of money on 9/11. They spent a lot of money elsewhere. How many of the Al Qaeda’s backers has this program found? More than one? Why haven’t they been arrested? Who are they? Where are they? The wiretaps without warrants program, how many people did it catch? How many operations did it interrupt? How many arrests or captures did it lead to? What did it cost? What does it continue to cost?....
DON'T FALL FOR THE BUNKUM OF "EMERGENCY POWERS" In the ancient Roman Republic, the Senate could appoint a temporary dictator, and invest him with specific and often sweeping powers, to deal with extraordinary conditions. And on both sides of the wall behind the Speaker’s desk in the United States House of Representatives are prominently displayed Roman fasces: an ax within a bundle of sticks, symbolizing the plenitude of governmental power—a classical representation of Mao Tse-tung’s epigram that “[p]olitical power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” The illusions of modern politicians aside, however, that historical allusion does not invest Congress with all the powers of the Roman Senate, let alone a license to arm the President with the authority of an ancient Roman dictator—or of a latter-day Duce. The modern doctrine of “emergency powers” is striking because—unlike the authority of the ancient Roman Senate to appoint a dictator—“emergency powers” lack both a specific source in the Constitution and a definition. Obviously, if the Constitution contained a clause explicitly delegating to Congress “emergency powers,” delineating the content of such powers, and setting out specific conditions under which they could be exercised, by whom, and for what purposes, no one could complain. No such provision exists in the Constitution, however. Today, officeholders simply announce that an “emergency” exists and that they are assuming “emergency powers” to deal with it—with both the erstwhile “emergency” and the “powers” unilaterally defined by them without reference to anything in the Constitution. To any legally literate individual, this situation should be intolerable....

From: Keeler Ranch
Sent: Friday, June 30, 2006 2:44 PM

Jaguar Conservation Team meeting - 6/29/06

Just a brief update on the Jaguar Conservation Team meeting in Douglas yesterday. The good news is we were able to rap up the meeting in just one day. The bad news is we accomplished very little.

As an attendee at every Team meeting, with the exception to one, since the Team’s inception in 1997, nothing surprises me any more. I knew allowing the Soil and Water Conservation Districts voting rights would be a hot issue.

Terry Johnson,AZ Game and Fish Department got out of making any decisions on this matter by telling the Team the decision would be made by the two state wildlife agency directors. In New Mexico that would be Bruce Thompson, in Arizona - Duane Shroufe. In all the time I’ve been attending the meetings, I’ve never seen Terry fail to have the authority to make a decision. Obviously, he’s trying to pass any political fallout regarding this decision on to his superiors.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Terry J. presided over the meeting. The morning was spent going through the agenda. I’ll touch on some of the important issues:

Hidalgo County and the White Water Draw NRCD applied for and were granted signatory status under the old Memorandum of Agreement (MOA).

Draft Summary Notes: We were given copies of the draft summary notes from the April 27-28 JAGCT meeting in Lordsburg. However, they are so disjointed and vague, it makes commenting on them very difficult.

There were several motions passed, including one that allowed the Soil and Water Conservation Districts to become voting members, and another that would have minimized the priority area for jaguar conservation activities to 3 counties in Arizona and Hidalgo County in New Mexico. However, these motions are vaguely worded in the draft summary notes. It was brought to Terry Johnson’s attention that the signators of the old MOA had voted to allow Soil and Water Conservation Districts signatory status by acclimation in the April Team meeting. Hopefully this will be duly noted in the upcoming summary notes.

I would suggest we contact the AZ Game and Fish and ask the draft notes from the Lordsburg meeting be rewritten before anyone tries to comment or suggest changes. I would also encourage everyone to ask the motions be fully written…. Since the meetings are not taped and we have nothing to refer to except the summary notes, we need to be able to know what AZ G&F actually recorded.

Comments on the Draft Summary Notes are due by July 14th and should be e-mailed to Bill Van Pelt, BVanpelt@azgfd.com or Terry Johnson TJohnson@azgfd.com AZ Game and Fish Department.

Update on sightings: There have been no new sightings of jaguar in New Mexico since the last meeting. There were three “black” cat sightings that have been classified as Class III sightings in Arizona. Class III sightings are the lowest level of classification - indicating the sightings were not jaguars.

Kill activities: Jack Childs reported there had been no kills by jaguars (I might add, in 9 years there have never been any kills reported). However, they were able to document, through the trip cameras, a jaguar (Macho B) feeding on a dead cow in Arizona. The cow was from Mexico and “trespassing” on the American side of the border.

Coordination with Mexico: Bill VanPelt discussed the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s participation in the Trilateral Committee and the resolution that was passed to continue the United States’ collaborative work with Mexico. He also told everyone that Mexico had declared 2005 the year of the jaguar and will be developing a conservation plan for jaguars in Mexico to be completed by the end of 2006.

Memorandum of Agreement: There was a great deal of discussion on the new Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). Here are some of the concerns brought forth:

· The text and intent has been significantly changed from the old MOA

· The primary emphasis area for conservation action has been redefined to include Pima, Santa Cruz, Graham, Greenlee, and Cochise counties in Arizona and Hidalgo, Grant and Catron counties, in New Mexico.

· Arizona Game and Fish Department and New Mexico Department of Game and Fish are now the “Lead Agencies”.

· All other signatories on the MOA are called “Cooperators”.

· Soil and Water Conservation Districts can “participate” through an umbrella agreement with the each state with one vote per state, but individual districts can not have voting powers.

· Additional “Cooperators” may be added, only with the concurrence of the Lead Agencies.

· The chairmanship is now limited to the two state wildlife agencies.

· Only “employees” of the Cooperators can now vote. This would effectively eliminate county commissioners and supervisors from voting

· No proxies will be accepted. This would prohibit the counties from extending a proxy to their designated representatives.

It is obvious Arizona Game and Fish desires complete control over the Jaguar Conservation Team as well as control over the direction the strategy will take in the future.

Equal footing with the participating agencies will no longer be granted and there will be minimal representation of local concerns. In other words, the federal and state agencies will now be the driving force behind jaguar conservation and the real “stakeholders” will have very little to say where this agenda is driven by the unelected federal and state agencies.

I’m off to spend some time with family! Will catch you up on the new Framework discussion next week!!

Hope you all have a Fantastic 4th of July!!

NEWS ROUNDUP

Buyout will end Siskiyou grazing After three years of negotiations, ranchers and conservationists have agreed to terms of a buyout to get cattle off the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, which was created to protect the rare mix of plants found where the Siskiyou Mountains connect with the Cascade Range. "This is a compromise that none of the ranchers really want, but we figure is the best thing for ranchers, our economic interests and for the taxpayers," said Bob Miller of Hornbrook, Calif., whose family has run cattle in the area for a century. "It's basically the best compromise we can come up with to solve a major problem that's been created by modern times." Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., announced from Washington, D.C., that he plans to introduce a bill in July that would pay ranchers $814,200 if they agree to give up leases that allow about 500 cattle to graze on the monument. Conservation groups offered to sweeten the deal with an as-yet-undetermined amount of cash if all 17 ranching families with grazing rights agree to retire their leases. The bill also would create a 23,000-acre Soda Mountain Wilderness within the monument, something conservation groups have been trying to achieve for 30 years....
House approves coastline oil and natural gas exploration The House of Representatives voted 232-187 Thursday to permit new oil and natural gas exploration off the nation's coastlines in swaths that have been off-limits since 1981 because of environmental concerns. The vote, in which 40 Democrats voted with the Republicans, reflected the political pressures of soaring fuel prices and a desire to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, especially from the volatile Mideast. Supporters argued that expanded offshore drilling would lower natural gas prices, help farmers and manufacturers, bolster national security and bring back jobs. "We depend on foreign countries for 66 percent of our energy," said House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., who managed the drilling bill. "I'm telling you, it's time to stop saying no." The Senate hasn't passed an offshore drilling bill, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said it's unlikely to allow new drilling off the East and West coasts. However, he said he sensed an "improving likelihood" that Congress this year will authorize deepwater exploration in portions of the Gulf of Mexico that now are off-limits to new drilling....
Life for rangers on the front lines and in the backcountry of national parks Although he spends most of his patrol alone, National Park Service ranger Kean Mihata rarely gets lonely. At any point during his shift, the law enforcement officer could be called on to assist an injured climber dangling from a cliff wall, wrap a Band-Aid on a youngster's finger, quiet rowdy campers or chase poachers. Some nights, he might be required to do all of those. "It keeps things interesting," says Mihata, who spent four years as an interpretative ranger with the National Park Service before spending the last four with law enforcement. His career has included stints in California and Alaska. "The diversity here is amazing. I get to see folks from everywhere in the world. I can't think of a job I would love as much as this one." More often than not, Mihata is answering questions, like "When is the next shuttle?" He often hands out speeding tickets and escorts oversized vehicles through the tight confines of the Mount Carmel Highway tunnel....
'Preservation' should not mean abandoning our property rights Just one year after the Supreme Court's dreadful Kelo decision sparked an outcry against government eminent-domain abuse, some in Congress are preparing a new threat to property owners in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) wants to transform the entire U.S. 15 corridor, from Charlottesville to Gettysburg, into a National Heritage Area. National Heritage Areas are preservation zones, where the National Park Service and designated preservationist groups team up to influence how an area is developed (or not developed). Wolf's bill, the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area Act, is a pork-barrel earmark awarded to preservationist interest groups. Only instead of merely providing pork, this would actually purchase lobbyists. The legislation essentially deputizes the National Trust for Historic Preservation, other like-minded preservationist groups and the Park Service to oversee land-use policy in the corridor. This consortium would form a "management entity" and be given a federal mandate to create an "inventory" of all property in the area that it wants "preserved," "managed," or "acquired" because of its "national historic significance." In an effort to downplay concerns from property-rights advocates, a spokesperson for the Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership (the umbrella group that is spearheading the Heritage Area effort), claims, "A National Heritage Area does not interfere with the local authority at all." Such a statement signifies either extreme ignorance of the legislation, or outright dishonesty. Wolf's legislation is specifically designed to interfere with local authorities....
Hippies beat back US forest officers United States Forest Service officers were hit, elbowed and pelted with a rock when they tried to arrest unruly campers at a gathering of the Rainbow Family, a free-spirited, loosely affiliated band of hippies, officials said. The confrontation on Monday night was one of at least three clashes between officers and campers as thousands of the Rainbow Family gather for a weeklong outing, which officially begins on Saturday. None of the injuries was serious, Forest Service spokesperson Kimberly Vogel said on Thursday. About 5 000 members of the group, which promotes non-violence and harmony with nature, have arrived at the campsite in the Routt National Forest about 50km north of Steamboat Springs in defiance of the Forest Service, which has refused to grant the group a permit, citing the fire danger. About 200 campers surrounded 15 officers and became verbally abusive on Monday night, Vogel said. As the officers tried to arrest some campers, the crowd surged forward, striking at least three officers and pulling the suspects free, Vogel said....it will be interesting to see how many do Federal time like Kit Laney.
Rainbow Family trials to stay in firehouse The trials for the Rainbow Family members camping in the Routt National Forest will continue in the small firehouse near Steamboat Springs, a federal judge said Thursday. U.S. District Court Judge Marcia Krieger denied a motion for a temporary restraining order filed by David Lane, an attorney for several Rainbow Family members. But Krieger later set a hearing for today in Denver on a second attempt by attorneys for the Rainbow Family to stop the trials. Lane's original suit, filed Tuesday, said the firehouse's small size effectively turned the trials into "secret proceedings." The firehouse is about 35 miles northwest of Steamboat. About 250 Rainbow Family members have been charged with camping illegally because the group, estimated to reach 20,000 by next week, was unable to obtain a permit because of fire danger....
Thieves targeting federal land to steal bark off trees People who believe in herbal medicines say slippery elm bark is good for what ails you -- especially problems associated with the skin, stomach and bowels. But stripping all the bark from slippery elm trees isn't good for the trees. It kills them. Thefts of slippery elm bark -- like ginseng and other plants valued as herbal cures -- are on the rise on public lands in Kentucky and elsewhere. In the last couple of weeks, several people have been charged in connection with stripped elm trees in Leslie and Jackson counties in the Daniel Boone National Forest. In Leslie County, three people were charged twice in one week. The second time, they told officers they were trying to make money to pay fines for the first offense, Forest Service spokeswoman Kim Feltner said today....
Continental Divide biathlon course evaluated The Forest Service says a military biathlon course, proposed for the Continental Divide just west of Helena, would have mostly minimal effects on the area. The Montana Army National Guard wants to build, maintain and use the course for biathlon -- rigorous Nordic skiing, followed by target shooting with .22-caliber rifles. The site is on Forest Service land near MacDonald Pass -- an already popular among Nordic skiers in Helena. Some skiers like the Guard's one-and-a-half (m) million dollar plan, because the groomed course would be open to the public when not in military use. Others say the course would disrupt a peaceful area, inhabited by wildlife and popular for family recreation....
Little-known law keeps Wyo. Range leases open Judi Adler and her neighbors around Hoback Ranches thought they were in the clear. The natural gas leases for minerals under the public and private lands surrounding their homes were due to expire in a matter of months, and they had received no notice of any impending drilling plans. A few months later, they read an article in the newspaper that the land, including the mineral rights directly underneath their homes, had been authorized by the federal government for oil and gas production. An operator had plans to drill three deep natural gas wells there. The move left the homeowners wondering what happened. The law governing mineral lease suspensions is Section 39 of the 1920 Minerals Leasing Act. Under that law, operators can apply for a suspension for two reasons: when it is in the interest of resource conservation, or because of “force majeure,” which basically means when the operator can’t produce the lease due to reasons beyond its control. The second clause has elicited most of the controversy. Force majeure could mean that the BLM was unable to do the proper surveys to approve a well before the lease expired, or, in a recent controversial case in Cora near the Green River, the company could not get any private landowners to grant it access to its landlocked lease parcel. In the case of the Wyoming Range, however, the suspensions can be linked to a 1992 BLM memo that effectively expanded the workable definition of force majeure to include instances when “leasing delays by the federal government prohibit a lessee’s ability to form lease blocks sufficient for the orderly exploration and development of oil and gas resources....
House measure would sweeten oil shale deal Energy companies could potentially reap millions of dollars in royalty breaks under a House bill approved Thursday that calls for the United States to model its western oil shale program after Canada's booming tar sands industry. Companies in Canada are making fortunes turning sticky, tar-covered sand into oil. The United States hopes to do the same with tar sand in Utah and its cousin, oil shale, a rock that yields petroleum when heated. Colorado, Utah and Wyoming contain an estimated 500 billion to 1.1 trillion recoverable barrels of oil from oil shale, though companies are still exploring whether it can be tapped economically. The provision in a House energy bill, which also lifts a ban on oil and gas drilling off much of the U.S. coast, directs the interior secretary to use Canada as an example of how to shape the royalties the oil shale companies would pay for energy from public lands. Canadian tar sands producers pay little in royalties until several years into development....
BLM struggles with drilling demand The federal government is struggling to keep up with demand as high energy prices and a push to tap U.S. oil and gas reserves fuel a rush to drill in the Rocky Mountain states, land managers told a Senate committee this week. The number of drilling permit applications to the Bureau of Land Management jumped 27 percent between 2004 and 2006, agency and industry officials said. The BLM has scrambled to keep pace, but has been able to boost the number of permits approved by only 20 percent over the same time frame. "We find ourselves in an uphill battle to get on top of the workload," said Kathleen Clarke, director of the BLM, which oversees much of the nation's onshore public oil and gas reserves. The situation is expected to grow more intense. Natural gas production from reserves in the Rockies is projected to double in the next 20 years, surpassing production in the Gulf of Mexico. Duane Zavadil of the Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States said the BLM needs to update its permitting process to prevent delays....
Report: Grouse protections not working When state and federal regulators opened the door to drilling of 51,000 coal-bed methane wells in the Powder River Basin several years ago, they did so not knowing the implications to wildlife. Now ongoing monitoring indicates that seasonal restrictions intended to protect sage grouse and their wintering habitat in the region isn't working. The University of Montana report suggests that year-round restrictions on coal-bed methane development are needed in some areas -- particularly in the northern portion of the basin on the Wyoming/Montana border. The report concludes that "conservation strategies to date to protect the species have been largely ineffective. An effective conservation strategy is one that limits the cumulative impact of disturbances across the landscape at all times of the year." David Naugle, a wildlife professor at the University of Montana, has headed up the sage grouse research, paid for by the Bureau of Land Management in both Wyoming and Montana. Naugle released a related report earlier this month noting a 84 percent decline in sage grouse in the Powder River Basin, where much of the coal-bed methane production takes place....
Judge: BLM should consider alternatives to herbicides An administrative judge with the US Interior Department has ruled that the Bureau of Land Management should have considered alternatives to herbicides when it studied a project to control brush near Roswell. Judge Robert Holt says the agency must revise its environmental assessment for the project, which involves treating 2,700 acres near the Rio Hondo. The agency must evaluate options that include mechanical or manual control, burning and biological control. Holt says the BLM’s failure to analyze more alternatives violated regulations for preparing environmental assessments as well as provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act....
Poaching probe nets a big haul In the biggest single-day bust of suspected poachers in state history, California wildlife officers on Thursday arrested 17 people in three cases threatening native sturgeon and abalone populations. With 85 state game wardens involved, the California Department of Fish and Game called the roundup unprecedented. Arrests were made in at least eight California cities. One arrest occurred in Oregon, and three more in California are pending. The sturgeon poaching ring, unconnected to the abalone cases, was centered on an illegal caviar-producing operation in Sacramento. It involved six Bay Area men who allegedly caught the fish illegally in the Sacramento River, authorities said. Four others in the Sacramento area processed the fish roe, or eggs, into caviar....
Horned lizard still not 'endangered' An easygoing desert lizard with the ability to disappear into its surroundings doesn’t deserve protection under the Endangered Species Act, the federal government ruled Wednesday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday announced it won’t list the Flat-tailed horned lizard as a threatened species because it has plenty of habitat left in its range. Lizard defenders said the ruling is misguided and could push the reptile, described as a mini-dinosaur, closer to extinction. People have driven the the reptile from unprotected areas in the Coachella Valley, and development threatens lizards living in a desert wildlife preserve, they say. The ruling Wednesday follows a November 2005 court ruling that ordered the service to reconsider a decision to withdraw a proposal to list the lizard....
Judgment Day Set for Polar Bears Conservation groups today announced they have reached a settlement in a lawsuit to protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act. Under the settlement, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must complete its “12-month” finding on whether polar bears should be listed under the Endangered Species Act by December 27, 2006. “The scientific community is issuing sharp warnings to address global warming now, or suffer consequences that include the loss of Arctic sea ice and species such as the polar bear,” said Kassie Siegel of the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need to immediately protect polar bears under the Endangered Species Act and immediately cut greenhouse gas pollution.” Polar bears live only in the Arctic and are totally dependent on sea ice for all of their essential needs, including hunting their prey of ice seals. The rapid warming of the Arctic and melting of the sea ice poses an overwhelming threat to polar bears, which could become the first mammal to lose 100 percent of its habitat due to global warming....
Prairie dogs wreaking havoc in area grasslands Uninvited guests are wreaking havoc on Wesley Grau’s land. True, prairie dogs inhabited the grasslands of North America long before Grau began farming and ranching in Grady. Nonetheless, Grau said, the rodents are irksome, and he wishes them gone. “I fight them constantly,” said Grau, who prefers to keep his population control methods secret. “They are similar to big rats.” In the past seven years, Grau has spent roughly $25,000 trying to curb the prairie dog population on his land. The wily animals have decimated entire acres of grazing land for his cattle. His horses have broken legs in prairie dog holes on numerous occasions, and rattlesnakes are prone to nesting in the underground webs of the dogs....
Agreement conserves entire Roberts Ranch in Livermore A recent agreement between Catherine Roberts and The Nature Conservancy legally protects the entire historic Roberts Ranch from development. Located in the Laramie Foothills between Fort Collins and Laramie, Wyo., the ranch is "one of the most beautiful places in the world," said Catherine Roberts, who, like her late husband and his ancestors, loves the land and cares for it. "The pioneer Roberts family and their descendents have all had a burning desire to keep this land in its natural state," Roberts said in a prepared statement. "The economics of our day makes that difficult, and so I am grateful for the chance to work on this conservation easement with so many other individuals dedicated to keeping a portion of this great land open, just as it was when the first ranchers saw it." The beginnings of the Livermore ranch, which now encompasses 16,500 acres, date back 130 years. On July 3, 1874, the first members of the Roberts family arrived in what was then called Livermore Park to manage land and cattle for Greeley resident Russell Fisk. Robert Owen Roberts had lived in other states back East before arriving in Greeley and serendipitously meeting Fisk. The six-member Roberts family first occupied Fisk's rat-infested and leaky log house....
Sheep get free lunch on city In mid-June, runners and bicyclists were surprised when they crested the hill behind Hughes Stadium in the Maxwell Open Space. There, sharing the view and the trails, were a couple hundred bleating ewes with lambs, a Peruvian sheepherder, a sheep dog and a bright blue herder's wagon. One hiker on the trails described the unusual scene as "charming." A bicyclist stopped just to take in the view, and neighborhood folks brought kids in strollers to see the little lambs. It was the meeting of two worlds, urban and rural. Sheep were a big part of the settling of the West, but sheepherder's wagons are about as rare anymore as open space itself. The most-asked question: What are the sheep doing here? The answer: They're a cost-effective supplement to Round-Up. The Fort Collins Natural Resources staff has been increasingly concerned about the expansion of invasive weeds into open spaces, caused partly by the prolonged drought. Sheep are viewed as one more weapon in the arsenal against those pesky plants. "On a large scale, sheep are cost effective and gentler on the land than traditional mechanical and chemical weed treatments," said Rick Bachand with the city's natural areas program. Sheep are particularly well suited for rocky, steep hillsides that are difficult to reach with machinery....
Drought Putting Thousands Of Cattle Up For Sale Some say parts of central South Dakota may be drier now than during the dust bowl years in the 1930's. The severe drought is forcing many ranchers to make tough decisions, like selling off their entire herds just to keep the animals from starving to death. And sales at a livestock auction in Campbell County have almost doubled this year. As livestock are unloaded the pens at the Herreid Livestock Market fill up. It's a sight that reminds ranchers and farmers of just how bleak the situation is becoming in drought stricken central South Dakota. Co-owner and Manager of Herreid Livestock Market Herman Schumacher says, "It's as tough a time as I've ever seen in the cattle industry as far as weather is concerned." President of the Campbell County Bank Bruce Brandner says, "It's come down to buy hay, move the cattle out of the country, or just have to sell the whole herd." Over the past month, livestock sales at the market have increased by almost 90 percent....