10 years after armed standoff with federal agents, Bundy cattle are still grazing disputed rangeland

[Jose Garcia]

BUNKERVILLE, Nev. (AP) — The words “Revolution is Tradition” stenciled in fresh blue and red paint mark a cement wall in a dry river wash beneath a remote southern Nevada freeway overpass, where armed protesters and federal agents stared each other down through rifle sights 10 years ago.

It was just before noon on a hot and sunny Saturday when backers of cattle rancher Cliven Bundy, including hundreds of men, women and children, made the U.S. Bureau of Land Management quit enforcing court orders to remove Bundy cattle from vast arid rangeland surrounding his modest family ranch and melon farm.

Witnesses later said they feared the sound of a car backfiring would have unleashed a bloodbath. But no shots were fired, the government backed down and some 380 Bundy cattle that had been impounded were set free.

“Since then, we’ve relatively lived in peace,” Ryan Bundy, eldest among 14 Bundy siblings, said in a telephone interview. “The BLM doesn’t contact us, talk to us or bother us.”

More: https://news.yahoo.com/10-years-armed-standoff-federal-080350716.html

[GreenWave]

1. The sphincter needs to face justice, the cattle the rendering plant.

[jimfields33]

2. Sounds like both sides are at peace.

[GreenWave]

3. Isn't he still freeloading off the taxpayers?

[jimfields33]

4. I guess. But right now. Nobody is screaming.

Until then, life is peaceful for both sides.

[gopiscrap]

8. yup

[gopiscrap]

7. agreed

[jalan48]

5. No accountability doesn't always work out so well in the long run.

[stopdiggin]

9. agree. this continues to bother me ..

Last edited Sat Apr 13, 2024, 02:44 PM - Edit history (1)

The feds probably made the right call in avoiding a bloodbath by standing down on the original stand off. But - in the ensuing years ... The fact that no real consequence or repercussion has been brought to bear ...

It just set a piss poor example going forward. (while emboldened a lot of other meatheads out there?) The U.S. government should not be seen as afraid to enforce their own law. And there was nothing unduly harsh or overbearing in the law the government sought to enforce against the Bundys. (grazing fees on land they do not own - and exactly the same holds for grazing rights negotiated with a neighbor) The family was just flatly refusing to pay their bills. And there is nothing particularly heroic or patriotic in being a chiseler and a cheat. Pretty sure that holds in the big sky country, as well back in the flatlands and cities. The Bundys were just plainly and flatly on the wrong side of the law. And a judgement against a rancher holds the same weight as a judgement against any other citizen.

[jalan48]

13. I agree. Liberals are viewed as wimps by the Fascists and not holding them accountable for crimes makes them more bold.

We've gone from Reagan and his Central American atrocities, to Bush's torture and $6 trillion folly in the Middle East, to Trump's Fascism. The Bundy's are a symptom of a deeper problem in our country IMHO.

[gopiscrap]

6. that's fucked up

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

10. Another welfare cowboy.

[Elessar Zappa]

11. These fuckers should've been dealt with years ago in that standoff.

I know the government doesn’t want a Waco repeat but you can’t let people openly defy the law like that, especially when they’re training their guns on federal enforcement officers.

[jeffreyi]

12. As an ex-range conservationist...

Grazing on BLM and Forest Service via federal permit is not a right, it's a privilege. Look it up. This crap makes my blood boil, and, yes, the permissiveness emboldens others who want to wreck our public lands natural resources. Livestock grazing, if micromanaged, can be a means of restoration. This 12 month unmanaged stuff is gross vandalism.

[republianmushroom]

14. Grazing fee

2023 Grazing Fee

The fee for livestock grazing on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) during the 2023 Grazing Fee Year (March 1, 2023, through February 29, 2024) is $1.35 per animal unit month (AUM). The grazing fee must be paid before grazing use begins, except where “after the grazing season” billing occurs under the terms of an approved allotment management plan or other activity plan intended to serve as a functional equivalent.

https://www.blm.gov/policy/im-2023-026