Navajo water project promises to deliver in two years

More than 10,000 Navajo citizens are expected to get access to running water within two years following dedication Monday of the Eastern Navajo Waterline Project. The dedication ceremony, held in the Counselor Chapter, kicked off a $29 million project that will cross four counties and eight chapters. For some residents, the wait for running water has lasted more than four decades, Counselor Chapter President Samuel Sage said. "This has been talked about since the '60's and '70's," he said. "We grew up listening to the elderlies talking about it, and finally, finally, an agreement came." The four-phase project is part of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in April 2009. The act authorizes the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to construct the $870 million Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, of which the Eastern Navajo Waterline Project is a segment...more

Low market value, high care costs lead to more abandoned horses

Chuck Maxwell has owned many horses over the past 33 years. But the Malta resident has a particularly fond place in his heart for the 10 wild mustangs he’s adopted through the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse adoption program. A tough economic climate combined with legislation that forced U.S. horse processing plants to close their doors in 2007 has weakened the horse market. Many owners like Maxwell who can’t afford to keep their horses have put them up for sale under the poor market conditions. When buyers can’t be found, some owners have simply abandoned their animals. Minidoka County Fair Board Chairman Dan Kindig said a year ago the market was so bad the fair board took extra measures at the fairgrounds to prevent people from leaving horses there. Twin Falls Livestock Commission Manager Bruce Billington said his organization has seen horses abandoned in its livestock yard, along with sellers who’ve left fictitious names and phone numbers so they can’t be contacted if their horse doesn’t sell. Some of the horses, if they are big and fat, Billington says, will be bought for slaughter and transported to Canada or Mexico. “But for a smaller horse, the freight is almost equal to what the horse is worth, so there is just nowhere to go with them,” Billington said. “People can’t afford it so they just haul them off and dump them out somewhere,” he said. Billington said he’s received calls from people who have found horses dumped on their property, and has heard about people dropping horses in the desert. “That’s really cruel because they don’t know how to fend for themselves or find water,” Billington said. “And those wild horses are mean — they’ll kill a gelding.”...more

Girl dies after being trampled by horse in south Houston

Four-year-old Samantha Sillero loved riding horses with her parents, and she never had any problems with the animals until the fatal accident over the weekend at a rodeo event, family members said Monday. Samantha died after being trampled by a horse. The accident happened at a rodeo arena in the 13700 block of Karalis in south Houston around 10:35 p.m. Sunday, police said. Samantha and her mother, Mary Sillero, were riding their family's horse in the parking lot when the animal became ill and began acting out of control, said the girl's cousin, 22-year-old Maria Sillero. She said family members told her that the horse began banging its head against a car and threw both riders, then stepped on the girl's head. The girl's father, Sergio Sillero, who had gone to the stables to return a horse, arrived just as the accident happened, Maria Sillero said. The mother and daughter were rushed to Memorial Hermann Hospital, where Samantha was pronounced dead about 11:15 p.m. Mary Sillero, who suffered bruises, was released Monday morning...more

An earlier ABC report said the horse was a 7 year old stud.

States woo Calif. dairymen with less regulation

The number of dairies in California has plummeted by more than 500 in the past decade, with many moving to other states enticing them with promises of lower costs and simpler regulations. Eight states, ranging from Idaho to Iowa, have been courting dairies from California, the nation's largest milk producer. The reason is clear: Cows mean cash for local economies. Mike Meissen, vice president for value added agriculture for the Iowa Area Development Group, estimated each dairy cow has an economic impact of $15,000 a year. "So if a thousand cows go into a county, that's $15 million," said Meissen, whose group is made up of rural electric cooperatives that work to bring new business to Iowa. Texas also has lured dairies with what it claims are less onerous regulations, an attractive climate and large feed supplies. Its dairy cow population has grown from about 17,000 in 2000 to more than 200,000 this year, said Ellen Jordan, a dairy specialist with the Texas A&M extension. Overall, Texas ranks No. 8 among dairy states, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. "Producers who come here know what the regulations are," she said. "They can get a permit to operate and they know the area they are choosing is very ag friendly." Meanwhile, the number of California dairies dropped from more than 2,200 dairies in 1999 to 1,700 in 2009...more

'Growing concern' over marketing tainted beef

Beef containing harmful pesticides, veterinary antibiotics and heavy metals is being sold to the public because federal agencies have failed to set limits for the contaminants or adequately test for them, a federal audit finds. A program set up to test beef for chemical residues "is not accomplishing its mission of monitoring the food supply for … dangerous substances, which has resulted in meat with these substances being distributed in commerce," says the audit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General. The health effects on people who eat such meat are a "growing concern," the audit adds. Even when the inspection service does identify a lot of beef with high levels of pesticide or antibiotics, it often is powerless to stop the distribution of that meat because there is no legal limit for those contaminants...more

Why Brazil's Cotton Farmers Get Subsidies from the U.S.

Our perplexing $147.3 million–a-year handout to Brazilian agribusiness, part of a last-minute deal to head off an arcane trade dispute, barely even qualified as news. Cotton subsidies are a particularly egregious form of corporate welfare, funneling about $3 billion a year to fewer than 20,000 planters who tend to use inordinate amounts of water, energy and pesticides. But the World Trade Organization (WTO) doesn't prohibit dumb subsidies. It only prohibits subsidies that distort trade and hurt farmers in other countries. So last August, the WTO gave Brazil the right to impose punitive tariffs and lift patent protections on $829 million worth of U.S. goods - including nonfarm products like cars, drugs, textiles, chemicals, electronics, movies and music. The retaliation was supposed to start Wednesday, April 7, and it would have driven home how our relentless coddling of farmers hurts other American exporters, paralyzing our efforts to open overseas markets to the nonfarm goods and services that make up 99% of our economy. But at the 11th hour, negotiators from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the Agriculture Department reached a temporary deal with their Brazilian counterparts, so the retaliation is on hold. The U.S. negotiators did agree to modify the complicated export-guarantee program to make it less of an export-subsidy program. They also agreed to ease restrictions on Brazilian beef that have been justified as an effort to protect Americans from foot-and-mouth disease - and criticized as an effort to protect U.S. cattlemen from competition. But the big-ticket item is the settlement's "technical assistance" fund of $147.3 million, prorated, for Brazilian cotton growers. That just happens to be the precise amount of the retaliation the WTO had approved for the improper cotton subsidies. According to the U.S. press release, the fund will be replenished every year "until passage of the next farm bill or a mutually agreed solution to the cotton dispute is reached."...more

Song Of The Day #284

This week Ranch Radio will delve into that wonderful emotion - love, and that great institution - marriage.

For some, though, it's neither wonderful or great. Take, for instance, Red River Dave as he sings the WWII classic I'd Rather Die For My Country (Than Live With My Wife).

‘There won’t be another guy like Robert Krentz’

More than 1,200 friends, relatives and dignitaries crowded into the Douglas High School gym Saturday morning to remember and celebrate the life of a “good man,” Robert Krentz. The Douglas-area rancher was found murdered March 27 on his ranch. The memorial Mass, celebrated by the Most Rev. Gerald F. Kicanas, bishop of the Roman Catholic Church’s Tucson Diocese, as well as the Rev. Gilbert Malu, the Rev. James Baka and the Rev. Armando Espinoza, was moved to the high school after it was realized that no other facility in the community was big enough to hold the crowd. Even with more than 1,200 seats available, there was standing room only for those at the service to honor and say goodbye to their family member and friend. The service’s feeling was a mix of reverence and remembrance of a man who had touched innumerable lives with simple acts of Christian service, Kicanas said. Calling Krentz a “steward of the creation,” the bishop cited Krentz’s care for the land. After the service, those who knew Krentz shared their thoughts on a man many said was one of a kind. “There won’t be another guy like Robert Krentz,” said Cheyenne Wilkins. “He was one of the last of a dying breed of good people.” “They’re the kind of family that would do anything for anybody,” he said, and Krentz “was the nicest guy you’ll ever meet.”...more

Ariz. Ranchers Caught Up In Mexican Drug Violence

About 1,000 people showed up over the weekend at a memorial service for Robert Krentz, 58, an Arizona rancher who was shot and killed along with his dog — presumably by a drug smuggler. Neighbors worried a tragedy like this would happen. Friends and neighbors gathered for Krentz's funeral and lunch afterward at the historic Gadsden Hotel in Douglas, Ariz. These folks live in ranch houses five, 10, 20 miles apart. They depend on one another to manage livestock and to communicate vital information. It's always good to get together face to face — though the talk following the murder of one of their own was not about the weather. It was about personal safety. "We were always concerned," says rancher and veterinarian Gary Thrasher, who spoke on the sidewalk outside the Gadsden Hotel. "I travel out in that area totally by myself in my truck to these ranch calls, and yeah it makes me a lot more nervous." "Oh, I'm tired of it," says rancher John Ladd, who lives with his wife and dogs right on the U.S. side of the border west of Douglas. "It's just every day there's something." We can see the border fence out the kitchen window where we're sitting. That's the border fence built a couple of years ago to keep people out. Ladd says the Border Patrol doesn't keep a constant presence next to the fence, so people climb it with ladders, screwdrivers stuck into the fence mesh, even Mexican ponchos, serapes, thrown on top of the fence. Ladd says he's counted 47 groups crossing onto his land in just the last three weeks. More than 300 people. "From right here," Ladd says. "That's the numbers I'm telling you. I don't count the stuff on the ranch."...more

A Bordertown Drug-Murder Mystery

Arizona borderlands ranchers and their families, mostly dressed in cowboy hats, long-sleeved shirts, Wrangler jeans, and boots, poured into the Douglas High School gym Saturday to attend a memorial Mass honoring rancher Robert Krentz, who was shot on his ranch by an unknown assailant on March 27. The mysterious Krentz killing, widely blamed on a faceless drug trafficker, has become a highly politicized rallying cry for border-militarization advocates, and has become central to a nasty Republican Senate primary battle between former Congressman J.D. Hayworth and Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008. Still, the town and the ranching community itself was unsettled and tense, with new questions swirling around the Krentz death each day. Increasingly cynical ranchers and residents in both Douglas and its Mexican neighbor, Agua Prieta, wonder if the senseless murder means Mexico’s inchoate narco-violence, which has killed more than 19,000 people since 2006, has spilled into their borderlands ranches. The 1,000 or so people who attended the Krentz funeral sat in red folding chairs and in bleachers, listening to country music, Catholic liturgy, and heartfelt eulogies depicting Krentz as a man of kindness, honor, and courage. Although the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department has refused to comment on the murder weapon or details about the crime scene, theories are swirling around who killed Krentz. Ed Ashurst, 58, has for 13 years managed a ranch that borders the Krentz ranch. Ashurst said he was one of the people who had searched for Krentz on the day he disappeared and had assisted trackers who followed footsteps from the murder scene to the border. He believes the unknown Krentz killer was the same person who had earlier burglarized a different rancher’s home and stolen a 9mm gun, and then had stolen food from another ranch. The food wrappings from the stolen food were found at the murder scene, he said, and Krentz was killed by a 9mm weapon...more

Southern Arizona Rancher’s Demand Action

This weekend the ranching community gathered to celebrate the life of Robert Krentz, a husband, father and a friend to many. A senseless act took the life of a man, a humanitarian, who bore no ill will towards anyone. Rob loved his family instilling in them the importance of honesty, fair dealing and skill managing all aspects of a large 100-year-old ranching operation producing food to make our country strong and healthy. On April 13, 2010 Arizona ranching families will gather at the state Capitol to demand action to secure our border, called Restore Our Border. For 18 months southern Arizona ranchers have been meeting with local officials to improve the conditions on the border. Thanks to the hard work of many individuals the Arizona Cattlemen’s Association has developed a plan of action to secure our border. It’s clear that southern Arizona is a lawless area and the U.S./Mexico border is controlled by criminal forces. These unlawful cartels have no regards for the lives of American citizens and it is past time that our government takes action. Our fellow Arizonans and Americans should be able to sleep at night in the safety of their own homes. Arizona ranchers cannot stand for another tragedy like they have faced and will not rest until the border is secured...more

Rancher's death prompts challenge to cell phone companies

Southern Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords wants cell phone companies to take immediate steps to improve their coverage. The call is specifically for the region along the border where rancher Robert Krentz was murdered. Giffords just sent letters to the Chief Executive Officers of Verizon and AT&T. The lack of reliable cell phone service in the area is a concern of family and friends of Krentz. This weekend they said they're final goodbyes...more

Two earlier video reports on border death

Report scorches crew's 'complacent' response to Mill Flat Fire

A crew monitoring a wildfire in Washington County last summer waited too long to summon help, according to a review of the Mill Flat Fire made public recently by the U.S. Forest Service. But that was just one problem in how the fire was handled. The wildfire, sparked by lightning in a wilderness area in July 2009, crested a ridge and raced down two canyons into the residential community of New Harmony on Aug. 29. That night the fire destroyed three houses, heavily damaged three others and burned seven other outbuildings and corrals, leaving residents frustrated and angry the fire was not suppressed earlier. Former town clerk Valene Scobel did not lose property, but was evacuated along with 150 residents that night. "They let it burn way too long and it got out of hand," said Scobel. "They mishandled it big time." But after letting the fire burn for weeks to clear out old growth, the fire crew had become "complacent." A more aggressive containment approach should have been launched much sooner, the report said. "Personnel new to the incident viewed the same situation with a much greater sense of urgency and recommended additional resources and more aggressive approach," the document says. "Fire managers thought they had more time before the fire reached New Harmony." The fire stated in wilderness area on July 25, and was allowed to burn because it met criteria in the Forest Service's land management plan for the area. The agency hoped the fire would eventually help re-establish aspen forests. A model projecting how much the fire could potentially spread in four weeks was completed in the early stages but was not updated after the fire grew significantly in August. "Other fire behavior prediction tools may have shown a greater potential for the fire reaching New Harmony, but were not used," says the review, adding that a fire behavior analyst was not assigned to the fire. Residents also expressed frustration. Some said they "were made to feel silly" by fire officials for being concerned and felt they were fed "propaganda" about the benefits of the fire...more

Schiff Calls for Review of U.S. Forest Service's Nighttime Flying Policy

Rep. Adam Schiff, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, announced that he has requested that the U.S. Forest Service re-consider its night and early morning flying policy. Rep. Schiff asked House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies Chairman Jim Moran (D-VA) and Ranking Member Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) to include language requiring the review in the subcommittee´s 2011 funding bill currently moving through Congress. "Last summer, the Station fire raised questions about the Forest Service´s current night flying policy," said Schiff. "Since a tragic helicopter collision during the 1970's, the Forest Service has had neither the equipment nor the training to do night flights. As aviation technology improves we need to ensure that the Forest Service´s policies keep pace, so that we can guarantee Southern Californians the safest, most effective response whenever a fire breaks out." The Forest Service experimented with night flying in the 1970s, but after a pilot died in the tragic helicopter collision in 1977, the Forest Service discontinued the practice. Specifically, Rep. Schiff requested that the Forest Service examine whether its policy against night flying should be repealed and whether the Forest Service should once again acquire the equipment and provide the training necessary to accomplish night flights...more

Is a killer wolf still on the loose?

When a lone wolf strolled across the snow-covered ice of Chignik Lake on Tuesday, a ripple of fear went through the village of 100 people halfway down the remote Alaska Peninsula. At other times in other places, the sighting of a wolf near a village in the far reaches of the north would not cause much of a stir, but Chignik Lake has been living a horrible fairy tale. "They figure that's the one that got the girl,'' said Virginia Aleck of the traditional village council. The "girl'' was 32-year-old Candice Berner, who came north from her hometown in Slippery Rock, Penn., to teach in the Alaska Bush. She'd taken a job traveling between a cluster of villages 450 miles southwest of Anchorage to work with children with special needs. Virginia Aleck said Wednesday afternoon she hadn't heard from anyone in Fish and Game since they left with the carcasses of the two dead wolves. "They haven't told us anything,'' she said. On Wednesday, she was planning to try to get Butler on the phone to let him know there was another strange-acting wolf back in the area. Butler was the nearest Fish and Game presence. The wolf, meanwhile, was almost at the door. "He was here yesterday afternoon,'' Aleck said, "broad daylight.'' All night the night before, she added, the village dogs had been barking loudly. The wolf might have been close then, too, but his daylight appearance showed a lack of fear that left everyone in Chignik Lake more than a little edgy. "We saw him yesterday right on the ice,'' said village resident Christi Aleck. "He's still hanging around."...more

Landowners win lawsuit seeking Colorado's appraiser files

A group of landowners fighting to get records of alleged misdeeds by appraisers involved in conservation easements has won a lawsuit against the state after a judge ordered the Division of Real Estate to turn over its files. The landowners told the judge that the Colorado Department of Revenue unfairly challenged tax credits and deductions they took after donating conservation easements. Property owners said the easements were valued by appraisers who were disciplined by the state. They said appraisers who falsely inflated appraisals should have been held responsible. They also said some of the appraisals may have been justified, but there is no way to find out without the files. Denver District Judge Sheila Rappaport said that the Board of Real Estate, which investigates complaints against appraisers, is not a law enforcement agency and that landowners suffered serious consequences as a result of their appraisals being challenged. She gave the state 30 days to hand over files of appraisers William Milenski and John Stroh, who were disciplined by the board over allegations they inflated land values. Milenski was allowed to surrender his license in 2008 and avoid punishment, and Stroh was given probation and a fine, according to state records. J.D. Wright, president of Land Owners United, which represents 80 landowners fighting the state, asked Gov. Bill Ritter to cease all audits and re-evaluate the state tax program after their tax credits were challenged by federal and state authorities because of faulty appraisals. "We'll at least get to see the charges brought against our appraisers," Wright said after the ruling was issued...more

Moose-wolf encounter pins tourists

Two visitors from Ohio interrupted a life-or-death struggle between a moose and a wolf on a Kenai Peninsula trail this week, but it wasn't until after the wolf gave up the struggle and fled that things took a dangerous turn for the men, according to Alaska Wildlife Troopers. Events began Thursday afternoon, when 31-year-old Sean Evans of Toronto, Ohio, and his cousin, Josh Clark, 30, of Scio, Ohio, were snowshoeing out to a cabin at Crescent Lake to spend some time snowboarding. The men came around a bend in the trail and were dipping underneath a fallen tree when they saw a spectacle crashing through the brush toward them from a hill about 20 feet away, said Clark, reached by cell phone Friday. "The wolf had torn off some skin from the moose's neck and was hanging on its neck. The moose was making awful noises. We kind of looked at each other for three seconds and decided to start moving," Clark said. "The moose was trying to get rid of the wolf, and they started coming down the hill really fast at us. And so we split, we got out of the way, and they started fighting right where we had been standing."...more

El Pasoan Tells Survival Story, Speaks Of Dog That Saved His Life

The El Paso Council 4964 of the League of Latin American Citizens held on Friday its first “El Paso’s Hero” night. The night was dedicated to one El Paso hero and it wasn’t a human--rather, a K-9 named Zulu, who saved the life of El Pasoan Bob Sumrall. “When I found the road, I said there's got to be a house, there's got to be something along the road. Nothing, I mean, we walked hours on this road and absolutely nothing,” said Sumrall, who shared his survival story with KFOX for the first time since being lost in the Gila wilderness for seven days. Sumrall said he would find nothing to protect himself from the freezing elements other than a solar blanket that wouldn't last long. “I tried to anchor it down with some rocks, but the wind just shredded it, so Zulu and I just curled up together,” said Sumrall. And it was from there, day by day, Zulu and Sumrall protected each other as they continued to try to find their way out of what appeared to be an endless forest...more

There are two video reports at the link.

Los Lunas resident uses extra sense in ancient practice

In a future when the population explodes, and fresh, potable water becomes increasingly rare, the dowser will not be without friends. Gary Plapp has been a dowser for more than 30 years and it has taken him all over the world, from the sands of Egypt to the ruins of the Yucatan. Plapp said the practice goes back thousands of years, and hieroglyphics in Egypt seem to depict its practice. Dowsing is alluded to in the Bible. There are about 300 members of the Los Lunas chapter of the American Society of Dowsers. It is the only active chapter in the state, as far as Plapp knows. About 50 people will show up to monthly meetings, some from as far away as Ciudad Juarez. There are more than 5,000 members nationally. Plapp teaches the practice as it was taught to him more than 30 years ago by a dowser named Bill Cox. "He taught me basic dowsing, and I got hooked," he said. Dowsing is best known as a way to find water. Water is life, and finding it meant survival to ancient peoples. Plapp believes modern people still possess these abilities, but don't use them...more