DEAR EDITOR,
Veronica Hayes (“Bundy Supporters Not ‘Domestic Terrorists’” Letter May 28) chides Bundy detractors: “If you can’t take a moment to question … and really dig (out) the truth, then you have no right to tout your pro-government nonsense.”
Ms. Hayes has not checked her facts. Cliven Bundy has not paid his grazing fees since 1993. Ms. Hayes accuses Democrat Harry Reid and son Rory Reid of a land grab of Bundy’s grazing land, for a Chinese solar farm. But solar technology was decades away from farming in 1993. So now the readers know that there is no connection between Bundy’s stoppage of grazing fees in 1993 and any future solar farm project.
A quick check shows that the solar farm proposal occurred after 2010, and was withdrawn around 2013. That’s 17-20 years later, Ms. Hayes, so even if your drivel is correct, 17-20 years of illegal Bundy grazing hang out there swinging in the wind – with no explanation from you. But your thesis is so far from the truth that not even the solar farm cabal holds up. The federal land formerly slated for the solar farm is 20 miles from Bundy’s 1992 lease. Check Breitbart and Snopes. Seems Bundy et al, not the Reids, are land grabbing.
No, Mr. Bundy is not a terrorist, of any kind, he has not targeted innocent non-combatants. He is a thief, not a terrorist. He is contemptuous of the Constitution, but that in and of itself is no crime, because all Americans are protected by the First Amendment. Some of his shadier compatriots have targeted Federal Rangers, a revolting crime, but these Rangers are in uniform, doing government work, the area is grey. But neither am I a domestic terrorist, for considering Bundy and his armed friends outlaws and an anti-Americans. I support Federally designated wilderness, I support roadless areas, I support Federally managed lands in the West, I support grazing fees, and I do not consider the armed vigilantes who showed up to support Bundy a “well regulated militia”. Seems that they are not regulated at all.
Next time, Ms. Hayes, before you chide your detractors for “lack of research on a topic that they’re so outspoken about” – get a mirror.
Barry Vanderhorst
Moab
