BLM

LaVoy Finicum – Part 1, by Senator Sylvia Allen

Anita Christy

He was born in the back hills of Northern Arizona, hunting and riding horses with his father and siblings.  Born within him was a love for God, family and freedom.  "We need to put God first in our lives, strengthen our families, and fight to restore our freedoms."  LaVoy Finicum

This is a two-part update on the death of rancher LaVoy Finicum at the hands of the FBI and Oregon State Police.  Western ranchers had gone to Oregon in support of the Hammond family.  Their peaceful protest was labeled by law enforcement and some elected officials as domestic terrorism.  Federal statutes were used to prosecute western ranchers who were trying to bring national attention to the overreach of federal agencies in taking western ranchers’ leases.

Part I:  LaVoy Finicum

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Victoria Sharp: Eyewitness to LaVoy Finicum’s Murder

Anita Christy

 

01/26/2016.  Victoria Sharp:  "Ryan Payne put his hands up out the window, and they shot at him but missed…They riddled the car with bullets….He (LaVoy) was just walking with his hands in the air, and they just shot him.  I saw him….After he was down on the ground, they shot him 3 more times….They bombarded our vehicle with bullets, they hit Ryan in the shoulder…We were on the floorboard screaming.."

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Why does no one seem to care?

Anita Christy

(The following article was sent to me anonymously.  It’s a timely, accurate, and thoughtful essay that needs to be read by every American.)

Are you aware that we the people are under assault in this country?  Maybe not you personally, yet, but when one group of patriots in America is deprived of their freedoms guaranteed to them by the Constitution, it’s a hostile invasion of all who stand for liberty.  And that is what happened to the ranchers in Harney County, Oregon, in the past weeks, and in Nevada before that.  There is a systematic taking of our precious liberties.

Why does no one seem to care?

Where is the media on this?  Where are the folks who are focused on restoring our trust lands across the western United States?  Are we to sit and watch those among us get incarcerated for ranching?  For peacefully protesting the egregious treatment they have received from their own government, for years?

We know that these lands do not belong to the federal government.  The federal government manages those lands for we the people under contracts that were supposed to be assigned back to the states years ago.  The federal government contracts grazing leases to local ranchers. These grazing leases abut the ranches owned by private citizens of the United States.  These ranchers, by and large, are good stewards of the lands they lease to use for grazing.  But they are methodically being deprived of the use of the lands owned by we the people, even with legal leases to do so. In Oregon, the Burea of Land Management (BLM) is burning grazing land that is under lease to ranchers for grazing their cattle, and the BLM is burning the cattle, homes, and corrals in the process.  

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HB2700 – April 14 – Senate COW – “….recover all state lands that have been acquired by the Federal Government.”

Anita Christy

In light of the situation in Nevada in which the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) took over public lands in Nevada and then tried to force Cliven Bundy to pay onerous grazing fees, which he refused to pay, it is time for all of us to email and call our Arizona Senators to strongly encourage them to vote YES to this bill, and stand up for all Arizona citizens and self-rule.

HB2700 was sponsored by Rep. Bob Thorpe (LD6), who has traveled to Nevada with several other Arizona legislators.  A video of his speech at the Arizona Legislature follows this post.

HERE is a link to the Fact Sheet for HB2700.

You can find the email addresses and phone numbers of all Senators HERE.  You are probably wasting your time to email Democrats.  Every Demcrat in the House voted NO, and I would be surprised if the Democrats in the Senate would step out of line.  

If you would like to see the Vote Detail on how the Legislators have voted previously on HB2700, in various Committees and the House, click HERE.

This bill is a good first step.  We also must join other Western states to take our lands back from the federal government.  See American Lands Council, as well as an Op-Ed written by Shirley Dye titled "Tying Statehood and Educational Funding Together.

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BLM Agents in Oregon Burned up Cattle, Homes, Buildings, Fences, Grassland

Anita Christy

If you haven’t been following the Hammond case in Harney County, Oregon, click HERE for the timeline, dating back to the 1970’s, of the cruel and corrupt methods used by both the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM), to drive this family, and many other ranchers, off their land. Click HERE for a Simple Action You Can Take to Help the Hammond Family.  

Ask yourself:  Why are we hearing about so many more catastrophic fires ever since–thanks to the environmentalists and federal agencies–private cattle ranchers and lumber operations have been driven off the land?  Add to this that the federal government controls 3 out of every 10 acres of land in America and is power hungry for more.  Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, said the government’s “massive” control over land has preserved less than 1 percent of endangered species and instead harmed individuals whose livelihoods depend on land ownership. 

Oregon ranchers Steven Hammond and his father Dwight were sentenced in June 2012 as “Arsenal Terrorists.” The maximum punishment for this federal crime is death.  So, what did these ranchers do to warrant their time in prison, and the likelihood that they will be imprisoned again?  

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Federal Land Managers’ Intimidation, Bullying Threaten Citizens Rights, Create a Hostile Environment

Anita Christy

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 24, 2014 – Today, the Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulations held an oversight hearing on “Threats, Intimidation and Bullying by Federal Land Managing Agencies.” This hearing continued Committee oversight into bullying by federal land management agencies and federal law enforcement agencies on private, state, and federal lands. 

State and local governments, ranchers, business owners, and private citizens have been subject to threats, lack of cooperation, and numerous unfair or heavy-handed tactics which threaten public safety, the environment, endangered species, and the livelihoods of communities. Congressional oversight is necessary to provide an effective check on federal officials who abuse their regulatory powers.

“Today we took a second look at threats, intimidation and bullying by Federal Land Managing Agencies. During a hearing the Committee held last year and again today, we heard first-hand accounts of mistreatment at the hands of federal officials seeking to extort the witnesses into relinquishing their property rights,” said Representative Doug LaMalfa (CA-01). “These firsthand accounts  give the victims of abusive conduct by a federal land managing official a chance to tell their story to Congress. Status quo agency oversight, policies and procedures are inadequate for addressing or deterring employee abuses and may instead embolden overreaching or malicious employee behavior with little risk of retribution for their actions.”

Witnesses highlighted examples of flagrant intimidation met by citizens who refuse to surrender their constitutional rights, land and water rights, grazing permits and other multiple-use benefits.

Sheriff James Perkins, Garfield County, UT, highlighted his perspective from 27 years of law enforcement and experience working with various federal law enforcement agencies.

“BLM’s attitude towards coordinating with local law enforcement is summed up best by a conversation I had with a BLM law enforcement officer while we were attending a drug task force meeting in Cedar City, Utah. He told me point blank that he didn’t care about any authority that I thought I had as the Garfield County Sheriff, and that he did not feel like he had to coordinate anything through my office… This refusal to coordinate, coupled with a lack of any meaningful oversight, has created a perfect environment where the abuse of federal law enforcement powers can occur.”

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