Most people know, because of news reports, socil media, blogs etc have heard about the cattle rustling/stealing int he Cliven Bundy case in Bunkerville, NV this past week. The BLM backed down, stopped their stealing of cattle, gave back the cattle they stole and left Nevada with their talils between their legs.
But it's not the first time the BLM has used their thug tatics against citizens of Nevada.
In Nye County, just west of Clark County and Las Vegas, the BLM tried to steal another rancher's cattle around 2003.
From Morphcity.com: The first video covers Wayne Hage's discovery that the US Department of Forestry, an agency of the USDA, filed a claim for his water rights and later seized his cattle; the USDA Forestry Service used armed agents to accomplish the seizure. Hage believed that his cattle were confiscated so that he would be unable to show that he was using his water rights for 'beneficial use' in order to shut down his ranch. Water is scarce in Nevada and unless the landowner can prove he is using the water rights for 'beneficial use', the rights are removed....
In the late 1990's, before Sheriff DeMeo took office, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), an agency of the Department of Interior, seized more of Hage's cattle off of his ranch, using armed federal agents. The sheriff at that time left town on a fishing trip.
Subsequently, when Sheriff DeMeo took office in 2003, he told his deputies that illegal cattle seizures were prohibited and that any federal agents attempting to confiscate cattle would be arrested. Shortly thereafter, the BLM arrived at Hage's ranch to perform a seizure. The Sheriff's Deputy told the federal agents that there would be no seizure or taking of cattle, per DeMeo's decision based on the Constitution. The Deputy was told that the BLM federal agents intended to arrest DeMeo and use armed force to take Hage's cattle. Sheriff DeMeo advised the federal agent that their SWAT team would be faced with Sheriff DeMeo's SWAT team if they proceeded.
Sheriff DeMeo clearly stated that he refused any unlawful seizures on Wayne Hage's estate. He further advised federal agents that if they could produce a lawful court order for seizing cattle, he would not take the cattle off of the land, but impound them there on Hage's ranch. This is important because if seized cattle were to remain impounded on Hage's ranch, then Wayne Hage could still show 'beneficial use' of his water rights. http://www.morphcity.com/home/80-constitutional-sheriff-tony-demeo
And from the Nevada Journal before the standoff with the Nye County Sheriff:
Hage drove to the site to survey what needed to be done and found himself surrounded by 20 to 30 federal agents armed with semi-automatic weapons and garbed in flak jackets. Some of them were stationed on high points expecting a confrontation. Hage got out of his vehicle, reached under his jacket and pulled out a 35 mm camera, pointed it at some of the Forest Service swat team and told them, "Smile pretty, boys." To the chagrin of the agents, there was no violent confrontation. The only "violence" was in the heart and mind of Hage who wondered at the lengths his government would go to get what it wanted—namely property rights which belonged to him.
On two later occasions heavily armed agents came out to his former allotment and prevented Hage’s employees from moving cattle off the closed allotment. During these intrusions by federal agents 104 cattle were confiscated and subsequently sold at auction with the profits remaining with the Forest Service. Twisting the knife in Hage a little deeper, agents sent him a bill for the costs of confiscating the cattle. The cattle didn’t recognize they had over-stepped their boundaries—and apparently the federal government didn’t recognize that Uncle Sam had overstepped some boundaries as well. http://nj.npri.org/nj98/04/hage.htm
And you know the BLM is not done with Bundy or other cattle ranchers out west. This is especially true since the new head of the BLM is a former Harry Reid employee and he will do Reid's dirty work.
But it seems that if you get some supporters, the BLM will back down and stop their terror attack on the U.S. citizens.
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