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Rule of Law Threatened in Nevada
Apr. 14th, 2014 07:15 pmIf you haven't heard about it yet, there is an armed rebellion going on in southern Nevada. I'm furious about a right-wing freeloader and his gun-toting buddies who forced the BLM to back down lest their contractors get shot. I deeply hope that the BLM gets federal marshals out there to arrest this man for repeated violations of court orders. He claims he doesn't recognize the federal government. Well, you simply can't let people get away with this. If you do, you're inviting the kind of warlordism going on in northern Mexico.
Look, the BLM isn't necessarily the nicest of government agencies, and maybe the deal that let the federal government retain most of Nevada's land upon it granting statehood (unlike most states) wasn't particularly fair. But there are other ways to go about redressing grievances other than an armed rebellion. Heck, we're working it out here in Fernley, which is checkered with pockets of federal land. (That's a fallout of being along the original transcontinental railroad right of way, where alternate sections of land were ceded to the railroad while the others were retained by the federal government.) Fernley has been working with our elected officials to get a bill through Congress that would allow the city of Fernley to buy (and then resell for development) the pockets of federal land within the city boundary. We haven't engaged a private army to say, "We're taking this land and if the BLM shows up to say otherwise, we'll shoot 'em."
Look, the BLM isn't necessarily the nicest of government agencies, and maybe the deal that let the federal government retain most of Nevada's land upon it granting statehood (unlike most states) wasn't particularly fair. But there are other ways to go about redressing grievances other than an armed rebellion. Heck, we're working it out here in Fernley, which is checkered with pockets of federal land. (That's a fallout of being along the original transcontinental railroad right of way, where alternate sections of land were ceded to the railroad while the others were retained by the federal government.) Fernley has been working with our elected officials to get a bill through Congress that would allow the city of Fernley to buy (and then resell for development) the pockets of federal land within the city boundary. We haven't engaged a private army to say, "We're taking this land and if the BLM shows up to say otherwise, we'll shoot 'em."
