Assembly bill continues Bundy saga

Outspoken Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy told the Desert Valley Times Wednesday he plans to be at the front of a contingent of Nevadans planning to rally at the Capitol in Carson City Tuesday to show support for AB408, a bill that "reclaims" rights to Nevada land from the federal government.

The Legislative Counsel says section 3 of AB408, which was sponsored by GOP Assemblywoman Michele Fiore, "prohibits the federal government from owning or administrating any land or resources in the state that it has not acquired with the consent of the Nevada Legislature and upon which it has not erected forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards or other needful buildings."

The bill prohibits the federal government from owning any Nevada water rights; requires that state land registration of grazing, logging, mineral development or any other beneficial use rights on public lands "including land to which the federal government claims ownership or ships. The registrar must award such rights to the first person who puts the land to those beneficial uses, and hold an auction to sell permits to use. County commissioners can impose a tax on the unit sold through the beneficial use of public lands."

"We feel like we've got a good bill that represents 'we the people,'" Bundy said of AB408. "This bill is promoting the U.S. Constitution; the state sovereignty and law, and county government. We feel like we're in tune with 'we the people.'"

Bundy said one of his sons, Ammon Bundy, has been in Carson City working in concert with bill sponsors to design and amend AB408, although Ammon's a resident of Arizona, not Nevada.

"He is a Bundy, though," Cliven laughed during an interview Wednesday.

"We've got 15 legislative co-sponsors in the Assembly," Ammon said via phone from Carson City. "Eight of the 12 members of the Natural Resources Committee are also co-sponsors of the bill."

The Bundys have reserved 80 rooms in the Holiday Inn in Carson City for people who want to join their rally at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The Legislative committee has scheduled a hearing at 1 p.m.

"This is the No. 1 supported bill in the Nevada Legislature," Ammon said Wednesday. "More people have called up to get information on this bill than any other. This bill is way out front."

"Our goal is to ensure access to the land," Cliven Bundy said. "We really think it's necessary that we the people of these valleys (Virgin and Moapa valleys) need to get out to support it. It will really make a difference for we the people.

"(Under the bill) we'll have access to the land and we'll be able to use the resources and the county sheriff will be the law of the land," he explained.

Bundy said Thursday that depending on the number of interested people, "we may rent a bus and drive up there Monday."

"We're still trying to get everything organized," he said, and urged everyone interested in traveling with him to Carson City to call his home phone at 702-346-5564.

"We the people" became a rallying catchphrase for the Bundys last year during a standoff between officers of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and up to 700 Bundy supporters, many of whom were armed militiamen, who gathered in a gravel turnout on state route 170 near Bunkerville.

A long-simmering feud that started nearly 25 years ago over Bundy's alleged non-payment of grazing fees came to a head in April 2014 when armed federal officers sealed off nearly 600,000 square acres of public land in Southern Nevada so the government could round up and remove Bundy cattle from government-managed land.

The BLM said Bundy owed more than $1 million in grazing fees and penalties. Bundy said the BLM (federal government) had no right to restrict his use of public land on which to run his cattle.

Bundy and the BLM had squared off several times in federal court over the years with Bundy always losing.

In an apparent last-ditch effort to exert its authority, and remove trespassing cattle as well as an apparent thorn in its side by the name of Bundy, the government created an incident command center and holding pen in Toquop Wash some nine miles south of Mesquite off Interstate 15 that was isolated by armed BLM guards. The government hired some "contract cowboys" who began rounding up Bundy cattle from the range around Virgin Valley, Moapa Valley, Gold Butte and Lake Mead.

The BLM also established "First Amendment" zones sectioned off by orange plastic fencing where the public was supposed to gather to express their Constitutional right to free speech.

The move enraged Bundy who put out a call that was answered by several different militias, as well as free-range and anti-government people from across the country. They gathered in a make-shift camp on SR-170 to protest the BLM and its actions.

Over several days there were numerous incidents between protesters and the BLM including one where Ammon Bundy was shocked by Taser-wielding officers and another where his aunt, Margaret Bundy Houston, was literally picked up and thrown to the ground by a BLM officer.

Finally, the morning of April 12, 2014, although then-Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie had told the boisterous crowd the BLM had agreed to cease its operation and release the cattle that had been collected, protestors, many armed with sidearms and riding horses, stormed over to the government compound and confronted officers over a steel fence panel.

Several protestors armed with high-powered rifles lay atop I-15 admittedly aiming at BLM officers. Luckily, no shots were fired, the cattle were freed and the protest eventually ended. The militia and protestors gradually faded from Bunkerville.

The fight has continued to simmer and AB408 is the latest result.

Follow Mike on Twitter, @mdonahuedvt and on Facebook at facebook.com/mikedonahuedvt.

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