LMD Sept 16

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Riding Herd

“The greatest homage we can pay to truth is to use it.”

by LEE PITTS

– JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

September 15, 2016 • www.aaalivestock.com

Volume 58 • No. 9

Living Forever

Self Control R BY LEE PITTS

If you’re ridin’ ahead of the herd, take a look back every now & then to make sure it’s still there.

W

hen Ted Cruz attacked “New York values” prior to the Iowa caucuses he was applauded in America’s heartland and cursed in New York. While the comment played well in Des Moines it offended liberal, money grabbers in New York City. Evidently Cruz had not done the math; there are more liberal New Yorkers than there are Iowa corn farmers. But we all knew what Cruz meant and if you didn’t, you’re about to find out.

Fly-over Country

NEWSPAPER PRIORITY HANDLING

Has anyone else noticed that of the four major candidates now vying for President and Vice President not one lives West of Indiana? Look at a map... that leaves 2/3 of the country not represented. Talk about fly-over country! Who speaks for us? It seems the only two places in the West the candidates know anything about are Hollywood and Silicon Valley and the only thing they know about them is they are great locations for $100,00-a-plate dinners. Cruz may have been laughed at but he was right. Hillary Clinton represented New York as a Senator from 2001-2009. Sure, she went to Arkansas temporarily to hitch a ride on Bill’s shooting star and ride his coattails all the way to the White House but she got back to New York as

soon as she could. Of course, Donald Trump is a born and bred New Yorker who before the campaign, seemed to only leave town to put his name on another high rise or cut the ribbon on another golf course. The candidates on the under card are a lot closer to New York than they are LA. Tim Kaine was Governor and Senator from Virginia, while Mike Pence is a lifelong Hoosier who was elected the 50th Governor of the State of Indiana in 2012, after serving as a Congressman. We’ve just experienced eight

years of an east-coast-centric administration and no matter who is elected this November we’re guaranteed at least another four more. I don’t know if the West can withstand another flyover President whose definition of the West is George Clooney’s house.

Going Up In Smoke Let’s look at what’s at stake here. Much like Mark Twain’s death, talk of the demise of the public lands rancher has been premature. Yes, they are still alive, but barely. Today, about

22,000 public land ranchers must deal with the four federal agencies that “manage” 609 million acres of public land across the nation. (Some might call it mis-management.) Half of all that public land is concentrated in just 11 Western states. For comparison purposes, of the 1.9 billion acres in the continental U.S, excluding Alaska, 788 million acres are grazed by livestock on private land. When we compare the 22,000 public lands ranchers to the 808,110 total number of cow/calf operators in the U.S. they seem like a small minority. The population pool is muddied however when you consider those same public lands ranchers own 120 million deeded acres interspersed with the public land. It becomes a huge Western issue because nearly 40 percent of the Western catcontinued on page two

Rep. Chris Stewart On Need to Abolish Federal Law Enforcement Powers BY TRACIE SULLIVAN / STGEORGEUTAH.COM

I

f Utah Congressman Chris Stewart has his way the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) could someday lose their law enforcement functions. Stewart was one of the co-sponsors of the bill proposing the Local Enforcement for Local Lands Act of 2016 that, if passed, will abolish the Forest Service Law Enforcement unit and the Investigations unit within the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the BLM Office of Law Enforcement and Security in the U.S. Department of Interior. The bill emphasizes the importance of state and local policing of federal lands and requires both the Agriculture and Interior secretaries give grants to the states to fund those needed law enforcement activities. Chairman of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee, Representative Jason Chaffetz, originally introduced the bill in March. Utah Representatives Rob Bishop and Mia Love are also co-sponsors of the legislation. No congressional action has been taken on the proposed legislation so far. “Federal agencies do not enjoy the same

level of trust and respect as local law enforcement that are deeply rooted in communities,” the lawmakers stated in a collective statement issued upon introducing the bill. “This legislation will help de-escalate conflicts between law enforcement and local residents while improving transparency and accountability. The BLM and Forest Service will be able to focus on their core missions without the distraction of police functions.” The Utah lawmakers pointed to reported conflicts between federal land officers and local communities as part of the reason for introducing the bill. During an exclusive interview with St. George News, Stewart said federal law enforcement officers are now dealing with many issues that should be reserved for local sheriffs who are familiar with the residents and topography of the area. They’ve heard stories and examples from citizens who, in some cases, have been abused by these officials “I can’t tell you how many sheriffs I’ve talked to who are resentful and angry of federal continued on page four

ecently I read that some babies being born today will be “lucky” enough to live until they are 150 years old! WHOA! No thank you very much! In medieval times a peasant could expect to live 25 years and 3,000 years ago most Egyptians died by the time they were 30 because that’s how long their teeth lasted. In that respect they were like gummer cows. Today in America if you reach 65 years of age you can expect to live another 20 years! I can’t even imagine living for 150 years, can you? By my calculations that’s 18 colonoscopies to look forward to! Uggh!!! Someone’s gonna live to regret this. Does this mean they’ll have to wait until they’re 125 to get Social Security or a Senior Citizen’s discount on the blue plate special at Margie’s Diner? Are those “lucky kids” several generations from now going to want to work for their parents for 100 years for starvation wages just so they can inherit the ranch when they turn 120? Will people be trimming shrubs, mowing lawns, bucking hay bales, throwing calves, riding broncs, and checking out groceries when they’re 103? I can see it all now. Three or four generations will all be crammed into a 900 square foot cracker-box house where family members will need name tags. At family barbecues GreatGreat-Great grandparents will be boring their younger kin folks with... “Why, I can remember when we read out of things called books and believe it or not, you had to actually drive the car!” The problem is that our bodies are simply not keeping up with all the technology. Take one look at 85 year olds today with their saggy skin and their criss-cross networks of bulging veins and then imagine that same person 60 years from now! I’ll be 65 my next birthday and already everything in or on my body is either shrivcontinued on page four

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