Rancher's Son Says Feds 'Tased' Him As 'New Ruby Ridge'
Escalates
Thursday, 10 Apr 2014 06:32 PM
By Cathy Burke
Federal rangers allegedly used a
stun gun on the son of a defiant Nevada
rancher fighting a cattle roundup during a tense confrontation — caught on
video — in which authorities used dogs and pointed electroshock weapons to keep
screaming protesters at bay.
"You want to tase me? Go
ahead," Ammon Bundy, a son of rancher Cliven Bundy, shouted during the
Wednesday scuffle, later claiming he was stunned twice, CBS affiliate KLAS-TV
reports.
Story continues below video.
Margaret Bundy-Houston, Cliven
Bundy’s sister, said a federal parks ranger hit her with a car that knocked her
to the ground.
"I'm shook up, my hand's cut,
my knee's you know, banged up," she told the television station.
Since the roundup of “trespass
cows” began Saturday, there’s been just one arrest – of another Bundy son,
Dave, who was jailed on Sunday and released the next day. His mother, Carol
Bundy, alleged he was roughed up by BLM police.
In a startling video loaded onto
YouTube, law enforcement officers are seen holding yellow stun guns and leashed
barking dogs as trucks involved in the roundup try to drive through State Route
170 in the community of Bunkerville,
Nev., Wednesday.
The Bureau of Land Management has
shut down a 1,200-square-mile area while contractors gather about 900 cattle
officials say are trespassing on the fragile habitat of an endangered desert
tortoise. Cliven Bundy says the land doesn’t belong to the government, and has
been used by his cattle-ranching family since the late 1800s.
So far, 352 cattle have been
rounded up, the Las Vegas Review Journal reports.
Hours after the stun gun
confrontation, residents poured into a town meeting, giving Cliven Bundy a
standing ovation, KLAS-TV reported.
"I love you people. And I
love this land, and I love freedom and liberty," he told them, the station
reported.
The BLM and U.S. Park Service
issued a statement confirming the vehicle incident, and justifying it.
“A BLM truck driven by a non-law
enforcement civilian employee assisting with gather operations was struck by a
protester on an ATV, and the truck’s exit from the area was blocked by a group
of individuals who gathered around the vehicle,” the agencies said, The Blaze
reports.
Protesters, many of whom have
traveled from neighboring states to form “militias” in support of the rancher,
have “crossed into illegal activity,” the statement added, claiming
demonstrators are “blocking vehicles associated with the gather, impeding cattle
movement, and making direct and overt threats to government employees.”
“These isolated actions that have
jeopardized the safety of individuals have been responded to with appropriate
law enforcement actions,” the agencies said.
Three militia members were at the
Bundy ranch to protect the family, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
“We need to be the barrier between
the oppressed and the tyrants,” Ryan Payne of the West Mountain Rangers in Montana told the
newspaper. “Expect to see a band of soldiers.”
The feud between the Bundy family
and the BLM dates back to 1993, when officials yanked his grazing rights.
Bundy, who has long since stopped paying fees to use the grazeland, claims his
Mormon family’s 19th century melon farm and ranch operation in surrounding
areas predates creation of the BLM in 1946.
The bitter standoff, according to
The Associated Press, is seen by some as the latest battle over state and
federal land rights in a state that has fought that battle before, including
the Sagebrush Rebellion of the 1970s and ’80s.
Nevada, where various federal agencies manage or control more
than 80 percent of the land, is among several Western states where ranchers
have challenged federal land ownership.
But Cliven Bundy has compared the
situation to the fatal 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge,
Idaho and the 1993 raid on David Koresh's
Branch Davidian compound near Waco,
Texas, which ended with 82
deaths.
Past Research for Nevada Rancher Cliven Bundy
Police State USSA: Feds Vs Rancher Face Off
Monday, April 7, 2014
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