Freedom Outpost – by Tim Brown, November 20, 2017
Last week, as the trial of Cliven, Ammon, and Ryan Bundy, along with Ryan Payne got underway, we reported on bombshells that were dropped by government witness Mary Ann Rugwell (my apologies for misspelling her name in the previous report), in which she testified that the Bureau of Land Management was not only supposed to merely round up the cattle and give them back to the Bundys, but that Cliven only owed $8,815 in trespass fees over ten years, not millions.
Just so we’re clear, even Fox News continues promoting the narrative that the Bundys owe millions to the government.
Take a look at this recent report from last week.
However, the truth is that documents are clear that the money owed was less than $10,000 before the feds got involved.
First, take a look at this letter from the Bureau of Land Management dated January 21, 2011 (courtesy of Redoubt News).
Notice the government claims that because Bundy’s cattle wandered on to land that the US government claims they own, even though they don’t own it constitutionally. Furthermore, Bundy was charged $200.00 per head of cattle for “trespassing damages.”
One has to ask what damage was actually incurred by those cattle wandering onto that land. How did they arrive at a price of $200.00 per head of cattle?
The letter cites part of the US Code to claim Bundy was in violation of the law, and makes mention of an article in Las Vegas City Life that “demonstrates” he was “aware” of “continued willful trespass.”
Again, the obvious question, pertaining to the Constitution is, by what authority did the US government claim that land was their’s in the first place. I’ll remind you of that in a moment.
Here’s a letter stating the amount owed.
Notice the charges. The trespass fee was only $8,815.50. That’s it. That’s all he owed.
Of course, they are tacking on a $10.00 service charge for sending him a bill, but then they add in $283,776.00 in administrative fees for “investigation, detection and resolution of the trespass.”
No, seriously, on the US government could think they could get away with something so ridiculous.
How much time and money does it actually take to verify is cattle wandered off a portion of land onto another portion of land? How many people would have to actually be involved in that process?
Part of those “administrative costs” was $44,542 for helicopter flight time.
Also, the periods of time for confirming cattle on the land seem to be seriously inconsistent. Thanks to documents from Shari Dovale, I was able to see on page 31 of documents submitted to the court that there was a period of time from 03-21-2011 to 08-19-2011 in which cattle were allegedly discovered and fees of $6,562.50 were charged, but only 37.50 in administrative fees.
Additionally, after that long period of time, there was a two-day assessment that took place between 03-21-2011 and 03-24-2011 that other cattle were found, but only charged $825.00 and a $37.50 admin fee charged.
After that, virtually every other charge stemmed from a one-day event. Administrative fees ranged from $33.00 to $40.50.
There is no explanation for the up and down of the admin fees.
The total recorded count incidents on the documents were 41 from 05-29-2008 to 03-21-2011.
What are the rest of the “administrative charges” being assessed? Those are never broken down.
In the real world, only one person and it might take a couple of hours, including travel time. That’s a far cry from nearly $300,000.00 in administrative fees!
Even at nearly $300,000 in fees, none of this is what Fox and the rest of the mainstream media have been reporting.
“Though the grazing fees are not the central part of the trial, it certainly is a major point for the public,” wrote Dovale.
That’s correct. In the mind’s of the public, the Bundys have been painted as hardened criminals and a threat to society owing millions of dollars.
This record proves the government and media narrative surrounding that is blatantly false.
Keep in mind that the Bundy family had been ranching this land for 150 years, long before there was a Bureau of Land Management. It’s been in the family for generations, and the thing they feared most was a government usurpation of that land in declaring it a national park, something the central government does not have authority to do in our Constitution. Yet, just before leaving the office he usurped, Barack Hussein Obama Soetoro Sobarkah declared the land to be a national monument.
As far as the constitutionality of land ownership, I’ve addressed that before, which you can read here, and so has Ammon Bundy when he schooled former Fox News talking head Megyn Kelly.
Bundy didn’t owe a goddamned thing, simple as that. Grandfathered means just that, GRANDFATHERED.
Another article were the author doesn’t know if he is a American National or a punk shill. If your going to tell the narrative, tell it strong, not like some mealy mouse with his foot stuck in his mouth.
Americans need to read the strong truth, hard and loud.
Show the documentation he was grandfathered
Homestead act – gave each settler 160 acres. Bundy family started that ranch in the 1880’s. Your buddies in Washington have cheated ranchers throughout the west.
2013 court order to remove cattle from so called federal land is illegal on its face. I know it, you know it and God knows I it.
“The government offered several revisions and updates to the original Homestead Act after 1862, including a Southern Homestead Act of 1866 (a failed program intended to turn ex-slaves and sharecroppers into landowners), the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 (enacted to enable dryland farming in the Plains and Mountain West), the Stock-Raising Homestead Act of 1916 (to allow ranchers 640 acres of land for grazing purposes instead of the normal 160).
Read LeVoy Finicums book.
Show me the documentation that illegal stealing of American National natural resources is legal, while illegally seizing public lands.
“The Bundy’s have worked and maintained this land since 1877 (or for 130 years)”
As shown above, this has been US government property since before Bundy’s alleged ancestors began settling here. However, it turns out that Bundy’s “1877” claims was in fact bogus. An investigation by KLAS-TV Las Vegas reveals that Bundy’s parents moved from Arizona to Nevada and bought the 160-acre ranch in 1948, from its previous owners. The Bundy’s wouldn’t begin using this land for their cattle to graze until the 1950’s. A recent video released by Bundy’s repeat the erroneous ancestral claim (claiming that the Bundy family owned the land for for 130 years) .
From KTVLA:
Clark County Recorder documents show the 160-acre Bunkerville ranch Bundy calls home was purchased by his parents, David and Bodel Bundy, from Raoul and Ruth Leavitt on Jan. 5, 1948. The purchase included the transfer to the Bundys of certain water rights, including water from the nearby Virgin River. Cliven Bundy was born in 1946.
“Bundy’s great grandfather bought the rights to the Bunkerville allotment back in 1887”
This claim has been repeated numerous times but there appears to be no record of this. Since the Bunkerville allotment is part of federal land it is unlikely that any of the Bundy’s would have ever been sold the rights. This may actually be a conflation of the claimed “pre-emptive” rights, which some have claimed Bundy’s family to have. It would appear that this is nothing more than a subjective belief on the part of the Bundy’s, that their alleged longtime use of federal lands somehow gives them ownership. Furthermore, given that Bundy lost numerous court battles, it’s unlikely that he in fact owns the portion of the land in question.
As an interesting aside, this is land that originally belonged to the Paiute tribes.
“…Just so we’re clear, even Fox News continues promoting the narrative that the Bundys owe millions to the government….”
You’re an idiot if you were ever expecting them to tell the truth.
Some people believe that any one network is better than the others, because they have a “conservative” viewpoint. The idiots are still falling for the conservative-liberal game that keeps them fighting amongst each other.
They’re ALL telling the same lies, marketed to a different audience, but I guess you have to pry your empty head away from the television for a while before you realize that.
“even Fox news”…. as if they were any better.
I can understand the administrative costs:
$12,558 at the slot machines at the Paris
$120,880 at Poker at the Bellagio
$ 82,240 at Keno at Caesar’s Palace and so on.
Read a good article on Bundy and their claim to be on the land before the Federal Government, Just not true this lays out the Mormon kingdom that was attempted and the kingdm needed lands!
https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/zion-militias-and-public-lands-the-rise-and-rise-of-cliven-bundy/Content?oid=6820680
I’ve read better horse manure on the back of a cracker jack box. American Nationals by the Bill of Rights, not some Mormon freak show bullshit.
Salt lake City Weekly is an enemy of this cite. Be very careful when you post this trash here.
You say read a good article, I say read the Bill of Rights.
You come on here with this West Memphis truck stop bathroom stall garbage philosophy, I will come at you like a D9 tractor with blade lowered.
Don’t come on this site citing Zion bullshit, come on here with information about how to reinstate our American Bill of Rights.
Are you the Sheriff ? You land grabbin cowboys have lost your theft arguments in court since the beginning. The land was aquired by a war with Mexico. We the people aquired it in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo. The Mormon ancestors of Bundy came to this area after this date! The law of the land gives Congress the regulation of the aquired lands in the constitution under the lands clause, they gave away some as home stead and kept the rest for all of us to use and to be resource reserves for the entire nation who fought the war to aquire it!
Bullying and threats only shows your lack of credibility.